The bear and coyotes and probaly cougars too,have finally made a dent in the burgoening whitetail population here a deer ran into the back wheel of my pickup on the way to work this morning,no damage that I could see-Kevin
I’m afraid the wolves would become as comfortable living around people as coyotes have become. Back when they were routinely shot as varmints in California I never saw them, even though I knew they were common in the edges of the cities and very common out in the hills. Now I see them all the time. We even have them in the middle of San Francisco. I saw one having a tough time getting across a six-lane street.
I’ve also seen them begging by the side of the road in Yosemite and right in the middle of the road in Death Valley. They run along with your car hoping you’ll slow down. In Death Valley it was a group of three waiting on the center stripe. I guess that way cars from either way could see them from a mile away. I could eaily see wolves becoming just as comfortable around people. And maybe getting hit by cars while enjoying deer roadkill. I’d love it if they wiped out the ubiquitous noisy flocks of wild turkeys that don’t belong here. They were brought in for hunters and are a messy nuisance.
Yean, I hit a turkey once too. Going about 40 and he came flying out from the hedge on the side of the road. I gave him a big boost about ten feet in the air. Didn’t see where he went or if he became someones dinner. Not a scratch on the ole Riv.
My daughter nailed her first deer tonight - a “bambi” with spots. She had slowed to 30 mph and it was a glancing blow so no damage to her car. She felt terrible about it, but did the right thing by not trying to swerve since there was other traffic around. Also, a black bear was spotted for the first time near her house (inside Cincinnati city limits). Supposedly, the bear swam across the Ohio River from Kentucky. I’ve actually seen deer swimming across the Ohio River.
Glad she’s ok. Bears gotta eat too I guess. Hope they eat the deer.
two of the worst deer hits I’ve seen are.
A driver had a 70’s era Lincoln with the big flat front end. He hit the deer dead center and with the flat front end the deer basically exploded all over the car. NASTY
The worst was a Camry. I walked up from behind the car and noticed I could not see in the windows. I opened the door to record the VIN and saw all the glass was covered in blood and manure. The deer jumped up and hit the center of its body on the front of the roof and broke out the windshield. In the drivers foot area there lay a huge gut pile. That was the grossest thing I saw. I almost barfed from the visual and the smell.
Years ago south of Peoria IL a north bound driver hit a deer. The deer became airborne and broke into two pieces. One part went through the windshield of a south bound car and killed the driver while the wife was in the passenger seat watching all this. I felt so sorry for this family.
I saw a deer launched 20’ into the air by a car going 60 mph in front of me. Good, I guess, because 1) it didn’t go through a windshield and B) it landed off the side of the road.
I have a client, that a few years back went to northern Wisconsin to deer hunt. He had one of those cargo racks in the hitch reciever and was going down a gravel road on the way to the cabin and was traveling about 30mph. All the sudden he fels the truck shake and heard a bang. Not knowing what had happened, he pulled over and everything seemed fine with the engine. He walked to the rear and there was a deer half way on the cargo rack thrashing.
He figured that it came running out as he passed, ran into the cargo rack and broke both front legs.
He said that it was the easiest hunt in his life.
yosemite
A coyote once trotted across the road in front of me and headed into a very up-scale housing development. I’m pretty sure I know what was going through it’s mind. “Kitty or poodle? Kitty or poodle”?
Yeah, kitty or poodle is right. Though he’s more likely to end up with garbage or kibble. Not fussy eaters, coyotes. Maybe a little fussier than raccoons, but not much. All this wildlife right in our backyards. They’ve done some tracking of mountain lions here in the Bay Area and found that they come down into the citiea at night quite routinely. Not just in the fringes, bit well down into the densely settled areas. Luckily, they don’t like people any more than we like them. The studies found they sometimes spent days sleeping in back yards. People would freak out if they knew.
Coyotes are survivors, needing no protection. Wolves on the other hand need constant protection to survive. I’ve seen those two compared to members of two major political parties, but that’s another discussion.
At our reunion last week the guys were discussing the aligators, coons, bear, snakes, possums, etc. encountered in their yards or on their travels and what type of weapon was most effective for them. My SIL said something like she wouldn’t be able to kill one of those. I didn’t say any more but thought whether that included to save a family pet, child, or other being. I suspect she was a wolf among coyotes. We continued our discussion to include ammo.
@Bing I like my 380 auto for Any Bear or Wolf when out in the woods with a friend. Works great, just shoot friend in the leg and walk away. LOL As a wise man once said " It’s a joke son, just a joke, you know what a joke is son".
“911…what’s your emergency?”
…“I’m deer hunting with my friend and just shot him by mistake. I think he’s dead.”
“Well, first we have to make sure he’s dead.”
…“OK, hold on”…BANG…“OK, I’m sure he’s dead. Now what?”