COYOTE DANGER?

[Indica_Dreamer]

B.C, I thought all coon hunters were gone by now. One of the reasons I enjoy being out at night is that from the time i was old enough to follow my grandaddy, I was coon hunting. Sitting in the dark, listening for the dogs. The dogs had a high pitched, broken bark for being on the track and a continuous monotone at the tree. I still remember my last coon hunting trip with my 2 grandfathers. They were in their 80's and couldnt hear any more and we had an old 3 legged red bone that was so old he could barely hunt. We used to get a thousand dollars for breeding that old redbone. I knew and my grandfathers knew that this was our last hunt.
They are both gone now for many years, and old red died shortly after our hunt. Its one of the fondest memmories I hold.

My grandfather used to joke that our mule was worth 10, 000$. He knew that because a local coon hunter tried to trade us 2 coon dogs worth 5,000$ each for it. You know a coon hunter would never lie about the value of a good dog.

Thats a cool story silverback.

I dont have much experience hunting, let alone with dogs. I have hunting dogs as pets, but never hunt them. I doubt I'll ever hunt anything in my life again.

 

[alegoblin]

silverback

Coyotes have become a suburban problem with so many protected preserves. Residents lose dogs and cats to them year after year. Two dens were spotted in one preserve this spring and the public was instructed to stay away to allow the coyotes to continue with their lives. No plans to remove or relocate any.

I carry a child's plastic whistle. On a string around my neck. I can even wear the skeeter net over my hat and still blow thru it. There are coyotes around these parts but the woods I use hasn't hosted a permanent pack yet. They eat somewhere else since the dead deer and coons aren't scavenged. The whistle is in case I come accross other peeps and act like I'm looking/whistling for my dog. A reason for being there.

Last summer a coyote walked into a Subway shop in Chicago's Loop and climbed into an open beverage cooler. In broad daylight!

BackCountry

A cougar was shot by Chicago police this spring after living under a porch for 3 days. DNA proved it was a wild 3 year old male from South Dakota. It had been spotted in southern Wisconsin and scat DNA proved it to be the same one. The last reported wild cougar in Illinois was 1864.

FirstTracks

The face on a paper plate could be replaced with a Halloween mask....say a Freddy Kruger type.

Despite the cost of living, have you noticed how popular it remains.

WOW

Coyotes are just a little bigger than a red fox.They are typically afraid of anything bigger than themselves unless they know its either injured or dead and they are in a pack.Now a lion is a different matter.I have not heard of them attacking a grown man but they will certainly take a small woman or child.I have been elk hunting and been late getting back to camp and heard a lion scream in the dark and that sound will make a believer out of you.Sounds like a woman screaming bloody murder.I always had a special paranoia for lions.I had as a young man shot coyotes indiscriminantly whenever they appeared,they were considered vermin.I later in life elk hunted on a ranch that was run by a man with a different perspective,he asked me"why did I kill the coyotes",they are killing gophers 24/7 even when your in town.I guess I have to agree with him.They eat alot of afterbirth during calving season but eating calves.... yeah maybe if mama cow doesnt have horns and she gets caught in the act of just dropping the calf.Hell the coyotes dont bother much and I think they kill cats and dogs just because they piss them off,just because they are townies.LOL.

 

[FreezerBoy]

The packs I see are large now, with 12/15 adults. I recently came upon a pack that had only momments earlier taken a young deer.

Obviously you're savvy enough not to do this intentionally because you backed off but, here you accidentally threatened their food supply. I can easily see a feeding pack on a fresh kill being aggressive. Maybe I'm naive but, without some provocation or extreme disease/age/weakness, I just don't see them attacking a grown man. We don't look like food.

But then, I've never seen them packing heat, either (can't believe I missed that. Good catch Chuck)

 

[Maj.PotHead]

Cougar/mtn lion's they are stalkers attack from behind rarely from the front if these critters are a maybe problem try wear a plain white face mask on the backside of your head. have the mask oposite of our face so ya seem to have 2 faces, remember mtn lion's/Cougar attack from behind. chances of being prey to them have been reduced greatly with a white mask seen a program few yrs back a town in BC was experincing a rise in attacks from Cougar/mtn lions.the ppl of the town loved to walk in the nice early evenings, this is when most attacks ocured the ppl of the town wore white masks backwards. and the attacks stoped experts say the cat becomes confused because of both faces. honestly i'm not maken this up them cats can and do cause humans damage and even death, coyotes yepper for most part more scared of you then u of them lmao. now the exceptions are old sick coyotes, as for small dogs and cats yepper they've been knowen to snatch them from in the newer parts of town. heck mtn lions and bob cats have wondered down into some of the newer parts that have been built up.

 

[FirstTracks]

...Coyotes are just a little bigger than a red fox....

size really depends on location and environment. There is the 'typical' size, and then the size they get when they have interbred with wild dogs for a couple generations or have just had a large food supply.

