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At my last home we saw deer, antelope, a tiny gray fox came twice, coyotes, a near home I stopped to watch a bobcat after a rabbit. I loved it. Fenced my garden. It was dogs killing my chickens and rabbits that were a problem. The deer and antelope browsed on the juniper bushes. Coyotes just passed through and minded theirown business. The fox just came twice when we first moved there. Sort of checking us out it seemed.
Crows and an occasional "ringtailed cat", actually more like a racoon, are the only common wildlife here in the3 yard. We can see elk sometimes from the kitchen window but they are about 1/2 mile away.
I love seeing the wildlife. Any dropping from them or the neighbors horses that sometimes pass through are good to compost for the garden.
We used to live in a mountain resort community. We had elk, that slept in our back yard in the winter. My wife would take her broom and bat those big bull elk on the nose to keep them from reaching onto our deck and eat on her potted plants.
Here we live across the street from the best part of the city. We have deer in our yard. and pasture (5 acres) constantly. We adjoin a 300+ acre field on two sides. Last month with snow on the ground, saw a herd of about 30+ deer about 100 feet from our front yard, and a big flock of geese between the deer and our house. All looking for something to eat.
I'm new to rural living. The first time I saw three deer 30' away thru my window, I think it's a mother leading 2 adolescent children, I was very excited. But then I start to find they poop close to the house; sometimes even on my deck. I'm not sure how to make of it now.
Do you like to have deer around your house?
The deer in our neck of the woods are very wild and skittish. They come very close to our house at night. I mean very close, inches in fact. I see their fresh tracks often. Around the end of March I got a new puppy and at first I took him out very frequently, now maybe every 2 or 3 hours, but, he can sleep 10 hours at night if we do also. Anyway, the other night we went about just before we went to bed and he was very upset, he was upset almost as soon as the sun went down. I couldn't get him to settle down. All of a sudden a very large coyote jumped up from his hiding place and ran like heck. What was so scary was he was hiding in plain sight watching us for at least a minute.
We have a resident doe who raises her fawns in our pasture. I used to look out my bedroom window and be three feet away from them. The mother's ears were covered in ticks.
But we also have a lot of coyotes around here too. You have to be careful if you have Yorkies like we do.
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Originally Posted by Dustyroad70
The deer in our neck of the woods are very wild and skittish. They come very close to our house at night. I mean very close, inches in fact. I see their fresh tracks often. Around the end of March I got a new puppy and at first I took him out very frequently, now maybe every 2 or 3 hours, but, he can sleep 10 hours at night if we do also. Anyway, the other night we went about just before we went to bed and he was very upset, he was upset almost as soon as the sun went down. I couldn't get him to settle down. All of a sudden a very large coyote jumped up from his hiding place and ran like heck. What was so scary was he was hiding in plain sight watching us for at least a minute.
Coyotes love to eat small dogs. Our neighbor had three coyotes waiting when she let her inside dogs out to pee.
I hadn't seen any deer for the past 3 yrs on my property.. very unusual. But, I'd seen more coyote so figured they were the reason for not seeing deer. Yesterday, looked out the window and there were about 10 deer in the yard and several more in the woods. Nice to see again! A few of the younger ones started walking down the driveway toward the road so I did go out the front door to scare them back up into the woods. It worked.
The deer in our neck of the woods are very wild and skittish. They come very close to our house at night. I mean very close, inches in fact. I see their fresh tracks often. Around the end of March I got a new puppy and at first I took him out very frequently, now maybe every 2 or 3 hours, but, he can sleep 10 hours at night if we do also. Anyway, the other night we went about just before we went to bed and he was very upset, he was upset almost as soon as the sun went down. I couldn't get him to settle down. All of a sudden a very large coyote jumped up from his hiding place and ran like heck. What was so scary was he was hiding in plain sight watching us for at least a minute.
My parents live in a city of about 190,000... but in the suburbs... and they're having a lot of trouble with the coyotes there. They brought their little Boston Terrier out to do his biz a while back and out jumped a coyote from behind the shed. Fortunately, he took off when my dad yelled and ran at it.
Another woman brought out 2 little dogs at night to do their thing before bedtime. 2 of them on leashes. She had just stepped off the back deck when a coyote ran up... grabbed one of the little dogs... leash and all and took off with it in his mouth. She was still holding the other one. Needless to say she was beside herself for some time.
I would add that coyote problems aren't specifically limited to small dogs either. I was talking my German Shepherd for an off leash run in an acreage next door that was slated for development, but nothing had started yet. So it was tall grass and trees.
He just used to run around and smell and do whatever doggish things he'd do till he got tired. I'd just hang out at the end of the field. I was looking at my phone, looked up and there was a coyote trailing him probably 20 feet away. I made a noise and the coyote ran off. I'm not sure my dog ever knew the coyote was there till then.
I'm not sure what the coyote had in mind, but they are definitely not afraid of a 70lb German Shepherd.
I would add that coyote problems aren't specifically limited to small dogs either. I was talking my German Shepherd for an off leash run in an acreage next door that was slated for development, but nothing had started yet. So it was tall grass and trees.
He just used to run around and smell and do whatever doggish things he'd do till he got tired. I'd just hang out at the end of the field. I was looking at my phone, looked up and there was a coyote trailing him probably 20 feet away. I made a noise and the coyote ran off. I'm not sure my dog ever knew the coyote was there till then.
I'm not sure what the coyote had in mind, but they are definitely not afraid of a 70lb German Shepherd.
They are wily too. My bro in law was outside.. they live somewhat secluded. They have a Golden Retriever. She was outside. He saw a coyote slowly come out of the woods and act all coy and friendly and sort of submissively crouching down and inching toward his dog....(He was luring her) and his dog sort of inched cautiously toward it but then the coyote was moving closer to the wood line and the Golden went a little closer but then stopped. She wouldn't really go further. All of a sudden he said that she took off back toward the house and garage (where he was) like a bat outta hell and about 4 coyotes were on her tail (crossing about 2 acres). He was at his garage and grabbed a gun and shot and they turned tail back to the woods. Apparently one came out to lure her closer the the others for attack.
Tricky little buggers.
Preditor animals are the reason we have an 8 ft. chain link fence around half an acre back yard for our Chihuahua. The most dangerous we have seen, was a cougar we saw crossing our field just behind the fence a couple of years ago. And he was about 400 feet, from the best housing area of our small town.
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Do you like deer coming close to your house?
