• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

Calf attacked and killed

M

Manitoba_Rancher

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 10, 2005
Messages
2,117
Location
Canada
We had a good healthy calf taken down with something a few days ago. This is a picture of the calf. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas what may have taken him down. I had a few people look at it and figured it may be a cougar. We discovered a second calf had been attacked and torn up. Both calves had claw marks on their rumps where they had been taken down.




tractor20006001.jpg
 
MR - I'm sure no expert, but this looks like some of the pictures of mountain lion kills I've seen. It doesn't look like either a wolf or coyote kill. I have no idea what a bear attack looks like, thank goodness, but they might leave claw marks like that.

Was the ground soft enough to leave a track?

It's getting darn hard to save the little buggers anymore, isn't it? Makes me want to string somebody up when I find a kill like this.
 
The claw marks do sound like a cat, but the hole eaten in the calf looks more like a wolf. I got a pic of a colt that had been a confirmed wolf kill, and it looked just like that. Also, if it had been a cat, it would have probably tried to cover up the remains, unless it suddenly got scared off its kill. I really don't know what it might have been, though.

Here's a pic of the wolf-killed colt, for comparison:

wolfkilledcolt_3_06.jpg
 
Manitoba_Rancher said:
We had a good healthy calf taken down with something a few days ago. This is a picture of the calf. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas what may have taken him down. I had a few people look at it and figured it may be a cougar. We discovered a second calf had been attacked and torn up. Both calves had claw marks on their rumps where they had been taken down.




tractor20006001.jpg
Click to expand...

It is not a bear - they generally take them and trash up the area a bit. Would have eaten a lot more as well.

It is not wolves - that calf would have disappeared in about 30 - 60 minutes and all that would have been left would be the spinal column and part of the skull. Amazing how much a couple three of them can eat.

Not a cougar - too little is eaten and the animal usually trashes up the site - and buries the food.

I figure a lone coyote - guts only are gone.

If it has claw marke - cannot see them in the pic - a Lynx is big enough to do this and is small enough to not be able to carry the dead calf away. Would eat just a bit more than the coyote - but not much more.

Cats - Usually grab the calf around the neck and chew it to death - strangulation or broken neck.

Bobcat? Forget it - too small.

Leave it for bait - kill what comes back.

B.C.
 
A Lynx killing a calf now I've never heard of that one 'EVER' and we do have lynx too-I'm guessing it was yotes.They usually start at the back and work ahead.
 
Northern Rancher said:
A Lynx killing a calf now I've never heard of that one 'EVER' and we do have lynx too-I'm guessing it was yotes.They usually start at the back and work ahead.
Click to expand...

Actually watched a lynx do in a small fresh born deer one time in a place called Winifred Lake. Never heard of them being involved with cattle - far too shy. Just an honourable mention in my ramblings.

But, like you - I figure it to be a lone "Wiley Coyote".

B.C.
 
Got a neighbor who lost 5 calves last week. Cows roam stalks along river bottom. No sign of the calves hide's or remains, just plain gone!!
 
mn said:
Got a neighbor who lost 5 calves last week. Cows roam stalks along river bottom. No sign of the calves hide's or remains, just plain gone!!
Click to expand...

Ah yes, perhaps the infamous two legged predator?

Lost a few to them myself some years ago. Never caught them and therefore no personal satisfaction.

B.C.
 
Speakin of loosin calves..we've lost 2 to buzzards this year, and had 1 last year attacked by the domestic dogs runnin in packs. This mornin' while Mr Lilly's dad was makin his pasture rounds. He came up on the pack of dogs. Three full grown ones and about a dozen pups that he said were about half grown. What's amazing is, he knew who they belong to.......our local constable of all people. He shot three of the pups and one grown dog, with a single shot .22 rifle.(reloadin as fast as he could) The other two grown dogs were comin at him, got within 10 feet he said, and he got back in the truck.
He made a stop at the feed store in town where the constable's wife works and let her know what he'd found. She made a call to her hubby and told him the dogs had to go. Several ranchers in the area have been loosin calves here and there and seein these dogs. Maybe...just maybe he'll take care of them now.
 
we have them big ol turkey vultures around here and thats what it looks like to me. just like lily said. first thing they do is poke out the eyes and then go for the belly. big ol birds, a wing span of six foot or better.
sorry for the loss.
tell mr. lily to get one of them repeetin rifles :lol: :lol:
 
Looks a lot like what the bald eagles do to calves they find dead. The scratching on the rear end makes one wonder however though.. I always think cat or bear if I hear the claw mark thing. tore up bloody calves from bit wounds I think coyotes or dogs... We have Turkey Vultures... Never, ever heard of them attacking a living animal around here, to much road kill to clean up I guess.

