I love wildlife, but...

[passiveporcupine]

A bold male coyote, who is very big and absolutely gorgeous, and just doing his job of trying to help his mate raise their cubs on the hill above me, has decided that my yard, being flat ground, is a better highway to get to and from his den and his hunting area, than running on the steep hillside above me. Every day he and his mate travel through my property, early morning to go hunting and then around noon to go back to their den.

I saw the male first on March 11, walking calmly through my yard, along the base of the forest which is a very steep hill, covered with brush and tall trees. I saw him two days in a row, right before noon. I opened the door and talked to him first, not knowing for sure if he was a coyote or some kind of a shepherd mix, as we normally don't get coyotes here, but he was so calm, and he just stopped and watched me...I was only about 70' away. I finally walked out into the yard and yelled at him and he moved off at a trot.

The next day he did the same thing, but this time I sicked my dogs on him. They chased him down onto my neighbor's property for a bit and then came home.

The third day I saw a female above him on the hill, in the forest. She is not brave enough to come down into my yard. Smart Coyote. That is the way they should be. The male has obviously been around people for some time and is no longer afraid of them.

After my dogs chased them away and I let the dogs run up the hill every day for a seek to make sure they weren't up there, I assumed/hoped they were gone.

But I was wrong. The male came through my yard on April 25 and got my beautiful white cat Angel Baby. I overslept that morning and got up late. I let the dogs out and they went nuts where the coyote smell was...and Angel never came home...my gorgeous 15-year-old cat who has never had to deal with a coyote in the time we've lived here (his whole life). And I'm still in shock over it.

So I'm on high alert now. I know that they are feeding cubs now and I see them almost every day around noon, as they travel from their hunting area (south of me) to their den (north of me). My yard is on the bottom of a steep narrow wooded valley. My yard is the only easy flat path...it's not easy running on a steep hill, so the male who is excessively brave, still wants to take this route. I don't know what to do. I'm locking the cats in at night. One of my girls who is an avid hunter like Angel was, is going nuts, ripping things to shreds and crying all night because she can't go out. I let them out during the day with the front door wide open and I keep sending the dogs out (two big dogs) to check on them and patrol the yard...and still today the male came through about noon, down in my yard until he hit the most open spot where I could see him, and then he cut up the hill and my dog Rugby alerted me. Rugby took off after him, and then Zeus, and they chased him away. I think Rubgy is scared of them, because he chases them until they run away, but then he comes back down in the yard to bark at them, where he's safer. I ran out screaming L(and I cannot run because of back problems) because my hunter cat Hoochie was sleeping in the shade below the old canal trail (which is the path the coyote is using). So I was afraid he was going after her. I don't think he knew she was there, but she was only a few feet from him.

I am a nervous wreck and I don't know what to do. I don't want him killed, but he's a threat to all my cats, and my life is a disaster right now. I still can't sleep from PTSD images of Angel being taken, and during the day I'm a wreck because every five minutes I have to go outside to check on my cat Hoochie. The other three are happy to stay inside with me.

When I see the coyotes running across the hillside, I am amazed at how beautiful they are, and I really don't want to hurt them. It's unusual for them to breed here, in this steep terrain, and it's probably because we have too many of them in this area right now because we've had some mild dry winters.

I may need to hire a hunter to shoot him, but that just kills me to even think about it. But then if I saw him take another one of my cats and I had a gun in my hands, I'd probably shoot him myself. I need my hunter cats here (and they are all my babies). I can't live in a place as rodent infested as this place was before I got my cats.

But I saw this video today and it made me think of the big male. He's not far from being this bold. Maybe somebody has been feeding him, thinking it's cute. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd like to hear them. Coyotes are not supposed to be so bold, and when they are, they are considered a problem.

[underahedgerow]

1. Check with your local wildlife management government office. They may offer

humane trapping and relocation. We did that in Beverly Hills for coyotes that were encroaching too often.

Not the SPCA or pet related associations, but Wildlife.

