Need coyote help please

If you keep your goats in a secure pen then most of your problem will be solved. Coyotes hunt during the daylight hours too, so it's best to keep the goats penned up all the time. I keep my goats in a pen made of 5 ft high livestock panels (4" squares top to bottom so they don't get their heads stuck in the fence). I have had no problems with dogs or coyotes. I hear coyotes nearby sometimes, but they are mostly eating rabbits, mice, neighbors' cats, etc.

Depending on how many neighbors you have, and how close they are, you should be very careful about shooting at coyotes with a rifle. You sure wouldn't want to accidentally hit a person, an animal, or somebody's house. Having said all that, I would recommend a shotgun for close up coyote shooting (less than 40 yards) and a .223 rifle with a scope for anything out to 300 yds. But become competent and safe with these guns before you go charging out of the house blazing away at coyotes some night.

I totally agree with Gila dog.

Where there's ione, there's more so killing one won't really solve your situation permanently. Plus coyotes eat rodents & other annoying animals.

Plus - not even knowing what kind of a gun to use, tells me you're pretty much of a novice around long guns & that's an accident waiting to happen,

Good husbandry means protecting your animals - again, I agree with Gila dog - fence, fence & fence and house your animals -with a good LGD.

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Another perspective........a few years ago, I saw pieces of rabbit skin right beside one of my goat pens. It was obviously the "leftovers" from a coyote kill. I was a little panicked.
There was a sheep seiminar coming up.....and there were several presentations on dealing with coyotes. The presenter had been studying coyotes for 30 years, and had traveled all over the country.
He said a couple things ......1. Coyotes seldom very their diet......unless their usual prey is disappearing, or they are raising babies, and there is not enough of their usual prey. 2. If you kill the coyotes, other coyotes will just move into their territory.
After the presentations, I went up to talk with him. I told him about my situation , and asked him for his opinnion as to what I should do.
He said that he would not do anything. He said that, apparently, the existing coyotes do not have a "taste" for goat meat. He said that if I shoot them, that another pack will just move in.......and the new coyotes may love goat meat.....and, then I will have real problems.
That has been a few years.......and almost every year, the people that hunt deer in my woods tell me that they see coyotes.
Around here, I am much more concerned about stray dogs.....and have asked the hunters to shoot any of stray dogs!!!
The coyotes and I seem to have an "understanding".........if they leave my animals alone, I will leave them alone.
(A couple interesting "tidbits".......according to the presenter, even though coyotes lives in packs, it is only the "alpha" male and female that will make the actual 'kill.' The only technique that they have found effective in reducing the population of coyotes........trap the "alpha" male and female....spay and neuter them and turn them loose again.)

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And to quote the old story, did an old rancher stand up and say, "Son I don't think you understand... they are killing our sheep, not raping them."?

Don't we all start out as a novice? Or are only the competent shots born with the knowledge of what the best gun would be?

Thanks just_sawing. I sent you a PM.

I guess I don't understand PP, are you having problems during the day with coyotes? We have the all over the place here, partly because of the dug ditch that runs the edge of my land, yotes love to run the ditch and use it as a highway.

I have goats, chickens and several barn cats. The reason I have never lost an animal to the yotes is because all my animals are all locked up tight and sound at least a 1/2 an hour before dark. I have a Pyr that stays out with them during the day, she is also locked in the barn with them at night.

Why don't you just lock your goats up?

Annie

Over twenty years raising sheep and killing DOGS tell me these two have it right!

We have not brought them over to the new place yet, as we do not have the fence secure. I am preparing to have a problem instead of waiting to react "incase" we do. I am actively looking for guard animals as well but we have to get the goats out of the current location before the 30th of this month due to town rules we broke unknowingly.

I was given 90 days to find a place to live where I could raise my animals and children or I had to rehome my goats. I was not willing to give them up after we were already granted a permit from the county to have them that the town trumped, after having them for over a year. I will be darned if I'm going to move my family 45 miles away to lose goats to animals I should protect them from. I am doing the very best I can with the situation, including learning as I go. I have found tremendous amount of support here on this site and was hoping I could find out what I could use to kill an animal I am not familiar with that could not only carry off a goat but also my 2 year old. I have not seen them yet, I have heard them and as of last night found out the are in fact taking out livestock just 2 roads over. I am trying to be prepared, that is all.

Thanks for the help.

