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MARK COATS / RANCHER & AUTHOR

THE
STANDING
SOLUTION.

“Our focus is on our stock.”

Mark Coats · Deterring Wolves and Other Predators

A practical approach to cattle handling and herd behavior.
Explore the work. Decide what fits your operation.

Explore Mark’s approach Deterring Wolves and Other Predators, by Mark CoatsTHE BOOK BEHIND THE WORKDeterring Wolves
and Other Predators
A Rancher’s Guide to Pro-Active StewardshipExplore the book ↗
PREDATOR AWARENESS / IN THE FIELDSTOCKMANSHIP
A rider explaining cattle handling in Mark Coats’ published stockmanship lesson
01 / STOCKMANSHIP IN PRACTICEOut on the range.

See the setting and handling behind Mark’s approach.

Watch the stockmanship lesson
A coyote photographed at night by a trail camera
02 / AFTER DARKObserve what’s present.

Monitoring is another part of Mark’s approach to the range.

A bear passing a trail camera at night
03 / WILDLIFEMore than wolves.

Mark’s written observations also discuss bears, lions, and coyotes.

Published training and camera images from Predator Awareness.

ON THE RANGE WITH MARK COATS01 / Understand the approach ↘02 / Watch the work ↘03 / Find a field article ↘

THE STANDING SOLUTION / HERD BEHAVIOR

A change
in response.

A grouped herd. Heads outward.
A response other than running.

In Mark’s approach, cattle are encouraged to seek the herd when pressured, rather than separate and flee. The work begins with the relationship between the rancher and the stock.

Read Mark’s Guiding Behavior article PDF
The herd group, facing outwardEight stylized cattle form a ring with their heads facing away from the center. This illustrates the grouped posture described by Mark Coats. HERDGROUPHEADS OUTWARD
Schematic of the herd posture described by Mark Coats.

MARK COATS / THE RANCHER’S GUIDE

Published cover of Deterring Wolves and Other PredatorsSTOCKMANSHIP · BEHAVIOR · STEWARDSHIP

DETERRENCE IN EVERYDAY PRACTICE

Deterring Wolves
and Other Predators

A Rancher’s Guide to Pro-Active Stewardship

Mark’s book brings his thinking about cattle, predator behavior, and proactive handling into one place.

HERD POSTURE

The group changes the encounter.

Mark places the herd’s defensive posture at the center of his approach to interrupting isolation and pursuit.

HERD AWARENESS

Keep the group within reach.

He describes cattle grazing near one another so the group is close at hand when pressure appears.

ANIMAL COMMUNICATION

Posture. Scent. Response.

His discussion extends to unfamiliar scent as a way of discouraging predator presence.

View the book on Amazon

WORKING LESSONS / STOCKMANSHIP & DOGMANSHIP

From handling cattle
to working with dogs.

Watch the handling, gathering, and gate work. Then explore the role of dogs in Mark’s training approach.

Overview, stockmanship, training, monitoring, dogmanship, and puppy development.

Explore all 12 video lessons

MARK COATS / THE ORIGIN OF PREDATOR AWARENESS

The work began
on his own range.

A working perspective, shared through books, lessons, and observations.

Mark describes more than fifty years working on ranches, game refuges, and BLM and USFS permits. In his account, Predator Awareness began after the wolf OR7 crossed his ranch and entered California in 2011.

That experience is the starting point for the material gathered here: cattle behavior, handling, dogs, monitoring, and the use of scent.

Managing Predators & Understanding Fear, by Mark Coats

ALSO BY MARK COATS

Managing Predators
& Understanding Fear

Continue exploring Mark’s work with his other published book.

View the companion book on Amazon

CATTLE & WILDLIFE / THE CAMERA COLLECTIONS

Observe the range.

Two collections from Mark’s original site: cattle movement and the wildlife passing through.

Grouped cattle in Mark’s cattle-camera collection36 CATTLE PHOTOGRAPHS

The herd on camera

A bear photographed at night in Mark’s wildlife-camera collection139 WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHS

What passes through

Mark identifies the canids in his wildlife collection as coyotes, not wolves.