This link might help or get you started in the right direction;

http://www.wildlifeanimalcontrol.com/coyotes.html

[passiveporcupine]

2. They won't do that out here. They will just say have someone shoot them.

They just shoot problem bears too.

[riderinthestorm]

3. How much $$ do you want to spend? Cheap electric tape hooked to a solar powered source

Can be remarkably effective.

It "shocks" the trespassing animal and deters them.

It can be strung on cheap temporary posts because I guarantee you it won't take many episodes being shocked to deter the trespassing. I've personally seen horses get shocked once with electric tape fencing and never go near it again even if the power source hasn't been on for a long time.

Its very presence is a deterrent.

Good luck!

[passiveporcupine]

5. Thanks for the suggestion

I do have an electric fence charger, but it may not be powerful enough to fence in my whole front yard. I have a pretty big yard (my property is over ten acres and the yard itself is about an acre). My charger worked for a smaller area (half the yard and lower meadow) when I had a horse here. I think though, a coyote might just jump over it after being zapped once. Maybe not. It's probably worth a try, but I'd need to hire help to install it as my physical labor days are over. I don't have tape, I have wire, but I can wrap ties around it to make it more visible.

Part of my trouble as I age here is finding people to help me care for this place and do repairs and projects like this. I might have to call a fencing company. I'm living on SS, so don't have a lot of money to spend.

But it is something I should pursue. It's not quite as easy as hot wiring a pasture. I have a lot of hills and forest and brush, and you can't run hot wire through brush...it has to be cleared around and below the hot wire so it won't go to ground. And it would need to be run up a steep hill that is too steep for me to climb and maintain.

[NV Whino]

4. I use a BB gun

I don't hit them, or even come anywhere close to them, but the sound along with a plunk nearby is enough to make them change course and generally stay away.

[passiveporcupine]

6. If I could afford it, I'd get a paintball gun and do some target practice

If I hit him a few times with a paintball pellet I bet he'd change his course.

The problem is he doesn't come through at the same time every day, and not every day. so I'd be stuck sitting for hours in a blind waiting for him (and my body would not tolerate that). And when he does come through, if he's running, I wouldn't even have time to pick up anything to aim it at him.

I wish I could set up some kind of auto defense that would shoot him with a strong stream of vinegar or something every time he crossed my property line. Or maybe the hot wire will work. I've got to dig out my stuff. I haven't strung it for years because the plastic end of the wire roll broke and I have to buy a new roll. I'm just an avid recycler and kept telling myself I'd find a way to fix the roll so I could use the wire I already have. It's like hundreds of feet of wire, but no way to spool it off without tangling.

[NV Whino]

7. Try this

http://www.havahart.com

http://www.havahart.com/spray-away-infrared-motion-activated-sprinkler-repellent

I've used the scarecrow sprinkler for raccoons and deer. The raccoons eventually get used to it, but I bet it would work for coyotes.

[passiveporcupine]

8. This looks interesting. They don't show coyotes, but they do show dogs and foxes

It would only work for me after my summer irrigation water is turned on. I don't have outside water for half of the year. It is supposed to be turned on on April 15 but this year it wasn't on till the 20th, and I had to ask them to turn it on then. So it wouldn't deter coyotes from coming in this part of the valley to den...and it might not save my cats in the future in spring, but might work for summer. Or if it's the same breeding couple, after one summer of learning they might just find a different way to get to their den.

The coyotes won't hang around here all year. They only come occasionally in spring to find a den and then they go back to the bigger valley for the rest of the year when the cubs are old enough, in late summer. I think in my eighteen years here I've only seen coyotes out here three times (three different years) and none of them have ever been as aggressive and bold as this male.

But thanks...I'm going to call these guys and talk to them.

It's weird, they don't address coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions or bears and we have all of those out here.

[XemaSab]

9. Why can't you keep your cats indoors?

[moriah]

10. Notice they are "working cats" as well as pets. Aka, rural area.

After being given the freedom to hunt and keep varmits down, cats don't generally react well to being locked inside all the time.

