Future BBQ's

[Beekissed]

We have the same preds here, minus the cougar. No one has seen one around here since the late 70s. The neighbor has pics of the black bear on his game cam this year and Mom met one of the 'yotes face to face walking back from the mailbox earlier this year. We have a pack that lives and yodels in the field next to our house all the time...I usually go out and howl right back at them.

Yep, we have all those very same preds here and I've got the only livestock for miles. The 'yotes have a taste for cat and dog...I feed them all the stray dogs that are persistent in their visits and don't have any ID. Can't keep a cat here as the preds eat them all pretty quick.

Jake has extra protection, though, and I credit all his success to that...the good Lord watches over this place and keeps my animals safe. I leave for almost a week and can come back to all accounted for, safe and sound.

I pray for His protection over this land and these animals and that has worked well. I couldn't raise animals here without the Lord's help at all, so I don't even try.

 

[Nyboy]

Past week 3 clients lost their dogs to coyotes. All where small dogs. 2 have been found in Manhattan this pasted month. I have seen a Bobcat crossing my lawn in White Plains, cat had no fear of me. We once had a small black bear wonder in something spooked it and it climbed a telephone pole, police closed the road for hours, TV news reporters where thick as flies covering the story.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

a few years ago, we had a black bear wander through the center of town and it decided to take an afternoon nap in a tree in a small park in the middle of the main hub. it shut down the main flow of traffic for hours till someone from fish & game got out to tranq & relocate it back to the edge of town. this one had to have been only a year old since it was small. but didn't seem to be bothered much by the commotion.

the usual predators in our area too. coyotes and coydogs are a nuisance to most farmers. fisher cats i've only heard are in the area but i have never seen them. i know there was a fox in the neighborhood last year but haven't seen him this year. possum has taken up residence nearby but i'm not bothered by him/her, they leave the chickens alone. haven't had an issue yet with raccoons but i know they wander nearby. we haven't had any sightings of bobcat in this area since they tend to stick to the more wooded and less populated areas.

 

[Beekissed]

The thing is about areas of country around urban, populated areas is that the predators are used to humans and no longer fear them....no guns being shot much in those parts. Out here in the boonies one can live their whole life and never see a bobcat, bear or a coyote, though you know they are there and all around...see them on game cams all the time and hear the 'yotes all the time. Too many hunters here and too many folks with a gun right inside the front door, ready to shoot at any such animal that should show itself. We don't have to worry about neighbors and such here when we want to shoot a gun.

Out here the predators are spooky and mostly nocturnal, VERY wary of humans. That helps keep our dogs and livestock a bit safer as well. A dog that lives outdoors all the time and is savvy to predators can survive a long, long time here. I've seen Jake when he barks at the coyotes....he puts his back to the shed door and barks outward, but does not run out to his boundary line and try to bark or engage with them. If he really starts barking in earnest, I'll go out and back him up, walk the meadow and shine a light, talk loudly and generally make my presence known...but that rarely has to be done, maybe once a year.

 

[Nyboy]

Bee I think you hit the nail right on the head. Where I live you fire a gun, good chance you will see inside of a cell and pay large fine. Hunting keeps predators wary of humans. The bobcat I seen walking across my lawn didn,t even increase his pace when I came out.

 

[MontyJ]

We have a very healthy population of coyotes here, and I've never heard of anyone loosing a dog to them. Considering the number of 'coon hunters that run dogs at night, you would think somebody would have lost one by now. A friend of mine has had a dog stay in the woods all night many times, and always found it the next day, safe and sound. Not saying it doesn't happen, since obviously it does, but it's not been my experience.

 

[seedcorn]

Maybe yours are true coyotes while ours are mixes? Or maybe reversed? I've lost one dog and I'm not sure how many cats. Mother won't leave shed at night now.

 

[baymule]

Wow @seedcorn, you make your mother stay in the shed?

 

[baymule]

Wow @seedcorn, you make your mother stay in the shed?

 

[Beekissed]

Don't tell my mother...she has to stay ON the shed. She'll get to feeling shorted if she finds out other mothers get to stay IN the shed.