GUARD DOGS AND GAS EXPLODERS AS COYOTE DEPREDATION CONTROL TOOLS IN NORTH DAKOTA

Guard dogs and gas exploders have been successfully used in North Dakota to protect sheep from coyote (Canis latrans) depredation since the mid-1970s. They have been used in addition to other lethal and nonlethal control tools. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service gathered information from field testing and landowner interviews to measure their effectiveness. Guard dogs reduced the rate of depredation by 93 percent on the 36 ranches surveyed. Gas exploders deterred coyotes from depredating on 30 ranches an average of 31 days during the 1980 and 1981 grazing seasons. An increasing number of sheep producers are using these control methods to reduce losses and become less dependent on a publicly funded damage control program