In Britain it's considered inhumane to deny cats access to the outdoors. US catkeeping in the City is different.

[Aerows]

13. I'm wanting to hear more about this.

Please, elaborate.

[moriah]

14. This cat activist explains it...

http://messybeast.com/catsusuk.htm

[hamsterjill]

18. Outdoor enclosures for cats are the solution.

And they are becoming more and more common.

[moriah]

23. You know that unconfined, a rural domestic cat may have a "territory"...

...

That's pretty big.

http://www.knowyourcat.info/info/teritory.htm

I understand wanting to keep kitties inside. I do anytime I live where cars or sadistic people are a major danger. He's not a mouser, wasn't raised with his mother and taught to hunt, so I would probably keep him inside even if I moved to a rural area.

But the poster is referring to his family of indoor-outdoor cats that not just are pets, but working animals, getting to use their prey instincts in ways that are helpful in rural areas. If the one taken was a senior even by indoor cat standards, he's obviously taking care of them. He may have to resort to confining them temporarily, but it won't be happy for owner or cat, and not everyone has ready cash in this economy.

[hamsterjill]

26. I understand that.

But my experience with cats has been quite different. I have several that had very large territories that proved to be dangerous and where they had to be removed. They now live with me in a large enclosure, and with appropriate opportunities for exercise and play, they've done quite nicely.

The enclosure that I have was something that I built over time, adding to it as I had the money to do so.

[moriah]

33. Good on you. :)

I don't know if everyone has that kind of money, like the OP. But I just wish there was a little more compassion in this thread. I know many who live far enough away from the hazards of cars and sadistic people who have indoor-outdoor cats. They have property theoretically civilized, but enough acreage to give the cats both a home base but room to roam. Several are 15+ years old (neutering helps a lot there).

[hamsterjill]

34. I'm not suggesting that there is anything wrong here.

I just offered an alternative.

I'm very familiar with barn cats. I was raised on a ranch in south Texas.

You keep addressing the money issue of having an enclosure. Yes, I understand some cannot afford to have one. Some don't have the space, etc. I am certainly not a wealthy person. Mine started very small and over a decade, it's grown larger. I've budgeted every penny for it because it was a necessary thing in my own environment.

[Aerows]

12. Zema Sabini?

Indeed faster than expected.

Particularly with a gull structured with such a low wing span.

[Aerows]

11. I love wild life.

Ask me about 36lbs raccoons.

I understand completely and folks that will not ever experience a brush of that nature have a shitload of opinions and very little experience.

I'm pretty certain the raccoons around here eat coyotes, and I'm not even joking.

I have opened myself up so wide that there are a multitude of jokes that can be made about raccoons. Go on. If you think coyotes are bad, they don't pack up to pull a heist.

Raccoons are the assholes of the animal world because they are intelligent, devious, and disease ridden.

[passiveporcupine]

15. I have occassional raccoons here too, but not as many as when I first moved in.

I love Opossums and wish my dogs would leave them alone. I don't let the dogs out at night because I've had to drag them away from Opossums playing dead. But Opossums visit me under my house at night all summer long. My cabin is post and pier in the back so any small critter cat get under it. Until two years ago, I had chickens and they always brought the raccoons around at night, but I had them safely secured. I didn't mind the raccoons.

Unfortunately for me my problems are rodents. I don't have any outbuildings, like a garage or barn, that I can store things in and rodents can't get into...so I don't have a place to store anything securely outside. The first year I lived here, the property was swarming with adorable chipmunks and other rodents, I lost many tools (mostly the electric cords attached) and a brand new rubber raft I stored in a building outside (they basically ate the whole raft. I don't know if they used it for bedding or actually ate the rubber...but there were only a few shreds left after winter), and they chewed holes in my wood cabin walls and even chewed through my phone line. I have been invaded by packrats because I have hay down in the goat barn. If I didn't have cats inside, my cabin would be overrun with mice and rats. My Angel Baby that the coyote got was my best hunter and he has brought me many a packrat and snake and lizard (most of the snakes and lizards are fine, I just release them) and he even brought me a big dead rattle snake once. He was probably the most effective hunter I had at keeping rodent populations in control around here.

