O.T. Snowbear...HELP

[phoenixrising]

Sorry...I know this is WAY of topic
Snowbear--I have misplaced your email address and need some advise urgently. In short, I'm having a problem with coyotes hanging around my pasture and barn. I have never seen them this close before, but I think they must be feeling desperate due to the snow and freezing weather. Horses and barn cats probably looking good right about now. I am told that if I call the wildlife department they will come shoot them. I don't want them dead...I just want them to go elsewhere.
I know you live in Alaska where there is much of nature's wild ones living. Have you run into this problem and is there a practical way to solve it?
No need to reply to this post, but if you could email me I'd be grateful! Thanks!

 

[overanalyzer]

Phoenix - Around here we get coyotes and we have a lot of wild kitty cats roaming free ..... when we hear them too close I usually drink a pitcher of water and go out back for a private walk and hit almost every tree and rock pile I can with a little scent marking .... sometimes if it is still warm enough I carry a few beers along to help with production - so to speak!!
Of course when it gets bad weatherwise it is not enough to force them away ....
Not sure if this is scientific enough for you - but it seems to keep about 2/3rds of the wild cats around us from becoming coyote food when they come into our little wildlife area.

 

[overanalyzer]

hope that helps - not sure if it works but it gets me out of hte hosue for a while!

 

[snowbear]

YGM

 

[phoenixrising]

Oh my GOD!
Tinkle in the woods???????
On the TREES?????
But I'm a GIRL and it's COLD outside!!!!!
I don't think girls can even tinkle on trees....can they???
I can see why the coyotes would run away...what a bizarre sight THAT would be!
If I get desperate enough maybe I'll invite over a few friends to do the...uhmmm...DEED for me.
Good heavens...I'm actually blushing thinking about it!
Snowbear--thanks for the email! Very insightful. Hope these fella's don't develop too much interest in my baby (horse that is).

 

[j21kickster]

And some nursery centers you can by straight urine- you can get bobcat-or wolf urine and wow- it is pungent- i have heard it has worked well and they can tell that it is from a larger animal- but if they are starving- animals will do almost anything for food

 

[overanalyzer]

Hey Snowbear -post your reply here - want to see if walking around tinkling on trees is doing nothing but entertaining the neighbors!!

 

[snowbear]

OK, here's the email. maybe it was the dog pee that kept 'em off my place, 'cause it certainly wasn't MINE!!!!
*******
I've never had the coyotes or wolves bother the horses - even when I was in California and they were killing goats and sheep. Foals would be a problem, though. I've found the best defense is a big dog or 2 that likes being outside. A lot of sheep ranchers are using breeds like the Great Pyrenees, Kuvasch, Anatolian Shepard, etc... with great success. The guy I got my Binky (Grt Pyr) from went from 10-20 lamb losses each spring to zero when he got some Pyr's. If the coyotes are truly starving, though, maybe shooting them would be more humane than letting them starve to death?
Bears can be a problem, but electric fence is surprisingly effective to keep them away. Even in hunting camps, the portable battery powered fence chargers are strong enough to keep them away. I always slime some grease on the tape to get the bear to touch it with it's nose and learn that it "bites" Otherwise they could slide right under and their fur insulates them from getting zapped.
As for the big cats - here the biggest cats are lynx and their chow of choice is rabbits. They are pretty shy and seldom bother domestic animals. Again in California where I lived in the mountains, Cougars were abundant. They never bothered my animals, but they did go after the neighbors' and one even killed and partially ate a woman who was jogging in a canyon area where I used to ride!!! Again, I attribute them not coming around to the dogs I always have around. Sometimes Fish and game would set live traps, but a lot of times the critters were smart enough to stay out of them, so most people who were having problems shot the intruders, anyway.
Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

 

[snowbear]

Originally posted by jamesurq
ask yourself this, would you have left that one alone?
HUH?? Are you talking about the cat that ate the jogger? If so, it was hunted and killed (along with several others until they found the actual culprit). They eventually found her cub near starved and gave it to a zoo.

 

[overanalyzer]

Snowbear I think he was talking about giving Kickster a hard time ....

 

[phoenixrising]

Talked to the fish and wildlife fella today about these darn coyotes and he says the horses will be fine, but keep an eye on the foal and the cats. He said their main diet is raccoon, opossum, rabbit and ground hogs. All of which I would love to have removed from my property. I am constantly having to find and fill in leg breaking holes from all of the above.
I wonder if there is a way now to entice more to hang around?

 

[snowbear]

overanalyzer - Ahhh - OK!
Phoenix - I bet they would hang around if you put plain ol' dog food out for them