Allow me a moment to fill in my readers who are not "country" folks, here.
Canis Latrans, the common coyote. Best known around the country for their nocturnal singing, which many call the "pack song", when healthy and well fed, they are actually a pretty impressive sight.
If you would like to see a healthy, and well fed coyote, go to the zoo, it's about the only place you'll find one.
In the wild, they are often infected with mange, and half-starved. Also, highly susceptible to rabies.
It was only a few years ago that the state of Colorado offered a bounty on coyote ears, as the population overran the resources of the area.
Now here's the kicker. If a single coyote out hunting happens upon a cow that's down calving, possibly having trouble, it will call in the pack.
Unlike most predators, who instinctively kill their dinner before they start eating, if a coyote can get one leg to stop kicking, they'll start eating that leg. They'll attack the nerve bundle at the base of a cow's tail, and paralyze her, and eat her alive from the ass up.
Last night, we had to put a heifer down because between the time we found her and realized she was having problems calving, got a trailer, and got back out there, coyotes had stripped the calf's head down to skull, and tore hell out of her back end.
Once a coyote pack gets one cow that way, they've figured out an easy meal. They'll go after any calving cow they can find. The only solution is to kill the entire pack before they can kill your entire herd.
We're working on it. The Game Warden is working on it... He went right out with a rifle when we called to inform him of the incident, and that we'd be killing the bastards responsible. He said he'd leave the carcasses lay where he shot them, so this afternoon we'll go out and see how many of them he managed to get.
Tonight, Bro is going out, with his buddy, his spot light, one of Farmdad's rifles and grandpa's coyote call...
He's a better coyote hunter than I am, or I'd be right out there with him. I'm giving up the satisfaction of seeing the sumbitches die in the interests of having more of them die in a more efficient manner.
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I HATE coyotes. They are vile creatures. DNR "introduced" them here a few years back to deal with a sickly deer over-population.
Now we have an over-population of coyotes. They've all but wiped out the deer, rabbits, and wild turkeys and are starting in on the domestic animals (they made one hell of a dent in our cats).
Coyotes breed like crazy... and the drive to feed the pups pushes them into populated areas.
Here in Phoenix 'yotes are more well known for their love of cats and small dogs than anything else. So hated that there are essentially no rules on hunting them.
In my truck's emergency kit I carry a camp carbine just for the coyotes.
Here in New England the coyote has wiped out the red foxes (at least locally) which means that the number of chipmunks and voles has gone through the roof. And those little furry things wipe out gardens. Never used to.
Besides the red fox versus chicken problem was balanced by the red fox eating rodents; now the coyotes go after the chickens without the redeeming rodent hunter quality.
Not sure how the 'yotes are around colorado way, but when I used to hunt 'em in the daytime back in south dakota, my favorite trick would be to ride close to 'em on a horse, dismount behind bales or a ridge to shoot the little SoB's. Tractors and horses never seemed to bother them quite like a pickup did. Horses were easier to get permission from the neighbors to ut across their land rather than the tractor.
Best have a steady horse though, it can be a long walk back to the farm otherwise.
You're right, now you have to kill the entire pack if possible. Too bad PETA and the eco-nazis never take the real world into account when they do things like protecting coyotes and wolves along with other predators. Somebody needs to get pictures of the heifer and the dead coyotes and send it to PETA. Bet they WON'T do an ad campaign around that!
OldNFO-- We don't get a lot of PETA campaigns around here. They tried it a couple of times, but the locals chased em off.
Literally, in a couple of cases....
On the Kansas side of the KC metroplex is a suburb called Overland Park. Now OPKS is a fully urban and residential community---no wild or wooded areas in the city limits. But...they are having a problem with Coyotes munching family pets.
So, the OPKS city council passed an ordinance. If a Coyote is seen, the resident can call Animal Control and for $250 fee, Animal Control will come out to your area and set some trap (live traps no less). If any Coyotes are caught, they'll be tagged and shipped out of town. To the next door rural county so I'm told.
The local residents are prohibited from taking any other action. Don't want to hurt the poor Coyotes, don'cha know.
I totally agree about nasty coyotes! We always carry a 243 in the pickup when checking cows, and most other times too. My honey has gotten quite good at killing them too. He says if you need any help, let us know and we're on our way.
I've gotten a couple in early morning calf checks, I always have the 243 with me then. And I can usually get a good shot off when the cows are all bedded down. Hope they had good luck killing the pack. (we've also used some other underhanded techniques to kill coyotes, drop me a line if you want them)
I lived in Pahrump, NV for a year a while back, and Pahrump has the biggest, best-fed coyotes I've ever seen. They are HUGE, like German Shepherd-sized. You know what? Pahrump has almost zero feral cats...they don't seem to last long!
Those coyotes were absolutely fearless, too. I was taking a walk one evening and a coyote crossed the street in front of me, bold as brass. Glanced over at me, dismissively, and kept on going.
I definitely would not want to be found by coyotes should I be injured or incapacitated in some way.
I lived in a small community in Texas with a major coyote problem going after livestock and pets.
When PETA got the word that the community was going to pass a "kill any coyote anytime" bill, they showed up at the town hall meeting. The spokes woman gets her time at the lecturn, to discuss 'humane' ways to get rid of the coyote problem. One of those ways, was to live trap them, take em to a vet and have the nutered, and released to become someone elses problem.
After everyone sat respectively and listened to her little speech, one elderly farmer stood, place his old hat over his heart, and said "With all due respect, Ma'am, the coyotes aren't trying to f*ck our livestock and pets, they are trying to kill them."
The crowd was very quiet, and as the PETA womans face got more and more red, and she started to sputter and stammer, I started giggling uncontrolably. A few seconds later the whole place cracked up laughing. The PETA woman and her 3 minions couldn't get out of town hall fast enough. Other than one letter of protest, PETA never showed up agan.
The bill passed by a unanimous vote! Yay! And God bless that elderly gentleman!
GreenRanchingMom if you check back on the posts go ahead and drop farmgirl an email on anything " underhanded " for us . Point of order tho we also have a fine den of grey foxes in the same area so my thoughts go to things that wont eradicate them as well if possible . I can " set " some supprises out of normal fox range , and still in youte range and for now that is what i am considering along with shooting at the herd pasture . The foxes are a bit rough on my quail , but not on my economics so i would just as soon have them left alone if possible .
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