Coyotes in the backyard tonight.

I forgot the snakes. Copperheads, water moccasins, green ones, little ones, big ones...

1988RedT2 wrote:

Graefin10 wrote: There are black bear where I live. I fell asleep on the couch one night and woke up to hear one snuffling at the window beside the couch. The next morning I found bear poo on the front porch. I found bear poo on the back porch twice. There's an apple orchard on the place and any year there's a good crop the bear come down to help themselves. I've come home late a few times with no flashlight and heard them snapping their teeth as a warning when I got out of the car. Makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

You know how to tell black bear poo from grizzly bear poo, right?

Dumb. http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/species/mammals/grizzly/bear%20spray.pdf

http://www.igbconline.org/index.php/safety-in-grizzly-country/bear-spray

http://www.fieldandstream.com/articles/hunting/2008/12/use-pepper-spray-instead-guns-stop-charging-grizzly

I'll take a 92% chance of stopping a bear charge over a 66% chance any day.

http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/nature/Shoot-or-Spray.html

The idiotic comments posted on that sign at smome crappy campground in BC may be humorous, but unless you are an alaskan guide.. I'd rather carry the gun for hunting and the spray for bears..(unless I am hunting bears).

There was an article in todays Chicago Tribune reporting that a study by a nature group estimates that there may be as many as 2000 Coyotes living in the city, many even downtown! The article said that many moved into the city due to overcrowding in the suburban areas of Chicago and these coyotes have thrived! I think I had one in by fenced backyard last week. I saw the prints in the snow. They were in an area where a dog could not go but would be no problem for a coyote. I live only a 1/4 mile from a very extensive green belt which leads to a county park/forest preserve where I have seen coyotes, deer, etc.

You guys know how to tell a black bear from a grizzly?

Climb a tree.

A black bear will climb up after you and kill you, and a grizzly will shake you out of the tree and kill you

But seriously folks, we get tons of coyotes, quite a few black bears and a few cougars. My neighbor shot one a few years ago that was more than 9 feet plus the tail. Other pests include a lot of skunks among other things. My sisters farm house began to smell two winters ago and they ended up killing 11!! skunks that had thought it would be a good place to winter. The smell was so bad that they actually got used to it because it took weeks to get them all out. One day she sent her kids to school in freshly laundered clothes and was told to come and get them at 9 AM. They were waiting outside because the Principal wouldn't even let them stand in the entrance they smelled so bad.

Mostly deer and turkeys plus the usual small animals.

Bald eagles and Moose have been spotted in the area.

Occasional black bears get hungry and make a visit.

Coyotes stay away around here for the most part, when they choose to start coming up close I call a friend who owns a pair of AR's set up with thermal scopes and suppressors. (They were bought specifically for this reason, as come calving season they're all over his cattle herds, well between coyotes and the wild hogs.) with the suppressor a you can get several before the scramble starts.

Never had any experiences with bear, but my grandfather told me a story about him bear hunting in Alaska when he worked the pipeline out there. Basically his friend was using a .308 bolt action and he shot a bear broadside uphill @~75 yards, he got two follow up shots in and my grandpa said he put two in from his 30-06 before the bear got to him and it still managed to just about crush him before it died. (Cliff notes; guy shoots bear, bear charges, charging bear goes headfirst into a tumble and about squishes guy). 500 mag be damned I ain't playing with that unless I have to.

We get skunk, 'possum armadillo and racoon as well, though they don't stay long with the rat terriers around. The skunks get a free pass to go just about wherever they please. If I see them near the house and a shoo doesn't work a 12ga boom generally will get them going the direction I want them to... Away from the house and dogs. My old husky was pretty good at killing them and bringing them home. Somehow she never got hit in the face, but oh man did she stink, hence the nickname stinky. FYI that smell will not come out of a husky, no amount of natures miracle or tomato juice baths, to lemon and baking soda or vinegar baths would take that smell out. She got wet, she stank to high heaven.

Turkey around here are hilarious, come around a corner in the drive and they'll stand there for a moment like.....oooop did it see me? oH e36 m3 we better run, and inevitably one will run straight down the drive in front of you zig zagging instead of into the woods with the rest.

