predators

[frenchblackcopper]

The "Thang god" has saved your flock New2!!

 

[zazouse]

Never mind

 

[bdfive]

I agree it is our job to protect our livestock and I do so without hesitation or guilt. I have a friend that will say something like she wants life to go on in it's natural state while fox, raccoons and coyotes are constantly killing her chickens and peafowl. I've given other friends free peachicks/peafowl..........will never give her any and I'm sure she knows why. I don't understand anyone not caring about their birds lives.

 

[bdfive]

Furbabymum, I cringe at the sight of that owl. When I hear them calling close by I try to pen my peafowl until they move on. I'm pretty sure they're what frightened my 2 peas a couple years ago from the tree at night where perhaps something else pursued and killed them on the ground. I'm not fond of full moons with predators out in full force.

New 2 pfowl, happy to hear Chicken Girl and other poultry/fowl are ok. Feathers could have come from one of them but thank goodness they escaped. I hate it that my female peafowl often leave the trees mornings when it's still a little dark. I see raccoons and fox out at that time once in a while. The males are smart....they remain up high until later.

Have a friend that just caught a raccoon that's been killing her poultry. She's doctoring a rooster with one leg....raccoon took the other. DUMB, STUPID, IGNORANT friend released it elsewhere. That is so inconsiderate not to mention illegal in this state. She knows I dispise her actions so makes it a point to text me a picture of the coon in the live trap with report of where she turned it loose. Not far enough away so it will be back to her property killing again. Makes me ill. Love all my friends but some of them are dumb as a rock. LOL, sorry if I've offended some of you that prefer not to iliminate predators. I'm venting my frustration but realize "Different strokes for different folks". Just don't understand why someone will get a living, breathing animal/bird and then not protect it from harm.

By the way...........have a friend near by that like myself has a baby monitor on at all times. I just heard a gunshot from his direction. He does protect his livestock....even the chickens. I'm happy to say it was one shot and he's an excellent marksman........... we are one predator less in this area.

 

[cracked egg]

Beautiful animal murdered by a very small man for "sport".

when they move to your state from Idaho,Wyoming and Montana and decimated the elk and deer herds you will think murder. The feds won't let you kill them. I can see why now, that our forefathers wiped them out. When they brought them back they said only a small amount,they will be controlled. Now after they have over run the state,killed thousands of livestock, pets, and have nearly wiped the elk herds out in areas,WHY WOULD IT BE MURDER.
And they do get that big here.

 

[bdfive]

Cracked egg, is it really that bad? I saw wolves in WA State in the National Forest, 5000' elevation where we had a second home. They are beautiful creatures but sure wouldn't want them wiping out the Elk we so loved flourishing in the area. Sure is different living here in the Hill Country of Texas now.

 

[cracked egg]

Yes it is. The native wolves are now extinct thanks to these overgrown northern cousins. These wolves are as big as deer, as heavy as 150 lbs. The country of the clearwater river was strewn with dead elk and deer years ago. Many with the stomachs ripped open and only the unborn calves and fawns eaten. Others with a few bites taken and then left. That was are premier elk zone, very few elk there now. The lions are being impacted now, as the deer and elk numbers decline.
When the wildlife gets scarce they turn to domestic livestock. The government trappers come in wipe out the pack and within months there is a new pack there.
These things are killing the hounds used by hunters, livestock guard dogs and pets. They are now being seen in towns.
I believe everything has a place in nature, but until these things get controlled, they are a real threat and spreading out into new areas.

 

[bdfive]

You say native wolves extinct. Where did these wolves you speak of come from? What species of wolf are they? This is really interesting and certainly ridiculous the wildlife dept has let it become this bad. Leave it to the professionals to louse everything up.

 

[fancyfowl4ever]

Oh the professionals know squat sometimes, most of them sit in an office in a big city somewhere and have never seen a wild anything and get all their info by extremist underlings who dont even put a foot in the bush either....

People come here, because the province declared we have an over population of deer basically and everyone go hunt 3(!) per person this year in this area. Well they get here and go " Huh? Where the heck are the animals?"(working at both a butcher shop and a taxidermy I hear from both fronts, there are NO animals left)

Now the wolves are being blamed, yes their numbers have gone up in recent years, but so has the number of 2 legged hunters as well. At some point the ungulate population had to take a nosedive and TADA - it has!
Big plan in the works for a wolf kill-off now(together with an in-town deer cull so they stop attacking peoples little dogs that chase their fawns

and lure big predators into town by their presence). Around here, wolves are so illusive very few hunters actually get a chance at one, but its encouraged if you do have it. The local trappers love it that there are wolves, and they do make quite a big dent in the wolf population. This one right here I got from a trapper friend of mine, weather was too warm and his hind end was loosing its hair already so instead of wasting it(cant sell half a dog for fur, it gets tossed) I took it, skinned it, tanned it and turned him into a half lifesize mount:
He was about 120 lb pup that one. Average sized wolf.



Anyhow, back to topic. I only free range my pair of peas from august til first snow, because they seem to wander the least then. I try to feed them in their pen in the evening and lock them in at night, because our owls just love picking peas out of the trees and off buildings... and the lynx do too. The coyotes take the hens off the nests in the spring if I let them out, so I dont do that no more.
Luckily we dont have coons in our area(but less then an hours drive from us they do), so one evil less.
Also watch for weasels, they dont mind draining a grown pea either, and them little monsters have no trouble getting them off the roost.

 

[cracked egg]

You say native wolves extinct.  Where did these wolves you speak of come from?  What species of wolf are they?  This is really interesting and certainly ridiculous the wildlife dept has let it become this bad.  Leave it to the professionals to louse everything up.

The wolves we had here were a sub-species of the grey wolf from up north in Canada. They were smaller,evolved for this country. I had the privledge of seeing one years before the feds "reintroduced" the ones from Canada. That wolf was large,but not near as large as these new wolves.
We had predation on the calves,and fawns from coyote and bears,they could defend against these animals. The wolves are still a "new" threat and by the time it takes for them to learn to develope ways to survive their numbers have dropped significantly.
In order for the state to have a season and try to control them,it has to go through the federal government and usually court battles. These wolves are very elusive and difficult to hunt, we did manage to get a trapping season this year,maybe they will have more success.
Two years ago a rancher lost six horses to wolves 20 miles from my house. This area was supposed to be free of wolves, now there are three packs in the area.
So who ever petitioned the federal government to re-introduce the wolf to Yellowstone Park and Central Idaho,succeeded in spreading them to six states,possibly eight. Now that they are there they will be under the federal governments control.