Back from the Ohio shotgun deer hunt season

[Shawnee]

Would offer that anyone who farms and most who live in farm country are pretty well aware of all six "modes of departure."
Would also agree that a calm, factual response, at least to begin with, is most effective.

 

[mykeal]

Would offer that anyone who farms and most who live in farm country are pretty well aware of all six "modes of departure."

Yes, I agree. But damn few of the anti-hunters live in farm country. They're the ones who need the education.

 

[Pancho]

In southern Ohio bears are rare and so far the coyotes are content with road kill,pets, and garbage. Not much evidence to support that coyotes are pack hunting deer down here......yet. They sure are getting brave though. Two of them trotted right up to my bird feeders that aren't 25' from my kitchen window. I wasn't ready for them but I am now. I've got a 22mag winchester ready for the next visit. I've noticed that these coyotes have colorfull coats of black and red along with the typical gray. They must be eating well her in Ohio for they've got great body mass. I suspect when the easy eating is done they'll learn to hunt in packs for the deer.There has been no evidence of that yet. We are seeing more road killed coyotes attracted to the many deer carcuss along the roads. It sure saves the road crews in charge of picking up the dead dear cause the coyotes don't leave much.
MyKeal,you might know the answer to these questions. Can coyotes mate with dogs or foxes? I'm seeing big coyotes the size of german shepards and they have the bright red coats and black faces of fox. I'm setting up my house to take advantage of the real brave ones that approach the house in the middle of the day. Sure would like to have a couple of their hides on my wall.

 

[mykeal]

Coyotes can and occasionally do mate with feral dogs. I am not aware that they mate with foxes - they pretty much avoid each other.

Coyotes will not generally hunt grown deer, and you'll likely never find evidence of coyotes taking fawns - they are the biggest threat to fawns but once one is taken there's precious little evidence left.

They will take starving or diseased weakened adult deer; this usually happens in the late winter when we aren't out looking around, and by spring there's no sign remaining of the coyote's impact.

 

[____hoot____]

Saw a vidio of two coyotes killing a 450 pound cow elk in deep snow, so they can kill any deer if the conditions are right. Much of their scat I see here in Michigan has deer hair in it. They feed on foxes if they can catch them, as wolves will feed on coyotes if they can, also. There are coy-dog crosses mostly at the edges of their range where populations and breeding opportunitys are slim. Wolf /dog and coy/dog crosses are very rare in normal habitates. Have never heard of foxes crossing with any of the other canines. Bobcat/housecat crosses are possible though as I have seen the results.

 

[Pancho]

Bobcat/housecat! Can you imagine Fluffy knocked up by a bobcat? What a litter that would be.

 

[Misfire99]

Bobcat/housecat! Can you imagine Fluffy knocked up by a bobcat? What a litter that would be.

That's the kitten I want. Come here Garfield let me show you your new friend.

 

[Pancho]

The dnr in Ohio added a short gun season this year Dec. 15 &16 and then we still have primitive weapon season in Jan. Come on guys let's get out there and thin the herd!