Need some ideas

centerfire_223

centerfire_223

New member
I got a call today from a goat farmer that has had 15 goats killed in the last couple of months. So I go over there a little bit ago and find a goat that was killed in the early morning hours of last night.

You could see where whatever killed it had drug it about 20 yards or so. The stomach had been torn open and all of the guts were pulled out. Though whatever it was didn't eat them at least not all of it anyway. That was the only place that the goat was damaged. There is another goat that was attacked too, it has a cut at the back of the hind leg. But it will be fine.

I looked around the kill area for some kind of coyote sign but couldn't find anything. I did manage to find one track in the pasture that looked like a dog from what I could tell of it.

I walked completely around the pasture looking for the place that the culprits used to get into the pasture. I didn't find anything there either. It's like they flew in. This fence is made out of hog wire and has a electric strand of wire at the top and bottom.

I am baffled, anyone have any ideas? I will have a night hunting permit here shortly, so I am going out tonight to see what I can do. I have a gut feeling it is dogs doing this.

One other thing he has had several baby goats that have come up missing. So what ever got them had to get them out of the pasture somehow.

I'm lost on this one.
 
Did you look for tracks inside the "crop circles" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif Heard the same thing about some cows awhile back!

Skinner 2
 
There is actual film footage of a coyote managing one of these so called dogproof fences. That is what you are dealing with. Kids totally missing, little or no sign, one adult goat fed on the entrails, it all spells old dog coyote and a big one. I would bet the only thing missing from that goat is the lungs heart and liver. He's jumping that fence somewhere! Your also dealing with a pasture. The goats would wipe out most of the sign because the coyote is using their trails. You will have to go outside the property to find the sign where he is coming from.

Dogs would go on a killing spree leaving the carcases behind. I would be very surprised if this one is a dog. Jimmie
 
You hit it right on the head Jimmie. The heart and lungs were the only thing missing out of the gut pile. The last time it killed one was 4 days ago, that is till last night. You think it will come back tonight and eat on the dead one?

There was a small coyote seen within 50 yards of this pasture last week. From what I was told they said it was the size of a small jack russell terrier. Sounds like a very small this years pup, doesn't it? I thought it was early to have pups running around.

I have about 6 or eight stands to make on this property tonight. Hopefully I will turn up something.

Thanks for the help Jimmie.
 
Sounds like coyote to me. They can clear a 5-strand barbed fence with ease (4ft. or more). Unless you've never seen them jump, it is hard to believe. Not many dogs can do that, on a continual basis. I'm apt to think probably a male yote as well. Perhaps a paired up one, pressured into taking livstock. To feed the litter. Who knows?

I'd definately make a set-up there
 
I talked to a landowner a few months back and he was telling me about the time he had a calf disappear. Apparently he was within a few hundred yards of a cow that just had a calf. The calf suddenly went crazy bawling, so he headed that way. Well, the sound of the calf was moving along the fence. By the time he got there, the calf was gone. Apparently it was transported 60-70 yards then somehow past a woven wire fence and off into the woods. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif If a yote can make off with a calf, then a baby goat should be a cake walk!
 
I grew up on a Midwestern farm and it was amazing what a fox could accomplish to get to our chickens. Absolutely the only way we ever found to stop them was for me to punch their ticket with my trusty twenty two.

That's how I got my start predator hunting and through the years I've seen coyotes and fox perform some pretty incredible feats to get at their prey.

G'luck with your problem. I'm not as experienced with coyotes as some here but I'm also betting you have an old wise coyote at the helm here. It might even be a family effort.

$bob$
 
I made an earlier post on a pet coyote climbing a high chain-link fence. If I recall correctly. This pen was made of a 4 or 5' chain-link. With another 4' high "pig-wire" on top. This female yote, went right up it & over the top.

Also I posted earlier on the jumping ability of a coyote. I've seen them clear barbed fences with ease. Looked just like gazelle's.

Seen a 3-legged coyote clear a barbed fence while running up a steep-grade. He/she crossed 2-fences & a gravel road in 4-jumps(I know...unreal!). Dad & I were flying down the gravel with greyhounds in tow, trying to intercept.
 
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