Anybody else regret moving to the country?

[lonewolf]

I just wished I'd made the move 40 years ago.

 

[elkhound]

I could not run this farm the way it is now by myself without husband or son. So if son moves away and something happens to husband I will have to figure it out also. I could probably do some of it if I downsized on the animals and had someone to help occasionally. I would probably ask if one of the neighbors could help and pay them, but knowing them they would probably help without pay ( stuff like LOL, don't laugh but backing up and attaching the livestock trailer to the truck, I just can't do it and the plow to the tractor , too heavy for me)

you need a well trained border collie....save time and effort and much frustration. they go get the livestock for you...get them out of barn...dont get a heeler...they are more a driving type dog...borders bring the group back to you. be sure and get one trained to hand signals too.

 

[shanrose]

I think you should move to FLorida, it will probably be a good fit for you.

I was encouraged by my sister who moved and didn't like it so she moved again. So sometimes you have to try things and see if you like it. It's just going to cost $ to move again.

 

[shanrose]

im in my 70s and Yes changes can be difficukt to find out way thru. the older i get the harder it is for me to adopt to some changes. its a bif deal t change where one is living and have to start all over the learning curve of the new place. and sometimes its lonely too.

im sorry if youre having atough time adjusting to some changes. maybe make a list of some of your favorite t hings to do and see how you can start doing them whre you are. personalize a room, corner or whatever thats just you and your stuff. do you love to read, study-set up a corner library? paint, weave, sew? like growing things? herbal remedies? want a couple chickens? dont wait til the new place feels like home---make it your home and fill it with your charm and grace.

getting a good dog is really helpful and important and they make great friends. learning to shoot is a smart thing these days. for protection from both 2legged and 4 legged critters. never hurts to learn a new skill.

prayers for your finding peace and happiness ain this new chapter in life.

Thanks very much for your wisdom.

 

[sonya123]

I was encouraged by my sister who moved and didn't like it so she moved again. So sometimes you have to try things and see if you like it. It's just going to cost $ to move again.

But you don't want to be stuck where you are not happy either. Might be worth the money for you to move again. We had some older friends down the road from us in Orlando. They retired and moved to a rural area in Tennessee and hated it. Thankfully they had not sold their Orlando house but rented it out so they moved back as soon as the rental contract was up on their Orlando house.

 

[shanrose]

I just wished I'd made the move 40 yea

I told my hub we should have moved years ago. We stayed and n

But you don't want to be stuck where you are not happy either. Might be worth the money for you to move again. We had some older friends down the road from us in Orlando. They retired and moved to a rural area in Tennessee and hated it. Thankfully they had not sold their Orlando house but rented it out so they moved back as soon as the rental contract was up on their Orlando house.

That was smart. I feel like we're too old to be this rural. On the other hand I don't want to be hit with so many WIFI signals either or become a crime victim. I saw a show where this elderly widow had chimney sweeps clean her chimney. They saw she was alone and came back that night and kicked her to death. Sad that she didn't have a gun. We must fight gun control. Older folks and widows need an equalizer. I read that it's law that cops don't have to respond to your calls (something like that) so all you may have is yourself. I was hoping that maybe we could find a semi-rural place in FL.

 

[GreenAndSwirly]

I see this thread is from last year, how are you faring now?

 

[shanrose]

I see this thread is from last year, how are you faring now?

Moved back to the city. Still unsure what to do. We may move back if things go south.

 

[GreenAndSwirly]

Sometimes that's what you have to do, go back and re-evaluate.

 

[pumpkinspice]

In the country if you don't like coyotes you trap and shoot them.

Or better yet.... learn to live with them. It's their home too.

 

[Magus]

I kind of miss the country now the city has nothing for me anymore.

 

[Spikedriver]

Or better yet.... learn to live with them. It's their home too.

Nah. You can't eradicate them, but you can make it dangerous for them to be around.

