Pond Frog

[Catfishnut]

I worked last night and was driving home around 4:45 a.m. I live on a gravel country road and saw an unusual site. I immediately went to grab my cell phone (slash camera) to take a pix, but remembered that my memory chip was still attached to the little gadet on my PC at the house, so it wouldn't have done me any good. Rats!

No, I didn't see a rat, LOL. But, I did see one really BIG coyote running right down the center of the darn road! Right in front of me! I was going about 32-35 mph and he was doing a pretty good job at staying ahead of me for quite a long time. Well, I am saying maybe an 1/8 mile roughly, before he turned his head and looked back at me and then decided to jump into the ditch and run down the ravine.

When I say BIG coyote, I really mean a BIG coyote! I have never seen a coyote quite this large before. He was just a bit smaller than an average German Shephard, maybe 85% the size. For a moment, I thought maybe it could have been a wolf, but that couldn't be, not here in eastern Nebraska. And it would have been quite a small or young wolf at that. I am sure that he was just an extremely large coyote. We have dozens of coyotes here, but this one must eat very well!

The strangest thing is, he acted so odd. He was in my headlights for all that time, right down the center of the road and running fast, it didn't seem to really phase him that I was right behind with my high-beams on. I have seen coyotes cross the road in front of me before, but they are usually running from one side to the other. He just kept right in the center until I think I got too close and then he took a glance over his shoulder and veered off to the ravine on the side of the road at the last second.

I will have to inform my neighbor. They have a German Shephard that is an older dog and very tame and docile. This coyote could possibly do some serious damage to that old dog if they ever met up.

Gordy

 

[CountryEscape]

Gordy, according to my "hunter" son, when you approach any wildlife in a car with high beams on, and they are in the road, immediately go to low beams. He says that the high beams blind them to be able to see the side of the road, thus the reason they stay on the road. All other areas are blinded to them, and they are fearful to jump into the "darkness" of the unknown. I had the opportunity to try this with 5 deer in the road 2 nights ago, and they immediately jumped over the ditch and into the field. I suspect that coyote could not see the field, and therefore thought his only escape was to stay ahead of you on the road. Nice to have him in your sights for so long, though! Bet that was fun to watch. I've had a fox run down the road before, and like you, I had high beams on to see him better. LOL Now that I know better, I feel sorry for the little bugger.
Just thought I'd pass that on to others. Evidently, the deer that are standing in the road facing you don't have a clue they can get out of the way, although probably 90% of the deer hit on the roads are because they literally ran out in front of you. Those in the road are usually spotted in enough time for the driver to slow down to avoid. I've even hit my horn to alert them I'm there, wondering why they don't get off the road. LOL Poor things, had no idea they could not see the field!

 

[Catfishnut]

Gordy, according to my "hunter" son, when you approach any wildlife in a car with high beams on, and they are in the road, immediately go to low beams. He says that the high beams blind them to be able to see the side of the road, thus the reason they stay on the road. All other areas are blinded to them, and they are fearful to jump into the "darkness" of the unknown. I had the opportunity to try this with 5 deer in the road 2 nights ago, and they immediately jumped over the ditch and into the field. I suspect that coyote could not see the field, and therefore thought his only escape was to stay ahead of you on the road. Nice to have him in your sights for so long, though! Bet that was fun to watch. I've had a fox run down the road before, and like you, I had high beams on to see him better. LOL Now that I know better, I feel sorry for the little bugger.
Just thought I'd pass that on to others. Evidently, the deer that are standing in the road facing you don't have a clue they can get out of the way, although probably 90% of the deer hit on the roads are because they literally ran out in front of you. Those in the road are usually spotted in enough time for the driver to slow down to avoid. I've even hit my horn to alert them I'm there, wondering why they don't get off the road. LOL Poor things, had no idea they could not see the field!

Country,

Obviously, it wasn't my intention to annoy or disorient the coyote, but I don't see very well at night so I just kept my brights on so that I would not go down into the ravine myself! I would not have run him over, but then again, my life is more important to me than his. I would have just stopped in the middle of the road and let him go his way eventually anyway. It was just really cool and interesting to watch what he was doing. I was very intrigued!

Gordy

 

[j.w]

I like to hear the sounds of the coyotes when they are howling and yip yip ye-wowing but just hope they don't eat up my cats. Cats don't go out til daylight and come in at dark and cats can't leave our property. So far so good, knock on cat fur! I think people must be shooting at them cuz I haven't heard or seen one in awhile. Don't see much of anything but deer anymore and they must be gone for the winter now too. Course maybe if I went out walking at night w/ some see in the dark glasses I bet I'd get an eyeful!

