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Wileyette's on the prowl.
NeoBlackdog
Member Posts: 17,286 ✭✭✭✭
Took these two days ago. She was about 90 yards away and going after my ground squirrel infestation. No, I didn't shoot her! Right now she's my best and least expensive rodent control. If she gets into the chickens or looks longingly at one of the calves, well, game on.
Comments
Wonder if she has youngins waiting for her to bring lunch? I'd leave her alone too, as long as she leaves your critters alone. You can always thin the herd later if they start causing problems. If you were to shoot her now the squirrel population will probably explode. Bob
Red Mist
Nice pictures!
Pretty sure she's lactating, and cold blooded killer though I am, I would hate the thought of those pups starving. She and her fella have been doing a pretty good job on the rodents so as long as they stay out of my critters they can have all of those they want. The other night they all got together and had a sing along at one in the morning. My dogs about came unglued! I could hear 5 or 6 different 'voices' in the choir.
That little dickens has an attitude to go with her meany face, too! She took a run at one of my dogs the other day and ran him out of the pasture. LOL! 90+ pound dog vs 2 week old calf, pretty hilarious! I was much more concerned with her mama givin' ol' Loki the evil eye.
She's milking pups.
So long as you have an abundance of their natural prey your calves should be safe. Barnyard fowl may be another thing if your dogs are kept in the house.
I, personally, won't hunt them from end of Feb. thru June for two reasons. You touched on the starving pups, but also. If I don't smoke both of the mates it could cause predation of calves/livestock when the surviving mate seeks out easier prey.
Neo, what camera did you take those pictures with?
Needs a bullet no matter how many or how few rodents you have.
I would wager she is one of many
You're gonna laugh! It's a Kodak PixPro A2252. IIRC it cost $128 or so. It's cheap, but it does take pretty decent pictures.
And if she has a litter, you can take out 5-6 with one shot.
Life is cruel. Deal with it...
Life is cruel. That's why I choose not to add to any critters misery if I can help it. Don't know if I could forgive myself for knowingly causing an animal to starve to death. She and her fella are (so far) mindin' there business and doing me a favor in the process. If they start causing problems they'll be dealt with, quickly and humanely. Been around livestock since the mid '70's or so and have been around umpteen thousand calves. I can remember ONE time that coyotes killed a calf. The chickens, yeah they might be easier pickin's, but so far the 'yotes have stayed well away from them and the birds are in their coop at night.
Coyote hunting was one of my favorites.We hunted them because they hunted the same deer we hunted.The more I hunted and got out witted by coyotes,the more respect I have for them.I could never bring myself to kill pups or mama coyotes.Besides, I hunted deer for entertainment and a little meat.Coyotes hunt deer for survival.If they start killing livestock you have to do what needs to be done.
Needs a bullet no matter how many or how few rodents you have.
I would wager she is one of many
Oops, studdered
Great Pics....thanks for sharing !!
She was back this morning in the same spot. Must be productive for her! My dogs were out on the deck going absolutely bananas, they could smell her but never got eyes on her. She was so focused on the squirrel she was stalking that she didn't even flinch when the dogs barked.
The two black coyotes must already have the ACME catalog.
Thing is, most critters are raising young right about now. Neighbor and I found 6 fawns dead last summer. Most in this area won't shoot the dogs because they do eat a fair number of mice and voles. I prefer to leave cavity trees for the sparrow hawks. They and the owls hammer the rodents. I don't eat mice but venison or turkey on the end of my fork are just fine.
Right now I wouldn't mind if they thinned out the whitetail population a bit. I'm going to fence off a couple of aspen stands so I can get some new shoots propagating. There's so many whitetail they nip the little guys as soon as they pop out of the ground. It's not uncommon to look out the front and see 2 dozen deer at once.