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Gotcha!

January 15th, 2010

Sporting or not, putting the compost and the clam shells out lured not one, not two, but three (3!) coyotes.  We caught them in the act.

The night visitors

The night visitors

Tags: | Category: Blog | 14 comments

14 comments to Gotcha!

  • Katie
    January 15th, 2010 at 10:12 AM

    The Three Cs: compost, clams, coyotes.

  • Sara
    January 15th, 2010 at 11:21 AM

    Wow! I know you don’t want these dudes around but, that’s an awesome picture. They are really beautiful. Posh Pilgrim channels St. Francis of Assisi, just ask them to eat and be merry somewhere else. I’m sure they’ll listen.

    Congratulations on finding out. Have a great day.

  • Paula
    January 15th, 2010 at 1:21 PM

    Very cool pic. But not too cool to have around your chickens. Good luck getting rid of them, I mean it.

  • Mimi
    January 15th, 2010 at 1:35 PM

    OK, you have coyotes! But surely the did not crawl through that very small hole to access the grain, nor make those tiny footprints. Do you suspect more than one nocturnal visitor?

  • Jane
    January 15th, 2010 at 2:29 PM

    So ..about an hour or so after we came back from the IPA meeting, you got your visitors.

    Great pictures! You might want to connect with Jon Way who puts radio collars on coyotes and tracks them . He wrote Suburban Howls and lives in Osterville. He sure would like to see that photo.

  • Cape Cod Daily
    January 15th, 2010 at 2:49 PM

    You have a game camera. Too cool.

    I have one too (a different model) here are some game cam pics that I got a few years ago. I have pics of coyotes on a deer rack at night and during the day, but not uploaded yet.

  • Tamar
    January 15th, 2010 at 6:02 PM

    Katie — Don’t forget how Canny and Clever we were for putting them all together.

    Sara — I don’t mind having them around as long as they only come out at night when the chickens are locked up tight. It does make me feel a little Assisi-esque hosting wildlife.

    Paula — I think it’s hopeless to get rid of them. There are so many. I’ll just have to protect me and mine from them.

    Mimi — You’re right, these guys didn’t do the break-in. When the ground thaws, we’ll try catching the thieves in the act.

    Jane — Catching coyotes to put collars on them sounds like a tough job! Glad I make a living writing. Thanks for telling me about Jon.

    CCD — We’ll start a game camera club! I love your picture of the deer.

  • Rick
    January 15th, 2010 at 9:08 PM

    Maybe you’ll be the ones to get a picture of Bigfoot! Cool camera and pics.

  • Beth
    January 16th, 2010 at 1:18 AM

    That game cam will come in handy when you try to nail down a deer stand spot. I suspect if the coyotes came for your clam shell feast, they already have your property on their rounds. These are definitely dangerous waters to be treading, but we all deal with the threat. I am the hammer in the house when it comes to thwarting efforts to chuck leftovers off the deck. No baiting coyotes allowed – I’ve just had too many chicken massacres and don’t want any goat kids taken next.
    I will give you one word of caution gained from experience. Usually, it is not the coyotes that get into the chickens, it is the ‘coons. They have those useful thumbs and manage to open all kinds of locks and door latches. They also use their teeth to gnaw apart chicken wire (which is just woven, not fused) and they get in there and cause a ruckus, sending chickens out into night, where opportunistic coyotes find them and eat them all up.
    Night lock-up can be a false sense of security. A couple months ago I went to let the chickens out and my two year old son said, “Hey, Mom, I see a big wolf.” He has a large imagination filled with moose and wolves and the like, so I brushed off his report, until I looked where he was pointing and saw a large coyote sitting in the woods 50-feet away. Just watching us. Creepy. I would like to say this was at 7 a.m., but it was more like 9. Imagine if I had set the chickens free to range the yard, or let the toddler wander a bit!
    If you get into the idea of shooting any, I will be happy to lend my skinning and hide conditioning tips. I prefer to let them be, hoping they will fulfill their predatory role and keep the vole/chipmunk/possumm population down. But sometimes, in broad daylight, other things become necessary. BTW, I think your intruder could be a young possum. How they love all things chicken.

  • lisa
    January 16th, 2010 at 5:55 AM

    I need to put one of these cameras in my refrigerator, so I can identify the varmint who regularly gobbles all the parmesan cheese and olives, while I’m at work.

  • Jen
    January 16th, 2010 at 11:59 AM

    How exciting! I’m envious that you have coyotes in your backyard. Nature rocks!!

    What do you think of the camera so far?

  • Paula
    January 16th, 2010 at 6:22 PM

    Nuts, Lisa! I think if my parmesan and olives were disappearing out of my fridge, I’d get a camera too!

  • Tamar
    January 16th, 2010 at 7:31 PM

    Rick — I am hoping to go down in wildlife photography history with this! If there’s a Nessie in Hamblin Pond, I’ll find her.

    Lisa — The camera’s foolproof for the fridge raids. Although, if you have any mysterious Manhattan wildlife running around the apartment at night, you probably don’t want to know about it.

    Jen — The camera’s great! So far, it’s done everything it’s supposed to do. I recommend it.

    Paula — You’re lucky not to have Lisa’s problem. Olives certainly disappear in my house, but I know full well who eats them. Ahem.

  • Alexandra
    January 18th, 2010 at 10:23 AM

    This was way cool to see the coyotes you captured on film. Sorry they have chosen your property and are eyeing your chickens. We have not heard them howling down here in Wellfleet for a number of years now, although I imagine couples are still around. Ever since that writer was attacked in Canada, while out walking, I am aware of the possible danger here in the woods. Our police chief told me once that the coyotes are a real threat, but no one will do anything about them until someone’s child gets attacked. Let’s hope that never happens!

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