BrownDawg
Well-known member
http://lostcoastoutpost.com/2015/aug/20/first-wolf-pack-91-years-photographed-northern-cal/
Just in time to thin out some of these Pitbulls!
Just in time to thin out some of these Pitbulls!
1st Wolves in NorCal in 91 Years
- Thread starter BrownDawg
- Start date
CocoLoco
FN #5
Seriously?
Bay Arean
Well-known member
I can just hear my ranching family groaning now, and I haven't even talked to 'em since the discovery. We use Great Pyrenees and related breeds to protect the sheep but not the cattle. Not sure that even works. We do lose calves to lions and bears as it is. It will be a rough ride, I can tell ya.
Ezekiel
_________________________
You lose calves to lions?
ahhh, I'm assuming you meant MOUNTAIN Lions, Pumas, Cougars. Not the MGM Lion.
Yup, what Abacinator said...it's Friday, I'm slow today
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Abacinator
Unholy Blasphemies
Mountain lions, I assume.
Bay Arean
Well-known member
Yeah. Earlier in my life, when the population of the lions was smaller from hunting and such, it didn't seem so, but as they have gotten more numerous and bolder, there is more and more evidence that they are talking larger prey. We used to think it was too daunting because cows are protective...I think fawns are more the likeliest favored prey. Sheep and lambs too.
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mrmarklin
Well-known member
BrownDawg
Well-known member
There's poachers amongst us.
Yea, quit hunting them and chasing them with dog's and next thing ya know they'll start taking joggers. Oh wait.
i_am_the_koi
Be Here Now
Saw multiple dead foxes on hwy 1 today.
Is it wrong to hope we get such a surplus that I'll see a dead woof soon?
Is it wrong to hope we get such a surplus that I'll see a dead woof soon?
littlebeast
get it while it's easy
cattle and sheep on the the same ranch? my SO's family on his dad's side are cattle ranchers (plus some large dairy operations for the 'city' side of the family), and they wouldn't be caught dead with 'woolies' on their land. anyone who even brought up the subject of eating lamb got bitch slapped. always gave me the impression you were either one or the other lol.
on another note - after seeing a pack of wolves in person during feeding (the animals were dead, but basically just quartered and thrown out there) - holy shit, they are the fucking canine equivalent of a turbo charged woodchipper.
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oobus
Dirt Monger
Friend told me the Dept. of Fish and Game had $35M budget to study wolf re-introduction to California.
Let's see what I can find out tomorrow.
Bay Arean
Well-known member
The sheep/cattle animosity thing is more relative to other Western and Plains states than California and comes from the 19th century before fencing. Also overgrazing and erosion. Overgrazing by anybody has always been the sore spot in livestock production and I think people tended to accuse sheep ranchers of it more than cattle. That was their reputation among cattlemen.
But yeah, for much of my life we only had cattle, my dad had zero interest in them and still largely ignores them. Then my younger brother had some project lambs and started a small herd which my sister took over so now we have both. I do remember thinking when I was little that we weren't "sheep" people at all. But some ranchers might have a few around in a pen for food just not on the open range. This went back to the early days of homesteading when a guy would have multiple projects going for economic diversity. Even though my GGGrandfather brought his cattle with him to California, he ended up also having sheep, goats, geese and even turkeys on his place in Southern Humboldt. When it comes to survival, you have to be a bit more open-minded than prejudiced....
Modern people don't realize that California once had a huge sheep industry but in those days, you could poison and trap coyotes or other predators. You used to see old tires hanging around with the words "Poison Out" written on them to indicate that there was poisoned meat out on the land and to keep your personal dogs way for their safety. They also had some explosive charges as i recall, where the coyote would yank on the meat and get shot or some darn thing. It's been years. You have seen the coyote and lion population explode as a result. That's why you read about them coming into town. Even crows once had a bounty. When my dad was a little kid, he used to get a nickel a crow to shoot them by the farmers and such. I only found this out because I asked him why it seemed like there are so many more crows now....
Poison was outlawed in the 60s I think, and the coyotes devastated the herds in Marin, Sonoma and Mendo counties (I'm sure others, but I know about these ones). For a while there you'd be lucky to ever find lamb meat from California, it was all brought in from Aus and NZ. It's really only come back in the last 20 years and is thriving again with all the locavore thing. Using the big white dogs is a huge deal in my family, they really keep the predators at bay even though you still lose some. But its still an iffy business because Auz and NZ subsidize their herders. It's hard to sell the wool here. My sis gathers it of course but I'm not sure it even pays the shearer's fee...
In my experience, cattle ranchers in California shun pigs more than sheep, which my sister's kids now have as project animals. I can't complain, it's their deal, but I don't like em. They stink and they act too much like humans, it's creepy. Good sausage though.
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littlebeast
get it while it's easy
his family are all in california and have been for generations (except for one splitter who took his operations to nevada - and aged himself 50 years in the process - they said it was the sun that did him in). with regard to the 19th century - that was a bit before their time. at least the current crop lol.