Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Pretty Coyote

My dad caught 4 possums last night... For what ever reason, on nights it rains he always nails the possums.

My dad catches over 2 dozen dogs a year trapping. In most parts of VA you can legally use dogs to hunt deer. At the end of the season, many guys don't even bother to pick up many of their deer hounds. So, by the end of January, there are usually several packs of half feral dogs running around. They're skinny, mangy and a mess. It's a real shame... That is mostly what he catches. He will also catch pets that are just left to run too. When he releases the dogs, they usually run off with a minor limp if that. He had a beagle this year jump up on his ATV and stare at him after he released it from his trap. Too funny! People think foot hold traps are just so terrible. They really aren't, it's just a lack of knowledge about the sport.

I guess it depends on how secure you feel in your own woods, and that includes threats from both two-legged, and four-legged varmints. We have approx 140 acres here, with about 100 of it being woods, and the rest cleared, including the ponds. I think everyone's situation is probably different, and one should take the precautions they deem necessary. Indiana doesn't have bears, and I've never seen a badger either, but the skunks, coyotes, cougars, and bobcats are all present, and I have no worries about any of them.

Maybe it has to do with my upbringing. I've lived in, as well as off of, the Indiana woods for many years earlier in life. I'm not afraid of anything it has to offer, and while anything is possible, I would like to believe that any two legged nasties would be observed by me long before they were aware of my presence. But that could be just my hillbilly pride talking, too.

I fished last night, in the rain, until it was too dark to see. Unarmed, and at the very edge of the woods. It never entered my mind that I should feel concerned, or cautious. Perhaps I'm just fortunate to live in the area in which I do.

I always carry a gun, but it's for the 2 legged predator. I have dealt with a couple of not so friendly black bears over the years but incidents of black bears attacking humans is extremely rare. Coyote attacks on adult humans is pretty much unheard of. We don't have mountain lions nor do we have brown bears. They are the only two 4 legged predators I would have any major concern about. I do like to upgrade to a 180 grain bear load in my .357 magnum when in black bear woods, especially when fishing the local creeks. I'd rather have the option than not. It'll put a hurting on any 2 legged predators I could have issue with as well.

There are some very unsavory people out there. Clandestine meth labs are becoming more and more common in rural areas and in VA we have lots of moonshiners too. I just like having the ability to defend myself if needed. I am so used to carrying a gun everywhere I go, it's not an inconvenience anymore.

I took a mink in a muskrat set earlier this year. First one of those I'd seen in awhile.

My dad is so crazy, he stopped and picked up a mink a few weeks back that was road killed. HAHA He said it would be like passing up a $20 bill. It was a very pretty mink. They are not very common in VA, a bit more common in PA.

so what's the consensus?
i've seen coyotes on my 72 acres
i sometimes walk around un-armed back in the woods
are some of you saying that a coyote/coyotes attack adult humans?
the two yotes i saw ran like hell when they spotted me

They are eerie to hear, but I am not afraid of them. They are far more scared of me than I am of them...

I feel the same way as CJ....

gee indiana sounds like a nice place no bears and flatland I hate the bears around here last summer we were chased into our house at least 6 times. im not talking seeing a bear in the yard and charging us. they are on our porch 10 ft away. from us. one time my dad went outside because he heard a noise and there was a bear right there it waited a few seconds and then attacked him he shut the door just in time and the bear hit the door cause he didn't stop intime that evening he stayed on the porch waiting for us we had to listen to a 400 lb black bear scratch at the door all evening pretty scary. and another time we went out side to see 4 cubs tearing at the trash they were pretty freindly and were close enough to pet them. moma bear wasn't to happy when she found out. by that i mean my mom.

Here in NJ they have lost their fear of humans,they live so close that they associate houses with a easy meal.I recently had 2 separate yote sightings in broad daylight,once while leaving for work and the other chased my dog towards me while I was cutting firewood.The latter yote didnt stop till I ran towards him with a chainsaw blaring away.......even then he just stopped less then 20 yards away from me for a min before deciding to take off.

I've spent a lot of time hiking,hunting and fishing and rarely have I felt threatened,but the coyotes that have moved in my area are nothing like others I have dealt with before.They are just fearless.

I don't doubt they are fearless, but a giant coyote is 55 pounds. It'd be tough for one to do much damage to an adult human. Now to an infant or toddler, I wouldn't let my kid play unsupervised in the backyard... I certainly wouldn't let my small dog run around either.