My dogs have treed a mountain lion about 100' from my house...no harm no foul, I just called them inside until it left. We had a mamma bear problem one year and she trashed my bird feeders and ripped a huge hole out of the side of my new trashcan waiting by the road for pickup...took the trash and dragged it up a hill, and knocked over my neighbors beehives...but I had no problem with her or her cub, who visited too, because they were not hurting my animals. Not even my little goats outside. I don't put bird feeders out in the summer any more (except for hummers).

I have been here 18 years and never lost a cat to a coyote before, because most of them know to stay away from human areas and there is a lot of open land here for them to roam. I live in the woods and am surrounded by county forest and orchards and they have lots of places to live without bothering people. But this male coyote is not a normal coyote. He has been acclimated to humans and is no longer afraid of them and that's a problem. That's why I think maybe someone was feeding him (maybe not intentionally).

I have four cats now and three are fine being indoor cats. One is not. She is as dedicated a hunter as Angel was, but she usually only catches mice. He was a bigger cat and would tackle bigger prey. She loves hunting at night and is now going crazy because she's locked in. She has a problem using a cat box, and except when everything is buried under snow, she usually goes outside to do her thing...now she cries when she has to go because I won't let her out. She is pooping on a puppy pee pad now in front of the cat box, but she's not happy about it. She is also around 14 and has been hunting all her life. Being locked in is driving her nuts.

And if I can't have barn cats here to keep down the rodent population, I will lose too much to rodent damage. I have a lot of expensive tools outside, and I'm not real thrilled at the idea of losing any of it, or having rodents nesting in the walls of my cabin again, or packrats in my goat hay, because they pee in it and the goats won't eat it. I need my hunting cats.

[red dog 1]

16. I'm very sorry to hear about the loss of you "Angel"

You say that you do have some fencing already; but have you considered getting a tall wooden fence that completely surrounds your house?

Depending on how far your barn is from your house, it might require a separate fence around it.

Although coyotes are not an endangered species, I would not want to shoot that male; but that is just my opinion.

Although wooden fencing can be expensive, it would increase the value of your home.

Good luck!

[passiveporcupine]

17. thank you red dog

I don't want to shoot him either (except with a paintball gun to scare him off)...but fencing is not an option, nor would I want to ruin my beautiful forest view by closing in my cabin behind a tall wooden fence. And my cats (especially Hoochie, my hunter) can and will go right over a wooden fence.

I've been thinking of different fencing options (coyotes can clear most fences unless about six feet tall) and the electric fence is probably the only one I could stand looking at out here.

Both coyotes are very healthy and fully haired and when the light shows behind them as they run up or across the hill, they glow like foxes with golden hair. They are incredibly beautiful animals.

I love looking up my hill and seeing wildlife up above me...as long as it stays up there where it won't be hurt by my dogs or it won't hurt my cats. If this male weren't so bold and aggressive, I'd just be enjoying watching them travel across the hill every day.

My youngest dog, Rugby, is an English Shepherd. They are farm dogs used for herding, livestock protection, and just all around protection, and he is amazing, but he does not stay outside. He's a big baby who wants to be inside with me...so he watches through windows, but that's not as good as actually being out there where he can hear and smell and see everything. My older dog is a big yellow lab, who is a lover with people and animals, but can be pretty brave when he and Rugby are facing a predator. He's much braver than Rugby, who will bark, but not fight. He's getting pretty old though and I won't have him much longer.