I was told once of a Golden Eagle attacking calves but have always had a hard time picturing a solo bird doing something like that to a live calf... Lamb, easy but a 100# calf? I don't know about that :?
 
I agree with Broke Cowboy, whatever did it will come back. I'm leaning toward coyote too. Could it be teeth that made the gashes on the back end?

I posted a picture a while back of a coyote eating on a deer kill in front of our yard. I've since learned that this coyote has been working alone all winter, so he's a pretty strong one to take down a full grown deer single handed. (or should that be single pawed?? :wink: ) He is so bold that he followed a deer into our neighbour's yard, where it thought it would be safe in amongst the cattle, and just about had that one killed too when the neighbour's interupted him. He had it by the back of the neck, and was pulling it down. I could see a coyote like him leaving the same kind of big gashes as what got the calf.

Another neighbour thinks it's a wolf, but I think it's got a bit of dog in it. It's as big as our German Shepherd, and yellow. I'll try and get another picture of him, because he's a bold one, and we had a staring match last weekend at the end of our driveway. He was about a hundred feet away, and as cheeky as could be. Our dogs were barking at him, and he just stood there and didn't move, even when I yelled at him. When he did leave, it was just at a walk!

This coyote has yet to touch a calf. Maybe the donkeys have given him a training session. :wink: :lol: :lol:
 
Its definately not buzzards as we dont have them around here at this time of year. Im leaning towards a cat because I spotted a few good sized paw prints around the kill site. Any extra donkeys around your place Kato?
 
I suppose it could be a cat, but the only cat attacks I've seen had claw marke more forward on the animal and bite marks on the neck. (like someone else just said ) Had the calf been up?
I'd be pretty surprised if it was a wolf / wolves, they generally have the hind end destroyed, and completely gutted if not completely consumed. Is there no bite marks around the hocks?
I would skin it out and see what kind of wounds it has under the skin, you can tell if they were made while it was alive or dead when the wounds were made by the bruising / blood marks under the skin. Sometimes you cant see the wounds 'til you skin it back.
I'm leaning to big ole coyote, but let us know what you discover.
 
It was a good healthy calf the nite before and the next morning this is what I found. Kinda thought it was one of those black helicopter things to start with, tongue was gone and eye was also. :shock:
 
Where was the calf killed at? The ground looks a little wet & I would think there would be some track, drag marks & blood on the ground.

EDIT; Sorry just seen your post about seeing paw prints around the kill site..

Paul
 
With the paw prints, claw marks I'm not sure. Otherwise I'd guess it was a raven. They've been killing a lot of calves in Northern Ontario, mostly newborns but the odd older one. One will land on the new calf and another one drives off the mother cow while the first one eats out the eyes and tongue, sometimes they go deep in the bellies but mostly leave them alive, blind and tongueless.
 
It was not a cougar. A cougar would have carried it away to a secluded spot to eat it. Then it would have buried the rest. Plus a cougar grabs them by the neck.
Bobcats do kill white-tail deer. Never heard tell of one killing a calf. But they grab the dear by the neck and bite the throut and scratch the neck with there hind legs and hang on with there front paws until the deer bleeds to death.
Im thinking a wolf would ham-string an animal. Well thats what they do on larger animals.
Yodel dogs would have ate more of the calf. Around here when they pull a calf down they work in packs.
Bears are just coming out of there dens now. When they come out of their dens they cant eat meat for a while until they get there stomach back in order from hibernation.
Hey are there any domesticated dogs around?
 
Come to think of it the Ravens got a twin on me last year-picked a hole in his belly-wolves usually eat as they're killing them-you get some bad messes on the ones that get away.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top