Coyotes coming close to house

[Tractor Seabee]

We have coyotes and bobcats, both which will prey on our small dogs, cats, chickens and ducks. We used to have regular losses of chickens and ducks and then we fenced in their area with electric net fence from Premier1supplies.com. Predator losses have been 0 in the past 3 years. We also fenced in our backyard with 4' fencing so they dogs have a protected area. It also helps that we have 4 dogs, so 1 coyote may think twice about taking on 4 dogs. Its not a guaranty of any kind, as I know coyotes and bobcats could easily jump the fences, but so far they have not.

Got these pics in the last couple weeks. The coyote camera is in the woods 300 ft from the house and the bobcat camera is attached to the barn.

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Hey, that looks like my house cat. You should be putting out milk and cookies for your neighbors pet.

Ron

 

[oosik]

I live way out in the sticks. My 80 acres is only a boundary to me. The Channeled Scablands go for miles & miles in all directions. Otherwise, I know of, at least, four groups of coyotes in the near vicinity. I have been out here for 38 years and lost barn cats to barn owls, great horned owls and coyotes. The coyotes will come as near to my house & outbuildings as they deem necessary to satisfy their curiosity.

I no longer feed my dog nor cats outside. I'm sure this attracted animals also.

My neighbor, to the south, is a cattle rancher. He will loose a couple newborn calves to coyotes every year. Three years ago he employed the services of a hunter to shoot coyotes. Over a four week period - seventeen coyotes were shot. Unfortunately, there was absolutely no noticeable reduction in coyote sightings.

If you want to talk about property damage - wild turkeys are the big bugger here. They can & will damage your yard, plantings, flowers, gardens the same as the feral hogs in Texas and surround areas.

You shoot a couple coyotes - it's certainly no guarantee that others won't take your small dogs or smaller farm animals.

Sooner or later you may realize that the "urban mentality" does not function well out in the sticks.

 

[RoyKing]

In Orlando they were loosing cats in the suburbs. Many domestic cats are not hunters and let them get close, smart cats that are hunters observe from the trees. I've had trouble with hogs and fox over the years. Now the large land owners have setup blinds over looking pig hallows and let small amount hunters in to keep numbers down. I lost my favorite cat so now house cat only, too bad I don't like litter box cleaning. My neighbor bought a FLIR scope, and yes leave a dead carcass out for awhile. The other problem is big old rattlers, they won't even run off. I've had three that rattled at me and I went back to house came back with a shotgun and they sat right up let me remove their heads all over 6 foot with 11 or 12 rattles. My neighbor had little gold dog with curly tail that would bring home huge rattle snakes, as she got old we could hear her barks tiring out and we would assist. She would run around the snake making it keep turning and lunging at her until it got tired and couldn't recover from the lunge, then she would get in one bite. She would keep it up for as long as took then finally get in her mouth behind its head and shake it to death. She never got bit. The guy with FLIR has seen owls after his chickens.

 

[radios1]

What are you talking about?

Dangerous animals that for decades were at small manageable numbers!, but were placed on the endangered species list so people and pets can once again feel threatened!. I never had to worry about Hawks and Bald Eagles attacking my animals until about 3 years ago!. never saw them..

 

[GregbkH]

I live out in the sticks and have coyotes, bobcats, fishers occasional bears and once in a while wolves. I mainly see just the coyotes and sometimes bobcats. I try to manage my land for deer as in food plots. My front yard is a 3 acre plot that butts onto the neighbors 40 acre ag field and my back yard is 40 acres of wooded ridges that join my other neighbors woods. I hated to hear the sounds of a pack of coyotes when they were making a kill so 5 years ago I rescued a black mouth cur dog. The kind of dog the book Old Yeller was based on. He is 80 lbs, about twice the size of a coyote and he does not tolerate them being in his territory. He runs them off very effectively. Sometimes if there are multiple coyotes, he runs up to my door to get me for help if they don't flee the scene. I've only shot 2 of them this way because usually when I come to the door the coyotes see me and then run away.

Now I have another rescue dog, a female pitbull mix to help each other out. They are a good coyote deterrent. Her name is Zeva and his is MF Jones. Great watch dogs.

 

[MossRoad]

Dangerous animals that for decades were at small manageable numbers!, but were placed on the endangered species list so people and pets can once again feel threatened!. I never had to worry about Hawks and Bald Eagles attacking my animals until about 3 years ago!. never saw them..

I've never seen reports of hawks or bald eagles killing human babies. Maybe someone can help me, here.

Apparently you're suggesting that the balance of nature should be skewed by humans to eliminate all predators.

 

[gsganzer]

I just shot one Friday morning in my front pasture just behind my house. He was standing right on the fence line eying the neighbors ducks and goats. One shot with my .22LR and he was down. So far this year, I shot a bobcat and now this coyote. I just need a fox and I'll have a trifecta.

The neighbor down the road has always hunted the coyotes pretty hard and keeps them in check. Unfortunately, he just sold his place and is moving. The new owners are city folks, so I'm not expecting the same level of coyote control from them.:scratchchin:

 

[MossRoad]

Some interesting reading....

The Coyote Effect - Union Sportsmen's Alliance

 

[Beltzington]

Some interesting reading....

The Coyote Effect - Union Sportsmen's Alliance

I have read several predation studies and the overall scientific take away is they just aren't sure, less coyotes, more fawns survive and than starve due to overfeeding. Historically anytime man has tried to manage nature it has turned into a gaggle.

Personally I have not seen the deer herds significantly impacted either way by the local coyote population.

To the OP if you feel your pets or livestock is threatened you have the right to protect your castle, just remember a bullet can't be recalled so pay attention to your direction of fire. Like others have said it is very likely the coyotes will move on their own. One year it seemed we had a dozen coyotes in the woods behind our house, one morning I looked in my back yard and my dog and a coyote were running side by side on opposite sides of the chain link fence. Since then I have not seen a coyote within 2-miles of our house.

 

[oosik]

I think one of the most telling statements - 2011, South Carolina, 32,000 coyotes killed. No impact on the deer population.

Again - sooner or later, you might realize that the "urban mentality" will do no good out here in the boondocks.

As has been indicated in South Carolina - Mother Nature plays a much stronger hand than all the hunter could muster.