And then there are deer, and squirrel... As one poster on here said (and I've stolen it because it's true) Deer are just over grown squirrels. They're a pain, they destroy everything, don't know when to get out of the way, and are plain dumb.

Here on the edge of suburban Ann Arbor, we get turkeys,deer,foxes,deer,coyotes,deer,sand hill cranes,deer, and a red-tailed hawk who seems to be doing a decent job of keeping squirrels out of my attic. Oh, and we have lots of deer,too.

DeadSkunk wrote: Here on the edge of suburban Ann Arbor, we get turkeys,deer,foxes,deer,coyotes,deer,sand hill cranes,deer, and a red-tailed hawk who seems to be doing a decent job of keeping squirrels out of my attic. Oh, and we have lots of deer,too.

Same out by my parent's place on the western edge of Toledo. Toads, lots of toads in the summer. Haven't seen a racoon, frog, lizard, or snake in a while though.

I just about hit a moose with my snowboard when I lived in Wyoming though. Scared the E36 M3 out of me. Had to scare numerous bear and moose off the hotel property I worked at out there, too.(Four Seasons Jackson Hole) Usually some loud banging got them running.

beans, Would that be like a 30-06 "banging" to get them running?

Since I live in the middle of a city in central MD, I don't get the larger animals (yet!). These pics were taken in my yard or from it.

Don't have any pics of the skunks, possums, and raccoons we see occasionally. The deer, coyotes, and bears show up at my in-laws houses about 5 miles from me on the edge of the city. I am sure they will eventually show up at my house.

My Doberman keeps the coyotes out the yard. They're bold out here. They'll snatch a little dog right off its leash. One tried to take a toddler from a lady at a local cemetery.

I'm actually surprised I don't have more wildlife around my place. I live on the edge of town with a 1 acre yard next to woods. Before they built more houses around me I had a lot of rabbits. Don't see many now. Squirrels live in my trees. I seen 2 foxes in my yard over the years and had skunks a while back. When we first moved here used to see goats in my yard from the farm down the street. The guy behind me had chickens, thankfully gone now (smelled bad). Seen coyotes outside the neighborhood but not inside. I know there are wild turkeys and bobcats around here but never seen any close to my place. Have killed numerous snakes in the yard including one that wanted to play chicken with my rider mower, he lost.

In reply to iadr:

ah rally West Virginia 2013 iirc

Dr. Hess wrote: beans, Would that be like a 30-06 "banging" to get them running?

I usually used two cast iron pans and smashed them together a bunch while yelling. Guests usually didn't bitch about it.

In Connecticut we had Deer, Turkeys, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks and a fisher cat. I saw evidence of a beaver, but never saw him. Ducks and geese would sometimes visit the swamp out back.

If you have never seen a fisher cat stalk prey and attack, you should try to look up a video. It's like a more violent weasel. Crazy creatures.

I saw a dead coyote on the street, hit by a car. Scrawny things.

And I forgot to say...... Rattlesnakes... CT is the most north a rattle snake comes on the east coast. Check it out.

beavers invade around here from time to time. fat little things...

madmallard wrote: beavers invade around here from time to time. fat little things...

One of the guys I worked with did nusiance beaver trapping for fun (wow.. the innuendo on that one is endless).. The state used to call him in to remove the annimals before they took axes and chainsaws to the dams.

iadr wrote: Not to mention deer. Coyotes are interbred with wolves throughout Canada. Only takes one or two to take down a deer.

Don't show things like that. I'm having flashbacks.

well this thread delivered, as I spotted a pair of coyotes this morning on I95 just south of Baltimore, between 695 and 195. One had been hit and was in the center medium and the other was loping along the grass off the right shoulder. I was shocked to see this as it is a very populated area.

It's actually not uncommon for them to be around a populated area for the same reasons racoons are at home in suburbia. Garbage and roadkill make for easy living.

I've had them run across the road in front of me in town when I used to work the EARLY AM shift at my old job.