We have such a huge range of wildlife visitors out here...it's why I moved here...for the seclusion, the peace and quiet, and the beauty of nature, both flora and fauna, and to be living with big trees and water again. I've even had beaver visitors on my creek once and have had a flock of over 100 wild turkeys swarm through my yard (last summer...it was awesome). I've been a pet and wildlife rescuer and rehabber all my life. I've raised wild birds and even a tiny field mouse on a bottle and had a tree frog living in my kitchen for over six months. I finally put her out in February when it warmed up enough here that the bugs were coming alive.

I'm not asking for any help on how to kill an animal. I got a PM from someone who is "angry" about this thread, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why.

[red dog 1]

19. If it were me, I'd put a "Full Block" on the DUer that sent you an angry PM

Your post is obviously NOT " asking for any help on how to kill an animal"

Getting back to your problem...the easiest thing to do would be to keep that one cat inside at night, even though she won't like that.

[passiveporcupine]

20. Yes, I've been keeping her in, and she's letting me know about it.

I don't know how I'll handle it when it gets hot enough I have to leave windows open at night because she already shredded one screen. Right now it's cool and rainy, but it will be hot again soon.

I am just as concerned with her being out during the day now, because, while coyotes are normally nocturnal animals, these guys are traveling mid day...that is when I see the guy in my yard...from tenish to a little after noon. And he comes through on my old (filled in) canal trail that is just at the base of the forest/hill, and that, of course, is the part of the yard my cat Hoochie wants to hang out in. I don't know why...maybe it's because she finds more rodents over there behind the old chicken house/outhouse structure.

I've watched coyote videos enough to know, a cat cannot outrun a coyote. And often they stay frozen in fight mode until the coyote is too close and then try to outrun it...to their death.

so whenever the door is open I'm constantly out there looking for her, and calling her back to the house. I can't keep this up...it's too wearing on my nerves.

I'm not blocking anyone for disagreeing with anything in this thread. I think it was a misunderstanding and all is cool.

[red dog 1]

21. Do you have a "scratch post" for you cats?

They don't cost much; and it'll give her a place to take out her anger about not being able to go outside.

I found a place for you that sells Airsoft Paintball guns for as low as $21.95
http://www.ansgear.com/AEG_Airsoft_Gun_Sale_s/3529.htm

[passiveporcupine]

22. My whole house is a scratch post for cats.

Seriously...I am not kidding. I have round wooden posts supporting beams that are wrapped in carpet to keep the cats from shredding them, and the carpets are shredded.

She doesn't use scratch posts inside...she just follows me around inside in the daytime, crying until I open the door for her. And night time is scratching doors, or window screens, and tearing up the floor by the front door. And crying...constant crying.

My heart is crying every time I hear her crying.

[passiveporcupine]

25. Thanks for the link, but that 21 dollar gun is a BB gun

and I'm not shooting BB's at anything. I don't know if I could handle having a paintball rifle in the house either. I'm just not into guns. I don't even like looking at them.

[hamsterjill]

27. I don't know what kind of windows you have in your home.

But I've used baby gates in windows before. They work well for windows that open up and down and are (obviously) wide enough to accommodate the smallest width of the baby gate. The ones at Walmart (yes, I know, perish the thought!) run about $10 and the mesh is small enough so that cats cannot get through it.

Just an idea...

[passiveporcupine]

29. thanks sweetie

I might have to put up temporary screening in front of certain windows, but when it's hot I usually have all my windows open all night and I'm not sure I could afford to screen them all off.

[moriah]

24. Does your State have a Game and Fish Commission/officials who could...

... tranq the animals (since you know where they are denning) and relocate them further away?

My experiences with unwanted wildlife in the country have included bears and what appeared to be a large feline's leftovers from taking a free-range chicken. We'd seen at least one but couldn't get.it.on video or photo.

Arkansas has now admitted that mountain lions exist here, but we who lived in the area of the Ozarks knew that when our neighbor Leigh Ann Cox was killed, it was likely that cat.

Coyotes are dangerous to livestock and pets, but aren't generally going to prey on people, right?