Small pond, the northern half of Indiana is flat........Down here, it's all hills, hollers, and ravines.....no mountains though.

Three years back, about 100 yds from where I was fishing last night. Broad daylight.

I'm not concerned at my property, but there is a property that we manage the ponds on that is owned by an absentee landowner. There have been some theft issues a few years ago, some trespass issues, and I've seen burned spots in the road very close to there that I assume was from a small meth lab being disposed of (at least that's what the local paper said). Since I have a lifetime Personal Protection license, I think it's better to be safe than sorry. I wouldn't be that concerned if I wasn't alone, but you never know.

I haven't ever heard of a coyote attacking a person around here. California? Sure, especially around L.A.

CJ, the Western 'yotes have paler fur, and it's denser and longer too, that's why they get more $$ for them.

I'm not worried about anything but humans. And, since deer and coyotes evolved together, I'm not worried about predation. I'm a lot more worried about neighbors dogs. I PERSONALLY believe that they are a much bigger problem than wildlife.

I believe coyotes and deer are part of an environmental balance of nature like bass and bluegills. I don't get upset about bass eating baby bluegills. In lots of places, due to over protection, deer are being considered as rats with antlers. Big brown eyes don't impress me. And, I've seen starving deer herds.

I occasionally put a deer carcass with all of the good stuff removed out in the brush with a game camera. I see red tailed hawks, buzzards, dogs and occasionally a hog, coyote, possum, or bobcat. Lots of dogs both day and night. Occasionally deer come to the odor. I'm surprised that I never see a coon on the carcass. I'm not sure that coyotes don't take the blame for dogs. I don't bother messing coyotes when I see them. I'm seldom armed anyway. But, I do go to the house and pick up a rifle when a bunch of dogs are around. Those things can mess up deer hunting in a hurry.

One of the things that I can do to have a wildlife tax exemption is shooting feral dogs and cats. I never see a cat but am pretty deep in "feral" dogs. If a dog is obviously dumped, which happens often, I take it to the Fort Worth SPCA.

Unless something is causing me a problem, I seldom mess with it. But, I have no problem with varmint hunters unless they are on my land.

This thread has got me thinking...how many on here choose to carry a weapon while on their property, specifically to deal with other people that might be encountered? And of those who do, how many times have you needed the weapon in that capacity?

I've come across armed, unknown deer hunters on me before, and had no problem with telling them to leave, despite me being unarmed. But, those weren't folks making meth, either. I see stories on TV and the 'net, about drug dealers using isolated properties for illicit activities, but I've never seen evidence of it myself, nor do I know any landowners around here who have. I'm sure geography plays a role, but realistically speaking, just how common is it to come across two-legged nasties on your own property? Especially if said property has no roads, utility easements, or other avenues to provide motorized access, and is not visible from any type of road, aside from a 1/2 mile long driveway?

If you're on my place unobserved...you've walked in off of one of my neighbors properties. And you've walked a good long ways to do so. (deer hunters, who had permission to be on my neighbors place, but decided to cross the fence because it "looked" better.)

When I was a kid there were some guys growing marijuana on our property. We notified the cops and they came out, but nothing came of it. I do recall running into some guys, I now assume the same ones, who tried to scare us off with tales of wolves and whatnot.

WOW... I wish it was that much here. If I skin and dry one out, they will give you $5. If there is is anything wrong with it it, they drop it to nothing. I kind of feel that nobody else around is messing with them, so the fur buyer doesn't get enough to make it worth their time, it becomes a nuisance to them.

We used to have alot of stray cats and especially house dogs. People just dump them off in the country. For the last few years, it is rare to see them. The coyotes are making a meal out of them. I am not afraid of them here either. I think it has to do with what esshup said, they are quick learners. People will shoot them and they get to know that. I think they get comfortable in the cities because no humans can put the hurt on them. If you were to shoot one once in a while, they all will learn to avoid/fear humans.

A couple years ago, guys we being robbed of their deer rifles and money in parking lots of the State Game Lands in PA. Thugs would wait until the hunters would get back to their trucks, take them by surprise, steal their deer rifles and take their wallets and cell phones. I guess they were waiting for the hunters to unload their rifles and lay them down and then they approached armed with handguns...

Not sure what I would do in that position. I may not even bother to draw my handgun, it's not worth dying over a rifle, cell phone and some credit cards. I sure like the option of being able to defend myself though if I felt things weren't going so well...

