"Ma'am, do you have a gun?"

[Lannis]

Ok, Ok. Lannis............. ...Pax.  :Beating_A_Dead_Hors e_by_liviu

I tell you one thing though, If ever I go into Polar Bear country, I'll be toting the biggest elephant gun I can find. Those suckers see people as vertical seals.  At least we can probably agree on that one.


Nick

Maybe .... We can agree that a coyote doesn't belong in a city.

I'm not sure I agree that people have much business wandering on the shores of the Arctic Ocean or around ice floes where Polar Bears are properly looking for warm, bloody protein ... the Polar Bear MIGHT have priority there still ... ?

Lannis

[oldbike54]

 Dunno , the Coyotes that moved in next door are the best neighbors in years . No trash , or loud parties , although there does seem to be a decrease in the cat population lately 

  Dusty

[SmithSwede]

Dusty, here's what I'm wondering.

When that bantam chicken attacked you, would you have had enough time to deploy a pistol to defend yourself?

Or was that chicken too dang fast for effective gun play?

 

[normzone]

I think we're focusing on the wrong thing here. It sounds as if only some judicious application of peanut butter is all that stands between [nick949] and somebody getting his Eldorado.

[SmithSwede]

Well Dusty if that's the case, I won't ask you to recommend the best anti-chicken gun. 

[Cam Lay]

We have a young male (?) who has taken up residence down the road from us. We see him about once a month. So far he has left our chickens and the neighbor's sheep alone, though one of his relatives did snack on another neighbor's (full grown) horse two winters ago. He has not showed up on the semi-permanent game camera yet, so is likely not hanging around the house much.

Fish and Game seems to shoot about one or two a year for taking an unseemly interest in children at campgrounds, llamas, hippies, and golden retrievers. I'm alert and cautious going outside at night, and i'd certainly be armed if it sounded like anything was after the livestock. and right now, of course, I look like the antelope with the cast and sling in the Far Side cartoon where the lions are saying "Dibs!" But mostly, so far, it"s just a neat reminder that we live in Montana :-) 

Good read on the subject is "The Beast in the Garden" about lion attacks, and the inneffectual Bambi-influenced response until somebody got eaten, in Boulder, CO.

I'm healing slowly but well, thanks :-)

Regards,
C

[normzone]

Glad to hear you're healing. Lots of nutrients and some pain killing substances are what Doctor Norman recommends.

My philosophy on the big cats is to evolve a smarter beast. WHENEVER you see one, throw rocks and act rude, challenge them.

My hope is that in a few hundred years, momma cats will take their cubs to an overview and tell them

 " You see those ? Yes, I know they smell interesting, but they're VERY dangerous. Leave them alone. "

[Lannis]

G
My hope is that in a few hundred years, momma cats will take their cubs to an overview and tell them

 " You see those ? Yes, I know they smell interesting, but they're VERY dangerous. Leave them alone. "

Larry Niven fan, by any chance ... ?   "Safer to eat arsenic ...."

Lannis

[donn]

Me - I kill all the wasp nests on my property - I don't like being stung.

Please excuse the digression from this important gun matter, but there are a variety of wasps out there that look kind of similar and even construct vaguely similar nests, but are very different in terms of risk and value.  The ones most of us dislike with good reason are mostly hornets, particularly yellowjackets, and the ones that too often get confused with them are paper wasps that look almost alike.  But they're bigger and have longer legs, and you can usually tell them apart in flight by their purposeful investigation of shrubberies etc.  They can see quite well, and they're looking for bugs, which is all they eat.  No picnic crumbs or anything like that, they want only bugs, and they will keep coming back until the bugs are pretty much eaten up, so they're great to have around the vegetable garden.  Hornets fly faster and weave from side to side - they likely don't see all that well but have an acute sense of smell, so they don't particularly need to look any which way, just need to move around in the air.  And they're smaller and more compact.  I think their nests get quite a bit bigger and more populous, but in the early stage there might not be much obvious difference.

" You see those ? Yes, I know they smell interesting, but they're VERY dangerous. Leave them alone. "

Smell "interesting", I bet.  We have a reputation for being eaten only by the old or sick predator who can take nothing else.

[SmithSwede]

to add to this meandering thread--Donn, I like your sig line.

[sliphorn]

Mountain lions in Kansas? No way! These pics were taken last week at Stockton Lake, Mo. (about 30 miles north of Springfield)

====

I'll be at Stockton Lake next week. I've always heard there were mountain lions there. Good picture.

====

[nick949]

Please excuse the digression from this important gun matter, but there are a variety of wasps out there that look kind of similar and even construct vaguely similar nests, but are very different in terms of risk and value.

German Yellow jackets! Nasty invasive buggers. I leave the rest alone - especially the paper wasps, with their little umbrella nests. They leave me alone, so I leave them alone.  The others..........wel l, I go all Lannis on them.

Nick

[Rough Edge racing]

 I didn't read every post........Best way to avoid an encounter with a large cat is to spend the time to learn their behavior.Even watch a house cat preying on running rodents is a good example. Yes, they like surprise attack and generally from behind on larger prey. Women running in spandex look like  prey to them....A firearm is certainly a defensive choice... if you have time to use it before being attacked. The animal often get extremely close before springing on it's prey giving no time to shoot. So you must always be on guard...
  Cats know from instinct the prey's face is too be avoided so they won't be seen.They don't want to fight and will  avoid a battle if possible.. Wearing a face mask on the back of your head can actually prevent a blind side attack. Cats are scared by loud natural noises. A blast from a air canister horn will run them off if you see the animal checking you out.

[donn]

German Yellow jackets! Nasty invasive buggers. I leave the rest alone - especially the paper wasps, with their little umbrella nests. They leave me alone, so I leave them alone.  The others..........wel l, I go all Lannis on them.

Talk them to death?

[normzone]

" Larry Niven fan, by any chance ... ?   "Safer to eat arsenic ...."

[Lannis], I'd not thought about that, but yes, the Niven collection is in the book case.

[Markcarovilli]

German Yellow jackets! Nasty invasive buggers. I leave the rest alone - especially the paper wasps, with their little umbrella nests. They leave me alone, so I leave them alone.  The others..........wel l, I go all Lannis on them.

Nick

Nick now that is funny....

Mark

[sib]

Maybe .... We can agree that a coyote doesn't belong in a city.

Maybe we can agree, but we can't persuade the coyotes.  They're firmly entrenched in many cities, even NYC.  In Providence, they mostly keep to themselves, except for snagging the occasional cat.  They actually control the feral cat population, not to mention rats.  So, I'm in favor of urban coyotes.

[Turin]

Rough Edge Is 100% correct. https://fsjdallindia.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/safety-measurs.jpg

[Lannis]

Talk them to death?

The only thing sillier than me writing all this stuff is you READING all this stuff ... and THEN writing about it .....