Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

Kreutz wrote:

Yarddawg wrote:No point in it as long as you don't mind a rabid animal attacking your pets, children, spouse, or you!

100% of them have rabies? That seems unlikely.

And my understanding is they're rather afraid of people and avoid them. And if the occasional poodle gets chomped on, great, we need less of those damned things in our country anyway.

Its just the whole shooting things for fun part I can't get. Unless you've caught one just about to snack on Fifi or Timmy, I have to venture you're killing it for pleasure. They have every right to be here too and all that crap.

Coyote attacks on people happen, but they aren't very likely. They usually happen in places were the coyotes have gotten use to the people being around (i.e. recently or partially developed land). Adults have been attacked, but children are more at risk because they are a more appropriate size.

You should read up on game management programs. Like most varmint they don't always interact with well with human activities. States that severely restrict the hunting of them usually spend millions of tax payers dollars reducing the populations through other means. Poisons work, but are not particularly humane and there are risks to other animals. Shooting varmints is one of the most humane (if not the most) way of keeping pest populations in check. A typical varmint bullet kills the target instantly and yes, the results are usually gruesome, but the pain and suffering is usually not.

Yes, hunting varmint is often a sporting activities. If the varmint provided anything of value, we would use it just like we use the meat off of other game. Some furs are useful, some are not. E.g. groundhogs are all over the place in VA and cause substantial damage to livestock if not kept in check (their holes and tunnels cause livestock to break their legs and then they have to be put down...also, the government has prohibited the sale of dead livestock for most purposes, it must come alive into the processing plant). However, a groundhog has nothing of real value. If you wish to use the land, you must either shoot or poison them.

Shooting varmints is a challenge, is useful for the development of shooting skills and intersects with human needs for effective use of the land. Extermination is not the goal, managing the populations is.

Its just the whole shooting things for fun part I can't get. Unless you've caught one just about to snack on Fifi or Timmy, I have to venture you're killing it for pleasure. They have every right to be here too and all that crap.[/quote]

Tell that to the cattle and sheep farmers that loose many $$$ during the calving season. You ever seen what a coyote will do to a cow when it's giving birth ? A pack will start eating the calf before it's fully out of the cow and then start working on the cow butt first. Coyotes also take a heavy toll on deer during the fawning season. A good accurate rifle, a good light and a predator call will help some to cut down on the population of 'yotes, fox and bobcats. And yes it's fun too.

HERE KITTY,KITTY



The sly 'ol fox wasn't so sly



Coyotes are good for something

Kreutz wrote:

Yarddawg wrote:No point in it as long as you don't mind a rabid animal attacking your pets, children, spouse, or you!

100% of them have rabies? That seems unlikely.

And my understanding is they're rather afraid of people and avoid them. And if the occasional poodle gets chomped on, great, we need less of those damned things in our country anyway.

Its just the whole shooting things for fun part I can't get. Unless you've caught one just about to snack on Fifi or Timmy, I have to venture you're killing it for pleasure. They have every right to be here too and all that crap.

Do you want to go out and catch some to give them their rabies shots?

Vahunter wrote:Tell that to the cattle and sheep farmers that loose many $$$ during the calving season. You ever seen what a coyote will do to a cow when it's giving birth ? A pack will start eating the calf before it's fully out of the cow and then start working on the cow butt first. Coyotes also take a heavy toll on deer during the fawning season.

Alright, yeah, that's pretty nasty, but hell, nature is cruel, never kind. I've never seen one, but they look too much like dogs (given they're related) for me to consider shooting one I guess.

There have been a few here (maybe 15 miles north of Manhattan), caused a big stir with the sissies around here, munched on some little poochie. Can't say I'd go after one unless it went after me.

Now shooting rats...yeah, that I get.

Kreutz wrote:Now shooting rats...yeah, that I get.

I knew that there was something that I liked about you!

Vahunter wrote:Coyotes also take a heavy toll on deer during the fawning season.

I've seen them stalk fawns first hand.

Yarddawg wrote:

Kreutz wrote:Now shooting rats...yeah, that I get.

I knew that there was something that I liked about you!

If you know of a place near Roanoke I can pop rats with a .22 (or flamethrower), please do tell.

One of my lifes pleasures is feeding my snake rodents.

Yes, its pure hypocritical sadism (if coyotes didn't look like dogs I'd probably be Ok with it, but I'm a softie for dogs) for me to want to shoot rats for fun..but, too bad. Its the next best thing to shooting lawyers.

I do have some family with a farm in Rockbridge county. That's roughly an hour north of Roanoke on I-81.

VAhunter do you hang out at Predator Master? The pic. with you and the foxes looks familiar.

Coyote problem


The Sierra Club and the U.S. Forest Service were presenting an alternative to the Wyoming ranchers for controlling the coyote population. It seems that after years of the ranchers using the tried and true method of shooting or trapping the predators, the Sierra Club had a "more humane" solution to this issue.

What they were proposing was for the animals to be captured alive. The males would then be castrated and let loose again.

