Two old "characters" (my mother always called people she thought were odd, "characters...") in their respective skivvies, with shotguns in their hands, each stationed at one side of a house, quietly doing the Elmer Fudd thing....???
This is what you should know:
These are not housepets. They are not cute. Especially in the company of ten or so of their fellows. And when you live out here, JOTOLR, you're on your own! Fifteen turkeys, camped outside in your backyard, like.....well.....sitting ducks!
The howling and cavorting will raise the hackles on the back of your neck. Believe me! The atavistic side of "human" nature kicks in and brings us right back to mental caveman status! The coyotes we have are much bigger than the Western coyotes because they have inter-bred with the domestic dog--German shepherds that are powerful. They are called coy-dogs, and have put hunters and power company linemen up trees and poles very close to our farm. They are large--in the neighborhood of 40-60 pounds. And they are dangerous.
We woke to the sound of their collective howling. MM and I both, instantly, together like a couple of synchronized swimmers, on hearing those devils, peeled out of warm covers without a word to each other, grabbed a shotgun and took up opposite posts on the porch. Not a word was needed and not a sound. We held our breaths outside, awaiting their vocal calling cards again, but nary a peep. After about 20 minutes, we finally let out our collective breaths and trundled back to bed.
Tonight, there will be a second fence around the turkey poults. And my .16 ga and MM's
.12 ga will be right by the front and the back door.
So.....today is like so many others this summer: HHH Even at 6:00 a.m. it looks hot, doesn't it? Monday 91 degrees; Tuesday 93 degrees; Wednesday 95 degrees; Thursday? Rain, but I'll believe it when I see it!
So, this is global warming, eh......? Wake up, America!
It was a very dry sunrise....
No REAL rain on the horizon, either.
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Great image of you two guarding the turkeys!
ReplyDeleteThere are coyotes around but so far (fingers crossed and knocking on wood) Kate the donkey seems to have been a deterrent.
I can see it now - funny to imagine, but not funny if you're the one standing there in your skivvies! They would certainly scare me so I'm wishing you luck if they return tonight. We had a downpour this afternoon, as frequently happens down here near the gulf. It certainly helps to cool things off for a little while. blessings, marlene
ReplyDeleteWow! What an eventful night. And scary. It's certainly a step or two up from my leaping out of the front door to fire at the jackdaws with an air rifle.I hope they don't come back or if they do you manage to shoot one or two of them.
ReplyDeleteWow, Scary!! We have coyotes in BC and one year all the neighbourhood pets started disappearing...it was not cool at all. Although once, a cougar came sniffing around our school. We were clearly not dismissed until the rangers had come and taken it away!
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