"Local Predators"...... ??

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Tim Horton

Tim Horton

Old Bush Bear
Neighbor
Joined
Apr 16, 2022
Messages
885
Location
Lake Superior
Will this fit better here or with livestock and the like ??
Kinda, sorta from the prospective of up here.. Dealing with predators, for us, is protecting livestock... And us.....
And we seem to have more than our share of predators it seems.. From the top starting with 2 kinds of bears, wolf, coyote, 2 kinds of fox, cougar, Canadian Lynx, down to a long tail weasel, (ermine) about the size of a banana that can kill a full grown domestic goose...

I'm pretty much a live and let live kind of guy.. But our place is small enough and most predators here have a big enough territory I can't, won't tolerate them around.. Again, it is just too dangerous for our livestock and possibly us... It has been 50 some years ago now from Wildlife Biology and Management classes.. But the animals haven't changed much, only the humans seem to have got more stupid... Don't get me started on that one...

Every place is different.. Has different animals, different circumstances and all.. We don't have racoon, possum, armadillo, wild boar.. We have actually lost the most chickens, geese to long tail weasel than anything.. Then when you have a guy like this around, you can't, don't take any chances... You "take care of business" to protect... For instance..... This isn't the exact animal we had to "deal" with as that picture got lost on my old computer, but the same size..

Couger 1.jpg
 
We have all of those same critters except for that cougar. We do everything we can to run off or discourage the bears from hanging around. BB guns have worked well (I will have my rifle at hand) for the bears. The wolves have never stepped foot on our property as far as I can tell but you can hear them. The coyotes are a different story but they typically run around the place while we sleep. We don’t raise livestock so the coyotes are just another noise maker that will wake you up at night.
 
We do have mountain lions although the local government likes to say differently! Seen many on the neighbor's game cameras!
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I had an old farm place near the shore of Lake Superior for a while... I saw a cougar cross the road to join another one in the ditch and both ran away... Cougars routinely migrate above or below Lake Superior.. I reported this sighting on the game ministry web site animal sighting page.. A while later I called to see if they indeed did get the report.. Some cube dweller that answered saying something like ...right, sure you did see that... there aren't any in this part of the country... this when I explained what I saw...

I went off on the guy telling him ...no little big city cube dweller is going to tell me what I did or did not see being a life long farm, ranch, country person.... and so on growl, piss, moan, and such on the guy.... The guy finely saying OK.... Ok.... this is the official line we are supposed to use.. This because we don't have a management plan on file for ...fill in the blank.... animal... To make a plan will take minimum a couple or more man hours away from another project to put a file in a drawer somewhere... OK.. I guess I understand that.. But that is still a deception to create miss trust with the public that does know there animals... The next printing of the local area game regulations contained a management policy for cougars..
 
Bluetick21 said:
That’s a massive cat!
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We have some really big ones like that around here, many years ago my wife and I saw one that had to be close to 300 pounds and a gunsmith friend that lives about a mile west of us saw one about the same size in the same area just this past year. A friend that lives a 1/4 mile west was working on a neighbors truck in their drive way when a cougar walked by on the other side of the truck, my friend seems to be a cougar magnet, he's had more than a usual amount of interaction with them, most people in the lower 48 probably will never see a cougar in their lifetime.
 
We really don't have to worry about four legged predators. We don't have wolves that I am aware of, but we do have bears, coyotes, and mountain lions, but nothing close to us. I doubt any are that size. I don't think I have ever seen one that big! What the heck do you feed them? Must be plenty to eat for it to get that size.
 
I know that raccoons are predators, but to me, what is even worse? They are invaders! gaah. I don't care what you do in the woods, but stay the (expletive deleted) out of my attic. :waiting: Cost me a fortune, and several trips to get rid of the doggone thing. Who invited her to raise her family in my attic?

Coyotes are around, but seldom seen. We are careful to keep an eye on the dog when he goes out even though the yard is fenced.
 
