[Andrew]

Crappy picture, i know:



Blog post:
http://www.ninjaswithjetpacks.com/posts/24...lay-newburyport

[dudley]

Somewhere I have a picture of a coyote trying to steal our lunch out of the canoe one day while fishing out on the Cape
We had beached the canoe on the ocean side in upper Pleasant Bay and were wade fishing, I turned around and just yards away....a bandit !
He took a nap just out of reach after we 'scared him off' too
Brazen


They're brutal out there, we've been surrounded while fishing the beach at night.
...it's easy to tell when you're not wanted

[Andrew]

Yeah, I used to sit on my brother-in-law's porch and listen to them out in surrounding woods making kills. Nasty little critters.

I'm going back tomorrow to see if I can't get a better shot!

[3/4 time]

In past years the coyotes on the Cape have been bad. There is a pack that roams the Upper Cape from Sandwich to Barnstable along the belt of woodland along the power lines. At times I've seem two of three in the backyard. We once had two come up on the deck after my daughter's dog. They got one of our cats a few years back.
However, while we've been expecting them any day and have been keeping a close eye on the dog, we haven't seen or heard anything yet.

[fishmonger]

3/4, I was just about to post the same thing. My brother lives in West Barnstable and abuts conservation land off of Old Stage Road. He used to see them all the time 3-4 years ago, I don't hear many stories lately.

My folks and I were driving around our neighborhood in West Dennis a few years back and were checking out a building lot. There was a whole pack of them, about 5-6, some were pups. No idea where they came from, my parent's place is right near West Dennis Beach, in a heavily populated area.

Good looking out Andrew. I took the dog to Maudsley last summer and had planned to go a few more times this year. I shudder to think what might happen if he ran into a pack of them on the trail. He's a stocky lab who would be likely to scare one away on his own, but who knows what a few starving coyotes might do. Kind of sad that they're so domesticated now they aren't scared of humans anymore.....

[Andrew]

Yeah, and I try to keep in mind that we are in "their" world when in the woods. I can't really get mad if I'm walking in nature and get attacked by an animal. Goodness knows we attack them when they wander into our cites.

[fishmonger]

Exactly. I'm sure urban sprawl has devastated their habitat, particularly in places like the American West. My girlfriend and I went to the Grand Canyon in 2002. When we were driving through the entrance gate, a pitifully skinny coyote was coming through in the other direction. Just like someone walking across the border. No one paid him any attention, must be an everyday occurence out there

[3/4 time]

In Truro there is an old Air Force installation that back in the early 1990's was a ghost town. The only thing there was an FAA Air Traffic Control radar site. It was off limits, but one summer a contractor was installing new radar and I had occasion to be there two or three days a week. The housing area looked like any neighbor in Anytown, USA, except the houses were all abandoned and their were weeds growing in the streets. There was all the infrastructure, street signs, stop signs, there was an abandoned movie theater, an empty store, a close and boarded-up bowling alley, everything you'd expect, except people. But the place was populated by coyotes. They'd lope down the middle of the empty streets in twos and threes and generally wander the empty facility. There was even an old overgrown baseball field with bleachers. The guys at the radar site were mostly working inside, so there were few signs of people to bother the coyotes. It was their town. The base was out of the way and few people except the locals knew it was there. There were no guards or fences, anyone could drive right in - but no one did. The coyotes had it all to themselves.

[Andrew]

That is awesome, I would so love to go to a place like that. Sounds like an awesome play to play paintball! Not that I play paintball, but if I did... it would be there!!!

-a

[3/4 time]

In the late 90's the Air Force turned it over to the Park Department and it may now be a part of the National Seashore. I'm sure the FAA radar station is still there, but I couldn't say regards access. It is a beautiful spot on a high cliff over looking the ocean.

[NEPilgrim]

Wow, interesting story 3/4, thanks for that bit of info! Sounds like a pretty cool place to visit, although ppl most likely aren't allowed near it. I can only imagine the coyotes hangin' out around the town. Have you heard if the park dept plans on doing anything with it?

Coyotes & fox are becoming more prevalent all along the coast, and funny thing is, many ppl still don't realize this. I recently moved from Plymouth, and Morton Park was a place I would take my little Toy Fox Terrier, Skippy for walks. Coyotes would run through in the middle of the day, and when I'd mention this to others in the park, many times their reaction would be, "no, there aren't any coyotes in this park."

I'm now living in Scituate, and walking down the street the other day, houses on my right with the ocean just beyond them, 3 fox cubs were playing in the back yard of a vacant, summer house. There were 3 of us walking, and we went into the back yard, maybe 25 feet from the fox, and they barely paid us any mind. They didn't fear us, as they see ppl every day. The mother was under the porch of the house next door, where they all live. I guess my point is as the number of animals increases, as well as building encroachment, we're seeing more wild animals living closer to humans. And of course, in areas with small children & family pets playing, there's an increased danger for potential attacks. It can be a dangerous thing when certain wild animals begin to feel more comfortable around humans.

Steve.
www.crudeanalysiz.blogspot.com