Predator Workshop

Recently I hosted a Predator Workshop.  Many of our sheep producers have been having issues with Predators such as coyotes. Depending where you are in BC or other parts of Canada depends on the predator situation.  You can have issues with bears, cougars, wolves, coyotes, eagles... So we had a learning 2 days to inform us what we can do about it.

Through Ardcorp we were able to get some very good information on how to protect our animals - from good fences to picking up fruit on the ground from your fruit trees... and also how coyotes work and live. When they mate, when they have their pups, when they wean their pups and teach them to hunt, when they send their pups away to live on their own.  What times of day they like to show up... but that can be tricky. As the guy said "one lady let her protective dogs out at dawn and dusk when coyotes are known to roam and kept her dogs in during the day.  But soon she was getting kills during the day... the coyotes had clued in that the dogs were not there to protect during the day.  So he suggested she shake things up a bit and let her dogs out during the day as they get used to patterns.
When you have tried everything under this list..Wild Predator Loss Prevention Best Management practices  and you are still having issues...

 Then, as a LAST resort, well, there are other things you can do such as hunt and/or trap them.  You can do it yourself (as long as you get permits from the Conservation Officer) or hire someone with all the permits. 
Part of our workshop was learning how to use catch-em-alive traps, set and place foot hold traps and snares. 

This is a set foot hold trap - I missed getting the photo of him setting it off with his bare hand in it.  No damage to his hand, no discoloration to his fingers. The object is to hold the animal until you get there to release it.  (law is you must check the trap a minimum of once a day - too bad they have to have a law cause that should be common sense)  He uses gloves for sanitary and scent reasons. Later his dog even set off a trap, she yelped in surprise, but when the trap was removed only her pride was wounded.

This is another style of foot hold and he set it off with his hand in it.

Setting traps in the ground..

Shaking dirt over it to cover it up

setting an anchor into the ground to hold the trap from "leaving".  The last thing you want to happen is have the animal take off with your trap and him in it.

The snare - you can set this up for an instant kill or set up to "catch" the animal and if you don't have the right culprit you can let him go and get back to his own business again.  In my area where there are a lot of neighbors dogs snooping around - good idea to set it to "catch" the animal.

I know this is a very controversial subject but I am not here to argue what people feel is right and wrong. I do not disagree with these methods - but I disagree with bad management -  if you have ever witnessed what one animal can do to another or even to a human - we humans are a lot more humane than an animal that is hunting or teaching others to hunt.
As a person who has grown up in a hunting family and has done taxidermy, trapping and tanned hides this workshop actually brought back a lot of good memories.  Such as trying to catch a skunk... tomato juice does NOT work to get the smell out!
He gave us a good recipe:

To Remove Skunk Smell
1 Litre Hydrogen peroxide
1/2 cup Baking Soda
1 tsp liquid soap
Mix together - rub on - rinse WELL
If you don't rinse it WELL you will end up being a blond! lol
This recipe works on humans as well as animals (dogs, cats etc)