Coyote

[Ken45101]

Does anyone see a common item here? Humans. We constantly deforest and build, pushing these animals into tighter quarters.

WRONG!

There is more forest and undeveloped land east of the Mississippi today than there was 200 years ago.

 

[Rod in Forfar]

If you kill the alpha female, the others will breed. Leave the old lady alone and the population doesn't grow much.

We had a large solitary female in our woodlot for six years. She never raised a pup to maturity that I saw. Beautiful animal, the size of a standard poodle. (I handled the carcass after she died).

I watched a family of smaller coyotes spend the summer in the 20 acre field below our house. One pup became quite fond of the pears in our orchard, but the others preferred apples.

Two years later they're down to the alpha female and the tamest pup, Erin. They know the rules and do no harm. By spring all of the apples are cleaned up.

I have 15,000 young trees growing. Rodents and deer are the main threats, so to my mind those two are valuable. A bit of coyote urine and the deer stay away. The 'yotes eat mice steadily. Their tracks are all over the seedling plantations. White cedar seedlings have grown for four years now without any predation from deer.

They know my voice and while they carefully keep their distance, they don't interrupt their mousing for long if they see me.

My mother's cat has had coyotes around the house for the last six years without ill effects. My dad in 20 years never lost a sheep to coyotes, though his border collie killed two ewes.

My rule remains: shoot the wolves and coyotes that cause trouble and leave the others alone.

 

[wrflt]

I recently received an email full of trail cam pics from a friend. It was horrible.

It showed three coyotes attacking a full grown buck (with a beautifully scoreable rack) in the darkness of night. The buck was trying it's best to protect itself but to no avail. The coyotes kept attacking from the rear, pulling meat from the, still standing buck's hams, until at long last, they took him down and continued eating from the rear while the buck was still alive and in what had to be, intense pain. He died a horrible death. Made me sick.

With that said, and I promise it was real...I'll never let another coyote walk if I can help it.

P.S. We no longer hunt rabbits around here either. It's a waste of time now, when it used to be so productive and so much fun. I miss it.

 

[k0ua]

Yep haven't hunted rabbits in 30 years.. There aren't any around here anymore, we used to only rarely see or hear a 'yote.. now we have plenty. There used to be a bounty on them in some of our county's. I collected 1 as a kid. they were just not very many of them. Now no bounty's and we have tons of coyotes..Lost a nice huge outside kitty a couple of years ago to them. I will shoot 'yotes on sight, but the trouble is they are pretty smart, and seem to know what guns are. Maybe too many have been shot at and missed.

James K0UA

 

[ajmbonaire]

I've hunted them some, but only managed to shoot one. I've tried calling them in, but they are smarter than me. I've called in cats, owls, hawks, a bald eagle, racoons, posumms, but only one coyote. The one I did call in I missed. The one I shot was sitting in my back yard. In my area, there are a lot of them out there.

I used to hunt preditators for a second income many years ago. I called up as many coyotes as I did fox. The difference is a fox will come running right at you and presents a moving target. A coyote will circle and "wind" you. Once he sees you he will stop and sit down presenting a stationary target. I always hunted them at night with a 22 mag w/scope mounted light.

 

[brewdog]

Here in PA, coyotes are over taking over. It's open season on them here according to our State Game Commission. I'd say, dust them if they are around your home or farm. If you see one, there's 5 or 10 others nearby that you didn't see. Rabbits are turning into a thing of the past around here. The farmers years ago went to great trouble to get rid of the coyotes because they destroyed live stock and about everything else.

 

[Ken45101]

I recently received an email full of trail cam pics from a friend. It was horrible.... He died a horrible death. Made me sick.

That's true for every predator from grizzlies to wolves and weasels, to eagles and owls and hawks, to house cats catching mice.

A coyote is no different than any other carnivore.

Ken

 

[deerefan]

How many animals were displaced through the construction of your home and yard?

No idea. But I definitely do my part to not disturb any of their habitat. Actually, my home was built 65 years ago in the middle of a soybean field and 4 oaks, which now produce acorns, were planted near my home. I am routinely visited by wildlife, such as deer and squirrels, due to the planting of these trees. But like I said previously, I don't just shoot a coyote for crossing my property for fear he may one day do something that comes natural to him or her. I also did not move to the country from the city to obtain a piece of paradise, I am a 5th generation cattle farmer and also plant and harvest corn, sourghum and soybeans in fields that existed when I obtained the property. All I am asking is to put a little thought into it before you pull the trigger. Like I said in my previous post, if a coyote is attacking my dog, I will shoot the coyote. Believe what you want, but coyotes have played a part in keep the hog population somewhat subdued around these parts. That is reason enough for me to give them a pass. I won't even bother to explain to you how much time and money hogs have cost me. Coyotes? Nothing.

 

[deerefan]

WRONG!

There is more forest and undeveloped land east of the Mississippi today than there was 200 years ago.

I do not disagree with you. But if you dig a little past the surface, you will find that reforestation has played a major role in this as well as population shift. It, as you stated, was not always this way. It is actually increasing slowly every year. The poor economy and poor housing market has helped rapidly slow unnecessary development also.

 

[Dan Hunter]

If you dig a little further, you'll find that members come from different regions some of which don't have any reforestation going on. I look forward to a citation of a study from a valid authority on that, though.

I find it amusing to watch animal rights people attempt to apply logic. In the Pacific NW, they railed against the simple removal of seals that were decimating the salmon runs and often not for food but just fun. Yep, creatures other than humans take enjoyment from the hunt. Killer Whales are downright cruel to their prey.

So here's their logic: Killer Whales are large and majestic and fun to go watch in a fishing boat of an owner put out of business by the seals; seals are fun to watch from a loch and they kinda look like they're dogs: and the fish - well they're screwed because simple environmentalists can't see them nor pet them. Valuation varies depending in which dog is in the fight. Whales trump seals but seals trump fish. It's nuts.

It may feel intellectually superior to declare humans the problem but it's ignorant of the fact that many animals are busy killing other animals to survive and there's no sensible reason to argue that humans should eat them so as to maintain moral superiority unless you simply want to reject the Biblical instruction that God created animals for us - not as equals.

I invite all animal rights folk that are firm on the "human problem" to show some principles and make a sacrifice in the extreme as a personal solution/contribution.