They’ve been “reintroducing” critters here in the southeast for decades. The last ones I heard about was an eastern red wolf, mountain lions and then some elk up in Tennessee. I remember as a kid they released a small subspecies of black bear that had been native along the gulf coast and florida. I walked up on a small bear as a kid, scared the crap out of both of us. (The coastal plain reaches about 200 miles inland from the gulf).

Lest we forget… the coastal plain was also the home range of Jaguar until the late 1800’s. In the west they lived as far north as Monterrey Ca. and the Grand Canyon.

I’ve never seen one but twice in my life I’ve heard some kind of critter, a grunting sound with a howl/snarl, very loud. First time as a child checking cattle with my grandpa and about 15 years ago right here on this very same farm. Grandpa lived on here 87 years, said he’d seen them a few times, heard them more often. I heard about them from others since I was a kid. From men I respect, who aren’t given to bs.

It’s rare, only folks who spend a lot of time in the woods get any indication. I hunt wild medicinal plants for people occasionally, I spend a lot of time in the woods going places ATV’s don’t go.

About 10 years ago I saw a game camera photo. Friends caught a long black tail and butt standing still in woods by an old logging road. The state and fed boys said “Inconclusive” and “They don’t live here so don’t waste our time”, expected response. My friends even took me to where the camera had been located. I’m sure we have large cats here that are mountain lion size and bigger, no doubt in my mind.

I live on a ridge where the heads of 3 different watersheds begin, miles of un-populated swamp and woodland in 3 directions. Critters crossing between these areas usually leave sign here on the ridge. I took people hunting yellowroot last weekend. I didn’t point out the large cat tracks I saw, it’d have scared the crap out of them.

Then there are the alligators… They’ve been killed north and to the south of me. Thankfully I’m at the edge of their range, not an issue unless I go in the swamp.

Hogs and coyotes are relatively late comers. Yotes cause more trouble than all the rest. Hogs are just starting to become a problem. I’ve been seeing their tracks for a few years now. 1000’s of wild hogs in an area? Sounds like a big cat smorgasbord to me. I expect to see signs increase the next few years.

I put these books in the library, excellent books on animal sign and tracking. These books took my skills to a new level.

Tracking
 
Sourdough said:
We have a very few cougars, Very-very few.
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Probably none in my area from what I have gathered. I think they are mostly sighted in Eastern Interior Alaska or in SE Alaska. But who knows for sure with these elusive creatures!
 
Alaskajohn said:
Probably none in my area from what I have gathered. I think they are mostly sighted in Eastern Interior Alaska or in SE Alaska. But who knows for sure with these elusive creatures!
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East of Chitina and McCarthy are the most reliable sightings. Do you know if that road is kept open in the winter...???
 
Coyotes, raccoons, red & gray fox, bobcat.
Black bears, but they don't bother anyone.
Possums are flat out chicken killers if they get the chance.
And, of course, this being Florida we have gators and sharks. Come on down, the water is great!!!:cool:
 
Sourdough said:
East of Chitina and McCarthy are the most reliable sightings. Do you know if that road is kept open in the winter...???
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McCarthy Rd? The mode of transportation on that route during the winter is by sled. Closed for the winter otherwise.
 
Alaskajohn said:
McCarthy Rd? The mode of transportation on that route during the winter is by sled. Closed for the winter otherwise.
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Thanks..........wish I was younger.
 
Coyotes, wild dogs, mud dogs and oddly wolves here, the odd black bear, feral cats, the rare but present bobcat and rarely, cougars.
the canines are the most trouble however.
 
Lots of packing coyotes, also have 're-institured' grey wolves - big pack that was protected just 15 miles north of us (saw a beauty in broad daylight about 7 years ago on my driveway), resident red foxes (posted a FB pic yesterday of a really big one 100 ft from the house), cougar once (sent the footprint pics to DNR and they agreed it was a large cougar), miscellaneous dogs, and bears are close by but we have not seen them. 50 acres for all to get along.
 
Magus.... You will have to explain to me what "mud dogs" are.. New term to me..

