 |
06/14/06, 08:20 AM
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 8,840
|
|
|
Coyotes Eating Melons
At least, we think it's coyotes. DH said he'd heard they've been known to eat melons . Well, the past 2 mornings, we've discovered melons strung across the yard. They can't get a good bite on the watermelons (just drag them out by the vines & leave teeth marks on 'em), but the cantaloupes are being destroyed.
We put the DH-lookalike scarecrow next to the patch yesterday, but it didn't deter them. Lost 2 more melons last night....and they were still green inside!
Any quick-fix ideas how to deter them? Can't stay awake all night trying to get a shot @ them. DH wonders if human urine scent would keep them @ bay?
|
06/14/06, 08:21 AM
|
 |
|
|
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: France
Posts: 4,117
|
|
|
Poison?
|
06/14/06, 08:52 AM
|
|
garden guy
|
|
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: AR (ozarks)
Posts: 3,516
|
|
|
Betcha Raccons are eating them that is what ate mine last year till I killed 8 in one night no exaggeration. Problem is I shot most of them in the garden with a shotgun not thinking about the lead.Did not know the plants would take it up at the time,also I guess I thought it was illeagle to sell lead sinkers and shot shells were steel now. Dont know how I am going to get them out.
__________________
marching to the beat of a different drummer
|
06/14/06, 10:11 AM
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 8,840
|
|
|
Well, poison is an option, but we have such a large coyote population in this area, I'm not sure I could solve the problem before losing the crop. Planning to put out poison tonight anyway, maybe they'll go for it & leave the melons alone.
Haven't seen any coons around but possums have been a problem. Could they being doing the damage? I know where there den is & could easily solve that.
|
06/14/06, 10:15 AM
|
|
garden guy
|
|
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: AR (ozarks)
Posts: 3,516
|
|
|
Never heard of possums eating em though they will eat anything I think it is probably coons or the coyotes. I had possums and coons at my place the coons were all that was eating the melons.
__________________
marching to the beat of a different drummer
|
06/14/06, 11:39 AM
|
|
|
|
Foxes will do this as well. Last year I saw a pair of gray foxes in my melon patch chowing down on one of mine.
.....Alan.
|
06/14/06, 12:26 PM
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: NW PA
Posts: 730
|
|
|
We had a bear eating our pumpkins one year.
|
06/14/06, 03:24 PM
|
 |
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: southern New Jersey
Posts: 2,250
|
|
|
My parents live in suburbia, every summer they have squirrels who eat their tomatoes. They wait until it is just ripe enough to pick, and CHOMP!
__________________
[COLOR="Blue"]Expect Little - That way you will be seldom disappointed.../COLOR]
|
06/14/06, 03:29 PM
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: upper michigan
Posts: 120
|
|
|
BURPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Bad coyote
|
06/14/06, 04:37 PM
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: mt.annie okanogan wa.
Posts: 47
|
|
|
I put a soler power fence around my plants one shock and ther gone works on bears to
|
06/14/06, 05:17 PM
|
|
Banned
|
|
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Near Walhalla Michigan
Posts: 1,076
|
|
|
Do you have gophers?
You gopher the watermelons..and I'll gopher the cantaloupes.
|
06/14/06, 06:31 PM
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 8,840
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Qwispea
Do you have gophers?
You gopher the watermelons..and I'll gopher the cantaloupes.
|
LOL, nope, no gophers in this area, and foxes are rare.
I'd think it would have to be a good sized animal to drag a ripe watermelon (including the vine  ) 50' away from the main patch. Also, the claw and teeth marks indicate a fairly large animal.
Gonna try the urine experiment tonight. Some folks claim it works...we'll see. I figure they've struck 2 nights in a row, they'll be back for more.
|
06/14/06, 06:33 PM
|
|
greenheart
|
|
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Ky
Posts: 1,668
|
|
|
spray them with hot pepper sauce (the melons), gives them something to remember, it works on mardens who like to chew on wires.
|
06/14/06, 06:43 PM
|
 |
|
|
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Texas
Posts: 260
|
|
|
Set steel traps or put out snares where they go into the patch.
|
06/14/06, 10:04 PM
|
 |
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Clarksville TN.
Posts: 890
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Tabitha
spray them with hot pepper sauce (the melons), gives them something to remember, it works on mardens who like to chew on wires.
|
Now thats a good idea and a quick fix to.
I'm betting on it being a dog.Mine will eat just about any veggie she finds.Her favorite is tomatoes!
|
06/15/06, 10:13 AM
|
 |
|
|
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Carthage, Texas
Posts: 12,261
|
|
|
Paint em with a lime/cayenne mixture...
Sit out in the garden with a .22 and a portable spotlight... place fishing line around the perimeter of the garden with tin cans mated together, ever so often, so if something wiggles the string, the can's'll rattle... when you hear a rattle, turn on your spotlight, and shoot the eyes...
Its either coons or 'yotes...
__________________
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming
|
06/15/06, 02:39 PM
|
 |
Chief Bottle Washer
|
|
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Missouri
Posts: 528
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Txsteader
Haven't seen any coons around but possums have been a problem. Could they being doing the damage? I know where there den is & could easily solve that.
|
Yes, could be possums. Here in MO we have had possums in the the melon patch, actually seen them eating the melons AND the tomatoes, thank you very much. They just climbed the fence and tomato vines to get to the tomatoes. A critter trap and a relocation did the trick for that one.
CK
|
06/15/06, 02:55 PM
|
 |
winding down
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: NC
Posts: 3,471
|
|
|
How much water is available in your area? A lot of times, wild animals aren't eating fruits for the food, but for the water. Often, if you provide a water source, they'll quit eating the fruit.
Meg
__________________
All life requires death to support itself. The key is to have an abiding respect for the deaths that support you. --- Mark T. Sullivan
|
06/15/06, 03:31 PM
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 8,840
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Meg Z
How much water is available in your area? A lot of times, wild animals aren't eating fruits for the food, but for the water. Often, if you provide a water source, they'll quit eating the fruit.
Meg
|
I'd thought about that, Meg, as it has been pretty dry. We keep a trough of water @ the back of the house for the birds, squirrels, etc. Don't know if coyotes would be brave enough to come that close to the house. However, it rained yesterday, and they didn't bother the melons last night, so there could be something to your idea. I'll put a bucket @ the back of the property & see if I can short-stop 'em.
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 07:35 PM.
|
|