I would pick a 223 caliber. Ammo is available and relatively cheap and it will kill a coyote to 300 yards easily. A single shot rifle would be the cheap route and they are usually fairly accurate. You will also need a scope and have someone help you sight it in about 3" high at 100 yards. Then you can aim at the middle of a coyote out to 300 yards and so pretty good hitting it. And practice, learn to use a rest, control your breathing.

Even with a good fence, everybody needs a good rifle, too.

Pretty Paisley
where in NC are you? i just thought about this, but in a certain part of NC you might be dealing with red wolves rather than coyotes. they aren't protected to the degree the greys in the yellowstone region were. but they are protected & there are rules to follow before shooting them. this includes getting permission from the WRC/USFW.

See how explaining more of the situation actually helps!

There are several men in my area that hunt out coyotes each fall, sometimes killing upwards of 30 and each summer there are just as many if not more than the year before. That is the problem, kill out one pack another pack moves in to take it's place, possibly a bigger pack.

I feel for you dear, I do. But being untrained with firearms and sitting out in a field alone at night is a scary thing! If, I were in your situation I would pay someone who had a secure place to keep my goats until I had a secure place of my own to keep them.

I am sorry you are having so much trouble!

Annie

Good luck getting permission here to shoot
a wolf. North East part of the state has plenty.

The Red Wolf is only in a few counties in extreme Eastern NC

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Shannon,

I agree with the folks that advise turning a local hunter loose on them.

However, If you are determined to get a gun and go after them yourself, I recommend a shotgun. In order to kill a coyote with a shotgun you have to be within about 40 yards. After the pellets have gone about a hundred yards they won't break the skin. A rifle, even a 22, can be leathal out to 4 miles. When you shoot a rifle you have to be sure you have a backstop. You don't want the bullets flying several miles and doing damage. A shotgun does have to be aimed but not as precisely as a rifle. Please take a firearms safety course.

Dogs are the long term solution.

This jazz about killing one and another takes its place is nuts. Where do you think the coyotes come from, thin air? If several people are hunting them, they act as a wild animal should, with a healthy respect for humans. This alone can keep them away from human habitation. And if they are being hunted in several areas, there will be fewer to take the place of the previous ones. So don't believe the "experts" who say more will take its place. This makes no sense at all, if you keep showing the new guys what this new territory is like. As you thin them out some, the coyotes that are apparently growing out of thin air eventually are reduced enought that there are not enough to take the place of the previous individual, pack, or pair...

Just don't let this disuade you. The experts were probably studying these animals in a park where they are half tame, and there is no livestock. I know for sure I have coyotes here that eat beef, lamb, mice, fish, deer, moose carcasses, rabbits, squirrels, woodpeckers, foxes, my chickens, my turkeys, my ducks, etc. They feed on whatever they can catch and is handy. They sure do prey on more than one animal type.

If you can remember back years ago the U.S. govt. decided to get rid of the coyote.They did just about everything anyone could think of doing to kill coyotes. They failed. Actually made the problem a lot worse than it was originally.

If you have no gun at all, consider this: if you're going to lie in wait, in the dark, near the pen, then a rifle that's scoped to shoot one bullet at something 900 feet away from you in the dark would be pretty useless, huh? and when you do get your protective fencing up, what the heck will you do with that kind of a gun anyway. Soooo, my recommendation is the Mossburg 500 youth model, in 20 g. or maybe even .410 that later on you can put to use as a home defense, next to the bed, weapon. It is a pump action 5 or 6 shots depending on the length of shell, and you can shoot No. 4 shot, or slugs in 3 inch loads--I think that would be pretty effective at the close enough range you'll be in, and the noise would scare them away if you surprise them, in case you missed......

At 5 1/2 lbs it's pretty easy to carry,to shoot, and the short barrel makes it possible to use it inside where you have a short swing area. Also good for rabbits, pheasants, turkeys, stray dogs, maybe even feral pigs? $300 to $375 at your gun dealer, and they could probably have it shipped pretty fast.

http://www.mossberg.com/products/def...&display=specs

My opinion,

geo

I have a .380 I am comfortable shooting at the gun range and look forward to practicing behind the house. I have one neighbor to the left and no one remotely close to the right or for 94 acres behind me. But I'm fairly certain that's not what I need for coyotes.

We are in Stanly County. That's southeast of Charlotte a ways. Thanks again for the help. It's just not easy for me to sit back and wait and see. I would have made a heck of a BoyScout.

No question, we will never get rid of coyotes completely. There is no reason to do this at all. I don't think anyone wants them eradicated, just controlled somewhat.

I live in Anson county. I know some trappers
in Stanly and Rowan if you want info.