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["Frank Fries" <frank.fries AT imagewireless.ca>]

Anyone have any "cute tricks" to keep coyotes away ?

Or alternatively, to trick them into coming in close ?

In the last few years, our area is just crawling with them.  I did not grow 
up in this area, so I don't know if they are "much" thicker here than they 
used to be.

I do know they are way more common in the area I grew up (about 250 miles 
away) in than they were years ago, so I think in general there are a lot 
more.

I suspect that part of the reason is that nobody traps or shoots them for 
their fur anymore.  There may well be other factors as well.

In any case, we have them coming in close to the yard pretty much every 
night and we certainly hear a lot of them howling at night also..  Some 
nights I would guess that are well over a dozen within a mile or so.

Our "yard dog" has tangled with a coyote at least 4 times that I know of. 
She is a shepherd/lab cross and can hold her own with a coyote, but I am 
worried that may get caught by a pack.  She has survived coyotes for a 
number of years, so she is obviously careful not to get caught in the open 
by a bunch of coyotes.

At night you can't see them and in the daytime we are usually at work.  We 
sometimes see coyotes in the daytime on the weekends, but they usually 
disappear from sight by the time you get a rifle and get it loaded. 
Sometimes they reappear into sight but at long ranges (800 yds +) that 
pretty much ensure their safety.  At that range, even a shot into their 
vicinity doesn't seem to really scare them.

In the last year I have had 3 that didn't vacate the area quickly enough and 
another that made the foolish mistake of reappearing and running straight 
away at only 200 yds instead of going the other direction and disappearing 
over a hill or behind trees.   Those particular coyotes learned to quit 
bothering us in only 1 quick lesson.

However there are quite a few left in the general area - anyone have 
anything in particular that worked for tfhem ?

We were considering getting a few poultry this summer  (chickens and perhaps 
a few guineas) but we are kind of hesitant to in case it encourages the 
coyotes to hang in the area even more.  We have had this dog for a few years 
and she would try and protect her yard - I would feel pretty bad if I got 
her killed because we got a few chickens.

Frank,
in sunny Saskatchewan, where the weather has been warm (for Jan) and 
gorgeous for a week.....