Wildlife is ganging up on me

Just an hour ago dog (GSD) is out side barking, so I go to the window and see 3 varmints just behind my garage.

Target practice.

Looks like a good start to a new hat and jacket to me.

Mark

Looks like a good spot to shoot right where you took the pictre

Coyotes are getting thick on many places. With the Deer herds being larger and fewer people hunting their population has exploded in many places. IF your in an area that allows hunting/shooting varmints then I would do so. The three your seeing is just a few of what is there. Your dogs and cats are in danger.

The coyotes are thick around me in that we have natural limestone bluffs all around that are riddled with small caves for them to den in. We usually shoot 25-50 a year. I carry a rifle on the tractor whenever I am in the pastures.

JD Seller hit the nail on the head.

Years ago when I had sheep on the place there were coyotes around but never bothered anything. I was going to shoot them but was advised not to. I was told that coyotes are very territorial and if I killed these that didn't cause trouble then others would invade that possibly would cause trouble.

That's the way I look at it. If they start any trouble,I guess we'll have to do something,but I'd just as soon leave them alone and I wish these Daniel Boone types who think they have to kill anything that moves would leave them alone too. All I've ever seen them do is go after rodents when I'm moving round bales.

I'm with you rrlund, if the wildlife leaves me alone, I return the favor. These people that feel superior to all else and think it's their right to kill anything that moves sicken me.

Well, I am like Mike and rrlund...they have been around here for years and I have never lost a calf or cat...but this was a first time too see 3 at one time. What I like about having them around, is the loss of all the groundhogs...they are pretty near extinct around here.

It sure is nice being able to make hay without having to dodge holes.

I have a rooster that we put out of the chicken house last spring, he was causing trouble with the wife. So I let him free roam the barn lots. There is also one barn cat out there and another that goes back and forth between the house and barns.

There was also 3 coons eating cat food and grain until they ended up in a manure pile....lol...

So, I'll see how this goes for awhile longer before I go Rambo on them coyotes, lol.

I'm not a Daniel Booner. But i will shoot every yote and cat I see on my property.

I wouldn't go that far. Varmints have to be kept at bay or you will spend a fortune feeding the dirty rascals. Between the deer, coyotes, coon, mice and rats, a farmer is busy.
You city folks do enough damage feeding the birds.

But yes there are those folks around here that think everything needs to be shot on sight..one example...

Is HAWKS. Man I love to watch them things swoop in and catch mice and snakes while I am mowing pastures. Did not have any around here for several years then about 4 years ago they moved back in and last summer I seen up to 3-4 at a time while I was mowing. I have also noticed a decrease in the number of small nuisance birds, and that's a blessing to my sweet corn patch.

Randy I am glad yours do not kill livestock. The ones around here do. I have had calves killed and back when we pasture farrowed hogs they would really go after the young piglets. For the poster commenting about being a "Daniel Boone" type well I want them to see a young calf killed and it guts eat an the rest left to rot. That is a year's worth of investment gone. Just a few years ago I had two farm dogs mauled bad enough they had to be put down.

Until about 20 years ago I was like you guy , live and let live, with the coyotes. I then lost six calves in two weeks one spring. I had the remaining cattle ran through the pasture fences about a month after that. So we started hunting the coyotes. In the next three months we got over 50 of the darn things.

Even now we get any where between 25-50 a year and at night the chorus is still strong.

I would say that the fellows that are not having issues are in areas that do not have places for them to den well. The reason being is that they do populate fast when they have food and habitat.

I agree with live and let live but this past 3 months I have lost 5 calves to coyotes and that is a big loss to my 32 head herd got 4 of them so far calves are what pay for my farm every year [/list]

Reading the posts below I see that some say leave them be, others say shoot them. I can see both points. But maybe you don't want them too near the house. Would it be a comprinuse and worth a shot (pun intended) to shoot near them, making the bullet hit 8 or 10 ft away to let them see you don't line them near? If there is trouble later or it doesn't work you can always get them later.

I agree with you on liking to see hawks out in nature,but they've reached critical mass around here. We've had a lot of kittens come up missing. About a year ago the wife heard a commotion in the barn when it was about half dark,walked around the corner to go in the door and a big bird flew out carrying a kitten. It about hit her on it's way out. I'm not sure yet if it's a hawk or an owl,but if I ever get a shot at it,it's a gonner. Not that we need anymore cats around here,but the thought of them meeting their demise in such a violent way turns my stomach. Same thing will happen to a coyote if they get to be a problem,but I've got a real problem with taking them all out if there's only one that has lost its fear of man and needs to go.

Wish I was there with my new toy! Probably could have got all 3. . . .

I've heard that it's a regional thing. More of a problem in the states farther west. Like JD says,maybe it a den and habitat thing. Wolves in the UP of Michigan are a problem I guess,but coyotes in the lower,not so much. We have such a problem with over population of deer,turkeys,sandhill cranes and geese that we desperately need a predator of some kind around to thin them out,and until they become a problem with the cattle,and with the low population of them,I don't think they will,I say leave them alone here.

