Here's an update...
When I got home I went out and looked for tracks, again at sunset. Had the shotgun loaded with 00 buck as I only have this and slugs at the moment. I notices that the food around the holes were gone and I noticed some tracks but it's just too sandy to make anything out. A rain would help this problem. Other than that I just can't find tracks because of the leaves.
The big news is that I found another burrow next to a post of the fence. It was between some shrub so it was hidden. Again, lots of dirt in about a 10 foot radius around the mouth and it was also about 1 1/2 feet wide. There was another sand area that looked to be like another burrow but it was past the fence and about 30-40 yards away. It was too much trouble to climb over at the te to look.
This seriously makes me concerned. I've never seen anything like this before. Three of these burrows are within 100-120 feet of each other. Is this normal? I feel like they're just smart and realize they can feed from the houses and wild. There's also three standing water ponds in this area. Pretty much everything needed to support wild life in general.
While I was checking out the areas that I threw food I did see a tail take off in the distance. About 60-70 yards away. I sat for a few minutes to see if I'd see it again or others but nothing. I looked around the area where I saw it yesterday to see if I could find anything useful but nothing. I started heading back and was walking up to the door and look behind the house and saw eyes and grey. I paused and it appeared that there were 2-3 of something about 60 yards out again. At this point the sun was almost down and the light wasn't there for me to make out what I was seeing in the shrub. There's a good section of property that I haven't checked yet which is where I was just speaking of. There is certainly something out here for sure.
I've read tons on these things today and I think that on the post 10-15 years they have become extremely adaptable to people and urban environments, not that I'd call my area urban at all. From what I've read they seem to not require the range that they were known for in the past. They can live near humans and in urban areas without ever being see or detected from some studies.
So to the point. I have no issues shooting coyotes that come on the property but my question is this. My main concern is the safety of the family of course but how should I go about this? Most people have open lawns and they walk out but I don't have open areas. I'm going to have to call or bait them. My cocern is that I'm afraid that I might attract more coyotes by doing this or make them get comfortable coming closer or even think they're getting easy food.
The sponge deal might be a good idea as well as shooting.
When I got home I went out and looked for tracks, again at sunset. Had the shotgun loaded with 00 buck as I only have this and slugs at the moment. I notices that the food around the holes were gone and I noticed some tracks but it's just too sandy to make anything out. A rain would help this problem. Other than that I just can't find tracks because of the leaves.
The big news is that I found another burrow next to a post of the fence. It was between some shrub so it was hidden. Again, lots of dirt in about a 10 foot radius around the mouth and it was also about 1 1/2 feet wide. There was another sand area that looked to be like another burrow but it was past the fence and about 30-40 yards away. It was too much trouble to climb over at the te to look.
This seriously makes me concerned. I've never seen anything like this before. Three of these burrows are within 100-120 feet of each other. Is this normal? I feel like they're just smart and realize they can feed from the houses and wild. There's also three standing water ponds in this area. Pretty much everything needed to support wild life in general.
While I was checking out the areas that I threw food I did see a tail take off in the distance. About 60-70 yards away. I sat for a few minutes to see if I'd see it again or others but nothing. I looked around the area where I saw it yesterday to see if I could find anything useful but nothing. I started heading back and was walking up to the door and look behind the house and saw eyes and grey. I paused and it appeared that there were 2-3 of something about 60 yards out again. At this point the sun was almost down and the light wasn't there for me to make out what I was seeing in the shrub. There's a good section of property that I haven't checked yet which is where I was just speaking of. There is certainly something out here for sure.
I've read tons on these things today and I think that on the post 10-15 years they have become extremely adaptable to people and urban environments, not that I'd call my area urban at all. From what I've read they seem to not require the range that they were known for in the past. They can live near humans and in urban areas without ever being see or detected from some studies.
So to the point. I have no issues shooting coyotes that come on the property but my question is this. My main concern is the safety of the family of course but how should I go about this? Most people have open lawns and they walk out but I don't have open areas. I'm going to have to call or bait them. My cocern is that I'm afraid that I might attract more coyotes by doing this or make them get comfortable coming closer or even think they're getting easy food.
The sponge deal might be a good idea as well as shooting.