Had an unexpected visitor this weekend

[opnspaces]

I was out camping in the desert this last weekend. The weather was beautiful with just a puff of wind from time to time. I was outside on Sunday morning when I spied this guy wandering around the area. I grabbed my camera and jumped in the Suburban and drove off to get a closer look and maybe a photo. After a few minutes though he turned around and wandered back to and through my campsite making sure to look at and sniff everything. It was a great experience to just sit and watch him hunt.

[BCSnob]

We're like the chicken farmer and don't like coyotes. Shooting them isn't a long term solution; a new one will move in. We have Sam (Maremma) and Wendy (Kangal) to protect our flock.

No Mountain Lions/Cougars confirmed living in MD.
Black bears typically don't kill livestock (know they are around, have not seen one); we're 14miles from where the woman in MD was attacked in her drive by a sow with 3 cubs.
There are lots of foxes; see them frequently during the day and hear them at night.
Know coyotes are around (wife saw one earlier this year running across top of field), have lost a few lambs to them (added Wendy, our second LGD to prevent this).

Mark

[Alabama_Jim]

Now that is the fun of camping. Thanks for sharing.

[DanNJanice]

janstey58 wrote:
We saw a mountain lion one night 50ft from our campfire in Iowa no less last year. Talk about nearly wetting yur pants! We quickly moved inside.

LOL! Figures!
I grew up in Iowa/Illinois, the closest I ever got to seeing a mountain lion was the neighbors cat.
Have lived in the West for 20+ years now and never seen a mountain lion:(

[MrWizard]

I have seen them and a lot closer than that photo
one of our favorite parks is a designated wildlife refuge area
coyotes in urban areas are pests, they loose their fear of man and attack animals and people

We enjoy watching the big gray herons hunting gophers and other rodents

Even saw a red tail hawk swoop in and steal a herons meal after the heron caught it, and before he could swallow it

[janstey58]

We saw a mountain lion one night 50ft from our campfire in Iowa no less last year. Talk about nearly wetting yur pants! We quickly moved inside.

[naturist]

romore wrote:
We hear them yipping and occasionally see one cross the pasture below the house, the cat goes nuts looking for a place to hide. She must have had a run in with them. We find them interesting but the farmer's hate the beggars, one woman is trying to find someone to shoot them all. Apparently they find her chickens quite tasty.:B

Mighty neighborly of the chicken lady to stock the coyote feeder like that, eh?

[Acampingwewillg]

While at Pismo State Beach(Oceano) years ago, while sitting outside one morning, our Collie stood up and was staring at something. We looked and low and behold, a Mountain Lion was leisurely walking down the CG road way.....surprised the heck out of me. Later we saw the sign indicating that Mountain Lion's are in the area and to report sightings.

[romore]

We hear them yipping and occasionally see one cross the pasture below the house, the cat goes nuts looking for a place to hide. She must have had a run in with them. We find them interesting but the farmer's hate the beggars, one woman is trying to find someone to shoot them all. Apparently they find her chickens quite tasty.:B

[D_E_Bishop]

We live in Los Angeles City, near the Rose Bowl, Occidental College and South of the 134 Freeway. Looking out our front window(our front is in the back)we see coyote trails all over the vacant lots below our home and the little beggars try to get to the water in our sprinkler system by chewing the sprinkler heads off. One was denning under our neighbors house and about 15 feet from our bedroom.

We can see Griffith Park from the front window, that is where P22 lives. P for PUMA.

The wilds are here in Los Angeles.

[lawnspecialties]

We have more than our fair share of coyotes here at the house. Coyote hunting is becoming almost as popular as deer hunting around here.

[westend]

We have had an influx of the Coyote in our neighborhood. I have heard the den-mates greet returning pack animals in the evening. The neighbor reports that one brave animal reached up and was looking into his window one night, probably alerted to the scent of his dog inside the house.

Until recently, we had litters of cats patrolling our yard and the neighborhood. We lost three kittens one night, probably to a Coyote. We decided to keep two cats in the house and give up the outside patrolling. Hopefully, the Coyotes will fill in that predation gap. The cats, however, were apex predators of small animals.

My feelings are that I should just appreciate animals in the wild as our population expansion pushes them out. It's cool that you could be around a coyote and see what it was up to. They are very typically shy and avoid us two-legged creatures.

[garyemunson]

Coyote mind-reading "Dammit, somebody else scaring my mice away..."

[downtheroad]

Constant visitors to our property also...along with raccoons. We can hear them "yipping" and conversing most nights.

To the OP. Fun picture. Now that's true boondocking.

[Crowe]

Coyotes are frequent visitors to my back yard. Their behaviors are quite interesting to watch. Would love to see a mountain lion-but not in my back yard!

[RoyB]

We used to tent camp alot back in the Arizona Days in the 60s-70s with our Jeeps pulling a utility trailer with our camping supplies in the high country north of Apache Junction and Jerome-Smiley Rock areas. Saw alot of Coyotes and maybe one or two Mountain Cats.

The Javelina (look like wild pigs) were the ones that really got our attention. They always ran in large packs and were very very brave creatures... They would run right thru the camp sites with us sitting around the camp fires haha...

Roy Ken