IMHO, it is a mistake to assume that all coyote are the same size and act similarly.

On a slightly different note, studies have actually shown that coyotes run in larger, more aggressive packs when there is no wolf population present. this is because then there is a wolf population in the same area, the coyotes need to hide and spread out to do so just so they all won't be easily found by the wolves. When there are no wolves, the coyotes are free to form packs woithout significant fear of other predators. this does not mean that they will run together all the time or that all of them belong to packs, only that the likelihood of encountering a pack is higher in areas without a significant wolf population.

 

[Maj.PotHead]

B.C, I thought all coon hunters were gone by now. One of the reasons I enjoy being out at night is that from the time i was old enough to follow my grandaddy, I was coon hunting. Sitting in the dark, listening for the dogs. The dogs had a high pitched, broken bark for being on the track and a continuous monotone at the tree. I still remember my last coon hunting trip with my 2 grandfathers. They were in their 80's and couldnt hear any more and we had an old 3 legged red bone that was so old he could barely hunt. We used to get a thousand dollars for breeding that old redbone. I knew and my grandfathers knew that this was our last hunt.
They are both gone now for many years, and old red died shortly after our hunt. Its one of the fondest memmories I hold.

My grandfather used to joke that our mule was worth 10, 000$. He knew that because a local coon hunter tried to trade us 2 coon dogs worth 5,000$ each for it. You know a coon hunter would never lie about the value of a good dog.

mang now ya just made me flash back on

[ hurry up n shake that sumbitch outta the tree boy } when they couldnt get a clean shot lmao

 

[alegoblin]

size really depends on location and environment. There is the 'typical' size, and then the size they get when they have interbred with wild dogs for a couple generations or have just had a large food supply.

IMHO, it is a mistake to assume that all coyote are the same size and act similarly.

On a slightly different note, studies have actually shown that coyotes run in larger, more aggressive packs when there is no wolf population present. this is because then there is a wolf population in the same area, the coyotes need to hide and spread out to do so just so they all won't be easily found by the wolves. When there are no wolves, the coyotes are free to form packs woithout significant fear of other predators. this does not mean that they will run together all the time or that all of them belong to packs, only that the likelihood of encountering a pack is higher in areas without a significant wolf population.

I live in the northern rockies were coyote pelts bring a premium for size and quality and I am sorry but a coyote doesnt get much bigger than 35-40 pounds that I have ever heard of.This fairy tale of coyotes breeding with wild dogs is news to me.Maybe you should let the Discovery channel in on that ground breaker or maybe MYTH BUSTERS.LOL.

 

[cellardweller]

Children are food. Hard to imagine them going after a grown man unless it's about protecting young. But then I've encountered a pack, let alone been surrounded. Most I've seen is pairs or a mom and some pups. Is it possible your pals are easily frightened.

Get Saibai to send you some monkeys.

lmfao really.

 

[alegoblin]

maybe someday i'll carry a gun with me and worry less. my problem with that is that i'm in the animals space, and if im there and invading its space, it has some sort of legitimate right to jump me..........since i don't belong, and it does.

It has no legitimate right to jump you it only understands the hunger and instinct that drives it.
Sorry,but man is an "animal" and has as much right to the wilderness as any other animal.Man is also a part of the natural world lets not forget.Unfortunately many humans have never learned or once knew and forgot how to behave in the natural world.You do belong,just tread lightly.Peace.

 

[FreezerBoy]

 

[alegoblin]

Well done FB.

 

[fishheadbob]

Very well done indeed, FB. I believe the N.R.A. has taken a stand in favor of coyote's rights to carry.
I remember when turkey returned to the area, then the occasional black bear wanders through or even moves in, now coyotes. No big deal, I agree that the neighbors dogs are more of a threat than a coyote. Most of the farms in the area have stopped farming and people moved on so the animals are moving back in. Apex predators are good to have around, they keep things in balance. Wolves and/or cougars are in nearby states and provinces so it's just a matter of time before the night air gets to sounding even better. Yeah it will take a toll on my cats, but they're the only animal besides man that kill for sport; kinda what goes around, comes around.

 

[clearcutter]

I live in the northern rockies were coyote pelts bring a premium for size and quality and I am sorry but a coyote doesnt get much bigger than 35-40 pounds that I have ever heard of.This fairy tale of coyotes breeding with wild dogs is news to me.Maybe you should let the Discovery channel in on that ground breaker or maybe MYTH BUSTERS.LOL.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyote

Interspecific hybridization

Coyotes will sometimes mate with domestic dogs, usually in areas like Texas and Oklahoma where the coyotes are plentiful and the breeding season is extended because of the warm weather. The resulting hybrids called coydogs maintain the coyote's predatory nature, along with the dog's lack of timidity toward humans, making them a usually more serious threat to livestock than pure blooded animals. This cross breeding has the added effect of confusing the breeding cycle. Coyotes usually breed only once a year, while coydogs will breed year-round, producing many more pups than a wild coyote. Differences in the ears and tail are generally what can be used to distinguish coydogs from pure coyotes.[20] Coyotes have also been known on occasion to mate with wolves though this less common as with dogs due to the wolf's hostility to the coyote. The offspring, known as a coywolf, is generally intermediate in size to both parents, being larger than a pure coyote, but smaller than a pure wolf. A study showed that of 100 coyotes collected in Maine, 22 had half or more wolf ancestry, and one was 89 percent wolf.

