Coyote Encounter

[DMiller]

When go out late or work late in the shop have at least a 9mm HiPower or my trusty 45acp 1911, wife thinks me a bit paranoid but when I can see them running within 40 yards gets unnerving. Since I shot two last fall they tend to stay a bit further back.

 

[Willie B]

A fellow electrician several years ago was attacked in VT by a pack of coyotes. His version of the story is he climbed down from his tree stand after dark. Carrying a light is illegal here. He stumbled his way to his truck when they approached. I don't know if he was using doe urine, he claims not. Ultimately he fought them off with a knife. He was pretty bad torn up, but recovered.

For forty years here we had sightings, and occasionally dead wolves. Game biologists have ulterior motives. They denied the existence of wolves in VT. For decades they passed it off as wolf hybrids brought here by humans. DNA tests have now confirmed they are the Red Wolf. Thirty years ago a customer shot one. Hanging up, it was about 6' toe to toe. That ain't no coyote!

I will not be in the woods after dark without a handgun.

Willie

 

[DMiller]

Lucky! And in Missouri we have a new predator, Cougar. Mountain lion have been scoffed as to sightings for over thirty years by local biologists but recently there have been three hit by cars, one shot and killed while mauling livestock up north and south where the Dept Of Conservation is re-introducing Elk a few of these have been killed and ripped up. A female was seen in Shannon County down by Eminence MO this last month on a game camera which means potential for cubs.

 

[Willie B]

If you look at a map of Vermont the little hook you see jutting out into Lake Champlain is a remote area. Once there was no road to it. Catamount sightings there have been ongoing for 50 years there, there is a thriving population of Rattle Snakes, and Bigfoot sightings. I believe the Catamount, and snake stories.

They put a tracking device on a catamount in, IIRC Michigan. It ended up in Virginia. Evidently these creatures wander endlessly. Here, sightings are rare, but tracks, and scat much more common. There are plenty of people who believe they've seen one. I expect most sightings are the common bobcat.

Willie

 

[PJ The Kid]

DMiller, the local game cop around here still denies there are mountain lions. Had a good friends horse get attacked by one, game warden said it was dogs or yotes, never seen a canine leave scratches like knives from the back bone to the belly before. Vet agreed with us that it was a big cat. Was running hounds a couple years ago in the bottoms out by me and found cat tracks in the creek about as big around as a folgers can. A guy shot one a few years back in the next town over and it had a tracker in it, warden showed up and asked about te cat in his freezer. Starting to get a few badger back around these parts as well. They are a scary deal to run up on in the timber. Had a neighbor put 6 rounds in one running dogs one night after it killed one dog and tore up 2 others.

 

[DMiller]

Are seeing a lot of mean vermin anymore!

 

[rsherril]

Around here cotton tails need controlled. I've had them ring some of my store bought trees during a hard winter, so coyotes are welcome. The old timers had no use for them as they thinned the lamb crop around 20%.
Every once in awhile a chicken comes up missing, but I like chicken too. Came home one winter day after being gone for two and discovered a massacre in the pen. After trying to figure out how the critter got in, I got this feeling I was being watched. A peek under the VW storage shed revealed a couple of yellow eyes followed by a growl that stood my hair up.
A bob cat hide can be worth a pretty penny in January, but I decided to leave it in there for a few days. Word got around and it became a celebrity so I opened the gate a few days later thinking it would be reluctant to ever return. Left the remaining dead birds in the snow. Several more days later, they were gone too. I've heard that cats are killers and won't quit until their tired, but now I know that they are doing what we do, stocking the larder. I appreciate that it cleaned up the mess. Never had a return visit since.

 

[Willie B]

DMiller, the local game cop around here still denies there are mountain lions. Had a good friends horse get attacked by one, game warden said it was dogs or yotes, never seen a canine leave scratches like knives from the back bone to the belly before. Vet agreed with us that it was a big cat. Was running hounds a couple years ago in the bottoms out by me and found cat tracks in the creek about as big around as a folgers can. A guy shot one a few years back in the next town over and it had a tracker in it, warden showed up and asked about te cat in his freezer. Starting to get a few badger back around these parts as well. They are a scary deal to run up on in the timber. Had a neighbor put 6 rounds in one running dogs one night after it killed one dog and tore up 2 others.

I'm not certain I understand why. State officials will deny the obvious. I'm guessing there is money involved. When confronted with quite a number of killed canines way too big to be Coyotes they passed it off as either wolf hybrids, or Coyotes breeding with German Shepherds. It took forever to get DNA testing to admit we have, (in small numbers) a wolf not thought to live here. There are a lot of theories how a mating pair got here. Beyond that it's birds, and bees. A small population of animals inhabiting habitat exactly like their usual range is not impossible.

Everything in VT is Catamount. We have banks, school sports teams, hiking trails, the power company starts a subsidiary company to compete with electrical contractors, A second electrical contractor in my town, everything is named Catamount. Why did it take so long for biologists employed by the state to admit we have Catamount? Hundreds of farmers have killed calves, lambs, and kids to prove it. They are convinced.

Willie

 

[rsherril]

Yeah, our local high school's mascot is Wildcats. Colorado is about to "thin out" some puma to study the effect on mule deer, which have been dwindling for about twenty years now. Out of state license is around two hundred and the "economic impact" is at least triple. So money is a factor. Upside is the elk numbers are up, but so is elk damage to fields and hay stacks. Push there, it bulges here. Personally, I wouldn't want to live anywhere a cougar couldn't.