Coyote story

[Daveydonut]

While working out in the woods in southwest WA., a guy had a cougar circle, follow and stalk him as he made his way back to a road for safety. I ran to the area and missed a running shot.
I have heard that if you see a cat...shoot it.
The ones that won't bother you will not let themselves be seen.

[roy reali]

At least some of you have the option of shooting at big cats.

[Chris Phelps]

Anyone who has read my previous posts about carrying while walking at night already knows what is comming, but I cant resist...

I live in a small village (I guess that's what you would call this place) in Maine. My house is pretty much in the center of an area with about 10 houses around it... fields on all sides. We have a pack of coyotes that roam around here. Someteimes you hear them on the hill behind my house, in the distance. Sometimes you can see them roaming around the field acrossed the road... but they are ALWAYS there. I dont know the exact size of the pack, but I counted 23 of them one night when the pack was passing through my back yard. I grew up in VT, and that state is overrun by coyotes, so the site of a pack in my back yard is nothing new... but I have never in my life seen one this large. I have yet to hear any stories from the neighbors about them, but they act more like the neighborhood dogs than they do coyotes. When they were playing bingo at the church one night, I was standing in my driveway watching what looked like 3-4 dogs running around the cars playing... Until I saw about 15 of them cross the road onto my lawn. Needless to say, I didnt stay outside long. They definitly dont act as aggressive as the coyotes in VT, which is a good thing. (people from VT know what I mean by this.)

[Long Path]

Chased? Me oh my! Mine are trained to know better than that. They'll sometimes stop and look back over their shoulder at me, but with great suspicion.

Fully justified suspicion.

Art

Yup. They'd do better not to take that last look at you, from what I've seen, though:

[Johnny Guest]

My experience with actually handling coyotes is limited, but I've seen a lot of 'em in the wild. I'm not sure I ever seen a FIFTY pound 'yote, either alive or dead. I'd have to guess the average across Texas is 40 pounds or under.

Art, how much would you say that animal in the photo above weighed?
And Long Path, didn't you recently post a picture of you holding a fresh killed yodel dog? It looked like it had been really healthy, a few minutes previously.

There were recently a couple of news stories on from one of the FtWorth/Dallas area TV channels about "mega coyotes." They hang out in the larger suburbs, raiding garbage and eating pet food -- and pets. They are said to be half again the size of a large coyote, 60 pounds or more. Not surprisingly, the weight estimates are exactly that - - Entirely anecdotal and reported by city folks. And, I must admit, a suburbanite seeing a bushy-haired, well fed coyote prowling through the alleyways of Plano or North Dallas could be a bit, uh, disconcerted.

Don't get me wrong - - I wouldn't want to be set upon by any number of 30 or 40 pound coyotes, in good shape but hungry, and totally unafraid of man.

Various sites with coyote information, including range of size/weight - -
http://www.desertusa.com/june96/du_cycot.html

http://www.bright.net/~swopejak/coyote.htm

http://www.fishbc.com/adventure/wild...als/coyote.htm

http://www.canismajor.com/dog/coyote.html

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/sub...printout.shtml

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.ed...s_latrans.html

Best,
Johnny

[roy reali]

Some time back I caught a show about the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone.

Prior to their introduction, coyotes in that area had become pack hunters. Acting more like wolves. When the wolves were back, they went back to being solitary scavangers.

The wolves are also reducing the number of coyotes. There was a wolf pack on the show with a female member that detested coyotes. She went out of her way to attack and kill them. The other wolves would sort of ignore a coyote hanging around after a kill. But she bee-lined after them. Then other pack members would help her dispatch the coyote. It was a quick battle.

Maybe other parts of the country with coyote population problems should have wolves reintroduced.

[Long Path]

Yeah, I put a 225g .35 Whelen bullet into the back of this 'yote at about 35 yards this May while hog hunting in the Panhandle. I'll eat him raw right now if that 'yote made 40 lbs. (And I'm hedging, because I know he was likely less than 30 lbs.)

But Rich, you were there! Who'm I convincing?!?

Whoops. Image is sideways. Well, you can still see how small he was, even given that I'm kind of a huge guy holding it.

