I take my dogs for a walk every morning and in Phoenix the hotter it gets, the earlier the walk. Today we started at 6:45 AM. It is suppose to go up to 95 today. My birthday is often the first day of over 100 degrees. I often take the dogs around the desert trail along the mountain preserve. I’ve seen a tortoise on this trail. I’ve seen road runners, Jack Rabbits, Quails, all kinds of birds and an awful lot of coyotes. The coyotes excite my dogs and it’s hard to hold onto them. They want to chase the coyotes. That’s what the coyotes want. I have seen as many as 20 coyotes in the wash in the desert at one time. Once a coyote stayed about 20 feet behind me and followed us. It was tiresome holding onto my dogs. So I had to turn around and leave their domain.
I use to put carrot tops, old lettuce and veggies under the bush in my front yard for the lean bunnies we have but I started to get mice so I had to stop. Road runners like mice and started hanging around. I have a video of Javelinas stealing the scapes too and once stole a pumpkin out of my front yard. We often see the coyotes on the street looking for food. I’ve seen them on the neighbors patio eating the bird seed the birds would leave behind. This gave me an idea.
What if I took my food scapes to the desert. So, I packed some old crackers, carrot tops and golden beet scrapes and took my dogs on our walk. Half way through, I dumped the scapes over the edge. The next day I was about to do it again but checked to make sure the scapes were gone. They were. I dumped more scrapes. Someone likes it or maybe many like it. I headed up the third day. Right near the place that I would dump these scrapes, I saw a very small coyote pup run across the trail and then another. Not far behind was the big mama. I stopped and we stared at each other. I turned around to let her know her presence upset my dogs. I came back the next day. She was gone. I continued to put scrapes and they continued to be gone the followng day.
There was a while when I didn’t go. I heard my dogs barking in the back yard and went out and there in the wash that’s next to me was a large coyote looking at us. I think it was big mama. Was she telling me to keep bringing the food?
I continued to bring the scapes to the desert and have been doing it every time I go. We are often in Flagstaff so it is not everyday. The coyotes leave us alone now. It seems to be our right of passage in their domain.