Southerns drag their knuckles into the new millennium

But pretty much true Cypress :)

And I would not trade the country life for anything.

Am in Blacksburg surburbia now helping care for my elderly mother for a while, Sucks. Not mom but living in town....
 
uscitizen said:
But pretty much true Cypress :)

And I would not trade the country life for anything.

Am in Blacksburg surburbia now helping care for my elderly mother for a while, Sucks. Not mom but living in town....
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Hope your Mom is okay.

When I was in graduate school, I lived on a 40 acre farm, about ten miles outside town. I'd ride my bike into school.

Honestly, I cherish those days. I used to take a sleeping bag outside in the pasture, and fall asleep watching the stars, and listening to the coyotes.

The only thing I hated, was that sometimes the damn cropduster airplanes would buzz our house at like 6 in the morning. Couldn't the bastards start a little later??
 
Cypress said:
The only thing I hated, was that sometimes the damn cropduster airplanes would buzz our house at like 6 in the morning. Couldn't the bastards start a little later??
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Odamn! I hope you had some sort of covering for your nose and mouth! I've photographed the 'dusters that work around our house; they've cooperated and I have some great pics, but that stuff is beyond nasty. I never stayed out very long. I think it's no surprise that this region has one of the highest rates of Parkinson's Disease in the nation. We even have a special PD unit here at the Med. school.

On the other hand, having a clear sky with a gazillion stars and coyotes who keep their distance can be really beautiful!
 
Nah, thorn. They weren't spraying our property. Actually, the land I lived on was fallow; it was just horse pasture.

We lived about a mile from the county airport, and the crop dusters would have to fly directly over our house, to spray the fields in the next parcel over from us.
 
Oh, and thorn: coyotes won't come anywhere near people. They're afraid of people. I never worried about them. Although, I think they mananged to grab one of my roomates cats.

You've got coyotes out where you are, right?
 
Ah, so they were just noisy and annoying, then! :)

I have to check every season with the farmer to find out when spraying will take place so that I can keep the dogs inside. We have boll weevil nasty stuff, and what seems even worse, the defoliant just before cotton harvest. I'm glad the house is essentially airtight.
 
Cypress said:
Oh, and thorn: coyotes won't come anywhere near people. They're afraid of people. I never worried about them. Although, I think they mananged to grab one of my roomates cats.

You've got coyotes out where you are, right?
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We sure do! I hear them right outside our fence in the back (they like fruit and we have a pear tree). There have been a couple of reports lately of coyotes attacking small children; we've noticed here that as their habitat shrinks they've become bolder. For instance, they've been appearing during the daytime a lot. During a quiet time one Sunday a female that has a litter nearby just sunned herself in the middle of the road in front of the house! In Texas it's still against the law to rescue/rehabilitate coyotes so at the Wildlife Center we just didn't report it if we got any in, and volunteers raised the pups.
 
I like coyotes. I think they're beautiful animals. Although some people find them a bit mangy.

And they help control the rattlesnake and rat population. Which is great. All part of nature's plan ;)
 
hmm, cypress if they killed your pets and farm animals and got in your trash your attitude might change a bit. I shoot em if I get the chance.
We have thrown nature out of balance. They were not in central KY 20 yrs ago....More trash from Texas invading I guess...

Of course stray dogs that city people dump in the country cause similiar problems. Trashy people won't deal with their own problems and dump them on others...
 
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USC,

Yes, chickens and rabbits can be prey to coyote. Cows and horses aren't threatened by them. We had two horses in the pasture. Coyotes never bothered them.

From what I understand, killing coyotes can make the problem worse. Killing them disrupts the social order of the pack. Disrupting it and dispersing the pack.

There are simple, more effective measure for protecting chickens and small farm animals. There's probably websites that deal with that.
 
uscitizen said:
Try telling that to my friends who have lost calves to coyotes.....
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Ask your friends to do some research ;)

A lot of the calves that are "killed" by coyotes, are still born calves. Carrion, in effect.

Also, the small percentage of coyotes that do develop a taste for live calves, may be emboldened by random killing any coyote on sight by humans. Coyotes are very territorial. Resident coyote packs who don't have a taste for live calves, may drive off or repel rogue coyotes that have developed a taste for live calves.

Look it up ;)
 
Yes some are stillborn, but I personally saw one killed one day.
Could not get there in time to run the coyote off. 2 kept the mother busy while one killed the calf.

Left the calf as bait and killed 4 coyotes later in the day...
No guilt here.
 
uscitizen said:
Yes some are stillborn, but I personally saw one killed one day.
Could not get there in time to run the coyote off. 2 kept the mother busy while one killed the calf.

Left the calf as bait and killed 4 coyotes later in the day...
No guilt here.
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No doubt there is a very small percentage of rogue coyotes that will take a live calf. I wouldn't blame a rancher for shooting a coyote that was taking down a live calf.

But, if one goes around randomly shooting ALL coyotes on sight, one might very well be killing the resident packs that don't have a taste for live calves, and in fact serve to check or repel the rogue coyotes that do.

It's important to be intelligent about coyote control, rather than just shooting any coyote on sight.
 
I understand but if the killing of stock begins the best thing is to kill all coyotes seen for a while.
And I have read up on what you are saying.

What about the rabies aspect ?
don't we need to run em down and vaccinate them ?

I have a sister in Co that lives in a resort area and she agrees with you. Actually she is a PETA nut and a Vegan. And a hard core Bushie if you can believe all that :D
 
uscitizen said:
I understand but if the killing of stock begins the best thing is to kill all coyotes seen for a while.
And I have read up on what you are saying.

What about the rabies aspect ?
don't we need to run em down and vaccinate them ?
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Killing all coyotes in the county would be an enormous amount of time investment by ranchers, I would think. As a business man, you would have to calculate the time investment, versus the actual risk involved to your cattle. I don't blame a rancher for shooting coyotes that he/she is reasonably sure has taken a calf.

Here's what the experts say:

"Coyotes are territorial and will defend their hunting areas from other coyotes. Killing livestock is not a universal pattern among coyotes. If you are not experiencing loss of livestock to coyotes, removal of one or both of a territorial pair may result in the establishment of coyotes that have learned to prey on livestock. Consequently, removal of non-problem coyotes may be counter-productive"

-University of Florida Institute of Agriculture Sciences - South Florida Coyote Study.
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Right that was what I was talking about.

But chickens, turkeys and small livestock like goats are another issue, I think all coyotes will kill them if given half a chance.
 
I'll wade in here and side with uscitizen. I kill all coyotes when I get the chance. There is no season and there is no danger of destroying the population completely. Also, I have found that I can call coyotes easier in Kentucky at the in-laws than I can here at home.
 
"Cow tipping", and dating your second cousins were the two most popular activities???"

I said small farm town... so yes, I have seen idiots do the first. But KS is not West Virginia hillbilly country... so no to the second. smart ass. :)
 
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