I knew it was going to happen sooner or later and frankly, I am a bit surprised it took this long, but we are starting to have some real coyote problems. I have shot a few just outside our fence line the last few years, but until last Saturday, we never had one inside the fence. Last Saturday night they got inside the pasture and killed a turkey and a guinea. Two nights ago, they got inside the pasture again and killed another turkey. So we moved our last remaining turkey closer to the house (and the dogs and other birds), but I'm thinking that is only a temporary solution.
Since yesterday was my last full day of work for the next few weeks, today I declared war on the bastards!
I found the corner of the pasture where they are getting in under the fence. Unfortunately, where they are getting in is also an area that is frequented by cows and the ground is pretty rocky. So it is not a good area to just take a shot at them as I am afraid a ricochet might hit a cow. So I am going to try my hand at trapping.
I have never trapped before. But a neighbor/friend that has done a lot of it, loaned me a bunch of leg traps and spent a few hours this afternoon walking me through the process of preparing the traps and a quick overview on how to set them up and bait them. So... Off we go on a brand new adventure!
Obviously, in a perfect world I will catch the alpha, whack him and string him up on the fence. But even if I do a shitty job of setting the traps and just scare the yotes away, it does solve my immediate problem. Longer term, I think I am going to start shopping around for an Anatolian dog to live in the pasture and yard and guard against intruders at night. Although that does present its own challenges with getting the Anatolian dog to fit in with the rest of our pack without upsetting our current hierarchy...
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