The sun., 1909-02-28
A COYOTE PROOF PASTURE
NEED or THE WEST UNCLE
SAM IS TRYING TO MEET.

The Forest Service. in cooperation with
the Bureau OF Plant Industry. has beer
experimenting toward devising "the bes'
methods Of enlarging the forage value OF
the grazing lands included in the national
forests
Before the areas involved came under
Government control they were open to
unrestricted grazing. This necessarily
reduced the carrying capacity OF the range
and threatened its ultimate exhaustion
Forester Clifford Pipchot estimates that
under Governmental supervision the eff
cheney OF the forest range lands has been
increased 30 per cent.
This does not restore them to their
original productivity and even with that
condition rega ained it will be far below the
condition which the experiments being
carried on are expected to develop as the
possible pasturage capability Of these
lands. These experiments cover trials
Of the artificial reseeding of portions Of the
grazing lands with cultivated grasses,
studies as to how overgrazed areas can
be reseeded naturally and tests OF schemes
to increase the carrying capacity of the
range by notifications In the existing
system of handling stock
In the direction of the work last named
is an experiment undertaken 20 demon
strate the effect on forage that would
result from rendering herds immune from
all disturbance by animal maraudsrs.
Forest Service circular 1853 is a "prelimi-
nary report on grazing experiments in a
coyote proof pasture" and according to
II the gross income of sheep owners from
the pasturage on the national forest
grazing ranges s estimated 20 be 81, ,225, 900
year.
Their sheep trample and destroy some
thing like $500 900 Of forage on these
ranges which otherwise might be added
to that income. The sheep would not
trample and destroy that pasturage IL
there were no sheep herders. There
would be no sheep herders IL there were
no coyotes.
Not that ether wild animals are not
still sufficiently numerous in sheep grazing
areas to be a serious menace to loose
sheep. "Of these says tho circular,
bears. wildcats and cougars are easily
killed by hunting and trapping, and timber
wolves are rare and fast disappearing
in most districts. The coyote. however.
remains the great menace to the sheep
industry in the range States. 1t is this
animal which primarily necessitates the
constant presence Of herder.'
In protecting their hocks from the
coyotes the herders keep the sheep close
together and restrain them from spread
ing out for free and wide range and natu-
rally they are thus hurried along as they
feed. the consequence being the tram
pling under foot of pasturage the aggre-
gate waste Of which the Forest Service
regards as a matter OF serious public
concern. The herder therefore being
responsible for this destructive handling
OF grazing sheep and the coyote being
responsible for the herder. the United
States Government through the Forest
Service is trying to solve this problem
OF wasted forage in the national forest
grazing ranges by making coyote proof
pastures.
II this proves TO be a success il will
gone. the sheep will ir time feed at will
conserve the great ara ofrich pasturage
now annually destroyed
Under the conditions prevailing en- ex-
pertinent on the pasturinR Of sheep as
opposed TO the herding Of them required
first of all the construction Of a coyote
proof enclosure. The Forest Service
approving the proposition. fence was
raised around en- area Of 2, 500 acres in the
Wallowa netional forest OF northeastern
Oregon, q site regarded as very suitable
for a test against sheep killing enimpls,
as grizzly bears, black bears, brown bears
cougars. cats. coyotes and badgers were
common in the neighborhood. More
than 700 sheep besides about 20 900
horses and cattle, pasture there.
The fence was five feet high. q barbed
@hog wire" at the bottom. a stretch of ~
inch woven wire fence, Of four inch tri-
angular mesh. rising above that. and six
inches above the woven wire a stringing
OF barbed wire. with another stringing
OF barbed wire eight inches above that
all sustained by strong posts, set deep, 10
feet apart and firmly braced. Into the area
thus enclosed about $500 sheep we're
turned. in charge Of herders for five weeks
while the fence was being completed
aud left to their, own inclinations after
the fence was done. until the season
closed, a period OF about eight weeks.
The report says that undor the FIVE
weeks herding system there was loss
OF twenty-one sheep from wild animals
and during the eight weeks Of free pas
turing only two sheep fell victims to such
marauders one to bear that got through
the fence and one to a coyote that was
inside the inclosure and had proved too
smart for the hounds and hunters in ef-
forts to capture him, battling them until
the last.
In summarizing the attitude and action
OF the various wild animals toward the
coyote proof fence the report says that
some animal was at the fence line every
day except one after the sheep were
turned loose-coyotes, grizzly bears.
black bears, cats and badger. Coyotes
were daily visitors. and evinced such
desire to get inside that they were known
to follow the fence line eight miles in q
night. looking for vulnerable place.
The coyote that was inside would have
gone out IL he could for he was run from
one to ten miles every day by hunters and
foxhounds would pick up the track and
follow it for hours, losing it nearly always
in the same area.
When the thick down timber was reached
where logs lay practically horizontal at
heights Of from four to fifteen feet above
the ground. the dogs would trail from one
log to another. backward and forward
and in circles. until they were bew ildered,
Sometimes they would succeed in getting
the coyote out. but more often not.
Not infrequently they would come
from this area and Immediately take up
the cold outgoing track, showing that
their losing the animal in the timber was
due 10 shrewdness on the part OF the COYOTE
and not TO the coldness Of the track. AT
no place in the pasture was it necessary
than ne-fourth mile, SO that there was
nnlv N rhanna pnaaibilify ~ tha h,,...-