If the coyotes are getting your sheep, as experience has shown, a very impractical approach is to say, "Well, we'll just kill all the coyotes," because you're not going to kill them all. They seem to be a species that thrives on human malevolence.

A better question is how can you raise sheep in spite of the coyotes, and there are ways of doing that. Here we use donkeys and a guard dog, some electric fence, and we're saving our sheep. All kinds of questions are involved in any of these issues, but the important thing to me is to define the issue with a due regard for its real complexities.

-- Critt Jarvis (critt@critt.com), December 28, 1999

Answers

One method that has worked well for me is to move where we have no coyotes...

Another that has worked well in the past is to raise cattle instead of sheep! (*&$@#&* sheepherders, anyway!)

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), December 28, 1999.

Like wow, is this a big deal here?

-- (trippin@mysheep.dip), December 28, 1999.

Dear Mad-- I'm surpeised at you.

Dear Crit-- Lost 5 lambs and 2 sheep out of ~100 animals one year. Shot at the cyotee--came close but missed--must have scared it and it told the others. There is a theory that cyotee will not hunt in their home area. We see them but for quite awhile they have not bothered anything. And in fact will prevent other cyotee from moving in. We think the theory is correct. Interesting animals. One got on the wrong side of a fence near the house--the side near the road. It was terrified--especially when cars went by. It just wanted out of there and could not figure how to jump the fence. After getting the rifles we realized what was up and watched until it was safely back in the woods. The sheep were in the pasture and it never went near them. Pam

-- Pamela (jpjgood@penn.com), December 28, 1999.