As far as OP's safety goes, coyotes aren't much of a threat to humans but if you have beloved pets, the 'yotes will get them. I've seen them take out German shepherds. And they're in the cities too. My GF lives in a small city of 9000 and the police shot two coyotes inside city limits there last fall. Coyotes are confirmed in NYC and even in Central Park...

 

[Amish Heart]

Our annual area coyote hunt was last Saturday, and I know our neighbor participated. When I see him, I'll ask how many they took down.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Coyotes are very intelligent and adaptable critters. The more people try to eradicate them the more their population grows and expands. Somehow they can adjust their litter size to accommodate any shortages in population. Farmers and ranchers have been trying to wipe out the coyotes for well over a hundred years. And there's probably more coyotes today than ever before, plus they've expanded their range clear to the east cost.
I trap a lot of coyotes for their fur, not to control their population.

 

[M0del_31]

Yeah, I'd say our best bet is just domesticate the coyotes and in 7-8 thousand years, when they become dependent on us, we stop taking them to the vet and they'll all die of in a mass extinction.

 

[Canon29]

Or better yet.... learn to live with them. It's their home too.

I like dead coyotes around my place better. The backstraps are good, the pelts are nice and the chickens/neighbors appreciate it.

I like seeing and living with coyotes in the mountains- but I like hunting them there too.

 

[Hardcalibres]

I like dead coyotes around my place better. The backstraps are good, the pelts are nice and the chickens/neighbors appreciate it.

I like seeing and living with coyotes in the mountains- but I like hunting them there too.

 

[Spikedriver]

I think that small town living might be Shanrose's best option. I grew up on a farm 7 miles from the nearest town. I've never regretted that a bit. I've lived in smaller cities of around 100,000 people and I've lived in towns as small as 800. Currently I live in a town of 2,000. When I moved here from a remote acreage in 2016, I wasn't sure if I would like being in town again but I do. It's small enough to have a good sense of community and it's full of like minded people who reject the government dependent, "woke" lifestyle. I've got a grocery store next door, a gas station a half mile away, and a Dollar General a half mile the other way. Church is 2 blocks, the post office is 1 block, the hardware store is 1 block, the gym is 1 block, the restaurant is 2 blocks, and the library is 1/2 block away. There are hay fields and pastures inside city limits here. So I'm not a "Homesteader" with a self sufficient compound out in the sticks - I don't care. I'm still prepping in my own way and I'll keep doing it. Shanrose might find the town life she likes, but still with a country feel, in a small town like mine...

 

[Peanut]

. The more people try to eradicate them the more their population grows and expands.

I disagree... it's not what I see here. Populations are kept in check by big kills just as with any animal. After a big kill I don't see their tracks... do not hear them and livestock losses stop for several years. When the populations become a problem again we have another big kill.

Coyotes aren't magical creatures that can somehow bypass the fundamental of nature. Kill enough breeders there are very few offspring, simple.

 

[Mountain trapper]

I disagree... it's not what I see here. Populations are kept in check by big kills just as with any animal. After a big kill I don't see their tracks... do not hear them and livestock losses stop for several years. When the populations become a problem again we have another big kill.

Coyotes aren't magical creatures that can somehow bypass the fundamental of nature. Kill enough breeders there are very few offspring, simple.

Your talking short term. They will be back, they always fill a void.
Around here many ranchers have stopped killing coyotes. They've realized that coyotes do more good than harm. In many of the populated areas its been proven that many livestock kills were done by domestic pet dogs that people let run loose. Of course coyotes always get the blame. I've seen it myself many times.
In my years or raising cattle I've lost one calf to coyotes. That's pretty good odds in my opinion.

 

[Spikedriver]

Your talking short term. They will be back, they always fill a void.
Around here many ranchers have stopped killing coyotes. They've realized that coyotes do more good than harm. In many of the populated areas its been proven that many livestock kills were done by domestic pet dogs that people let run loose. Of course coyotes always get the blame. I've seen it myself many times.
In my years or raising cattle I've lost one calf to coyotes. That's pretty good odds in my opinion.