A pack of domestic dogs gone feral can be a dangerous, destructive problem.. When my big brother was an undersheriff, he had an animal control officer in his group.. Occasionally I would go with the AC officer to "take care of business" with the feral dog pack.. Sad situation, but necessary...
 
Tim Horton said:
Magus.... You will have to explain to me what "mud dogs" are.. New term to me..

A pack of domestic dogs gone feral can be a dangerous, destructive problem.. When my big brother was an undersheriff, he had an animal control officer in his group.. Occasionally I would go with the AC officer to "take care of business" with the feral dog pack.. Sad situation, but necessary...
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"Mud dogs" are the local slang for coydog/coywolf/coydogwolf interbreeds. not clearly one nor the other species, but they run in packs, eat my cats and wreck wildlife. I have no use for those mutants but to test my scope zero on. This thing looks like the local variety, note the mud colored patches? they are basically wolf sized coyotes with NO fear of man whatsoever, wolves and coyotes are known to vacate an area just because they got spooked or lost a pack member, these things aren't overly afraid of gunfire, they could care less if you kill their buddies (to a point!) and they WILL hunt man! the only sure way I found to move them along is to kill the alpha male. can you tell I hate these things yet? I had a small pack shadow me coming home from the well when I was camped out, I didn't like it a bit with just a revolver with me, next trip I took my AK, go figure needing THAT in the woods? LOL
 

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"Coywolf" ..... Got it....
Not sure of your location, but it appears this animals range has expanded ...likely a lot.... from what I last knew them to be active in.. It has been many years since Wildlife Biology and Wildlife Management classes, but this animal is a whole different thing to deal with... My experience with the wolf we have here tells me they will not be hard to puncture, but not necessarily easy to kill...
 
I haven't seen a wild dog pack in several years but they are around. I know they breed with coyotes. Always a few in their packs that look remarkably similar to coyotes.

The good news, where coyote packs are strong these wild dog packs disappear. The bad news, where coyote packs are strong...

Must be a family feud, where's Richard Dawson when you need him?
 
Sourdough said:
My neighbor and longtime friend got eaten by a predator in your backyard.
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I'll bet I know of it, on the edge of a state park right? we had one get eat in TN right before I moved to GA, poor guy got five of them before the rest took him down. dog/coyote hybrids! That "environmental genius" Al Gore decided it would be a cool thing to reintroduce coyotes, wolves and timber rattlers back into their old habitats....Yeah Forrest Gump Jr, our grandparents killed them off for a reason dummy!
 
Magus said:
I'll bet I know of it, on the edge of a state park right?
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NO........Dan Schilling.

No one will ever know how Daniel Schilling met his demise in the Kenai Mountains above the long-abandoned mining community of Sunrise this summer, but many will long wonder given that two bears – one a grizzly, one a black – have now been linked to his death.

Alaska Department of Fish and Game investigators say DNA and other evidence found at the scene of the July 29 attack on the 46-year-old carpenter and experienced hunter indicates that Schilling was killed or mortally wounded by a grizzly (sometimes referred to in Alaska as a brown bear or brown/grizzly) and that a black bear later fed on his body.

“The initial site investigation resulted in collection of multiple brown bear hairs, scat and some tracks,” Cynthia Wardlow, the regional wildlife supervisor for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game e-mailed Tuesday. “There was no visible indications of a black bear at the attack site. Because of the majority of the samples at the scene and collected from Mr. Schilling’s clothing were from a brown bear, we believe it is most likely the one that contacted him first and killed him.”
Bears attack – Craig Medred
 
A mountain lion has been caught twice on a trail cam in the next county south of me. There has been a trail cam capture of a lion about 30 miles north as well and the DNR believes it is the same cat. There is a major river that runs between both areas and it is believed this cat is a younger male staking out an approximately 60 mile territory along the river.

The DNR says there's no breeding population in Iowa, but the big cats have been caught in the Des Moines metro area 3 times now with one being shot by police. I think they're here to stay and I'm not sure what to think of it. Several specimens have been DNA tested with all but one being consistent with populations from the Black Hills, and the other from the Kentucky/Tennessee area..
 
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