Wyoming Unite!!!!

[R2elk]

Bob, I have an antelope question you might be able to answer.

You've heard me talk about all the antelope we have on the golf course. Lately, we've been seeing tails, quite a few tails, laying around in various places on the course.

Are the coyotes yanking them off the antelope when they try to bring them down or do antelope shed their tails at some point? Or maybe coyotes don't bother antelope and it's something else after them?

(Sorry if this is a silly question, just remember, I came here from Florida )

Antelope don't shed their tails. It is antelope season in many areas. It is possible that the "tails" are from hides or parts of hides from antelope taken by hunters.

Coyotes will kill and eat anything they can catch. A loose dog pack will kill anything they can catch. There is also always the possibility of human involvement.

I can't recall ever seeing a similar situation. I think it is highly unlikely that coyotes are pulling tails off of antelope based on how short an antelope tail is along with it not being the normal point of attack from a coyote. Without seeing these to know if they are actually tails or if they are bits of hide or just clumps of antelope hair, my speculation would just be speculation. It is not uncommon for antelope to lose big clumps of hair especially when going under or through a fence at high speed.

Good luck figuring it out.

 

[N F C]

Antelope don't shed their tails. It is antelope season in many areas. It is possible that the "tails" are from hides or parts of hides from antelope taken by hunters.

Coyotes will kill and eat anything they can catch. A loose dog pack will kill anything they can catch. There is also always the possibility of human involvement.

I can't recall ever seeing a similar situation. I think it is highly unlikely that coyotes are pulling tails off of antelope based on how short an antelope tail is along with it not being the normal point of attack from a coyote. Without seeing these to know if they are actually tails or if they are bits of hide or just clumps of antelope hair, my speculation would just be speculation. It is not uncommon for antelope to lose big clumps of hair especially when going under or through a fence at high speed.

Good luck figuring it out.

They are definitely tails. Wish I would have gotten a picture of them.

Thanks Bob!

 

[R2elk]

They are definitely tails. Wish I would have gotten a picture of them.

Thanks Bob!

Sounds to me like some teenage pranksters that possibly work at a local meat processing unit.

 

[R2elk]

Currently 33°F, very windy and huge blobs of snowflakes falling. There currently are over 4" of the white stuff which is heavy and wet. I am expecting damage to the Russian Olives since the branches were already drooping from the heavy load of olives on them. I had to knock the snow off of the overhead netting already and expect to need to do so multiple more times.

Hope everyone is inside enjoying the warmth of their heating systems.

 

[red horse ranch]

Temp in the 40's most of the day here. Heavy rain, then snow, then rain... off and on all day. No snow on the ground. Wind 20 to 30 mph all day. Most of our leaves blew off except for the Russian Olives. The R O seeds were mostly gone from all the blackbirds that have been here several weeks. Good day to read a book!

 

[R2elk]

Temp in the 40's most of the day here. Heavy rain, then snow, then rain... off and on all day. No snow on the ground. Wind 20 to 30 mph all day. Most of our leaves blew off except for the Russian Olives. The R O seeds were mostly gone from all the blackbirds that have been here several weeks. Good day to read a book!

Other than the overnight high of 42°F at 1:00 AM, the highest it got during the daytime is 35°F. The low so far has been 32°F. There is 3" of snow on the ground and it is melting as fast as it is coming down now. The rain gauge is showing 0.14" of water because it is a heavy wet snow.

I am guessing that the blackbirds that you are referring to are the starlings. I shoot every starling that I can. It has helped to keep them off of the Russian Olives. The trees are absolutely loaded again this year. The only good thing I can say about the wind farm they put in is that it has stopped the hordes of starlings from showing up here. They used to fly across that valley and swoop down on me. My lower field would look black from the thousands that would land there. Now they only show up in the hundreds.

Enjoy your book.

 

[N F C]

Yesterday was on/off snow and all day howling winds. Looks like we'll have a little break until the next batch of snow is due on Wednesday.

Yesterday certainly was a good day to read a book

 

[red horse ranch]

Other than the overnight high of 42°F at 1:00 AM, the highest it got during the daytime is 35°F. The low so far has been 32°F. There is 3" of snow on the ground and it is melting as fast as it is coming down now. The rain gauge is showing 0.14" of water because it is a heavy wet snow.

I am guessing that the blackbirds that you are referring to are the starlings. I shoot every starling that I can. It has helped to keep them off of the Russian Olives. The trees are absolutely loaded again this year. The only good thing I can say about the wind farm they put in is that it has stopped the hordes of starlings from showing up here. They used to fly across that valley and swoop down on me. My lower field would look black from the thousands that would land there. Now they only show up in the hundreds.

Enjoy your book.

We've had the starlings too along with a lot of blackbirds, red wing and regular blackbirds. Hubby does use the shotgun on the starlings but the blackbirds gathered here for a while on their migration south. We don't shoot them since they are a migratory bird. They gather here since we have lots of trees and chicken feed setting around. But all those birds have left now and all we have are hoards of sparrows. Must have been 50 of them in the henhouse yesterday. Evidently they didn't like the weather either.....

p.s. The book was good. Another Longmire mystery set in Durant (aka Buffalo) Wyoming!

 

[R2elk]

On Tuesday evening I heard something on the roof and looked out the window just in time to see a turkey hen land in the driveway. She seemed pretty agitated and quickly flew into the fenced in area. I went out and could hear her calling as she ran through the area. Wednesday it became apparent why she was calling as I found her at the neighbor's separated from her buddies by a fence.

 

[R2elk]

Last night they decided that they should be overnight guests.