Sheep killer

[snafu]

Quite a few yrs ago. I stopped in an area pawn shop to look at their firearms. I started visiting with the owner as I was looking at one of his rifles. He asked me if I was still hunting coyotes. Anyway he soon told me about a farmer who was having problems with coyotes. Coyote(s) climbed his high sheep pen fence. Then commenced to slaughter off his herd. Quite a few sheep were killed but none were eaten.

I contacted the farmer by phone then met him at his farm. I told him, might have been an adult teaching their young on how to kill. I told him I would do what I could for him. That following Winter I hunted the area hard. I found one set of large tracks & a set of average tracks on his 1x2 mile section. I figure they were from the local pr. This section had prime habitat for all kinds of critters.

Day after day I hunted & never seen them. Then one Winter day on old hard snow. We got a sheet of ice on top(oh just peachy :/ ). I seen the local pr out near the 1/2 mile fence line as they were bedded down. So I snuck in the best I could being quiet as I could. One large hill separated me from them. At the bottom of the previous hill. I took off my ice creepers & crawled. I slowly crawled up the large crop hill.

Once I reached the ridgeline I peeked over. The large one was around 400yrs away. The smaller of the two(female I suspected) was around 350yrds away. I wanted the male as he was very large. I aimed while prone & shot right under him. He jumped & was gone In a flash I pivoted on the female which ran another 50yrds or so closer to me down in the valley. She paused & I put one in her neck, down she went & never moved.

I left her there because I wasn't sure I'd get back up the far side of the icy hill. I went back to the farm & told the farmer, he thanked me. I hunted the area the rest of the Winter & never seen the male again. But I did find his tracks. I kept in contact with the farmer in the following months. He said his sheep killing had stopped.

The next Winter I called him again. He said he didn't have anymore sheep killed. But his neighbor was experiencing his sheep being killed. I told my farmer. Probably the old male moved on a ways. Then mated with another female. Then got her into killing sheep. The 2nd farmer never contacted me so I don't know if he ever put an end to his sheep killing or not.   

[Frogman]

Good story!!  WTG!!

Jim

[snafu]

Same farmer some yrs prior. Told me other area famers who had sheep. Were losing them to coyotes one year. So they banded together & hired a trapper. Trapper had to come back a few yrs in a row as he trapped the family group. Then he found an active den in the area & killed those parents & pups. Sheep killing in the area then came to a halt...Scorched Earth policy

I'm a believer all coyotes have their own specific "personality/behaviors" Like that of a domestic dog, each one differs slightly in behaviors. Yet they are all dogs. Although a coyote may behave similar to some extent with other coyotes. Those behaviors vary some. But specific to that individual coyote.

From my observations, I believe an old female is the wariest vs any old male. Of a pr of coyotes she is most often the last one to lay her head down when they bed down. I've seen that behavior so many times. Might explain where the term, block headed male came from.  Who can say for certain. lol

[snafu]

Good story!!  WTG!!

Jim

Thanks

[zack.klan]

I met a guy last year that was having the same issue but the coyote was killing his and the neighbors' dogs. I didn't have a chance to get in contact with him last year unfortunately. I'm going to get a hold of him this year and check back in.

[snafu]

I met a guy last year that was having the same issue but the coyote was killing his and the neighbors' dogs. I didn't have a chance to get in contact with him last year unfortunately. I'm going to get a hold of him this year and check back in.

No doubt some coyotes will kill or try to kill dogs. Over the yrs I've spoken with a number of farmers who have seen this happen. Most of those incidents. It was either a pr of coyotes or a family group. I find it interesting it depends on that coyotes specific behavior. As not all (territorial) coyotes do this. 

Hopefully you can help him out.

[zack.klan]

One camp ground that my friends and I went to had and still does have a huge coyote problem. They would come right up to the other campers and everything. One of my friends went walking on the trails in the woods and actually got surrounded by them. We went barreling in on our 4 wheelers just in time. There was at least 5-6 of them. I almost ran one over. There is definitely an active den near by. Just haven't found it yet. The camp ground owner let us hunt the property on the off season but we never were able to get a shot off. I haven't stopped by there much this year and haven't had a chance to talk to the owner again. I run into her daughter at the grocery store once in awhile and ask her if they are still having issues. She said ya and to come talk to her mom about hunting them again. The only issue is that the owner lets one of the other campers archery hunt the property but he thinks he owns every square inch. I'm going to see about getting permission to put out some traps or at least some cable restraints and see what I can do.

[nastygunz]

 I bet the campers are feeding them!