Wolves and Bears and Guns, Oh My!

[AngC]

We have had a coy dog problem in this area in the past. For that reason our horses are kept close to the house with a light on.

The coyotes have been running the past several nights. It's loud and kind of scary. I can crank on the outside lights, but it doesn't seem to have an effect. So far they seem to be raiding other nearby properties. I have a really bright flashlight and well, sorry, a gun. ...don't really want to use it. I'm hoping Coco is bad-butt enough to fend them off.

 

[lucky seven]

My husband has had issues in the past with mental illness, therefore no guns. So far our boys have never been bothered. Good luck keeping them safe, those wild dogs are scary. When we first moved here someone saw a wolf and it was shot that hunting season so now we basically have foxes raiding the hen houses and the coy dogs.

 

[paintponylvr]

coy dogs - coyote/dog Xs? Wow, that would be worse than either a coyote or dog.

AngC & others - I feel for you. ESPECIALLY since it seems like they(the public in cities and the laws) want to take away your/our right to protect ourselves and our own with weapons & hunting IF necessary. I consider animals crossing my property a POSSIBLE necessity to remove!

I now have chickens, my goal was to free range them, a lot of them, to help with fertilizing & amending my pastures so that eventually it will support the type of grass that my ponies will eat and manage well on. That has just about been completely nixed - on Friday when I was out in the pastures/paddocks for 6 hours (first feeding/watering for both the ponies and the 2 chicken tractors, then holding 8 ponies for the farrier and playing with the 10 day old colt) - there were a LOT of hawks flying overhead. Think they were eyeing the chicken tractors - they DO know that they are there. One of those hawks dropped down - probably checking out me and the colt - and his size was quite breath taking. Riddler is still under 50 lbs, and I think that hawk could do some serious damage to a foal even his size. I'm not sure that there might not be a "raid" on the foals - if I had smaller minis and maybe even now... Makes me wonder a bit about the death of the other filly at 3 months of age.

Hawks are protected here.

Seems that sometimes, so are dogs!! Yet the military, when it deploys, dogs often show up in roving, hungry packs that become problematic when they get left behind. They've been known to take out full size horses and attack people (animal control in the local 3 counties I deal with don't get involved until they go after people - SAD). I have dogs, too. I TRY to keep them home but I have had them jump, climb over and dig under fencing - and I've paid the consequences as well as made changes to our dog keeping styles (and sometimes just re-home dogs that refuse to stay home). I have shot my own dogs when they have become a problem with chickens or foals (2) & weren't "trainable" (and OMG did neighbors get upset about that - Yep, had animal control show up then, yet couldn't get them to respond when I had a neighbor poison one of my dogs that liked their backyard - w/ meat laced w/ anti-freeze. Sometimes I get so confused).

When I was in Korea, my mom and step-dad were in MT. A cougar took out my mare that they were keeping for me. Broke her neck just yards from the cabin Mom & Ed were in... Later, Ed tracked down and shot the cat - and he got fined!! That was in 1987.

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I don't have a problem with re-introducing previously moved or eradicated wild life. I have a problem when it's done and not overseen later and then we, the folks who live in that area, aren't allowed to protect our properties, children or livestock.

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I, too, don't understand why the predators were introduced instead of extending a hunting season or two. It makes me sad when a good spring/summer/fall allows a tuff winter to starve or freeze an overpopulation of deer/antelope/moose. It's terrible to see a "yard" of frozen, starved critters in the snow under the trees!! City dwellers most times have never seen that or dealt with it...

 

[AngC]

Yeah. Lights don't seem to make a difference. Here it's coyotes (as far as I know---vs. dog-coyote cross-breeds.) When it's dark and the husband's out of town and I hear them yipping, I get (hate to admit it) a bit scared. I took out a battle-lantern and spent a half hour shining it around. I don't want to shoot anything. We have quite a bit of electric wire on the outside of our wood fences. And I think that Coco would turn her butt to the stall door and kick the crap out of them, but still it worries me. But Nicky's blind so I don't know what would happen there. When I wrote that a couple days ago, I was awful close to taking something big and loud and firing it into the ground (which probably would have irritated some neighbors.)

 

[MajorClementine]

We have coyotes, mountain lions, black bears, and wolves here. The wolves are fairly new to the area as they have migrated in after being reintroduced into surrounding areas. The deer/elk hunters are all up in arms about the wolves being here because it cuts into the number of animals available to shoot. I'm not against hunting (hubby is an avid hunter) but I (and a lot of local hunters) believe the bigger problem with the deer and elk population is the number of out of state permits they allow every year. The number goes up, up, up. They charge a lot more for out of state hunters so I figure that's why the number of those permits go up while local permits stay the same... but that's another ball of wax altogether.

Coyotes have a bounty on them in this state. Meaning the state will pay you $50 for each one you kill. A small section of the state allows for "control" of the wolf population, the rest of the state they are protected. You see black bears all of the time when you are out hunting, hiking, and camping. Most of the time it's from a distance but sometimes you come right up on one. Usually they go one way and you go another but there have been several attacks and a few deaths over the years.
Gun control here is very minimal. Open carry is legal unless posted, concealed is pretty easy to get. I carry about 90% of the time, hubby carries 100% of the time.

With all those predators around you know what our biggest livestock and human attack problem is? Dogs. Yup. Hubby works for the sheriff's office and he is constantly taking report of dog attacks on chickens, cows, sheep, goats, and sadly children and adults. He's even had to shoot a dog that had attacked and killed a deer fawn.

My point with all of this? I don't have a problem with reintroducing animals such as wolves and grizzlies. It is possible to live in relative harmony with such large predators. It does take a little extra vigilance and work but it is possible. Often our domestic animals cause more grief than the wild animals.

Around here we have the 3 S': Shoot, Shovel, and Shut up. If you, others around you, or your animals are in danger then shoot. Then dig a big hole. And never speak of it.

 

[Rocklone Miniature Horses]

Not read the replies.

Here in the UK, we hunted the bear and the wolf to extinction. Now we have to cull deer very regularly, or they die of starvation. We have rabbits ruining farm land. Badgers spreading disease. Foxes are the top predator and they are basically a small terrier. We could use some bears and wolves! It would never happen though because the farmers won't let any animals live on their land but theirs. Foxes are killed, badgers are shot, rabbits gassed. Rats and mice are killed by the tonne. Brits won't let any wildlife live.

Predators are going to die out. Everywhere. They are shot everywhere to preserve livestock, then the animals they eat grow in numbers and they are shot too.

There is no balance.