 

[addy1]

We watched a beautiful buck run out of our woods, hunters were in the field behind us. Wish I could have told it to stay put and be safe. It came flying out across our field and in one leap over our fence.

 

[sissy]

that if you had said it and not printed it ,I would have wondered what Chuck Wills Widow was doing .Is she happy to be a widow .Is that really a bird that we can see here .Also who the heck is Chuck Wills LOL Haro

 

[CountryEscape]

Sorry, Gordy, I didn't mean you were being mean to him by keeping your brights on! I, too, ALWAYS have my bright lights on at night, as I like as much light as possible, so I totally understand. I just thought I'd point out that idea, mostly because of deer, since they tend to stand there and not know to move!

When my kids and nephews were young, maybe ages 6-9, they were up in a tree platform (used for deer hunting), and all started screaming and howling like a coyote. They were sooo loud, my brother in law and I hollered for them to be still! As soon as they quit screaming, we heard the most eery sound! There were coyotes in a circle around us, probably 75% of the circle! There had to be at least 20 coyotes answering the kids' screams. Wow, I'd never heard that many before, but I think the coyotes maybe thought that someone had a kill, and it got them all stirred up and excited! Maybe a good thing the kids stopped, or the coyotes may have started closing in for the kill. I tried the screaming thing where I lived 4 years ago, after seeing a very large coyote in my pasture (thought it was a deer, it was so tall), and got a similar response, although not quite as many yelped back at me.

Patti

 

[Catfishnut]

Sorry, Gordy, I didn't mean you were being mean to him by keeping your brights on! I, too, ALWAYS have my bright lights on at night, as I like as much light as possible, so I totally understand. I just thought I'd point out that idea, mostly because of deer, since they tend to stand there and not know to move!

When my kids and nephews were young, maybe ages 6-9, they were up in a tree platform (used for deer hunting), and all started screaming and howling like a coyote. They were sooo loud, my brother in law and I hollered for them to be still! As soon as they quit screaming, we heard the most eery sound! There were coyotes in a circle around us, probably 75% of the circle! There had to be at least 20 coyotes answering the kids' screams. Wow, I'd never heard that many before, but I think the coyotes maybe thought that someone had a kill, and it got them all stirred up and excited! Maybe a good thing the kids stopped, or the coyotes may have started closing in for the kill. I tried the screaming thing where I lived 4 years ago, after seeing a very large coyote in my pasture (thought it was a deer, it was so tall), and got a similar response, although not quite as many yelped back at me.

Patti

Country (Patti),

I didn't take it that way, don't fret. The odd point of it was, he didn't look back at me until the last second before he darted off the road. It was like he was oblivious of my presence even with the brights on. Just one of those occurrences that struck me odd and interesting.

Gordy

 

[HARO]

Gordy; we are seeing the same thing here, coyotes the size of German shepherds. If you meet one in the woods, he'll stop and turn to face you; it's like he's daring you to try something! A far cry from the normal coyote's impulse to tuck its tail between its legs and make itself scarse! There were no coyotes here until the late eighties, now we hear them almost every night. Groundhogs (woodchucks) have become extinct, and barn cats are an endangered species! I've heard a lot of talk about coyotes cross-breeding with farm dogs, but I don't know if there's much truth in that. Two farm kids have been attacked by coyotes in the past year or so, and it kinda makes you wonder. And to make matters worse, the eastern cougar is making a comeback in Ontario; there have been several sightings within a couple of miles of our place. One was right in a barnyard!
And yes, Sissy, Chuck-Will's-widow shares much of its fellow goat-milker's range, but has a somewhat different call. And the jury is still out on who or what killed poor Chuck!!!
John

 

[j.w]

They are breeding dogs w/ wolves here and some are running around the neighborhood. My friend up the road had to shoot one that was attacking her farm animals.

 

[sissy]

poor chucky killed in his prime . My neighbors husky killed the lady down the streets chickens .I used to love hearing her roosters crow .

 

[Catfishnut]

Gordy; we are seeing the same thing here, coyotes the size of German shepherds. If you meet one in the woods, he'll stop and turn to face you; it's like he's daring you to try something! A far cry from the normal coyote's impulse to tuck its tail between its legs and make itself scarse! There were no coyotes here until the late eighties, now we hear them almost every night.......