If they are that close to the house, shoot them. We have them around here, and the grand children like to wander on ht side of the hill behind the house Luckily we have a guy who makes money hunting and trapping them.

I'm not lumping you in with him,but I've got a nephew who's so numb to killing things that he's just not normal. He'll bring home cats then laugh while his dog kills and dismembers them. He bought nine calves this spring,then wouldn't call the vet or listen to anybody with experience to save their lives. Six of them died and all he seemed to care about was the money that he lost and not about how they suffered and died a slow death.
People like that who have no respect for life at all are a problem in my book.

I am also a live and let live sort. My neighbor called me the "friend to wildlife" this year when I talked to him. A big snake in the barn is cause to celebrate because I see an ally against mice. Hawks take a few birds around the place, but I love the things anyway. Owls are even better. Love them calling at night. What is going on in your yard is not something I would get all warm and fuzzy about. Yes, they eat a lot of pest animals, but the ones in the picture are stalking your dog. If they can provoke the dog into chasing them off into the woods then your dog is likely a goner. These are VERY smart animals who would attack you if they thought they could get away with it. Probably not, but they are going to eventually take your dog and you will never keep a cat on the place with them there. We have a LOT of coyote here and they are increasingly a problem as they get more used to people. Understanding that you are a live and let live person, my advice to you is to keep a loaded rifle handy and the next time they show up like that shoot the one you believe is the leader and let the others run off. Shoot any that stop and look back. The rest will learn the lesson and you will have fewer coyotes and those few will understand the rules of the game.

The problem with them is when they lose fear of humans or learn that domestic livestock is good prey. A bird feeder during a hard winter will bring them in, as they are after mice, then what eats mice and up the food chain. It could even be the fallen grains. Although I have warded a few off, even grazed one 2 years ago, you don't know whether its enough to send one packing from fear, or he'll just wait it out and come back.

The DEC page below is fairly accurate in my opinion based on my experience with them.
They recognize the danger and I have seen first hand how a full grown adult coyote (eastern variety is large) run adult whitetail deer, domestic livestock, depending, is easier prey.

The other video below is of some fool, (he does use explicit language a few times) messing with a coyote. Ignore the foolish behavior of the person, but watch closely how at first he could have warded this coyote off, even more so with a firearm and warning shot. Instead, because of his behavior, that coyote immediately gained confidence and was no doubt looking at him as prey to wear down over time. Add another or two and you have yourself in a bad situation. They run deer, corner then when exhausted, then start tearing into them until over time they die, its nature, but extremely nasty. They'll do the same to you if given the chance, same with livestock, pets and small children.

Don't take chances with them, if they are near ones home or farm/outbuildings, its well past time to dispatch them. Who knows whether the guy in the video or someone else was feeding or otherwise causing this coyote to lose fear, but the end result is the same no matter how it happens. He will distract you and the one you don't see will try to either take you down or wear you down enough to create an opportunity for a kill.

My slow moving elderly mother resides here and I had one 100 feet from the house that lost his fear of humans. She would be easy prey when headed to the mailbox at a snails pace. He was grazed with a .308 and never returned, my intent was to kill, he was lucky, and one of or the largest I have ever seen too. Same one moved into a 55 gallon drum on its side with no top in my yard during the harsh winter of '14-'15. Weather plays a role, a hard winter and someone with a birdfeeder can expect them to show up. I see all kinds of things in their droppings, mice, berries, fish scales from fish they have gotten whether its remains from dead ones or what, hard to believe they can catch live ones.
NYS DEC/Coyotes

Coyote & Human idiot

If that where to happen where I live there would be a gun set close by the door during the day so I could step out and see if I could get rid of at least one if not all of them. This year during deer season a coyote made the mistake of being sen by my son and he did not get far and a 2nd one found out what a bullet felt like but did run off.

Ditto. There thick as ticks here in the low habitat. If you're seeing them there are more you're not seeing. 2 mild winters and this years start makes it easy on them so they multiply. Turn 'em inside out before mange makes them fall apart.

I'd be concerned with them that close to the house.

We have an open door hunting policy here; if you ask, you get permission, provided you 1)don't drive in fields, 2) be respectful to other hunters, 3) see a raccoon, make sure he is dead. However, I don't allow hunting of preditors. We have too many deer, turkey, coon, sandhill cranes, etc. We need all the help we can get.

We have never had any calf trouble with coyotes, and we have had them in huts in remote locations for years.

Another experience I had (this one in NY state). I was working for a dairy in Lansing NY in the early 90's. There were some Coy Dogs that would come in around the buildings at night one winter when the snow got really deep in the woods. They would get close enough that if they howled in the dark, it would scare the #$%^^ out of you. They were right there by the milking parlor. Through all of that, if there was a placenta or a dead calf in the afternoon it was gone by morning. And there were plenty of live calves there, too. And none were ever touched.

Maybe we've been lucky, but most of those critters seem to leave you alone, and important stuff alone, if you do the same. And then hopefully they help get rid of the stuff that eats our corn, etc.

