Lost the first calf born this season.. Possibly finished off by coyotes. Saw the cow with water bag hanging about two hours before sunset and planned to hunt her up around 10 PM to make sure there was no problem. About dark a heavy ground fog rolled in so I decided not to check on her. Lots of feral hogs down in the bottom thicket :so decided to wait till daylight. About ten in the morning the cow came up for feed call. Looked good and obviously had dropped the calf. Later she went back to the bottoms. Then about noon she came up and grazed with the herd and laid down to rest. I decided to take a look at the calf and walked the bottoms carefully and found nothing. Figured she was good at hiding the calf and gave it up.
About noon I saw a half dozen Mexican white tip buzzards circling over the bottom and again searched for the calf with no luck. Gave up! By 2 pm after the cow stayed up with the herd I decided either the calf was dead or abandoned, so went back for the third look.. Looking for evidence of struggle and such. Found a large leg part probably hind leg. Tissue eaten under the skin and fragmented bone above the upper joint more than likely means coyote.
I suspect the calf was large and the yotes working from the fog got it during birth. There weren't tracks in the immediate vicinity. No evidence of coyote or buzzard activity.
Cow is okay!! I'm looking for a baby calf to put on her.
Jay
About noon I saw a half dozen Mexican white tip buzzards circling over the bottom and again searched for the calf with no luck. Gave up! By 2 pm after the cow stayed up with the herd I decided either the calf was dead or abandoned, so went back for the third look.. Looking for evidence of struggle and such. Found a large leg part probably hind leg. Tissue eaten under the skin and fragmented bone above the upper joint more than likely means coyote.
I suspect the calf was large and the yotes working from the fog got it during birth. There weren't tracks in the immediate vicinity. No evidence of coyote or buzzard activity.
Cow is okay!! I'm looking for a baby calf to put on her.
Jay