Wyoming Sheep Rancher Says Coyotes Guard His Flock, As Does Eagle-Stomping Ewe

[jltrent]

@jltrent ... was it you that had that guardian dog.... Anatolian Shepherd.... that was with the neighbor's cows, he got sick or something, and then the cows got sold and it came to your cows and stayed???? Do you still have it with the cattle????

Yes, but he has turned into a big pet mostly. He does stay with the cattle some.

 

[Dave]

Neighbor has caught them 6-7 at a time attacking a new calf. This winter I had coyotes kill a deer at my house one night. There was snow on the ground so you could see the tracks. The tracks and the blood sure told the story. They were literally in my back yard about 40 feet from the house at one point. My dogs were in the kennel and barked all night. In the morning all that was left of the deer was some of the spine and some ribs attached. One or two coyotes don't consume an entire Mule deer in one night. The first picture was in the back yard not more than 40 feet from the house. That last pictured I turned and took a picture of the house from where they finally drug the deer down.

 

[farmerjan]

They are running is small packs here also... not uncommon to see 2-3-5 together when we used to see only 1 or 2. Had a pack one night not 10 ft from my back door trying to get into the rabbits... might have been a female with her pups but they were more than half grown size and no way would I have thought to even go out the back door to scare them away... They did not get the rabbits, but they were in a frenzy to try to get them.... scared me a bit...

 

[50/50Farms]

They are running is small packs here also... not uncommon to see 2-3-5 together when we used to see only 1 or 2. Had a pack one night not 10 ft from my back door trying to get into the rabbits... might have been a female with her pups but they were more than half grown size and no way would I have thought to even go out the back door to scare them away... They did not get the rabbits, but they were in a frenzy to try to get them.... scared me a bit...

That's a good excuse to open the door and start distributing free literature on high velocity trans-occipital lead implants.

 

[Son of Butch]

U of Mn researchers have been studying coyote behavior in the Twin Cities metropolitan since 2020 when they trapped and collared 11 coyotes. They've found coyotes follow strict territory boundaries and will not cross into another coyote's territory. Most territories are approximately 3 x 4 mile squares. But 1 territory is 10 x 2 miles and another 6 x 3 miles. Surprisingly there was no increase in lost pets within a coyote's territory than outside of the territory. They observed that coyotes are collectors with dog toys and balls stolen from home owners yards found in the dens. Many people don't even know there's a coyote in their area. Researchers believe the availability of water from wetlands is the reason for so little conflict within the territories.
U of Mn researchers next project will be studying the behavior of foxes in the Twin Cities.