CJ...I wonder if we'd have our hands full if 2-3 large coyotes got brave an attacked us un-armed?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlvtPUCp47I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyXpPO2BC9c



Dave that's basically the reason we sold our place at Lake Fork. A nutty neighbor whose hobby was collecting stray dogs. At first he had 1 pen, then 2, then 3, then 4. All the pens were full of dogs. You could hear the guy down at his dog pens talkin to all his "babies" and the barking was almost non-stop.

Once (but it was during deer hunting season so I had a shotgun in my hand) have I run across a guy deer hunting on my land. When asked, he said Scott "X" gave him permission. He had an attitude, but he did leave when I said that I didn't give anyone permission and said that if he didn't leave I would be calling the sheriff.

I hunt alone on my land - the wooded portion is surrounded by other landowners and along one side, they are not very savory. I often see 4-10 young men messing around their yard, never seem to have a job, etc. Have never found one on my property, but have had all my POSTED signs removed (how thoughtful of them), and will find a beer bottle here and there - apparently they can't carry my posted signs and their empties at the same time.

I am an absentee landowner, and I don't know them or their habits, but I do know I would not want to have a chance encounter unprotected.

I did have an encounter on the last day of deer season this year with a group of dog hunters who have upset other neighboring hunters with regularity. Not to editorialize on dog hunters, but the norm (at least in this area) is that they are only one level above the common flea. They are thoughtless about private property and are completely devoid of ethics regarding their dogs and what / how they shoot.

I was preparing for the afternoon hunt on the last day of the season this January when I saw their convoy of trucks come rolling up the road that borders the front of my property.

They stopped about a quarter mile down the road and started piling out and into the woods. The rest went on around the corner with the dogs.

I gave them the benefit of the doubt until I started to hear the dogs barking and rode back to the back track where I hunt. I have perimeter roads with a tower stand at the corner where they intersect. When I got to that corner, I could see 6 guys spread out down the E-W road and four down the N-S road. These roads are behind what is left of barb wire perimeter fence on my land, and are in the shadow of a clearly visible tower stand.

I lost it. Flew down to the first few of the six and called them every foul name in the book. Hindsight, I really could have put myself in danger if things got heated, but at the time I had adrenaline courage that came in part from what I was carrying
on my hip.

I called the police and the DNR and they both came, but would both do nothing...the police said it was a DNR issue and the DNR said because he did not witness them trespassing personally, he could do nothing either.

I was pissed and they were pissed because of me mouthing off at them, and I saw it in their eyes when they drove past me and the DNR officer. Wish now I would have handled it differently.

I did catch two of their dogs after they were gone. As has been said here by others, they could care less about the dogs. When I called them, they came up to me and were friendly enough, but they looked awful, smelled worse and were really pitiful.

I normaly carry a gun on our property drug addics or drugies as we call them are allways down at the river partying and shooting guns at 4 am. one year a lady was walking her dogs on our property big pitbulls , and they wern't on a leash I was also walking and the dogs attacked me. I didn't have a gun at the time so i whooped him with a big stick. he decided not to mess with me. This summer i also got chased by a drunk lady with a shovel. that wasn't on our property but was not that far away. the cops had to get involved.

If you are bitten (or handle one and don't keep it for testing) be ready for rabies shots which are not fun. No dog under 60 lbs is safe from them and packs will kill even large dogs. Kids are not safe and damage to deer and turkey can be serious. They are wild predators and survivors and should be viewed as such.

When wolves are around the yote and fox populations shrink markedly. When yotes are around the fox populations decrease. In unregulated areas when yotes are around the dog population shrinks. See a pattern here ?

I've posted this before.

ewest, you are absolutely 100% correct. A friend in Fallbrook, Ca. had his pit bull killed by a pack of coyotes during the day in their fenced yard when he and his wife were at work about 15 years ago. She was a full grown Pit, 4-5 years old, and I would never have thought that coyotes would do that to such a dog, but I was wrong.

I don't know of anyone who's been attacked by a coyote, child or otherwise. I don't hear of livestock being killed. Of course, deer are extremely plentiful here, so perhaps they are content to stick with those. And personally, more power to em' in that regard.

Now remember...I live in an agricultural community. If livestock predation by coyotes were a big issue, it would be well known. I just don't believe that, in my area at least, they are any kind of threat to people. As far as pets, yeah I believe that coyotes are opportunists and will grab a meal where they can take it. The same way a hawk or an owl will take a chicken.