 

[BACKCOUNTRY]

Ah yes, clearcutter beat me to the facts, good job!

Depending on where you are in North America, Coyotes can range in size quite a bit. In areas with poorer feed and harder lives, the Coyotes remain small, but in some areas where prey is easier to find, the Coyotes can be a bit larger. Add to this that fact that in some regions the Coyotes are actually a hybrid with the Wolf, this alone can add quite a bit of size.

 

[Guest]

FB, don't point that thing at us man!! Peace brother, lets burn one.

I won't ever carry a gun to my site simply because the law has become so trigger happy. If you were to get caught in the patch, they'de shoot you and claim " we had to shoot the drug dealer in the back, he was crazy high on drugs, armed and running in the direction of a daycare"

I don't think coyotes get very big, but i've seen a number of 40lb ers, Thats considered small I guess, unless its teeth are buried in your ass and 8 or 10 more are trying to help him.

 

[Guest]

BC, half coyote half wolf. That sounds as scary as half dog/coyote. Your'e right about size. I think food supply has some impact.

 

[alegoblin]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyote

Point taken.I stand corrected.There is alot of weird shit that goes on in Texas and Oklahoma.I should have known.LOL.I think the wolf coyote crossbreed is extremely rare from what I am reading,it has much to do with scarcity of breeding population.Thanks for the education Clearcutter.Good growing to all.Peace.

 

[Fast_Pine]

The coyotes out here in the desert are pretty scragly an small..You will find a large one here and there, but for the most part there skinny little guys. The ranchers round here try an shoot em at every chance they get. Its a shame.

I figure if one of the bigger ones get hungry enough they might snatch up a little dog or something, but I wouldnt worry too much about one of em attackin you.

I cary nothing (guns, bear mace) into the woods. Mainly because I am so loaded down with other shit I can barely walk. (was zip tying gear to my belt and pack straps last round out ,I ran out of room to cary any thing else...
I too would choose mace over a gun, as said before, the gun will make it twice as worse if you get caught at the patch...

Wile working, and hiking to my plots I will periodicly start making a bunch of racket, and shouting to throw off predators.. Maby shout lyrics to a song or something...Anything to let the predators know im comming. I figure If I can give em time to get away, they wont get startled and attack me..(Rattlers a big issue for me...

Had a huge problem with a bear tearing up my lines, he pushed a five hundred dollar gas powered pump into a pond(ruined). Would bite holes in the strainer, etc....Every time I came back to check the plot I would find new bear dammage...Guy was pissed I was planting there...
One evening I was hiking in. I came across a fresh bear print(large as hell..I started to make a ton of noise(shouting)...When I got to the pond, which was roughly 300 feet uphill, the pump had been attacked again, with fresh teeth prints, and mirky muddy water in an otherwise clear pool, indicating the bear had just been there just before me, He was standing in the pond fucking up my pump when I shouted which left a little merky trail through the pond...
That spot has given me a weird vibe, and I had previously commented on the likely hood of my irrigation pond being the "local watering hole" for all the surrounding wildlife..

 

[FirstTracks]

thanks for the backup clearcutter!

see im really not crazy :wink:

by the way, if you're interested in what i was talking about with coyote packs getting larger (the pack, not the individual animals) when wolves are not present, check out information about coyotes and wolves in and around yellowstone national park

fast pine; sorry to hear about that bear at your site. Glad you haven't had to run into it directly. your lines are probably too long to do this, but could use use some pepper wax spray or something on them? Maybe that would just piss off the bear more. I'm wondering if there's something the bear smells with the lines /pump thats making the bear go after them.

anyway, good luck in the future with the site.

 

[JJScorpio]

Coyotes aren't anything for an adult to worry about. They will usually run long before you see them.

I once caught a coyote pup that was running with two other pups in a cornfield. I think their mother got hit by a car. He was about six weeks old or so. I chased him down and caught him in a fishnet. I kept him for almost two days and he wouldn't consider letting me touch him, nor would he eat much. I took him back and saw him a few days later with the other two in the same area hunting mice. They hung around in the open hay fields around this cornfield for a couple weeks and then disapeared.

Where I live their diet is mostly mice, moles, bugs, berries and roadkill. In the winter when foods slim they might grab a small cat if they can get one. I enjoy watching them and it bothers me when people kill them after hearing how they are in overcrowded areas.

You can rest assured that they will run from you 100 percent of the time. They are very anti human and have a great sense of smell and hearing. I'm really surprised you have gotten that close to them....