Thursday, October 17, 2013

The Small-Hold is Besieged





The outside dog has been going ballistic with his barking all evening. When he started a few hours ago I went out and heard the coyotes barking and howling all around the woodlines surrounding the homestead.

No big deal they do that almost every night at some point.

This evening however they have moved into the freshly mowed corn and soybean fields and are now just outside of the light radius from the house and barn. I took my shotgun with the light mounted on it out and actually managed to illuminate their eyes a couple of times.

It's almost like being besieged by primitive tribal scouts. It's very unusual to have them this close and in the numbers I am hearing from different directions. As near as I can tell there has to be about three different groups of them all converging on the place from the various directions. Usually it is just one group or another coming from their specific direction. I know it is three different groups because while say the Southwest group will get close at some point each night the Northeast group is usually far off. It isn't unusual to hear all three groups going but to have them all so close at the same time is so rare I cannot ever remember having heard it before.

They have gotten so close and loud this evening that I can actually hear the West group while I am sitting here typing this up.

The dog is still upset but I don't worry about anything until I go out and see the cats on top of the barn. Then I know something is up. Last time I was outside the cats were laying in the driveway without a worry in the world. If I hear the dog come up on the deck barking then I know it is time to get him inside but at his size it would take a bunch of very dedicated coyotes to harm him. He isn't all that much taller than a coyote but he is about twice their weight class.

Just thought I would share. Gonna go out and listen to them sing a bit more before they all move on for the night.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!


33 comments:

  1. Any chance of thinning some out?

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  2. Blood thirsty, eh Matt?

    Remember the Canadian folk singer the coyotes got.

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    Replies
    1. Moreso the fact I've what they can do to small pets they manage to catch.

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    2. They actually keep the feral cat populations down along with small stray dogs. I don't hunt or shoot off my property up here. I am in a high spot but there is no direction I can shoot in that could not possibly do some damage to something it shouldn't.

      A shotgun is about all I can safely use.

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  3. They are here in North Carolina in more limited numbers. Are they edible?

    If so, I can add it to Kudzo on my list of free edible items.

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    Replies
    1. Russ - Why sure they are edible didn't you see the last terminator movie?

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  4. The county just raised the bounty to $35 on them, too bad you don't have a bounty. You could build a large baited trap with fence wire that they don't realize they are in until too late.

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    1. SF - A bounty. I hadn't thought of that in years. I haven't seen a bounty on anything since I was a kid. Too many hunters around here I guess.

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  5. I'm with Matt. Would make good target practice

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    1. Rob - Just too open and too much within about half a mile of me with a clear line of sight for me to use rifles like that. Also too much stock that could be behind the target unseen.

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  6. I'd say target practice is in your near future!

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    Replies
    1. Izzy - I have hunted them in the back part of the family land where I keep most of my bees. Can't really shoot em up here.

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  7. Pick the line you wish to use as a border beyond which they should not pass.

    Pee along that line, at every tree, rock and such.

    You are an Apex predator, and they will respect that.

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    Replies
    1. B - They won't usually come into the well tended area around the house and barn. Occasionally I have seen one during daylight especially when we have new lambs. I have watched them stand there and look at me without fear until they see a stick in my hand and then disappear like magic.

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  8. Hearing two groups here. One to the east and one to the northeast. Of course every dog within 5 miles is going wild at night.

    If it is indeed an indication of what winter will be like, I can't remember ever seeing so many nuts and acorns. Picked up walnuts yesterday and got 6 5-gal buckets in no time and only got about half from under one tree!

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    Replies
    1. Anon - How I miss the days some 20 or 30 years ago when they would come out and I could listen to them without all the dogs around.

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  9. I think "B" with the Pee thing is on to something.. It will show there is an alpha male around that is bigger and badder.
    Of course then I am reminded of the movie "The Grey"
    with Liam Neeson.

    With all the different groups of coyotes, it is almost like gang warfare around your place..

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    Replies
    1. JuGM - Well the colder night time temps are clearing out the brush now so they are out running rabbits in the open. When the packs are running I know I won't have as many new stray animals to deal with.

