Yesterday at 5:00 after I brought the horses in, I came back up to the house to get ready to run out to pick up meat for dog food. The 3 dogs were still outside, where I put them when I go bring the horses in at night. They started to bark excitedly. Now, this is a rural area, but we do have people jogging and biking along our road. I assumed that was the culprit, and checked out side because, well, we always check! This time they were barking at the woods. Hmmm...
I walked out my slider and looked in the direction and saw a large animal inside my fenced paddock near my woods. I called the dogs, and shouted at the intruder that, at first, I thought was a loose german shepard. It ducked under the fence, and stopped in the trail looking at us. I grabbed the dogs, who refused to come when called, and put them in the house, looking back at this animal staring at me.
It was not a shepard, for sure, and as it trotted into the woods, I knew for sure it was something wild. Too big to be a coyote I thought.
Then I thought of our barn cat, Milo, that's been missing, and looked at my 2 little dogs, the 14 year old slow moving Westie Ollie and the 11 year old, but brazen, spaniel, Casey, who weighs about 12 pounds. Our larger dog, a lab mix, Jacki, who had neurological problems last year was still smaller than this canine in our woods, and I got very territorial and protective feeling.
I ran to the tractor, thinking if I hopped on and drove near the woods it would scare the thing off. It sputtered and died. So, I jumped on my lawn mower! I putt putted it up to where I had seen the large dog like animal, going along the outside of the fence, looking in to see if there was evidence of a kill, or defecation, or something. I drove back and forth along the fence line, and nothing. So, I spun around in the trail, with the woods now to my right and started to head back to the house.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw, what I thought was a stump, move in the woods. I stopped and looked closer, and there was the coyote. A big, beefy, hybrid wolf looking coyote. He/she was gorgeous with a thick reddish coat, bushy tail, big ears and snout. I stopped the mower, thinking that the human and machine and noise would scare the wildlife away, and it took a step, then stopped and just stared at me. The realization that this was a wild animal took me over, and I headed back to the house as quick as my lawn mower could putt, looking back over my shoulder hoping I wasn't being chased. Little Red Riding Hood I am not!
I got off the mower at the house, shaking, and surprised that I was as nervous as I was! I love wildlife, but this freaked me out that this wild animal had no fear of me.
I ran to my covered porch, looking for my camera and binoculars, and peering into the woods. The phone rang, and it was my girlfriend, who was greeted with my shrieks and high speed account of what happened. She told me of a flyer she saw for a lost dog that was shepard looking, and I started to think, what if it's that dog? So I started to call the name out my window. There it was in the woods, taking a few steps, stopping, looking in the window, a few more steps, a few more looks, then it trotted off.
According to the fish and game man, it was most likely a big eastern coyote. He gave me great tips on how to co-exhist and to keep our animals safe. Very exciting! But, next time, I'd like it to be a little less up close and personal, and hopefully, I can get a picture of that beautiful animal. Great to see, but don't want him sharing our land and eating our pets!
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