Coyote Nesting Near Our Property - Concern for Kitties

[dlgoff]

Coyotes require immediate intervention. As far as I know, they are always shot.

Get a coyote call (rabbit scream) and try to get that sucker to come to you.

 

[turbo]

Get a coyote call (rabbit scream) and try to get that sucker to come to you.

That works! My cousin's husband night-hunts for coyotes and that's what he uses. Not surprisingly, he also calls in Great Horned owls that come in very quietly and scare the crap out of him. He now has a roof on his blind.

 

[dlgoff]

...Great Horned owls that come in very quietly and scare the crap out of him.

Oh yea. I had a Great Horned owl nail a rabbit about 10ft from my sleeping bag on a camping trip in New Mexico. Scared the crap out of me.

 

[SticksandStones]

Wait, wait, wait - are you telling me skunks and bears eat hornets? How can I get one of these majestic creatures on my property?

 

[turbo]

Wait, wait, wait - are you telling me skunks and bears eat hornets? How can I get one of these majestic creatures on my property?

Create a friendly habitat, and let them come to you. I don't use any pesticides, so I have to put up with infestations of Japanese beetles and other pests, but once they are here, the skunks move in and help me, and they are not getting killed off by eating grubs contaminated by pesticides. As for the bears, they were in the area before I got here, and I think that I have an individual (male or female) denning on the back side of my 10 acres, based on the frequency of track-sightings and the disappearances of protein-rich hives on cold nights when the hornets are torpid, and the destruction of my suet-cages in the spring when bears are ravenous for high-fat foods.

Edit: Black bears are very shy, and it's tough to get near enough to them to even spot them unless you are very woods-wise, or you have lulled them by exploiting their late-fall need for calories (baiting). I have been hunting and fishing for over 45 years in some pretty wild areas, and I have only seen a couple of bears in the wild, though I tend to move quietly through the woods. People who walk loudly, talk, snap branches, etc, drive away so much wildlife that they never get to see lots of stuff - a mother otter feeding her kits a trout, a baby moose taking its first steps, etc.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Oh yea. I had a Great Horned owl nail a rabbit about 10ft from my sleeping bag on a camping trip in New Mexico. Scared the crap out of me.

Funny! I bet that would darken the shorts a bit.

Has anyone ever heard a moutain lion? The first time I heard one, honestly, I thought someone was being murdered in the woods. I immediately thought of someone being stabbed to death.

 

[Danger]

Has anyone ever heard a moutain lion?

There was a situation in BC a few decades back, wherein a kid about 10 years old got chased by a cougar. He stumbled, lost one of his gumboots, then recovered and ran home. The neighbourhood got together and went hunting. They found the cat and shot it. Upon autopsy, it turned out that the only thing in Tabby's stomach was the kid's gumboot. It had been starving to death.

 

[OAQfirst]

Funny! I bet that would darken the shorts a bit.

Has anyone ever heard a moutain lion? The first time I heard one, honestly, I thought someone was being murdered in the woods. I immediately thought of someone being stabbed to death.

Like this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKw4OFAu1WM&feature=related

Edit: Just noticed that the photos can be a bit graphic for anyone of sensitive nature.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

There was a situation in BC a few decades back, wherein a kid about 10 years old got chased by a cougar. He stumbled, lost one of his gumboots, then recovered and ran home. The neighbourhood got together and went hunting. They found the cat and shot it. Upon autopsy, it turned out that the only thing in Tabby's stomach was the kid's gumboot. It had been starving to death.

Wow, and that distracted the lion long enough for the kid to get away?

 

[Danger]

Wow, and that distracted the lion long enough for the kid to get away?

Yeah. Weird, huh? I can only assume that there was enough of the kid's scent in it that the cat mistook it for meat.

 

[turbo]

Funny! I bet that would darken the shorts a bit.

Has anyone ever heard a moutain lion? The first time I heard one, honestly, I thought someone was being murdered in the woods. I immediately thought of someone being stabbed to death.