It's proven that 'yotes can adjust their litter size to present conditions. When food is plentiful their litters increase in size, and vice versa. Most animals will have the same size litters and only the strongest survive in lean times, with a lower overall success rate.

Big kills only work for a few weeks around here. I've personally been on hunts where five were shot out of square mile. A week later a new pair moved in and were shot as well. My group shot over a hundred coyotes out of our county back in winter 2001 and couldn't put a dent in the population. New ones moved right back in.

In my experience the best way to keep coyotes off your home site is to have at least two large dogs running outside. When my pops had a Heeler and a Doberman on the place the coyotes wouldn't come. They'd stay a few hundred yards out and yip and howl. I've experienced similar circumstances. But my brother had a Corgi on his place. The Corgi would (wisely) hide when coyotes came. More than once my brother looked out his window to see coyotes eating his dog's food...

 

[Peanut]

Here in the east they do more harm than good. This isn't their native range. I haven't heard a wild quail in more than a decade. Haven't seen a turkey in 3 years. And I'm not talking short term control but long term. The effort of the these hunts is to control the population long term. They most certainly can be controlled.

And if the gov offered a $1000 pelt bounty they could be eradicated from the lower 48, just as with the wolf or any animal the government deems a problem.

And yes, wild dogs are a problem here occasionally. The solution is simple, kill them, just like the coyotes. Because it works, it controls the population.

 

[INresponse]

Coyotes are very intelligent and adaptable critters. The more people try to eradicate them the more their population grows and expands. Somehow they can adjust their litter size to accommodate any shortages in population. Farmers and ranchers have been trying to wipe out the coyotes for well over a hundred years. And there's probably more coyotes today than ever before, plus they've expanded their range clear to the east cost.
I trap a lot of coyotes for their fur, not to control their population.

I never heard of coyotes in MIchigan, especially in the Metro Detroit area, back when I lived there in '92 and prior. But the last decade or so coyotes moved in, and not just in to the state but into the suburbs and the cities. My friends continuously comment about coyote encounters, and again not out in rural areas but in the cities all around Detroit.
They are very intelligent and adapt well. Once they populate an area I think eradicating them is almost impossible.

As for me moving to the country, I have 6 foot fences around our animal enclosures and at night our animals are secured and nothing wild in our region is getting in to bother them. Occasionally, a couple weeks at a time, we will hear the coyotes howling in the outlying areas around our community and shortly after locals will post up about their "pet" cats going missing. A few will post photos from their trail cams or other devices catching images of coyotes in their yard.

My only regret about where I moved, and currently living, is too many other people bought up the vacant lots and built their own homes and brought with them their city mentality. I just can't understand why they escaped the city to move to freedom and now they want that city life to be accepted here.

I think my next home will be in the middle of No Where, Montana, but as I type this I know what the locals in Montana will be thinking when another outsider moves in to their area. I don't blame them, I hate people as much as they do.

 

[Cisco85]

I absolutely loved it when I was younger, 17 miles to a Home Depot one way etc, as I've gotten older being a little closer to things that matter are important. Back then I had horses and a couple goats but I've had to give that up and I'm ok with that. I'm able to have my chickens and able to keep an eye on my 94 y/o dad matters now.

 

[Cascadian]

We don't regret a minute. The home was built for her. She is retired and can do whatever makes her happy, everyday.
I commute 3 hrs a day for another year.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Back when I was 19 I moved out of the country to town and bought my first house. I was married to my 1st wife and had 2 kids by the time I was 20. Lived in the first house for a few years, sold it and bought another house twice the size and double the cost. Sold that house a few years later and bought some timber land in another state, built a house, barn, coop, corrals etc. Logged that property (with draft horses), bought my parents place, logged it then sold it, bought a farm, some apartments, building lots etc. Sold all that and then bought several hundred acres where we are now. Other than my first 2 homes I've never lived in town.
I don't see any reason to ever move to town. We are looking for additional acreage over on the coast that we'll move to when this place becomes too much for me to maintain myself.

