I live in the Midwest and we have been seeing an increase in the coyote population in our area for the past couple years. Recently we have had some attacks on local livestock and pets. I had a dog that was attacked the other day and I had to put her down. I'm not a hunter and don't want to be but the wildlife protection people don't seem to be able to keep up with the problem. Does anyone know of ways to distract coyotes away from your property?
Coyotes are smart, to smart to be distracted. The best you can hope for is not to attract them or at least leave less attractive things around than your neighbors do. Any food, pet food or garbage must be stored in or very far away from the house. Small pets should be kept indoors.
If you leave a pet outdoors make sure it is a large mean dog that barks alot.
Under certain conditions, like most pests thier behavoir will change and they may be more bold, for example if a long cold winter has dimished the rodent population they may be more likely to intrude, looking for food. You may be experiencing some kind of change that has diminished thier primary food source. It may be that next year or later in the summer they will disapear when they find something easier to catch.
Coyotes are becoming more numerous almost everywhere these days. If your not willing or able to spend time calling or shooting them and even if you are, they are here to stay. I personally would not consider it but they can be trapped but only with leg hold or conibear type traps and setting them up requires a lot of expertise, as I said they are very smart and seldom make the same mistake twice.
Try and understand what it is that is attracting them and modify that. Then maybe they will go bother someone else
Shooting coyotes will do very little good. If you're lucky enough to have local coyotes who cause no problems, leave them alone. If you shoot them they will be replaced by more coyotes, and the new ones may not be so well behaved. We have a lot of coyotes in my area, but they don't bother my livestock, of course that may be due to my llamas. I found out one of my neighbors was shooting them, and I went over to talk to him. He promised to stop when I explained the situation to him. I have a degree in wildlife biology, so he belived me.
As far as keeping coyotes away who are agressive, Robertbrown is absolutely correct. The most improtant thing is to not attract them, because they are hard to deter. Do you keep your pets in a fenced area? I have found that llamas are an excellent deterent to coyotes. Although the coyotes where I live are not particullarly agressive, my llamas will chase anything they consider a predator, coyotes, dogs, even racoons. Coyotes are extremely intelligent, and when they see an animal as large as a llama going after them, they typically will leave the area pretty quickly.
Rich
"What a long strange trip it's been."
I am sorry that you are having to deal with it and I agree with the previous posters about not attracting them. Human beings have pushed wild animals into other territories due to our greediness for land. It is a shame that wild animals have to be around where humans are but their habitats are slowly being taken away.
I wonder if alpacas would deter them. We have a lot of coyotes in our area. They mostly keep to themselves away from our property, but once in a while they will become a menace. We were talking recently about getting some alpacas so I wonder if they would do the same as llamas.
Alpaca's are kind of pricey. If it doesn't work and the coyotes take it down your out 1500.00$ or more depending on the animal and there is no return on that investment, unless you buy a pair and now you could pay for a really nice fence.
Alpacas don't have the response to predators that llamas do, so they don't work as guard animals.
The alpaca craze is dying out. They're not as expensive as they once were. We've just been offered 6 alpacas for free.
Rich
"What a long strange trip it's been."
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