Coyote thwarted, did her job

Last weekend I was woken at 2 am by Arie barking ferociously. It was continuous and it brought me out of my deep middle of the night sleep. I figured I'd better go check to see what was up.

After quickly getting dressed I stumbled out to the truck realizing I should have at least brought my shot gun but, in my sleepy fog I figured it was probably only a deer she was barking at so I continued on my way. As I drove out the headlights caught a familiar site, a coyote, and a big one at that. It was near one of our movable chicken pens and was making a hasty retreat. The fact that it was near the chickens made me angry so I took pursuit in the pickup truck. I quickly caught up to it and the coyote knowing it was in imminent danger took off like a shot. I should have slipped the truck into 4 wheel drive because my tires were spinning easily in the dew laden grasses. Nonetheless I got right on it's heals and pursued it for a good 8th of a mile zig-zagging across the field. It got away once we got to the fence line.

Upon inspecting the chickens I found that in the pen where I had first seen the coyote by there was a couple of dead chickens. That little rascal found a way to get them by reaching in through the wire with it's paw and pulling them to him where he could chew whatever he could get ahold of. One chicken had it's leg chewed off. Another had it head chewed off and two more were wounded. In the dark the chickens are sitting ducks. Too stupid to keep out of reach.

I wasn't very happy about the losses but, I was VERY happy with Arie. She did her job! She let me know something was up. If I hadn't come out I'm sure our losses would have been much greater.

So until we can better reinforce our movable pens we put them right close to Arie's 1 acre paddock, where she is now loose the entire night. The pens are within a couple feet of the fence. It would take a very bold coyote to try anything now. If a coyote came that close to the fence I'm pretty sure she would somehow manage to go over the fence to get to it.

I was going to put the pens right in with her but, Kelli reminded me that the goats might climb on them so that is why I put them next to where she is instead.

Arie doesn't miss much. She might bark allot but, now with hearing the difference between her casual barks with her serious barks I can better know what is happening out in the fields. When that coyote was out there she was dead serious and extremely intense.

She was on high alert the rest of the night. I know this because I sat out there in the pick up truck with my shot gun the remainder of the night. Arie never stopped running back and forth along the fence line all night long. I could see her running back and forth in the moon light. I finally went inside when the sun came up. But, Arie did her job, I couldn't be more happy.