Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting llamas & bears

Llamas are getting to be pretty common for guard animals. Some people with put 2 or 3 in with sheep or goats but a single one will work much better. It will bond with the sheep instead of with the other llamas and will be a lot more protective.
If it thinks the crowd is threatened by a dog or coyote, it will put it's head near the ground and charge. I've seen them run a long ways that way and your pet Fido doesn't want to be there when it arrives. They're not slow.

The drinking, or lack of drinking rather, was amazing to me. Nice clear cold mountain stream... they'd wade right through and rarely touch it. I bet I didn't see them take two sips if that.

I researching the goats, I read somewhere where llamas, donkeys, and goats have great eyesight. They will spot a predator a ways off and immediately go on alert.
Apparently, this has the effect of un-nerving the predator somewhat.
They like to be in control of a predator/prey situation.

When all eyes are on them, and especially in the case of a llama or burro which may have enough bravado to take a few steps ore even run toward the predator, suddenly they don't feel quite as secure and oftentimes that's all it takes to cause a predator to head in another direction. Even one who could easily take down the llama.

Contrast that to say, a sheep. They're more likely to spot a predator, turn and run away. This is exactly the expected response and triggers a pursuit.

Anyway, that makes sense to me.

But I was reading about pack goats at the time. Not sure about the "bravado" part in goats, although I have heard of people using goats with sheep for "guard" animals. I will say goats apparently have a natural curiosity which may cause the to head toward a coyote or other animal which could possibly unnerve the predator. Dunno.
I wouldn't bet the farm on goats turning away bears.

From my experience with our goats in the pasture, they'll go on alert if they see something but they sure don't hang around if they think there's danger.

Llamas seem to have exceptional eyesight. If you have them along while hunting, it pays to keep an eye on them. They can spot game for you. They're very alert all the time.

I do know goats work with sheep and coyotes. Growing up a neighbor ran sheep and was losing 30-35 lambs a year to coyotes.
He tried about every thing including hunters but continued to loss lambs, we kept telling him to get goats to run with his sheep, he finally said ok that year he lost 7-8 lambs and became a believer. Cheers NC

When I had to live in Kansas, my neighbor up the hill had a small flock of sheep and one llama for protection from coyotes.

They are supposed to be very good at it as long as only one is kept. 2 llamas will bond to each other and hang the sheep out to dry.

I believe a horned adult goat, IF he stood his ground and decided to fight, could disembowel a coyote without too much trouble. A coyote is kinda like a street thug, opportunistic and looking for an easy,(defenseless) target. Neither likes their "victims" to fight back.
Whether a goat would hold his ground or run, I don't know. I guess it depends on the individuals.

snubbie
We had nanny goats with horns and I have seen what they can do with a black and white collie dog, they fly through the air with the greatest of ease and they weigh much more than a coyote. So I have no doubt with a one on one the coyote losses.
Cheers NC