If you have ever heard the night-call of the Green Heron, you would call 911 immediately to save the woman who was screaming. If you've got a green-horn camping and you hear that call, you can have some fun, but you'd better let them in on the "secret" pretty soon or you'll be up all night babysitting a bag of raw nerves.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Like this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKw4OFAu1WM&feature=related

Edit: Just noticed that the photos can be a bit graphic for anyone of sensitive nature.

That sounds pretty close, but the screech part was much longer... and louder. Definitely much louder! [unless you happen to run your audio through a good sound system...]. It was waaaaay to close for comfort. Not something you want to hear while walking through the woods in the dark.

 

[mgb_phys]

In the past 100 years, a total of five people have been killed by cougar attacks in B.C. All but one of these fatal cougar attacks occurred on Vancouver Island. ... there were 29 non-fatal attacks in B.C - 20 of which occurred on Vancouver Island. The vast majority of these attacks were on children under the age of 16.

http://www.britishcolumbia.com/information/details.asp?id=11

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Yeah. Weird, huh? I can only assume that there was enough of the kid's scent in it that the cat mistook it for meat.

Not so weird, I'm pretty sure that this is mentioned as a technique to escape from situations like that. Ideally you can throw him a steak.

In fact, that is true. I remember this now from my days as a Boy Scout. Many campers will put themselves between something like a bear, and their food. The people then get attacked when all the bear really wanted was the food. I remember one story about a guy at Yosemite that decided to keep his bacon safe by putting it under his sleeping bag, with him in the bag!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

http://www.britishcolumbia.com/information/details.asp?id=11

I thought this was interesting.

Mountain lion attacks on people apparently increased dramatically since 1986. For example, in California, there were two fatal attacks in 1890 and 1909, and then no further attacks for 77 years, until 1986. From 1986 through 1995, nine verified attacks occurred, an average rate of almost one per year. Attacks were numerous enough to form a support group for attack victims, called California Lion Awareness (CLAW; Outside, 10/95).

http://tchester.org/sgm/lists/lion_attacks.html

But I know for a fact that this is not accurate. I can remember at least a few actual attacks through the 60s and 70s; and it was fairly common [maybe one set of sightings per year, all relating to the same animal] to hear of sightings in the outlying areas of Los Angeles. It may be that the information just wasn't tracked well.

 

[Danger]

Ideally you can throw him a steak.

If I could afford a steak, I wouldn't be tromping around out in the woods.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I received this in an email this morning.

[URL=http://img26.imageshack.us/my.php?image=catfound.jpg][PLAIN]http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/7373/catfound.jpg[/URL][/PLAIN]

 

[Topher925]

LuL!

 

[mgb_phys]

I thought this was interesting.

Here they were blaming the rise in attacks on jogging. Most cougar attacks in BC/California are on children/young women joggers - to the cat's 'chase it' instinct anything smaller than it and running is dinner.

 

[Danger]

I received this in an email this morning.

I'm not sure, because of both the picture quality and the fact that we don't have them hereabouts, but is that an opossum?

 

[binzing]

I received this in an email this morning.

[URL=http://img26.imageshack.us/my.php?image=catfound.jpg][PLAIN]http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/7373/catfound.jpg[/URL][/PLAIN]

Oh. Wow. People just bottomed out the stupidity scale.

 

[binzing]

I'm not sure, because of both the picture quality and the fact that we don't have them hereabouts, but is that an opossum?

Yessum.

 

[dlgoff]

Not something you want to hear while walking through the woods in the dark.

You are very correct. Only once, and I hope never again, heard one scream out in the pasture (at night). It scared me so bad that the hair on the back of my neck stood up and my legs wouldn't move. Talk about stained undies.

 

[turbo]

You are very correct. Only once, and I hope never again, heard one scream out in the pasture (at night). It scared me so bad that the hair on the back of my neck stood up and my legs wouldn't move. Talk about stained undies.

Hey! Is that Nutella in your Fruit of the Looms?

 

[dlgoff]

Hey! Is that Nutella in your Fruit of the Looms?

