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About the horse and the coyotes...

D

Dave H (MI)

Well-known Member
Anyone closer to there have any real, firsthand info? It is only about 20 miles from here and I watched the interviews on the news last night. There was a ruckus, dogs took off after coyotes, owners found horse down and, per their account, injured beyond saving. I have to think that this horse had a conflict with a fence either before or during the attack. I am having a hard time with the horse being damaged to that extent and that quickly without being restrained in some way.
 
I see one now and then,but I'm hard pressed to believe that there are enough around here to even bring down a healthy calf if there's a cow around.
I've seen what the cows will do if there's even a woodchuck in the pasture.
 
According to a second hand report, friend of the owner, the horse was torn up very badly, could not get up due to the extent of the attack, no contact with fence, just the pack of coyote's. It did sound as it was an older horse, not sure exactly how old, age may have played a part in it, but regardless, without the coyote packs, it would not have happened. I kill every coyote I see.
 
I have had a flock of white Embden geese on the place for the last, I dunno, 25-30 years. One time I found a gosling in difficulty outside a pasture fence so I grabbed it and freed it from whatever it was had a hold of it. Right next to my ear something hit that fence hard enough to make it shake down the line and I looked over at a big gander hissing at me. I was glad for the fence!

Thing is, the coyotes mostly leave the geese alone. Even if they do go after them it takes so long to bring one down that the dogs are on it and nothing comes of it. Having a hard time with the horse story. BUT having said that, I will carry the Marlin 60 with me when I head out to the back of the place from now on.
 
One time we saw a Timber Wolf (100 lb.) circling a herd of cows with calves, one big cow put her head down and chased that wolf all the way to the fence!
 
I don't know ?
Just thinking out loud here maybe they scared the horse it ran into something ? or it was so used to dogs they snuck up onto it ?
 
See...that's the thing! How long does it take YOUR dogs to react to a ruckus like that? Horse isn't gonna just lay there and let them kill it. Ever hear coyotes hunt? They make a LOT of noise...or at least the ones here do.

Now on the other hand, I have seen old horses go down. They just lay there until you stick the needle in them. Since the fence is out I am thinking maybe this horse went down on it's own? Coyotes see what they think is a fresh carcass? Start tearing into it and the horse objects, dogs come running....
 
I watched them circle a woodchuck one time. They started trying to stomp it and maul it with their heads. The darned thing grabbed one right by the nose and hung on. She slung her head and sent it rolling. The rest were on it like a cheap suit. God help any dog that wanders out there. They don't stick around long. I've even seen them gang up on snapping turtles.
 
One of our dogs, April, does not have a brave bone in her body.

First coyote incident - coyote was showing way too much interest in April. James was on one of the tractors. April headed back to James. The coyote pretty much ignored James until he went after it on the tractor.

Second coyote incident - coyote was chasing April. April had it in high gear, running for her life to James. Unknown to the coyote, our new dog, Jessie, was right on its tail. Jessie is a border collie mix, heavy boned and weighs over 60 lbs. James drove the tractor at the coyote and the coyote finally made a 90 degree left turn. That's when the coyote figured out Jessie was behind him. Jessie missed getting the coyote by a inch or two.

We now carry a weapon with us at all times.
 
Ive seen them take down deer before. I know a horse is a lot bigger then a deer but if there was enough of them I could see it being possible.

A few years ago I was on a bicycle and had one after me. Also had one in daylight sneaking up and snatching chickens. I shot at him with a .22 and never seen him again. He would come back the same time every day. Not sure if I hit him or not.
 
I have a Great pyrenees and nothing gets in my pasture that don't belong there. I used to have some limosine cows and my dog didn't get near them girls. They pretty much hate any dogs.
 
Coyotes can hunt completely quiet if the want to. They don't start making noise until they want to scare their prey. If there are dogs around they will be especially quiet. 15 or 20 coyotes can do a lot of damage in a short time. Once they got three lambs in my front field one night. They made a ruckus at one end of the field so my great Pyrenees went there, then another one snuck in and killed a lamb. The dog chased the coyote away from that one, but while he was doing that, another coyote killed another lamb somewhere else in the field, and so on. One of the lambs was missing a leg and I found the leg 100 yards from the lamb. All of this happened in a field that borders against my house. Now I try to have two or three dogs, and I don't get nearly as many kills.
However a local vet told me she was called to stitch up a horse that had huge rip marks down each flank. They found the place where it happened and realized there was too much blood compared to the damage done to the horse. They followed the blood trail and there was a dead bear at the end of it. I'm guessing this horse was in a lot better shape than the other one.
 
Until a few years ago I was losing a calf or two every year to coyotes. Local game warden would swear that they could not be doing the damage. I then took things into my own hands. We hunted them hard 4-5 times for the first year or so. Now we hunt them 2-3 times each year. Then in between any in rifle range get ventilated. I have not lost a calf now in 3 years. I also do not hear them raising cane at night like they used to.

To those that say that their cows would keep coyotes from killing calf I say BS. Maybe one would not be able but a pack of them will run the cattle until the calves are weak and then a few will attack the calf while others distract the cow.

The first time we hunted them hard with dogs we got 54 in two weeks. It tapered down to where we get may be 3-4 at a time 4-5 times each year.

You fellow that like to deer hunt should hunt the coyotes the rest of the year. They are real hard on the fawn crop when the Coyotes get thick.
 
There was a series of photos of two coyotes that killed a large buck. It happened in front of someone's trail camera. The bucks antlers had not hardened yet and they started to eat on his back end before he was dead. It was cruel.
SDE
 
Hard to believe a Game Warden here in IOWA would say that must not have been dry behind his ears. Remember a few yrs ago in Ne Ia they didnt think Eagles were eating little pigs till a camera proved them wrong then they did pay the farmer.
 

IME pretty much any "expert" who says coyotes can't do something, whatever it is, is wrong. They told us coyotes don't hunt in packs, but they do. They said they wouldn't go after calves and foals, but they do. They said they'd never go after person, just like they say with Black Bears, but they do. They also told we weren't seeing moose or mountain lions. Now they;ve changed their tune.
 
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