Coyotes - too close?

[Ken45101]

Over the years, we have lost a couple of small dogs that we suspect the coyotes are responsible for. Yesterday, the dogs returned the favor:

I had heard the dogs barking like they were after a 'coon. By the time I walked back there, they had finished the encounter and quieted down.

OTOH, last winter I found a pair of coyotes within 50' of where the horses were grazing. The horses were totally ignoring the coyotes so obviously they didn't feel there was any threat.

Ken

 

[dmccarty]

We have coyotes around us but so far they have not caused us problems. When we first moved to our place I saw a coyote one morning trotting down the driveway. He saw us, stopped, went into the wood line, watched us. THAT bothered me. My dad brought up a coyote caller later on and he called in a coyote. Unfortunately he had take my GSD we him, and she chased off the coyote.

I have not see one since. I do hear them from time to time but not often. There is a power line south of us and I think they use that as a highway. I hear them off in that direction but no longer see them around our house.

I do not buy that shooting them does not control them. It does. It might not control the population but if it takes out the more brazen animals and keeps them off your property or away from what you value, then there is control.

Later,
Dan

 

[forgeblast]

A friend of mine has llamas and alpacas. Her dog got in their area, and they had one llama hold its attention while the other two were boxing it in. They were going to take it out. She was able to get in there and get him out but it was a close call.
Guard Llamas
this site has some good testimonials.

 

[scott_vt]

This old guy in the photos below is fearless. I've seen him with a smaller companion, just moving along after he realized that I walked around the barn and found him there.

Good Mornin California,
I have to wonder how fearless hewould be in the sights of my Ruger 22-250 !

Have your gun ready, and when not in line with your city neighbor dweller,pay him a visit !

The sheep farmer up the street from me took one out attempting to gain entry to his chicken coop..... the coyote lost !

 

[nybirdman]

We have been living with coyotes for many years.We shoot on sight,which is not very often.There are some locals that run them with hounds...they kill hundreds every year.Our coyotes can be pretty large,DNA test show wolf hybrids,up to sixty pounds.Once you have coyotes you will never be rid of them.

 

[TripleR]

We have been living with coyotes for many years.We shoot on sight,which is not very often.There are some locals that run them with hounds...they kill hundreds every year.Our coyotes can be pretty large,DNA test show wolf hybrids,up to sixty pounds.Once you have coyotes you will never be rid of them.

I sure believe that, I would just like to cut the population down a bit. My brother loses cats to them as well as a couple of dogs.

 

[Pete Judd]

They took out all my ducks a couple of times, so I don't keep ducks anymore. I am getting ready to start raising chickens, and know that I will have to be very good a designing a pen and hen house that is coyote proof. I also keep loaded 22's in both the shop and the house, to help deal with this problem.

 

[check 6]

Good Mornin California,
I have to wonder how fearless hewould be in the sights of my Ruger 22-250 !

Have your gun ready, and when not in line with your city neighbor dweller,pay him a visit !

The sheep farmer up the street from me took one out attempting to gain entry to his chicken coop..... the coyote lost !

Always been my favorite varmint round. A Remington 40X with a 12 power target scope will reach out and take care of the problem.

 

[nybirdman]

They took out all my ducks a couple of times, so I don't keep ducks anymore. I am getting ready to start raising chickens, and know that I will have to be very good a designing a pen and hen house that is coyote proof. I also keep loaded 22's in both the shop and the house, to help deal with this problem.

I raise pheasant,about 1500 a year.The best thing I every did to keep out predators is a two strand electric fence.One strand at six inches and another at two ft.Mine is set up with a dusk/dawn timer..don't have to worry about kids or dogs at the fence.Another thing to do is bury about a foot of wire around the outside.I had a lot more problems with raccoons than coyotes or fox.Net the top to keep the hawks and owls out.

 

[bcp]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQbXSl1ReuQ]Trixxie being attacked by a coyote and rescued by Happy - YouTube[/ame]

 

[creekbend]

Trixxie being attacked by a coyote and rescued by Happy - YouTube

Was that another one of your dogs-Happy- that came to the rescue? Trixxie probably would not be alive, if it weren't for Happy's heroic deed.:thumbsup:

 

[bcp]

Was that another one of your dogs-Happy- that came to the rescue? Trixxie probably would not be alive, if it weren't for Happy's heroic deed.:thumbsup:

Not mine-found it on Youtube.