 

[Spikedriver]

@INresponse in my GF's town of about 9,000, coyotes moved in last fall. First people reported seeing them. Then they started showing up on security camera footage. Next, they were seen in yards and on streets during the day. GF walks her 55 pound Lab around 5am most days and a young male crossed the street a couple hundred feet ahead of her. Ruby the Lab went nuts barking and growling at it. Instead of running off it turned and approached her aggressively. GF said it got about 30 feet from her and Ruby before she started waving her arms and shouting at it. It stood there bristling up for a few seconds then slowly walked off, turning to look back every few feet.

That's not typical behavior. Several pets were reported missing while the 'yotes were in town and I think this one had learned to associate pets as being food. It also may have considered that part of town to be its territory and considered Ruby an intruder. Either way, I encouraged GF to take advantage of the fact that we have permitless carry here in Iowa now. She has a 9, and while I don't know the legality of lighting up a coyote inside city limits at 5am because it was attacking your dog, I figure going heeled in the dark is a good plan for a woman anyway...

 

[Mountain trapper]

@INresponse in my GF's town of about 9,000, coyotes moved in last fall. First people reported seeing them. Then they started showing up on security camera footage. Next, they were seen in yards and on streets during the day. GF walks her 55 pound Lab around 5am most days and a young male crossed the street a couple hundred feet ahead of her. Ruby the Lab went nuts barking and growling at it. Instead of running off it turned and approached her aggressively. GF said it got about 30 feet from her and Ruby before she started waving her arms and shouting at it. It stood there bristling up for a few seconds then slowly walked off, turning to look back every few feet.

That's not typical behavior. Several pets were reported missing while the 'yotes were in town and I think this one had learned to associate pets as being food. It also may have considered that part of town to be its territory and considered Ruby an intruder. Either way, I encouraged GF to take advantage of the fact that we have permitless carry here in Iowa now. She has a 9, and while I don't know the legality of lighting up a coyote inside city limits at 5am because it was attacking your dog, I figure going heeled in the dark is a good plan for a woman anyway...

This picture was taken in our front yard. For several days this coyote would come around and play with our dogs. We see fox and coyotes around here all the time, never caused a problem. Although a few years ago a coyote ate a few of our ducks. That was our fault for not having them locked up with the chickens. I have no problem shooting any animal that poses a threat to us or our livestock. The coyote in this picture wasn't posing any threat. I like seeing them around and really enjoy hearing them at night, daytime too.

 

[Jen]

We left a city where everything was close and moved to the boondocks. I don't like the house - it's not designed as well as my old house. I hate the bathroom and the design of the house. My old house was perfect. There is zero storage in the new house and I find myself getting frustrated and wanting to move back to the city. We have to drive 45 mins to get to stores. We have coyotes that scare the heck out of me because I'm a city gal! I know that something bad is coming upon us - I know that many of you know it too. Bas anyone ever regretted their move to the country and how did you reconcile it?

When we moved here 20 years ago this house was really out in the country. Homes have built out to us, but we are still 5 miles from the nearest Walmart and 10 miles from the store where I shop.

We have opossums skittering across our porch. We have bobcats and possibly cougars in the area (pretty sure I saw one in my yard one dark night)(its glowing eyes were bigger than a house cat but I still stood on the porch and called it) (it just stared at me from the woods beyond our back fence). We have coyotes, deer, and just about everything else. Oh yes... hawks. A big one was banging against my window a while back. Critters are more afraid of me than I am of them.

I like it here. I don't mind the quiet. We will retire back in the city. Our retirement home is paid for and it is in one of those retirement communities in St Paul, MN. At least there I will be able to have groceries delivered if I need to and hubs won't have to do yard work.