I've posted these pics before but here are some eastern red coyotes....

I wouldn't let them get that close. At the very least, I would scare them away. They will lure a dog out and kill it. It will be a very brutal death and a lot worse that the shot from a rifle. I love animals but there are just too many cyotes around here. One local farmer trapped 50+ one winter. Dogs will also pack up and kill livestock. There was a lot of trouble with that when there were more sheep around. Some of the dogs were farmers pets and had to be euthanized.

Speaking of coyotes...
I saw this video.on liveleak a couple of nights ago.
Click here

James and I are also pretty much live and let live folks. You are right about the coyotes stalking the dog. We have had a coyote chase one of our dogs twice. James was on the tractor and did not have a rifle or it would have been over for the coyote.

The coyote was so focused on our dog who was literally running for her life back to James, it never realized one of our other dogs who hates coyotes was right on his tail and closing.

They finally got too close to James and the tractor for the coyote's comfort and it made a left turn. That's when the coyote got a unpleasant surprise. Jesse missed getting the coyote by maybe 1/2 inch.

Even though Jesse outweighed the coyote by a good 30 lbs, it would have been ugly and Jesse would not have gotten out of it without some wounds.

We haven't had another incident since then.

Here in E. Tx and even in cities, they have become very bold.

I saw two within 30 yds of the house, but never saw them again.

They will run deer, we saw two do that close to the shop several years ago and it was about 10:00 in the morning.

Just wish they could put a sizable dent in the wild hog population.

Oh, I usually leave them alone, but they're farther away from me than those in your pic. They don't take down any of my animals either. If they did, well that's a different story. There is open season here on raccoons and possum that try to get in with the chickens.

I've got a cousin who hunts in Montana and Idaho every year. He says it's always open season on them out there too. He says they'll pack up on a cow with a calf,keep going in and nipping on the calf until they have it pretty weak. Eventually the cow will have to leave it and go for water and then they finish it off. Our pastures are small enough here and the coyotes aren't in packs,so it just doesn't happen. God help anything that gets in with the cows when they have calves on them. I've seen them maul woodchucks and even make a large snapping turtle's life miserable.

I lost a good dog within 70 feet of my front door this spring, Coyotes are DRT if I have a gun.

We have a very high coyote population and unfortunately they find domestic livestock,small dogs,cats and poultry a lot easier to kill than wildlife.

We occasionally have coyotes come thru our area. Our dogs (timber wolf mix) spend the day in our fenced yard (6' fence), and the nights in a pen with a 6'fence. One night when the dogs were about a year and a half old, a Coyote got into the yard. Our male dog lit off, setting off the female to howling. The coyote was gone in a flash and they have never come back to our side of the road.
Tim in OR

When I was working nights, I had to pick up a load the company yard near Olympia. The yard is on the edge of a forested area that is home to many natural critters. One night (2-3 AM) I was tying down my load in a dark area when suddenly I heard the yipping of a pack of Coyotes CLOSE. I (having a sense of humor) let loose with a Tarzan yell. All was quiet after that. I figure that was easier than beating them back with a winch bar.
Tim in OR

The one's down here in Alabama are getting bigger as they breed with the larger dogs. We have two packs living close by my farm. Them things make the biggest ruckus. I have to laugh at the red head because she is so afraid of those things when they start up at night. I don't much like them because they take a big hit on the fawn population. As the 'yotes have increased, the deer are going down hill around here. The little deer still come out of the woods at night and cross one of my fields and stay in a small about 5 acre plot in front of my house. I've seen them right on the heels of a fawn they were about to eat. I read recently in a report here in my state that they eat about 7-8 fawns per coyote per year. That means as the coyotes increase more....my deer decrease more. I know you serious farmers don't much like deer, but I like to hunt and no one around me grows any serious crops anymore. Just mostly cows. Dang things can run 42.9 MPH. That's fast in my book....fast than this old fart can run.....lol :shock:

http://speedofanimals.com/animals/coyote


Varmints eat lots of fawns. Good read on prey vs coyote/bobcats.

https://gameandgarden.com/sustainability/land/do-coyotes-affect-deer-populations/

They can bring down larger deer too. Like this healthy 6 point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guQDH_fPydQ

The people that want to not kill Coyotes are the ones that don't have them,they are about the worst thing that's ever hit my farm.I'm up to 8 livestock guard dogs now these Great Pyrenees
are capable of killing a coyote no problem.They also scare the bears off as people hunt bears with dogs around me so the bears avoid dogs.

We never had coyotes here until the early 70's. They have come right to the manure pile behind the barn in broad daylight when we had dairy cows. We never lost anything to them and the numbers do seem to be dropping. The scariest incident here involves a BTO getting a dead deer in his chisel plow and dragging it until it worked loose not far from my neighbours house. After the second night the neighbour is behind his garage looking for something and sees the carcass. When he gets close he can see that the coyotes have tried to drag the deer carcass away. That was much too close to home. I could never have sheep on pasture again. The worry would be too much.