[Long Path]

Okay, I can't stand posting a bad pic. Here, this looks a little better. Please note, by the way, that I did the exact opposite of the "cheater's trick" of foreshortening by getting behind the animal to make it look bigger. My right hand is actually about 4 feet closer to the camera than the coyote in this pic:

[Art Eatman]

Johnny, I'd guess--in restrospective memory--that the yodeler weighed maybe 35 pounds at most. It's pretty much the common size of the coyotes around here. In areas of more game, they're known to be more in the 40-pound class. I'd be dubious about claims of much more than that, absent some weighing on scales.

That particular shot was a bit low in the chest; maybe 40 yards, with a 165-grain Federal HooWah load from my '06. It left most of the lower chest and some lung/heart on the ground. Still, the dog spun in a circle three times and then ran some forty feet.

Ya never know...

Art

[Larry Ashcraft]

About three years ago, the farmers who live around me were talking about an extra large, extra bold coyote they had seen around. It would be standing right next to a busy road during the day. They said it was the size of a German Shepherd.

Well, about a week after that, it did me the favor of standing broadside at 300 yards in the neighbor's pasture. I missed the shot and it took off and I dropped her on the run with the second shot.

Turns out it was a female, larger than most males. Still, I don't think she went over 40 lbs.

[youp]

An aggresive coyote needs to be removed from the gene pool. You all have something to look forward to as the timber wolf is allowed to expand to its former range. The Michigan DNR has determined that the wolf has probably exceeded its social carrying capacity in the U.P. In other words people are sick of them and capping them if given a chance.

[taralon]

One of the thing to keep in mind about coyotes is that they will mate with feral dogs this may explain why in some areas you get some real monsters. I've shot some obvious crossbreeds (one of which appeared to be a Coyote/Rottweiler cross) in eastern Colorado that were far larger than the normal coyote, weighing in the 50-60 lb range. Feral dogs are almost worse than coyotes though, especially large breeds.

[roy reali]

Last night I caught a couple of miutes of a nature show. It was about wild dogs: coyotes, wolves, and so forth.

The part I was watching showed the interaction between the wolves and coyotes in the Yellowtone area. The wolves dwarfed the coyotes. It was like seeing a Brittany next to a large lab.

A couple of years ago, while walking along our river's trails, I ran into a guy walking an interesting looking dog. It looked like a coyote. He agreed with that observation. In fact, he found it as a skinny stray on that trail area. He approached it and it showed no aggression at all. He took it home and made a pet out of it.

This dog had a strange behavior. He was very timid of other humans. When approached, he would duck behind his owner's legs. He was very friendly towards other dogs.

I still think that it was some kind of dog-coyote cross breed.

[GetSetToJet]

I don't know how you people go hiking in places with things like mountain lions and after having coyotes encircle you without a firearm because its not allowed there. I'd either never go back or say to heck with that rule. I saw a very ferocious (and by ferocious, i mean irresistably cute) fox on a hilltop once here in a city of about a million. I hate racoons though, i've had them actually come up and take food off my lap at state parks when my mind wanders at night around the fire with friends.

[Art Eatman]

Wuz out while ago to sorta give a "Merry Christmas!" smile at the world at large, just after sundown. Clear, no wind. Really nice evening. Some three or four coyotes were yodeling down by the creek, driving a buddy's dog nuts.

Neat to hear the sundown serenade.

Art

[hank327]

I happen to like coyotes. Here on the far northern edge of the Dallas/Ft. Worth metromess, we have lots of 'yotes. You can often hear them singing at dusk or dawn. Hearing them sing is like hearing the call of the wild. I often see them on the way to and from work. Usually after they run across the road, they will stop and look back as if to see if you are following them.
This trait has led to many a coyotes' untimely demise.

They are a pretty neat animal and I like having them around. Oddly enough, we have more coyotes around here now than when I was a kid. As the human population of this area has grown, so has the coyote population. The same has happened with whitetail deer. I ran the woods and creeks here constantly as a boy and NEVER saw a deer hoof print much less a deer. Now I see them regularly cross the road. Who would have thought that as humans overrun an area, that the deer and coyotes would follow?

Back to the coyotes though. The city folk moving out to this area just freak out when they see a coyote. There are tv news reports on regularly of new residents demanding that something be done about the coyotes they see/and hear in their new sub-divisions. As for 100 lb. coyotes, I am extremely skeptical about the accuracy of those estimates. If you were to actually shoot a 100 lb. coyote, I would bet that a great deal of "ground shrinkage" would occur between the time of the shot and the time you arrive at the coyotes' body.

