Interesting article on predators

[thebirdguy]

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Putting up the fake raptors is conditioning.. We have a neighbor here that has a plastic great horned owl that he moves around his yard.. on poles, fence, roof, flagpole etc.. don't know how it affects predators but it does seem to keep nuisance birds out of his garden.

 

[midget_farms]

It sounds good - but the boxer I used to have continually ate & got sick on the same stuff he found in the yard week after week for years. You would think he would be conditioned to not eat things that make him sick. But no - he continued to find things that make him puke all over the house to his last days. Maybe coyote's are smarter than boxers?

 

[theFox]

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Nope, when an animal gets hungry enough they will do what normally they might not do.

Now that's not to say that your boxer wasn't a few cards shy of a full deck ;-).

 

[woodmort]

This kind of information has been out there quite a while which is why those with the "kill then all!!" point of view are more likely to create rather than cure problems when it comes to coyotes. It is also the reason that rural coyotes are less of a problem than suburban ones, they have a healthy respect for humans in as they are hunted. I, for one, will not bother the coyotes we have in our area unless they come near the house and/or threaten my pets or chickens(not the same thing btw). As long as they are keeping other coyotes away from my land, I'm fine with having them around.

 

[Caincando1]

That is some interesting reading. I think there are some high hopes in the article. There are two points that the article missed in my opinion. The first is the fact that coyotes are opportunistic and take bold measure to survive. When the snow is two feet deep and they are struggling to find anything to eat and are getting desperate, the easy to catch prey will get eaten. I don’t think any amount of CTA is going to stop a coyote from eating someone chickens when they are the only easy prey to get to keep them alive. I can see it maybe working when they have endless supplies of other critters to eat. I also wonder how many people have the time to constantly watch their flock or pets 24/7 to make sure they run out there and throw rocks at the coyotes. They can come at any time of the day and strike within seconds. You would have to be on high alert round the clock in order to train them every time they came after you chickens. I think the article may be a little unrealistic.

On the other hand I know that killing them doesn’t stop the population. I hunt coyotes and we can kill every coyote in a small area and within weeks new ones have already moved in. Sometime it’s taken a month or two for an area to repopulate but they always do. They just keep coming.

 

[midget_farms]

In Illinois you can shoot a coyote during daylight hours with any weapon you can find - hand gun, rifle, shotgun bow, crossbow, sling shot or mother-in-law 365 days a year (must wear blaze orange during deer gun season) & from November (might be October ) through February (again might be March - I have to look it up because I don't hunt them) you get 24 hrs a day.

I have a big -live & let live - attitude. But I lost 1 rooster & 3 hens last week to a coyote. I try to free range them but have them locked up - he got them all in the daytime when I was at work or otherwise not there. I have no issue with removing a 'problem' coyote.

I have fox & have never had an issue with them getting my birds - not sure why - but I've never had to bother with them. The coyote's are another issue all together. Coon's are not my best friend either. I know I'll catch heck for saying this but....It not like we will run out of them!

 

[thebirdguy]

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[Dogfish]

I'll still drop any coyote on our property, raccoons as well. I don't teach predators tricks, other than to lie down and play dead. Nice idea, but I'll continue to thin the herd in out area.

 

[BlacksheepCardigans]

Problem is that thinning out the herd doesn't work. It's been proven over and over and over. Every predator exists at carrying capacity, and every year more are born than could possibly be carried. As many young survive as oldsters die. So you kill more oldsters, more young ones survive. The herd numbers never go down; they always stay at carrying capacity as long as the species is numerous enough (which canids and raccoons certainly are).

It goes like this:

Carrying capacity of 1000 acres (of which your chicken coop is one corner) is, say, 20 coyotes. This is about two packs.

Each pack produces six pups a year. Now there are 32 coyotes in the 1000 acres. 12 coyotes must die.

If three old-lady coyotes die, three pups (on average) will survive. The population remains quite stable over many years this way.

If three old-lady coyotes die and you shoot seven coyotes, ten pups will survive. Come winter there will be just as many coyotes in the 1000 acres as there were a year ago.

Removing animals doesn't work. It might make you feel better but the vacuum will fill almost instantly, and it'll fill with young stupid predators who are willing to try anything.

DISCOURAGING animals works. You want to have the existing coyotes decide that your coop is not worth the calories. Once they decide this, they'll stay away and you'll buy yourself years without coyote predation, instead of a constantly cycling problem.

 

[theFox]

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You know you say removing animals doesn't work, then prey tell how can hunters decimate any animal population?