Jason R. Bruce
Marksman
Having observed Anatolian Shepard dogs for the past year and during what was the coldest, longest winter on record here in WI, I will have one or two but not where I live at the moment. Hunting Coyotes to protect livestock without an Anatolian is like owning a gun for self defense and living in a house with no deadbolts.
There are other breeds and frankly an Anatolian may not be well suited to Indiana but from what I observed, they do proactively seek out predators. I would not want to be waist deep in snow and have one of them fast approaching me.
You hit the nail on the head and ironically I'm limping today from an encounter with an Anatolian yesterday evening. On my way to check a flock of lambing sheep I notified the producer of my visit and debated whether his daughter should go lock the dog up... we opted to leave him out. After parking up front and navigating a few gates I hadn't encountered the dog so I figured she opted to pen the dog anyway. About halfway through my inspection I noticed a large dugout under a dilapidated barn so I crossed a fence and plopped down on my knees... where I found myself face to face with a sleeping 5 year Anatolian. Like a scene from a horror flick, he lunged his head upright just as I got my hands down. I started screaming "Eaaassssyyyy"and sprinted like Forest Gump around the barn. As I hurdled the panel fence I drew my 1911 22lr and looked back to find he hadn't cleared the fence yet... one round in the dirt sent him and 80 sheep over the hill. I sprained something in my knee and pinched a hole in my undies, but no stitches.
The facility described in my previous post is home to a lama, two Anatolians, a Great Pyrenees and a relentless old walker hound. The calling & shooting described above was done within 100 yards of these animals. Even with the guardian animals, sheep fences, hot wires and security lights that flock was ravaged last spring. I think one of the main downfalls our producers face is habitat. The terrain is often steep, vegetation surrounding the pastures are thick, and since we're 85% wooded the pastures are often tucked in the center of great coyote country. The guardian animals do alleviate feral dog damage but they're no match for persistent coyotes. If I can avoid a mauling after coming face to face with the Anatolian then a pack of coyotes can surely have their way with the sheep around him in the dark. Using fences and terrain to their advantage, coyotes can pick those lambs up like candy. They're incredibly defenseless critters no bigger than a football, their saving grace is that most coyotes prefer to dine with less confrontation. Once you have a group of coyotes that takes up this line of work it takes busted primers to break them of it. I hung a couple trail cameras on vacant pastures so we'll see what's poking around next week.