[passiveporcupine]

28. Wow...you had a neighbor killed by a mountain lion?

Eeek. I was having so many scary thoughts like that last night in bed, after watching videos yesterday, that I had trouble getting to sleep.

We've never had a human attack out here by anything, but about ten years ago a bear killed a llama. And the wildlife people killed the bear.

I know the bear and cub who were out here were killed by local orchardists. I heard the gunshots and never saw them again. Bears do a lot of damage to fruit trees. They literally rip branches off and break down young trees to get to the fruit.

I've been followed by a mountain lion once when hiking with my dogs, and I had a neighbor who went down to her barn and opened the sliding door to find a mountain lion inside eating the carcass of a feral cat. She slammed the door shut and ran back to her house with her little dog...a very unwise thing to do with a mountain lion or any large predator. You never run from them.

[moriah]

31. They wouldn't officially admit it was a mountain lion because allegedly none were in AR

http://www.angelfire.com/co/KlueLass/lions/nitemar2.htm

But the autopsy ended up showing her neck was snapped,

Now they admit they're here, but allegedly not breeding.

[trueblue2007]

30. why let your cats outside ???

we live on a floating home. there are lots of predators around here and i'd NEVER let my 5 cats outside.

i am sorry for your loss but KEEP YOUR CATS INSIDE for their own good.

OR ...... MAKE THEM A CATIO.

https://www.facebook.com/CatioSpaces/?fref=ts

[moriah]

32. Not even strenuous effort to keep a cat inside can prevent a tragedy.

There was a dumped dog that hung out near some property I was renting a room in, and we knew my two cats weren't safe outside because of not just him but several others around. All were friendly to people but we saw them hunting rabbits, and knew that my elderly cats would resemble slow, fat bunnies.

Yet when I wasn't home, someone fucked up or the door didn't latch, and I got a call to come home right away... they were able to save one of my furbabies from immediate death, but she still ended up dying of her wounds.

So can we maybe have a little more compassion and a little less lecturing?

[trueblue2007]

36. i AM compassionate!!! I said i was sorry for her loss. Can't you read?

GET OFF MY A$$ !!!

I also offered information about SAFE cat enclosures.

more pictures here

https://www.google.com/search?q=omaha+steak+burgers&biw=1292&bih=702&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwidr8my7MbMAhULxmMKHVgcCMEQ_AUIBygC#tbm=isch&q=catio

[passiveporcupine]

35. Thanks for the link to the catios. Some of those are really cool.

I'm afraid that won't work out here as I need hunting cats to keep down the rodents out here. Most people living in the country or on farms need rodent control cats. Although most people who have "farm" cats, call them barn cats and they don't let them in the house. I can't do that. My cats are all rescues and they live indoors with me, with a cat door to the outdoors.

[TuxedoKat]

37. So sorry

About the loss of your kitty. Dogs hate to be startled so I would get a really strong water gun/sprayer to deter him from going where you don't want him to go maybe it would work the same way with a coyote. Dogs apparently have good memories so when they are startled when in the act of doing something you don't want them to do it deters them from doing what they were doing in that spot the next time they are in the same place.

[passiveporcupine]

38. thanks Tux

I've been checking out sites that sell devices to help deter problem wildlife, and one place has a solar powered motion activated sprinkler I like for day time. I'd need a couple hundred feet of hoses to run the water down to the south property line, and for night time, they also have red flashing light devices you hang at predator eye level and the coyote sees it from a distance and thinks it's the eye of a predator and scares them off. Also those glittery metallic strips you can hang to deter hawks are supposed to work on coyotes and other predators too, during the day. And I might try some cougar urine granules scattered on the north and south boundaries of my property, on the path he travels through (my old canal trail).

I will probably try a mix of things. I can't do it around all my property, but I think it's really only the north and south border of my yard that I have to keep him from coming across...that's where the canal trail is that is his highway back and forth from his den to his hunting area. The female stays high up on the hill and won't take this path. I need him to learn to use the path she is taking.

I really appreciate all the kind thoughts and good suggestions in this thread.