Asking for ideas on how to "manage" coyotes

babsbag said:

@soarwitheagles I do agree that there is a certain group of gun owners where the silhouette target is important, but for me I just want to hit the ground squirrel or coyote and pray that I never need to fire on a human. There is just a small part of me that wonders if the silhouette target desensitizes a person to the horrific act of shooting at a person. Granted it would have to be a lot of target practice but it still seems to trivialize lives.

@Baymule, I don't think that I am that good of a shot to shoot at a squirrel and not hit them. I threw a rock at a cat once to scare it off and nailed it right between the eyes, that is the way my luck seems to swing.

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soarwitheagles said:

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Also, I work in Stockton five days a week, one of the most dangerous, crime ridden cities in the nation...I do not stress much about it, but to be honest with you, there are parts of Stockton where I do not feel safe. I do my best to avoid these areas, but, unfortunately I must drive to and then work in one of those areas . The truth is, we cannot control other people's actions. But we can do our part to be prepared. I have done my part to prepare myself should the occasion ever arise.

Hope this helps!

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soarwitheagles said:

Hi and happy holidays to all!

We live in Central Valley, CA. We just recently began our adventure with ranching and farming. We live on a 15+ acre ranch. Our /neighbors/friends have a large flock of the American Blackbelly sheep. But they lost 17 baby lambs in 3 weeks to coyotes.

We live about 5 miles from them. We would like to avoid losing any lambs. I have only seen one coyote on our ranch. He was nearly waist high, and each time I saw him, he was moving east to west, in the late afternoon in back of our property, in the forest area. I have seen lots of evidence of coyote or other predator kills in the back forest area...piles of chicken feathers all the time, etc. I have also found holes in the ground with evidence of animal activity. Not sure if it is a coyote den...

Out of absolute necessity, we keep all our chickens in a coop that is completely surrounded by chicken wire. When a friend gave us 15 free range chickens we thought we would do an "experiment." Our "experiment" lasted less than two weeks. Every chicken was brutally killed, often in different manners. So that could have also been hawks, owls, skunks, possums, etc.

Our new flock of sheep have lots of pregnant ewes. So we really want to keep out sheep safe now.

Here are some of the specifics that we have done. Please let me know if there is more that we can do.

1. Installed no climb horse fencing in the areas the ewes will give birth.
2. Will install barbed wire on top of the no climb horse fencing this next week.
3. Will install a photo sensor barn light high up on a pole to light up the entire coral area next week.
4. Installed many, many high definition security cameras with IR and motion detection everywhere throughout the property. In the event of a coyote taking a lamb, we will be able to see exactly what occurred.
5. Keep a shotgun, handgun, and rifle ready at all times.

Here are some of the suggestions that friends and neighbors have given us:

1. Purchase and include a lama in the flock.
2. Purchase and include an Alpaca in the flock.
3. Purchase and allow to bond a baby herd dog [I would like to avoid this option for now. One of our neighbor's son's was terrible mauled by a lose herd dog two years ago. The settlement was $300,000].

Well, that is our situation here now.

Open to any and all suggestions.

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Jean Derby said:

Also....A great pyrenees is what my friend uses. And he is just a warning device so they can get the gun ready. My best advice would be to just keep an eye out. And use an electric fence.

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babsbag said:

The chickens and ducks now have an electric top wire in place with a bottom one going in soon. I still have one fence that I share with my neighbor that I am not sure how to electrify since it is his fence. I may have to run another fence inside of that one to get the wire on it. It is in a gully so a pain to work on.

I would rather dispatch the critter if I ever see him.

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