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  10. B is correct; that doesn't work up here, as humans are NOT at the top of the food chain. Only firearms give us a fighting chance, but we don't always win.

    I envy you the target practice, though, and look forward to the AARs.

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    Replies
    1. RP - I would say these guys here are used to human scent anyway. If it bothered them they wouldn't be able to live around here these days. It has just built up too much although it is thinning out some compared to where it was four years ago.

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  11. I can see his AAR report now with the post title:

    " PP takes a pp "

    Dude, no photos please , heh.

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    Replies
    1. Not sure I could do a selfie with a firearm and me peeing at the same time anyway :)

      It's a two hand job ya know.

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  12. I remember the conversation we had about coyote's. I can hear them once in a while but can't see them and after seeing that picture I'm not so all fired anxious to find one when I'm out driving trying to spot them. Guess I'll put off finding a cute little coyote puppy as a companion for Frankie and me because we'd end up on the menu.

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    1. eileen - It is rare for them to come up so close and although that picture looks kinda mean they really are not large animals. More like very thin half sized German shepherds. Very rarely I will see one during the day but usually all I do is hear em at night.

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  13. You need a pair of Great Pyrenees. Best dogs we have ever had. Coyotes will not challenge them.

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    1. Ya but pyrenees have their own set of problems around here. Hours of cockle-burr removal being the least of it. I would say that Pyrenees are the most often shot dog around here as there are just too many people who get them but then do not have the space to keep them without incident.

      I don't know why but Pyrenees don't seem to be able to adjust their territory like other dogs do. There are two of them right by the entrance of my Western bee hive area and they seem to think my bee hives are within their territory. I have almost had to defend myself from them a couple of times over the years.

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  14. PP,

    Be careful, just recently a Colorado man was walking and attacked by several coyotes.

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    Replies
    1. Sandy - We have had incidents of coyotes stalking humans on some of the hiking trails nearby. Years ago when there were few houses out here I used to get people who were lost knocking and telling me they were being followed by them. These days there are so many scattered houses that no one makes it this far once they are lost now.

      But the coyotes are still there.

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  15. Funny story one night in my parent's house in the woods there were a bunch of Coyotes yipping outside the house when suddenly I hear our Lab/German Shepard mix slam out the doggie door with a staccato "That's it, everybody dies" bark. Given that this dog was about two thirds again the Coyotes height at the shoulder solid jet black and had three inch long hackles the next thing I hear is a whole bunch of YIEEP, YIEEP, YIEEP as the Coyotes run away.

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    1. Ody - Ya I have never seen the coyotes mess with a dog much. One Winter we had a pack move into the barn looking for food and they did run the old barn dog out but by that time he was sooooo old he could barely walk. I had to go down there and clean house.

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  16. Got the wretched coy mutts around me too. I have an English Shepherd which have been bred as stock dogs and guardians. Usually he sleeps inside, but his growl wakes me out of a sound sleep. He isn't any taller than a coy mutt, but twice as big. They keep well away as he is devoted to guarding his sheep, goats, and calf.

    Recently, at breakfast, I saw a coy in the field behind our home. I alerted Mocon on the mutt and off he went in his I'm gonna tear you to pieces bark. Coy mutt dances around playfully until Mocon gets close enough then off into the brush.

    Mocon did not follow so coy mutt came back. She was the bait trying to lure him into the brush where the rest of the pack was hiding, just waiting.

    I've seen this play before and know how it ends so I called my dog in and broke out a rifle.

    Winston

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    1. Winston - I will occasionally see one looking at the new lambs and licking his or her chops in the hay field but generally I never have any issues with them.

      Winter is when they get really desperate though.

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    2. Around here we have cows and calves part of the year next door. The coy mutts are always pestering the cows trying for an unguarded calf. I have sheep and they stand no chance at all without a stock guardian.

      Winters here is green time and the living is easy. Summers are bone dry and they have to work hard. I try to make their life even harder.

      Winston

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