.......... And the jury is still out on who or what killed poor Chuck!!!
John

John,

That is very interesting that coyotes this large are being seen in Ontario, too. I was thinking that this lone coyote I saw might have been some sort of a fluke of nature, like a genetic oddball or an extremely lucky and well fed one. I have seen hundreds of coyotes in Nebraska over the years and they were always the same size, small. Similar in size to a rather large red fox or a small Border Collie.

Coyotes are really starting to become prolific around the mid to south-eastern end of Nebraska and probably even in the rest of the state and maybe into Iowa. In the late 60's through the mid 80's, they were quite rare around here. Now I can hear them in large packs frequently. In the right conditions during the spring I sometimes hear them night after night. The state of Nebraska began stocking wild turkeys to repopulate them in this area roughly in about the early 80's. The turkeys are now everywhere! I have counted flocks that numbered in the 200 - 300 range on several instances. I am thinking that the coyotes are increasing in number because of this. I have also noticed in the same time frame that the Whip-poor-wills have become less often heard as well. Since they are a ground-dwelling bird, I wonder if they are becoming food for these coyotes.

They definitely do occasionally inter-breed with dogs and also wolves. Breeding with dogs is supposed to result in a hybrid that is less intimidated by humans. That can be bad.

Cougar population is also on the rise here. A few years ago, they actually had to shoot one inside the city of Omaha, Nebraska. That's a strange place for a cougar. Omaha's population is roughly 409,000 and the population base within a 50 mile radius is over 1.2 million. Not huge, but surely not a sparse rural area. I live on the outskirts of that radius and I have personally seen two cougars in the past 13 years (one with a golden coat and one that was black coated). I have also heard of at least eight sightings by others in the nearby, more rural areas.

Gordy

 

[sissy]

please please don't let there be any around here .I see foxes and the occisional bear and lots of deer

 

[HARO]

Gordy; you've brought up some interesting points. We used to hear whip-poor-wills, as well as woodcocks, every spring and early summer; I haven't heard either for so long I can't remember! And a local hunters group got together with the government around 1980 and re-introduced wild turkeys from south of the border, and now every time I drive through the countryside I see groups of from a few to maybe 150 birds. Maybe that's what caused the coyote population explosion!! And also, most of the cougar sightings mention a black or very dark animal.
John

 

[CountryEscape]

I remember groundhogs everywhere when I was a kid in the 70's in southern Illinois, but when we moved to south central, none. Used to be quail along dirt roads along fields, you never see them anymore. No more rabbits or pheasants either. Coyotes and fox feast on them, but so do red tailed hawks. When did our wildlife population get out of hand? They said the chemicals used on fields have hurt the bird populations, too. Not sure if the birds eat the bugs with ingested chemicals, or the lack of food source from bugs being killed. You never see the huge garden spiders anymore. They are huge, about the side of a hand, and bright yellow with black stripes. My son things the farm field chemicals have killed them.

A former neighbor, more backwoods hillbilly really, saw a black cougar about 10 years ago. Never said anything, figured no one would believe him. Then, other neighbors saw it, and when the hillbilly guy spotted it a second time, he knew he was not dreaming. I've heard they have re-introduced them to southern Illinois to help with the deer population. Next I suppose will be wolves. Coyotes are huge around my area at times, too. For the most part they are about twice the size of a fox. I'd compare a coyote to a mid-sized German Shepherd. But, I saw that one in a field that I could have sworn was a deer. Had to go inside to get binoculars, and was amazed at it's size. They would come just outside the yard light at night and yip and howl. That's when my son insisted I needed a hand gun since I lived alone. Never did shoot at any animals, though.

Where I live now, plenty of red fox. I know they need to survive and they are taking out lots of the ground birds. The government is paying farmers to let it seed the area next to woods, instead of farming it, and grow ground cover crop that does not get mowed or used. It's simply for the wildlife that have lost their habitat by farmers cutting down trees to farm the areas. They seed about a 50' wide strip all along the woods. That area usually does not grow very good crops anyhow because of the woods sucking the moisture and shading the areas, and hopefully in another 10-15 years we may start seeing more rabbits, quail and pheasants.

When I was in college wolf hybrids were a huge thing! I personally love German Shepherds, but to me, a perfect GS is one that is big, beautiful, very alert, and loves people! I had that perfect dog many years ago, and am searching for another one now. It will have to love people and not be a threat to anyone, but the size and breed alone is enough to make most people think twice before coming to your house. That's how my Shena was, but once I came outside and she knew the people were friends, the game was on and you needed to play ball with her.