where are the coyotes?

[wroughtn_harv]

Pet dogs are still dogs.

If you live in an area where there's other people's property or livestock and your dog infringes on them your dog is susceptible to being killed legally.

Just last year on a Sunday returning home after a weekend out of town we stopped by my shop. Two dogs, an obvious pair, with collars and tags had my goats up on a trailer cornered. As I opened the gate they charged me. Now fewer things will get my back up higher than something threatening me on my own property. I charged back.

I didn't shoot the dogs. I called the police and told them to get their butts over to my place before I did though. One of the cops came out of his car and was immediately charged by the dogs. His partner hit the gas and the siren at the same time and put his vehicle between the other officer and the dogs. He ran the dogs out of the yard with the car and siren.

I eventually found the owner of the dogs. I explained to them what had happened, what could have happened, and made them a personal guarantee of what would happen if it occured again. They haven't been back.

The Sylmar quake in the early seventies in So California had an interesting effect on the pet dog population there. It seems the quake was so violent that a large percentage of the pet dogs in the area ran to the mountains. There they packed up and turned feral over night. The authorities eventually had to bring in hunters to hunt down and remove them because they were marauding.

It's sorta funny how it works. Cat people think folks who have dogs that kill cats are heatherns. Yet cats kill more for entertainment than dogs do. And of course folks who have dogs for pets can't believe that their pets would kill a man's goats or cows. We all seem to forget they're carnivores first and pets second.

I lost four cats in a twelve month period this year and last. I suspect to coyotes. Most dogs aren't smart enough to successfully hunt cats for food. I have chickens and goats down at the shop. I haven't had a problem with them being prey. I suspect it's because we've had such a wet winter, ten plus inches above normal to date, and the rabbits and rats are so abundant.

But I do expect that if it was a dry period and the natural prey wasn't flourishing so I would have a problem. After all, coyotes are just dogs smart enough not to need to be someone's pet to survive.

 

[beenthere]

I agree with your comments and thoughts. I was thinking of using the treble hook to hang the meat up in a tree, and catch the coyote jumping for it. But the death that way isn't quick enough and therefore I doubt I would do it. I usually use the box trap but only have one big enough for racoon. I have the leg hold traps, but don't often use them.

 

[EdKing]

<font color=blue>I usually use the box trap but only have one big enough for racoon. </font color=blue>

You can build a larger box trap from local materials. I'm sure a search on the net will turn up plans for making one. Leg hold traps are not as bad as people make them out to be. In my youth when I trapped for extra income, I caught quite a few dogs and cats at times, and none were injured badly. Tricky part was releaseing them without getting bitten or clawed. I actually caught one neighbors dog twice before it figured out to stay away from my sets, the dog never showed any ill effects from being caught.

 

[DAP]

<font color=blue>I eventually found the owner of the dogs. I explained to them what had happened, what could have happened, and made them a personal guarantee of what would happen if it occured again. They haven't been back.</font color=blue>

Umm ... sounds like you're having a difficult time agreeing with me, which you just did. Clearly, any problem with a domesticated animal is really a problem with another human being(s). It's amazing how utterly irresponsible people can be with their pets (sticking to the topic here).

People are people and some are better at it than others. You coulda put those animals down but you didn't. You might next time and I would not fault your decision to do so. I would have handled that situation exactly the way you did. The earlier poster has different ideas, like shooting first and omitting the asking questions later part altogether.

Nopers, sorry, panhandle or not, if it's somebodies pet, I would make every effort to engage the owners first, as it is really their responsbility. A word to the wise is usually sufficient. A word to the unwise is often unheard.

If out in the panhandle, people have domestic dogs that are more feral than domestic, that's a huge problem, but not the dog's problem .... it's the owner and the infringed upon who have to deal with the mess. Putting down a stray without some basic inquiry within reason seems to be rather wreckless IN MY OPINION ...

 

[Bayrat]

drpepper,

I love animals, unfortunately the dog control officers around here don't take the job seriously. I have called in the same two or three dogs for running deer on my property and he "talks" to the owners when he can find them. His words to me are about the same as what you say you do. Fortunately I have not had to go that far yet. Yes I love animals, I try to have a different one for dinner every night to show my affection towards them. The only one I have had trouble with is the skunk, I had to throw him into the field after I shot him off my deck /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif. Was just a minor disagreement we had, he thought my back yard, deck, pool area and tulip bulbs were his.

We adopted our last two animals, the cat came from the county animal shelter and the dog from a relative. Some people are caring for their animals as good as they are their children it seems, that is not at all if they can get someone else to do it.

My cat does a great job of mousing around here, just a bit concerned with the coyotes getting him. I had a pair of them walking all around the place, including in my back yard a couple years ago, since then they have kept their distance. I'm not sure if the 410 skeet load had anything to do with that or not.

Weeellll.... live and let live, what the heck did our ancestors bother dying for??? They could have made peace with the English, the tax rate was a hell of a lot less!! But then, they weren't trying to re-populate the new world with displaced wildlife species while viewing life through a fog. They had to work every day at a real job to survive, no safety net so to speak.

 

[tugokc]

If I could change the angle on this thread a bit, what is a reliable way to keep skunks away from the house? A long way from the house if possible.

 

[JC4HD]

"As far as coyote vs deer, only an injurred, sick, or infirm deer is at much risk. In general even a pack of coyote don't mess with deer much".
Here in New York depending on how much snow is on the ground and how many snowmobile tracks there are has something to do with how many deer are killed by Coyotes! Often in deep snow with a crust or on a snowmobile trail through the woods Coyotes can run on top deer can't... In the winter when food is hard to come by deer are targets! One early spring I came across 11 deer carcasses that were pretty well torn apart and mostly eaten... Game Warden said it was Coyotes!

 

[Egon]

Houseboat. Anchored way out.

Egon

 

[Bayrat]

I have used a multitude of things. Dogs, amonia, moth balls (get them in the spring, they are largest then), hot peppers mixed with dog food on a Ritz, and as a last resort my shotgun. The next generation always seems to come around sooner or later though /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif.

 

[buck1]

Not in our area. Here their prime food sources are rabbits, quail eggs, young turkey and turkey eggs (according to the latest conservation polls). Foxes consume most of the rats around here. I'm not a fan of killing ALL coyotes but cutting their numbers...DEFINITELY /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif