I am sorry to hear coyotes bother some so much, I have known people that do have issues with these wild creatures...In no way do I want to in this post to accuse anyone here on this board of impropriety or lack of discerning empathy but I would like to post my view and avoid being preachy...
I have found great value in this site for me in the exchange of wisdoms or the presentation of different viewpoints/ideas/experiences with others here, I have encountered several "ah ha" moments thru reading the comments of others on this site for myself.
However I would like to speak for the Arizona coyotes at least...as they cannot bay for themselves on a computer.
While opportunistic in nature they mostly prefer small rodents or a stray cat once in a while, should their pack be more than a dozen individuals a domestic dog could be easy prey if given the chance in desperate times and its small enough, coyotes follow natures rules, its unaware of any other sensibilities...Its simple in the coyote universe, simply eat or be eaten, then breed and die....Not very pretty, but it is very real.
They do certainly covet the domestic dogs food bowl with relish knowing most pet owners leave it outside and unguarded except for their pooch, often a minor problem given the rewards.
Accounts of coyote attacks are almost non existent towards humans when compared to large cats or bear attacks. I was camping on the south rim of the grand canyon for 40 days this July while it was elk season here, I observed that the coyotes listen for the hunters to discharge their rifles shooting the elk, the coyote pack then moves into the area that night when most of the elk and the hunters leave, they arrive to clean up the unwanted parts of elk left for them, or so they behave.
I have had more trouble with arctic wolves in Alaska than with coyotes in Arizona, "the Fairbanks area of Alaska" the arctic wolves were far more aggressive in hunting when compared to coyotes, while both are still as shy when compared with each other and about the same size, the wolves work in more effective groups making things happen their way more often than coyotes.
I have raised Swedish milking goats in Whitman Az. and I never lost a kid to coyotes ever, just a trash container or two...They did dig up a rattlesnake I buried once eating it and they are known for being artists at chicken abductions, as good at pilfering a chicken as the resident owls there, boy I know that.
From a coyotes point of view my chickens were fat quail, slower on the run too.
In camp its wise to have nothing edible outside period...Nothing that has a food scent on it too, anything lake a wrapper or a drinking cup should not be available to any wild critters nose let alone these dogged thieves...
Sadly many animals that do lose their fear of humans do lose their lives as a cost of that. Our fear of them and theirs of us actually works to their advantage...Its healthy for both us and them in the end.
I once saw a young coyote trying to hunt in the Yuma desert area, it was hunting a local variety kangaroo rat, the young dog would hop up and down with the rat in unison in its attempt to secure a meal, it was a ridiculously funny sight, the panicked rodent was doing its best to evade the coyotes appetites, unfortunately the mouse being to far from its
burro for the preferred underground
escape tried to hop away quickly in the wrong direction when suddenly, a red tailed hawk nabbed the wiley mouse during a mid air hop, the talons of the bird clasping the small mouse as it climbed higher and higher into the sky, the hawks wings beating rhythmically carrying it back into the nowhere it came from with its now limp prize. The hawks attack was just a moment in time, a blur in my vision, hardly a heart beat to the dog and myself watching in a desert surprise...It was a feathered lightning strike of determined hunger...
No coyote could ever do this.
These are the moments that make camping in the rough areas worth it to me...I do remember when in mother natures house I am the guest, mother nature rules this place without remorse, in her house nothing goes to waste, including opertunities.
Well that's my coyote pitch today, the event has stayed with me quietly until today when your post brought it to memory again. I hope I do not offend anyone by recounting it now.
That coyote is dead by more than 30 years now, its descendants living presently in 2008 are probably being harassed by the merciless vacationers on spiffy A.T.V.s for thrills now...Times have changed...Horses in Arizona for riding are fewer in number, its motorized horses now, Our
fiberglass trailer is now 39 years old...Boy I wish I were 39 again...My son will be soon.
I have sadly seen wild coyotes dead along the sides of the Arizona roads more often these days, their bodies broken, their crushed pieces strewn along the super roadways along with the growing amount of garbage carried there with the traffic exiting the hot city bound for the cooler rural places I loved when younger.
Cities here are swelling with more people than there are jobs here now, The cities need to call the shots for future development more and more now, the stakes are high, there are desicions for land use that are needed, decisions for water conservation which are now needed, decisions for recreation spaces and agriculture that are urgent now...Cities govern for themselves because it is important to them, its the nature of this urban beast...Beware this beast unfettered.
When the coyotes are gone, are we really going to be better off with out them?
Coyotes are not so bad...Watch them awhile they will teach us all about ourselves in the story of their delema.
Harry
Quote:
It was an absolutely lovely Labor Day weekend here at Heartbar. The camp was full, but everyone was clean and well behaved. I will post about that in the blog..
But, as I got back from our "Sunday" (Monday this week) host dinner, I started a fire and went to relax in my "Oneness" here in the loop. I am alone again, except for one set of tenters at the far end of the loop.. can't see or hear them from here.
No sooner had the fire built up to a good roast, I saw one. My dogs stopped cold and sniffed the air. Then I saw another.. and another. 4 were what I could say I saw individually, but who knows how many are actually circling.
I shuffled the pups into the trailer, with my stupid male making a fuss and barking at them. Once they were safely inside, I doused the full blown fire only to turn around and see one under my awning. "HEYAAAAAAAAAAA" I yelled, and it ran off.
I shuffle myself inside and could see (Its pitch black now.. can't see anymore) the coyotes circling my rig.
Bears don't bother me. They are not aggressive and don't want to eat my children.
My eldest has to pee. time to try the puppy pee pads. She isn't going out, not even with me.
|
the GDec
1970 Trails West Campster
2011 Escape 15A
Linear Mode