This was ACTUALLY proposed by the Sierra Club and by the U.S. Forest Service. All of the ranchers thought about this amazing idea for a couple of minutes..

Finally an old fellow in the back of the conference room stood up, tipped his hat back and said; "Son, I don't think you understand our problem here . . .. these coyotes ain't f*ckin' our sheep . . . they're eatin' 'em!"

The meeting never really got back to order . .

Sorry- Couldn't resist!

Cartman wrote:Coyote problem


The Sierra Club and the U.S. Forest Service were presenting an alternative to the Wyoming ranchers for controlling the coyote population. It seems that after years of the ranchers using the tried and true method of shooting or trapping the predators, the Sierra Club had a "more humane" solution to this issue.

What they were proposing was for the animals to be captured alive. The males would then be castrated and let loose again.

This was ACTUALLY proposed by the Sierra Club and by the U.S. Forest Service. All of the ranchers thought about this amazing idea for a couple of minutes..

Finally an old fellow in the back of the conference room stood up, tipped his hat back and said; "Son, I don't think you understand our problem here . . .. these coyotes ain't f*ckin' our sheep . . . they're eatin' 'em!"

The meeting never really got back to order . .

Sorry- Couldn't resist!

An oldie, but a good one none the less.

Edit: Forgot mention that some things are worse than death...

Valleyhunter wrote:VAhunter do you hang out at Predator Master? The pic. with you and the foxes looks familiar.

Yeah sure do.

Cool.... I have been on there for a while now they got me hooked on calling!

Recently, I've seen a coyote alive along I-64 behind the Sam's Club near the Jefferson Avenue interchange. When I made it back from Richmond, it was near the same spot dead on the side of the road. It had been hit by a car. I went back with the intention of throwing it the back of my truck but when I got back to it I realized it had been obliterated and I wouldn't get much good skin off of it.

I've also seen coyotes in Charles City County. When I first saw one in the mid '90s, people thought I was nuts. Now they they are seen with some regularity.

I read in the paper a few years ago about a Suffolk farmer that had a family of coyotes near a field. As he approached on his tractor they disappeared into the woods, and came out again when he turned around.

I'm fairly confident coyotes are found statewide, now.

There was an article in this morning's paper about a farmer that has lost 23 cattle to coyotes lately in Gloucester County. The lastest attack was yesterday and 3 calfs were killed and several othes will need to be put down. He even lost a 500 lb steer to a pack recently. Sounds like we need to load up and see if we can help.

fiasconva wrote:There was an article in this morning's paper about a farmer that has lost 23 cattle to coyotes lately in Gloucester County. The lastest attack was yesterday and 3 calfs were killed and several othes will need to be put down. He even lost a 500 lb steer to a pack recently. Sounds like we need to load up and see if we can help.

I'm game. We can drop the wives off in Williamsburg and go have some fun.

gunderwood wrote:

fiasconva wrote:There was an article in this morning's paper about a farmer that has lost 23 cattle to coyotes lately in Gloucester County. The lastest attack was yesterday and 3 calfs were killed and several othes will need to be put down. He even lost a 500 lb steer to a pack recently. Sounds like we need to load up and see if we can help.

I'm game. We can drop the wives off in Williamsburg and go have some fun.

Just my two cents - 'cause this makes me hot
Been a long time since I knew much about cattle, but my Dad raised pedigreed breeders when I was a child. After retirement, he bought calves, feed them out and sold at about 800 lbs. He quit when packs of dogs abandoned by vacation cottage owners started hamstringing them and killed a few. Even his 120 lb Alsatian killing a dog or two didn't keep them away. My Dad, a relative and a sheriff's deputy (with a court order) obliterated a lot of that pack, after which sickos poisoned most of his cattle (piles of salt and arsenic). Point is coyotes or wolves are much worse than semi-wild dogs and coyotes need to be obliterated.

According to Va. Dept. of Ag. (VDACS), cattle prices are over $100 per hundred-weight. If this farmer feeds his cattle up to a typical slaughter weight of 600 - 1000 lbs, losing 23 cattle is a huge loss, especially if he is a small operation.

I read recently that the "wildlife experts" here in Virginia assisting livestock herders in what they call coyote control say that killing coyotes is not the answer, rather they have a whole plethora of "alternative contols". In a period of some years the experts killed 500 plus coyotes, while hunters killed thousands. We need much more coyote killing and not have the taxpayers foot the bill for 'experts'.

I do think , haven't had time to research, there is a bounty on 'yotes in Va...

And they're in Hanover. Pop has tapped a couple in the back yard headin' towards the neighbors with livestock.

I'm kinda siding with Kreutz, I have a soft spot for dogs, and realize 'yotes AIN'T dogs, but it's just awfully hard to pop cap.

Each county can set a bounty. Here in Charlotte county the bounty is $50. Alot of people think the state pays the bounty but it's the county that forks over the $$$.
Coyotes also get credit for dog attacks on livestock. From what I have seen and heard dogs kill way more livestock than coyotes.

yeah we used to have a $50 bounty here in Page county.....but no longer since the economy took a dump.