[the possum]

At the risk of straying from the topic, I thought I'd mention that coyotes killed a deer at dad's place this week. Apparently a doe tried jumping over the barbed wire fence of his pasture, and didn't make it over. She got her back legs hung up and tangled in the wire. Wednesday night, my mom came out of the house and heard the coyotes going crazy. She had never heard them sounding so strange, and even called dad out to listen. I guess they took advantage of the trapped doe, and devoured her hindquarters while she was still hung up on the fence.

If they show themselves within range, it's their mistake.

[Larry Ashcraft]

If they show themselves within range, it's their mistake.

I agree. One showed himself this morning at about 300-350 yards. I grabbed my 25-06 and drilled him, rump first, DRT, thump, dead.

Three weeks ago, one was out at 300 yards (again). I mis-read the range and shot over him, he went about 20-25 feet, and turned around to see what happened. My second shot went through his heart.

[FrontSight]

I want a bag coyote soooo bad....!
Missed once from 10 yards with a slug in a smoothbore (those are SO inaccurate ) and one busted me this season while bowhunting for deer...third time's a charm I hope?

[Chris Phelps]

I'll definitly be hunting coyote in the not-so-distant future. Problem is, with a pack 20+ strong and stories floating around about larger packs attacking rather than skattering when you shoot ( Sounds far-fetched to me), I would rather wait until I purchase a 9MM with a large capacity.

[Art Eatman]

For "attack" stories, make sure your salt shaker is handy.

Unless you've eyeballed 20 coyotes, be dubious. They tend to hunt in family units. Mama, Papa, and two to four younguns. Now, I agree that some three coyotes can SOUND like 20.

Variation on the theme:

"I was attacked by one of those killer pigs!"

"Javelina?"

"Thanks, no, already had one."

Sorry...

Art

[Long Path]

I have heard several "coyote attack" stories, of which I believe, with some hesitancy, exactly ONE. My hunting buddy was scouting (not hunting) after deer season with another friend of the family whose honesty is not questioned. The story went that they came around the berm of a tank one icey cold January day, and heard lots of coyote barks approaching. Around the berm came a running doe, pursued by a pack of hungry coyotes. The deer went closely by the two men, and the hot-blooded coyotes decided that the slow-moving pink things would be easier to catch than the fleet-footed deer. My friends each had bolt action rifles, but their pistols were under their warm coats. One managed to lock up his bolt action rifle after one shot, the other emptied his 4 shots and went to his pistol under his coat, but by that time had turned the pack. They scored, IIRC, a couple of hits, with one dead in front of them. No gnawing took place.

Even from this fairly reputable source, I've got a box of Morton's handy.
I can see how a pack of preocupied coyotes running after a deer that ran past two men could appear to "turn on" the men, when in fact they were simply focused on the deer running behind the men, and not realize what was happening until the shots started raining in amongst them.

[Art Eatman]

I think it's about the same with stories of javelina attacks. More than once I've walked into the middle of a bunch of them during the noonish hours. They're laid up snoozing. When they jump and run, they all head in the same direction, so one or three of them are going to come right at you. They can't really see you, as nearsighted as they are. They're fleeing, not attacking, although having one run between your legs can get you a defensive slash...

Art

[Long Path]

Precisely! And you can bet your bottom dollar (a phrase which conjurs up some odd images in my head) that by the time that tale is told for the 5th time, the hunter was beset upon by a pack of attacking javelina, all bent for his blood. But for his quick actions, he might have been KILLED!

Meanwhile, out in the brush, said javelina piggy is saying, "eww! What's that odd coppery taste to my prickly pear this morning?" And back he goes to munching.

[Jseime]

Ive had some coyote experience around here (West-Central Saskatchewan) they are surely not 100lbs around here but id say 60 is fairly common. we had 3 take after our old dog who usually chased them away from the yard it was fun to see old buddy out tearing after a yote but three came in one time and tore after him at the time the only gun in the house was a .22 so we scared them off but it couldve gotten worse. Apparently we now have a few wolves in the area which is extraordinarily wierd but they were seen by people who can tell the difference between yotes and wolves. I think im going to start taking the SKS yote hunting with the call because if a wolf is coming in im gonna want more rounds in the magazine than the Savage, which wont feed can offer.

Ive had multiple coyotes respond to calls i pulled in three last year with a single 30-second toot on the jackrabbit call. they all know me now and after one miss they rarely turn around to let me get another poke. my personal best shot was a trotting 250 yarder with the .243