Travis Johnson
Member
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- 2,369
I was in my shop casually putting up a ceiling in there. I had the door open and was watching the snow falling down when a brown blurr zipped past the door. For a second I did not know what happened, but fearing a coyote was on the bliz for a sheep I ran to look. Sure enough that brown blurr of a coyote is gone, but as I watch the snow swirling away in his hastily laid tracks I am pretty near bambooseled by the three hounds that are on his heels.
Now this is happening between my shop and the back door of my house, a distance of 50 feet. The sheep are within spitting distance of where I am and they beat feet far away in the pasture. So I start yelling, what else is a man to do to protect his sheep in 1.2 seconds of elapsed time? So instead of stopping the coyote moves on at 800 mph, with three dogs right behind him.
Apparently yelling was the wrong thing to do because the third dog stops his pursuit and starts hanging around the house. Now sheep farmers have two predator issues, with coyotes being the #2 problem, and the number one being domestic dogs. I am scared the dog will mess with the sheep and the sheep are just plain scared. Now my dogs get into the mix and its the stand-off between my two dogs, the strange dog and four sheep. In the distance a coyote is on the run, and two hounds close behind yelping as all get out. This is NOT good.
Now this is Sunday so no hunting is allowed here. I can't call animal control or the police because someone will get into trouble for Sunday hunting and this is the ironic part. I fear coyotes, but I feel domestic dogs. In this case I have a a predator of sheep running down a predator of sheep. Who is right, and who is wrong. I cannot get mad at the dogs who are chasing away the biggest wild eater of lamb, yet statistically dogs are more of a problem then coyotes. Finally I get close enough to grab the dogs collar, and lacking a better place to put him, I throw him in my shop and start calling the local hunters to see who has hunting dogs missing.
Come to find out they are just training the newer dogs and this dog was only 6 months old and running with the older dogs which explains his inattention to the pursuit. They come and got the dog awhile later and thank me up and down for keeping their dog until they got there. Without guns, they were not hunting so everything was legitimate. I thank them up and down for hunting coyotes in the area, then there is this "no, thank you for letting us hunt on your land, then after a minute of going back and forth in thank yous, we finally agree its just a good place live and all have to get along and they drive off with puppy in tow.
As for the sheep, they aren't so sure. They stand in one spot for 3 hours just looking at me, mortified. Not laying down, not walking around, just standing there in a small circle of fleece looking...well...rather sheepish at the whole affair.
So anything interesting happen while you were working in your shop today?
Now this is happening between my shop and the back door of my house, a distance of 50 feet. The sheep are within spitting distance of where I am and they beat feet far away in the pasture. So I start yelling, what else is a man to do to protect his sheep in 1.2 seconds of elapsed time? So instead of stopping the coyote moves on at 800 mph, with three dogs right behind him.
Apparently yelling was the wrong thing to do because the third dog stops his pursuit and starts hanging around the house. Now sheep farmers have two predator issues, with coyotes being the #2 problem, and the number one being domestic dogs. I am scared the dog will mess with the sheep and the sheep are just plain scared. Now my dogs get into the mix and its the stand-off between my two dogs, the strange dog and four sheep. In the distance a coyote is on the run, and two hounds close behind yelping as all get out. This is NOT good.
Now this is Sunday so no hunting is allowed here. I can't call animal control or the police because someone will get into trouble for Sunday hunting and this is the ironic part. I fear coyotes, but I feel domestic dogs. In this case I have a a predator of sheep running down a predator of sheep. Who is right, and who is wrong. I cannot get mad at the dogs who are chasing away the biggest wild eater of lamb, yet statistically dogs are more of a problem then coyotes. Finally I get close enough to grab the dogs collar, and lacking a better place to put him, I throw him in my shop and start calling the local hunters to see who has hunting dogs missing.
Come to find out they are just training the newer dogs and this dog was only 6 months old and running with the older dogs which explains his inattention to the pursuit. They come and got the dog awhile later and thank me up and down for keeping their dog until they got there. Without guns, they were not hunting so everything was legitimate. I thank them up and down for hunting coyotes in the area, then there is this "no, thank you for letting us hunt on your land, then after a minute of going back and forth in thank yous, we finally agree its just a good place live and all have to get along and they drive off with puppy in tow.
As for the sheep, they aren't so sure. They stand in one spot for 3 hours just looking at me, mortified. Not laying down, not walking around, just standing there in a small circle of fleece looking...well...rather sheepish at the whole affair.
So anything interesting happen while you were working in your shop today?
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