Amazing how fast it happens. Coyote comes out at 0:05, catches dog, and is halfway back by 0:10.

Bruce

 

[creekbend]

Not mine-found it on Youtube.

Amazing how fast it happens. Coyote comes out at 0:05, catches dog, and is halfway back by 0:10.

Bruce

I am glad that your dog or pet wasn't involved. You are quite correct in stating that the event happened so fast. I watched the video twice in order to capture the chain of events.

 

[Kyle241]

Coyotes are smart predators and will take advantage of anything whether it's a cat or small dog or a farm animal it can handle. Unfortunately it is what they are like and that is nature. We have no fears for coyotes and only last week a pack was right off the side of my house. They have never been that close but likely it's due to the fact we have chickens this year and they were snug and safe in a closed coop behind a completely fenced in run so no worries there. As for our dogs, we have two small dogs, a Rat Terrier and Pug that could easily be targets but we also have three Greyhounds that would scare them off and our area for the dogs is a half acre fenced in that the coyotes can't get in. We made it this way because we wanted to keep our dogs in and other things out. The only things that do get in and don't get out are the squirrels as our Greys run them down.

Basically I am saying that I would leave the Coyotes be unless you are feeling far too uncomfortable and then it's you decision to act appropriately. These days living the country and sometimes in suburbia will bring you close to wildlife.

 

[Chilly807]

We've had recent problems here with coyotes becoming aggressive towards humans, in one case a young woman was killed by one in a National Park, several others have been attacked and bitten.

Coyotes kill Toronto singer in Cape Breton - Nova Scotia - CBC News

Coyote attacks girl in N.S. national park - Nova Scotia - CBC News

While this isn't common behaviour, they are starting to lose their fear of humans, whether through steady exposure or inter-breeding with feral/domestic dogs.

I've seen several passing through our yard (rural area) over the past couple of years. If they start loitering for any period of time, I'll start shooting them when possible. It won't "control the population", but it will weed out the more aggressive animals and put some fear/respect in the survivors.

Sean

 

[toppop52]

Eastern coyotes are a nasty mix of coy/wolf/dog, run in packs, are much larger and more dangerous than typical western, southern Appalachian/Florida coyotes. The further from the northeast they spread, the more they spread the DNA to the local population, within 20-30 years all the coyotes east of the Rockies will likely be the bigger pack animals vs smaller loners. That is a problem.

 

[toppop52]

recently fisher cats have shown up in small numbers, those things are a bit freaky.

They're just weasels with a fancy name!

 

[nybirdman]

Eastern coyotes are a nasty mix of coy/wolf/dog, run in packs, are much larger and more dangerous than typical western, southern Appalachian/Florida coyotes. The further from the northeast they spread, the more they spread the DNA to the local population, within 20-30 years all the coyotes east of the Rockies will likely be the bigger pack animals vs smaller loners. That is a problem.

The local colleges DNA test showed that the coyotes (in the northeast) were a mix of coyote and red and gray wolves.Not domestic dogs.We see color phases of almost white to red and total black.They always have pointed ears and a round bushy tail.If they were mixed with dogs you would see floppy ears,curly tails ,spots ect..you get the picture.They don't breed with domestics but they do eat them.
At the Blue Mountain musem in Blue mt.Lake,NY..they had what they thought was the last Red Wolf shot in the Adriondacks..guess what after testing it was Red Wolf and Coyote.

 

[toppop52]

When I was a kid in eastern NC the Red Wolf was thought to be almost extinct, but near the southeastern edge of the Dismal Swamp in an area known locally as Hale's Lake, though there is no lake there, at least not in my lifetime, there was a fairly constant population. We use to run up on them at night coon hunting 2-3 times a year, and heard them calling regularly. Then there were no coyotes at all in the area.
The coy/dog is known to exist but may only be the result of human induced breeding and not occur naturally, I don't know the answer to that. I do know that mixing with red wolves would be preferable to mixing with gray's due to the size and personality of each.

 

[drssg]

I generally don't have a problem with coyotes. They make a lot of noise at night, but I almost never see one. I also believe they help control the population of other critters, like rabbits and ground hogs. On very rare occasion, I'll see one that seems to have lost its natural fear of people. I will kill these, because I believe that behavior is potentially dangerous.

To the OP, I would find that coyote to be too close. I expect them to not hang out in the open too much in broad daylight. I expect them to run away if they see me; otherwise, I think something is wrong.