It took a while for me to get moving before I could look. But yea; it looked a lot like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tartine_et_pot_de_Nutella.jpg"

 

[binzing]

Sorry but how can you all call skunks nice, peaceful, useful animals, as well as bears only to treat the coyote as it if were less then a rat? I really don't get it. Maybe its just part of growing up in the desert.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Sorry but how can you all call skunks nice, peaceful, useful animals, as well as bears only to treat the coyote as it if were less then a rat? I really don't get it. Maybe its just part of growing up in the desert.

Any animal threatening the lambs and calves would be treated the same way. I don't think I've ever heard of a bear or a skunk attacking a lamb.

Keep in mind that around here, they even shoot pet dogs if they're a problem. When we first moved here, luckily I was warned when our dogs got out. It was a personal favor that all three of our dogs weren't shot on sight. [edit: minor irrelevant correction; we only had two at the time]

 

[dlgoff]

Back when I was a kid, there were so many cyotes that the state declaired a bounty. You could get $2/ear. At $4/cyote, it didn't take long (maybe 2 or 3 years) to get the population back in check. Farmers would hang cyote carcuses on their fences. You might see a whole row of them.

 

[binzing]

Back when I was a kid, there were so many cyotes that the state declaired a bounty. You could get $2/ear. At $4/cyote, it didn't take long (maybe 2 or 3 years) to get the population back in check. Farmers would hang cyote carcuses on their fences. You might see a whole row of them.

Research has proven with coyotes that killing them in large numbers only leads to a population surge.

 

[dlgoff]

Here you go Ivan. Go get that darn animal.
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1337&context=gpwdcwp"

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Here you go Ivan. Go get that darn animal.
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1337&context=gpwdcwp"

I would imagine that the neighbor has already taken care of things. This is lambing season.

 

[turbo]

Sorry but how can you all call skunks nice, peaceful, useful animals, as well as bears only to treat the coyote as it if were less then a rat? I really don't get it. Maybe its just part of growing up in the desert.

It's not that coyotes don't fill a niche - it's just that their niche often ends up conflicting with the wants and needs of humans who ranch, farm, or who own pets. Skunks are very beneficial animals to those of us who garden organically. They are great insect-hunters, and they have my respect and thanks for that. They are also pretty darned cute and friendly. If you don't threaten them, they will get chummy really quick. One place that my wife and I rented, there was a mother skunk and her brood living under a shed, and they would come out every evening when I had my telescope set up. The babies would trundle over and look up at me, right around my feet, because they are curious and their eyesight is not all that great.

Black bears are curious and intelligent, but they are quite shy, and you'll rarely ever see one in the wild unless you're quiet, unobtrusive, and as scent-free as possible. Neither of these animals poses any threat to domesticated animals or humans, unless you count dogs that get sprayed for being aggressive toward skunks, or people that have run-ins with bears because the bears equate human habitats with "easy food" due to poor waste-handling, etc. Coyotes are not evil or "lower than a rat" but they are incredibly versatile and exploitative, and combined with their prolific breeding, that creates lots of opportunities for run-ins with humans and their animals.

 

[Danger]

I love skunks, despite the fact that the first one I encountered had just finished eating my pet duck. If Lucy predeceases me, and W doesn't go ballistic about it, I'd like to get one for my next pet. For the value towards salesmen and traveling Jesus Freaks, I would not get it descented.

 

[turbo]

There is an animal rescue operation about 50 miles from here that my wife and I organize trips to with friends. One time, we got a half-dozen bikers to go there with us, and everybody donated money to the operation. That time, Don and his wife had an orphaned baby skunk who LOVED to be held. My wife lugged her around for 15-20 minutes as we toured the enclosures where foxes, bobcats, etc were being nursed back to health, and I had to practically demand that she turn over the little girl so I could hold her for a while. What a sweetie! I cupped my hands at chest-level, and she stood on her hind legs with her front paws on my chest to look at me, then curled up in my hands and snuggled up. I wanted to steal that skunk!

 

[OAQfirst]

I didn't know that skunks sounded like that. They're cute, too!