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My parents live on about 25 acres of wooded land in Eastern Kentucky. We can occasionally hear them yapping in the hills. It's pretty neat to hear. If I'm home I can tell when they're close because the dogs start acting weird.

 

If anyone is familiar with Lexington we have a shopping place called the Hamburg Pavilion. Exits 110 and 108 off of 75 border it. I live close to the area and drive down the interstate to get to work. The other day I spotted a coyote walking down the wooded shoulder just pretty as you please. I was aware they were around but that's the first time I had spotted one so close t all the business of the city.

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Thanks all, I hope you understand that is Pete and my Idea as well. We fit in. I was taught this. We have areas on the land where wildlife travel freely and they leave us alone and we leave them alone. Most of the time all that is necessary to deter is a well placed shot near them to teach the meaning of 'No Easy Meal.' It is best to teach predators no easy meal when young. In this way they keep young predators away and teach their young to kill only wild species. Because domestic animals are easy to kill and trigger a strong response as prey. Also predators can be moved. If I needed to actually kill something it would be last resort and I would also eat it.

 

However, make no mistake- A horse was killed in his corral by a grizz maybe 10 miles from me.

20 miles from me 48 calves were lost to wolves. ( Think about that in terms of being able to lose that kind of money.)

 

When a rancher is struggling to survive and has many middlemen between him and customer it is hard. When there is no extra $ to purchase electric fencing or Guard dogs- non-profits need to be set up to help. As this new one- Young Mountain.

 

The ranchers are part of the picture as well. We admire the nomads of Mongolia and the folks still living with their herds in Africa. The old Freedom is still part of the American rancher. It is important and understanding and listening are also compassion.

 

Tickman loves Downton Abbey

 

I try to use humour when I can.

 

 

It will be interesting to see what the next fifty years brings.

 

My suggestion is put your money where your heart is when you buy anything from food to clothes.

 

Tea, I looked for Young Mountain (?) and couldn't find it- however, I did find this blog post re: predator-friendly ranching

 

http://ourmountainhearth.com/predator-friendly-ranching/

 

48 calves is a huge and horrible loss- and a huge, (ultimately deadly) banquet for those wolves. I'm not up-to-date on de-listing and available compensation programs and/or resources for predator-related issues in different states--

 

But I'd like to think/hope that ranchers can definately be part of the picture and fit in! Patches of working landscape stitched to healthy wild lands with economic connections to regional communities and cities... is it possible?

 

Nomadic life quite different... and increasingly rare!

 

Julie- I like your approach too... I have to go look up the Dismal Swamp now, as I am so ignorant about the geography of the South East ;-) but what a name!

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Good friend of mine is part of the Chicago study.

 

There's a ton of research that shows the more coyotes you kill, the faster they reproduce. If you have residents that avoid your property/livestock/dogs, don't kill them. Adults train their offspring.

 

Coyotes are not going to disappear. They've adapted. It's our turn now.

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I've seen coyotes as interesting neighbors, as terrors on livestock and as a tragic freakin' loss when they're all killed off and rabbits take over the countryside.

Where we live now, we have a little bit of everything coming through. Bears, coyotes, bobcats, coons, foxes and once in a great while a lion. I've lost numerous chickens to hawks, coyotes and coons. When I borrow sheep to graze our little pastures in the summer months, they are shut up at night because our predators are opportunists. Last year a lady in the next valley over lost her entire flock of 15+ sheep when two young lions got in her paddock and went on a killing spree. And a year or two ago, there was a bear down in the valley that killed several sheep and goats along the river. In years past, I've also seen calves that have had their anuses eaten out by coyotes but they were still alive. Nature can be brutal. Predators kill the weakest or slowest, and that doesn't always mean the old prey animals.

But we've also seen country where ranchers had killed off all the coyotes in the region and rabbits were absolutely everywhere. You could barely drive down the road without hitting jackrabbits and cottontails and they were in the alfalfa fields and everything. I don't know what it's like now, maybe umpteen years later the coyotes are back.

In other coyote stories, once we were moving cows from a hill pasture to another on down the highway and apparently we rode over a coyote den. Next thing we new, a very pissed-off coyote was making a strafing run at our Aussie-with-a-tail, Cub. We gave a big yell and Cub bolted while the coyote ducked back, but since we figured there was a den and we were done grazing that field for the year, we just carried on our way, no harm done.

That same ranch had a resident coyote that lived on the mountain above our cow camp. It would come out and sing every evening. Wild and beautiful. He bothered nothing and we didn't trouble him.

Another time a similar thing happened: we were riding a mountain trail with that same dog when a coyote appeared to bark determinedly and for some length at us. Barked almost like a yard dog, clearly a warning and again we figured there was a den somewhere close by. But we just whistled our dog closer and rode on.


We're with Tea. Our mantra for our little place we have now is pretty much the same: you stay out there and we'll stay in here. We have our little 2+ acres and we're surrounded by wilderness, so the wild things are going to be there. However, they need to keep away from our animals. In past years, in other places, we have dispatched a couple coyotes who became too bold and brazen, who came into the yard and challenged or taunted our dogs, and who refused to be scared away.

They're interesting creatures. There's a reason coyotes feature into so much Native American mythology. :)

~ Gloria

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  • 4 years later...

Bailey and my mom saw one by our front yard. She acted very peculiar tho. I live in CA and coyotes are brazen here. We live in a suburb. The coyote was about 200 ft away and my dog just stared at it. My mom started clapping and arm waving and it ran across the street, still watching them... what was odd is she didn’t seem scared but didn’t seem excited to see it either. When they howl at night she is scared! Anyone know why she had this reaction?

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