COYOTES

[riptides]

They like to traverse our property frequently. Have multiplied in the last few years. Quite a serenade
at night now.

 

[Jstpssng]

Not coyotes, but I now have a weasel problem. I came home last night and my best laying hen was on the floor of the coop, obviously in distress. I picked her up and her entrails were hanging out her tail. Dang! I didn't have my axe in the truck and am not much on wringing their neck so I brought her outside and put a bullet in her head. As soon as it gets light I'll be out setting a trap for the little bugger.

 

[jamesmm]

I used to spend a bunch of time outside on farms and ranches back in AZ when I was growing up. Later as an adult, not so much.

I know this will rile some folks up, but I guess I'm the odd man out.

I have personally watched packs of coyotes pull newborn calves out of their mothers while being born. I've watched them kill the calf, not eat it, and then start chewing on the back side of the mother cow while she was still laying down. Some of those cows had to be put down as the wounds were too severe to save them. I had to shoot a few cows myself for this reason. I've watched coyotes circling herds during calving, waiting for the opportune moment to swoop in and pull a calf. It was so bad for a while that guys would post up with rifles around the herds and shoot at any 'yote they saw. It would discourage them for a while, and then they would be back. We would shoot any coyote we got a set of sights on. Didn't matter what they were "up to". Get a bead on one, and BANG. No more coyote. Was it imagined? Nope. Happened frequently enough that come calving season, we'd ask around our circle of friends to see who was free to provide guard duty.

Would we get completely rid of them? No. Not ever.

But the idea was to deter them, and make the survivors want to hunt somewhere else. My personal reckoning was that it worked. We started losing far fewer calves and cows each season.

I guess it depends on where in the country you are? What other habitat there was? Dunno, frankly don't care. 'Yotes were a problem for a few years in a row, until they weren't. Chalk it up to aggressive 'yote management if you want, or not.

But there it is. Just my own personal Milo Manheim historical sampling, from decades ago, before Disney started making musical cartoons like Lion King, and ranchers and farmers (at least in AZ) still knew what was what.

Mmmmm, Interesting approach.

 

[oosik]

Years ago I lured the coyotes in with a boom box and a squealing rabbit tape. I had a gun but had no intention of shooting. I was surprised, and somewhat scared, how close they would come before becoming spooked. When they got the closest - you wondered if it was the noise from the boom box or me that was attracting them.

If they only knew - I was no tender spring chicken.

 

[Rockbadchild]

oosik you are a good neighbor for saying yes, it will help him alot by saying yes and I am sure that favor will bounce back your way someday... I have no empathy for coyotes we didn't have them years ago in my area but, now they are everywhere... I have a little bit more empathy for wolfs but even then, the population need to be kept in check.

 

[oosik]

It's been two days now. No airplanes or copters and no - boom, boom. It's been high overcast - nothing that should stop a small plane or copter. I'll have to call my neighbor and see what's happening.

 

[Langanobob]

Here is an older, long and very interesting coyote thread.

Found a coyote, I think

My neighbor was out walking behind our two places the other day and found a baby puppy just a few days old. It was in a burn area with no brush at about 5,000 ft elevation. She put it in a paper bag with a rag in the bottom and fed her a bit with an eye dropper, then called us to come see and...

www.tractorbynet.com

We live in the middle of coyote country and they’ve never been a problem, I think because there are plenty of rabbits and rodents in general to keep them happy.

I remember reading somewhere that trying to exterminate coyotes is a fool’s errand. Their birth rate increases to more than compensate.

 

[MossRoad]

Here is an older, long and very interesting coyote thread.

Found a coyote, I think

My neighbor was out walking behind our two places the other day and found a baby puppy just a few days old. It was in a burn area with no brush at about 5,000 ft elevation. She put it in a paper bag with a rag in the bottom and fed her a bit with an eye dropper, then called us to come see and...

www.tractorbynet.com

We live in the middle of coyote country and they’ve never been a problem, I think because there are plenty of rabbits and rodents in general to keep them happy.

I remember reading somewhere that trying to exterminate coyotes is a fool’s errand. Their birth rate increases to more than compensate.

Same thing with mice, yet we don't want them in our house or garage.

 

[Rockbadchild]

Here is an older, long and very interesting coyote thread.

Found a coyote, I think

My neighbor was out walking behind our two places the other day and found a baby puppy just a few days old. It was in a burn area with no brush at about 5,000 ft elevation. She put it in a paper bag with a rag in the bottom and fed her a bit with an eye dropper, then called us to come see and...

www.tractorbynet.com

We live in the middle of coyote country and they’ve never been a problem, I think because there are plenty of rabbits and rodents in general to keep them happy.

I remember reading somewhere that trying to exterminate coyotes is a fool’s errand. Their birth rate increases to more than compensate.

When it's not a problem it's not and you don't have to deal with it or even think about it, but when it is action need to be taken if not there is not point having wild stock or domesticate animals around other than feeding the coyote or wolfs.

It's not about exterminating them it's about decreasing the surrounding population or to move them away or to show them this is your territory and that you are a threat to them. Once you take one out of a pack the other knows what's up.

 

[jaxs]

It's not about exterminating them it's about decreasing the surrounding population or to move them away or to show them this is your territory and that you are a threat to them. Once you take one out one out of a pack the other knows what's up.

I lean toward your philosophy that it isn't always necessary calling in the calvary with airplanes. If you must protect property for one reason or another, a lot can be accomplished by taking out 1 or 2 when there's opportunity. Even a missed shot or dog chase that doesn't result in capture can make them think twice before coming around again. I recall two times my dad didn't have a gun when he saw a coyote and yelled at the top of his lungs. Once was while driving along on the way to buy groceries ,he stopped,jumped out and yelled get out of here you *!%&@^#. We had a large flock of free range chickens and ducks that never fell prey to coyotes. Our farm dogs were smaller than coyotes but were protective so I'm sure sure they played a part. On the subject of dogs a neighbor kid told my brother his dog was afraid of his shadow and wouldn't fight a cottontail. My brother said skit him Ricky and the kid climbed the bumper,accross the hood and onto cab of his truck when the dog let go of his pant leg.