Lords of The Holler Part II: Night Terrors!

On By cindy knokeIn Coyotes, HOLLER HAPPENINGS, MY PHOTOGRAPHS, REVERIES

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When the sun goes to bed,
the howling hordes raise their heads.

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They call to each other across the valley,
as the sun paints portraits in the sky.

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Woe to the creatures in the failing light,
the Lords of The Holler rule the night.

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Howling.
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Alert now, and watching.
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Commencing the hunt.
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At night at The Holler,
be cautious.

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The shadows are alive.

Note: These night photos of Canis latrans were taken with a motion activated, night-vision camera.

99 thoughts on “Lords of The Holler Part II: Night Terrors!”

  1. I think we were looking at the same sunset at the same time…both with a camera in our hands! Love the moon shot and those coyotes look spooky with the white eyes on the night camera!

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    1. Yep. We live comparitively close to each other I think……if you can call The Holler close to anything!! I think you live in SD proper and we live in the rural, unicorporated, improper part!! lol!

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    1. Thank you. Coyotes are so mysterious because their rather violent predation occurs at night. It is interesting to us, to see what they actually are doing, rather than just hear it.

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    1. Oh yes indeed!! They move through the valleys in circuits, whooping over their kills. They serve a function, controlling the rodent populations. They are loud and mysterious creatures of the night.

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    1. Yes. They are so silent and have such keen hearing and sense of smell. They know you are there long before you do. Your dog should know when they come close though and they will usually alert you~

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    1. Close my friend. Very close. Quite frankly when we first moved in I was freaked out. I would get up in the middle of the night and walk to the kitchen for a glass of water and find one pressed against the french doors looking at me. I banged the door so hard with my hand, I nearly broke the glass. The ones that get kicked out of the pack, came right up to us, starving and desperate. Our first real job here was building a coyote proof fence around the acres near our house. They kill right up to the fence now and that is where the night camera is. They only breeched the fence once, when we first built it, and I found fur, skin and a bit of blood that snagged on the fence. The fence is over 6 feet and coyotes aren’t supposed to breach more than 5 1/2 feet. They have never jumped it since. Smart buggers~

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      1. Thank you for sharing your photos and awareness.—– p.s. a few days ago I thought I saw the back 1/3 of a wet grey fox, with sorta long legs, but now, after viewing your photos, I think he was a coyote. They have been spotted around here, and we occasionally hear them. I was not looking for any coyotes so close (to me). Armadillos already tear up everything …. Your illustrated poem is amazing!

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    1. Don’t let the horse out, or the coyotes in!!! Yesterday our neighbor (what passes for a neighbor at The Holler) shot a 54 inch southern pacific rattler that was sunning by his pool. It is the rattlesnakes that inspire my repulsion. It’s a laugh a minute out here~

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  32. Wow! I haven’t been to the creek yet today. Working on the co-op veggies making, veggie stock, sauce base and soup. But I will have to get out there and mow the jungle maybe around 5 or 6pm. I read some where that the ‘Dog Days of Summer’ are over. It seems you’ve got ’em all year round with your ‘pack’. I hope you don’t have scorpions running a muck too. I watched a show once where a homeowner had a scorpion invasion. Spent quite a bit to make the house safe. But being a realtor…she pretty much is stuck with the place and it’s monthly extermination expense as she can’t sell it. The only real hope is to pretty much bulldoze everything and start from scratch. At least you can see the coyotes have learned not to climb your fence. We had a dog once – large enough – 50 pounds about – four foot fence didn’t mean anything. Be careful they don’t burrow under.

    Thanks for your visits.

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    1. Yes the scorpions and black widow spiders are thankfully history. They are so creepy!! The coyotes can’t burrow under the fence because I designed our fence with 12 inches of heavey gage, small apeture, chicken wire under ground to keep out the rattlers mainly. The coyotes have tried, but given up digging under it. They could if they really wanted to, but I don’t give them anything to come after inside the fence~

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  35. Your words bring these fantastic photos to life with a special edge, the mysteries of the night! The thrill of the night and the call of the hunt resound within this post, and the motion photos of the Coyotes only adds further night chills and beauty to the wildness of the Holler night 🙂 Awesome!!

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      1. We saw a wolf pack in Yellowstone a year ago, carry out a prolonged attack against a large herd of elk. The elk tried to shelter in The Yellowstone River. It was one of the most thrilling wildlife scenes I have ever wittnessed. I posted about it. The wolves were decimated in Yellostone but now they have been reintroduced. They used to sing me to sleep as a child. Wolves and coyotes share some common DNA, but they do not like each other.

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  38. Cindy, I’m fascinated by the idea of playing with a night camera and not only loved your photos but enjoyed all the comments. I pinned a couple of your sunsets and moon (with credit to you) because they really moved me.

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  40. Spectacular sunset photos! The glowing eyes on the coyotes remind me of devil dogs I’ve seen in movies, lol. I’m glad it was the motion cameras that took the photos this time and not you!

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  41. Love those night photos of the coyotes. We hear them howling often behind our houses, all the yipping and hooting and howls–sounds like they are having an orgy, or really ripping into a kill, and I always wonder what they are doing, and how many there are. Maybe they are just ‘singing” their joy at living. Wish I had a night camera see!

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    1. So you know what it’s like! You can get a night vision camera for under $100 through National Geographic Store online or at your local outfitters store like Bass Pro Shop. It can be set for movies or stills. This way you will know what they are doing!! 🙂 Cheers to you~

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  42. Fantastic Post, Cindy! These Night Vision shots are fascinating. Ghostly even.
    They hunt in silence then howl their heads off, are they howls of celebration do you suppose?
    We hear these critters all the time from their hang outs up on Burke Mountain.
    Coyotes can be such pesky chatter boxes on some nights. I feel as if I am being taunted. “HAHAHA! He actually thinks he’s going to get some sleep tonight?” What sets them off, I wonder?

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    1. I am not an expert but I do notice that they call to each other after the sun goes down in some form of apparent conservation. The hysterical yapping, howling, baying is clearly when a kill has been made, and it does seem like celebration in a sort of hysterical way, kinda like teenyboppers at a bad concert!! Maybe similar IQ’s are operating!! lol!

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  44. It’s very Hope Indian to me–this post. You have told everything in your pictures–your “cave drawings”…day into dusk…I’d love to see this start at dawn!! (but know you are a late riser…:)

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  47. Deep into the way-back machine! Had thought to ask – coyotes? Then, oh yea, search. There they are. Beautiful. Now my request please to use one of those night-time images. Think you said general “yes” before, but I like explicit. So I ask. Don’t yet know what to write, but that’s my challenge to find. I do seem to have a thing for coyotes & wolves, lots of wild critters. Funny do you think, our discomfort observing predators being predators, all the while, we are predators too. Jealousy or territorial are we? Let me know if you kindly would. Always, thanks. Neil

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