Thoughts on Coyotes

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Coyotes do a lot of damage around here. I have seen them taking out deer, and even getting very close to killing my neighbors dog. When I see a coyote, I do shoot it. I will not lie about that. It is one of the very few things I will kill without eating it.
 
Andrew Colglazier said:
Coyotes are generally harmless to humans unless they are ill.

I have lived in coyote country for most of my life, in KS and TX. I would never shoot a coyote unless it was predating livestock. They are generally small game eaters such as mice and rats, but they will eat anything they can catch.

Killing them just because they are coyotes is ill-guided and very poor wildlife management.

We raised hogs and sheep. If the coyotes left the livestock alone, we left them alone. Not all coyotes will kill livestock. If you kill coyotes that don't bother you, you may have coyotes move in that will.

Andy
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Andy, I couldn't agree any more with you. :thumbup:

Come one people leave the coyotes alone, unless they attack your livestock or try to get stupid with you or your family. If they're not bothering anyone just let them be.
 
TheGame said:
Coyotes do a lot of damage around here. I have seen them taking out deer, and even getting very close to killing my neighbors dog. When I see a coyote, I do shoot it. I will not lie about that. It is one of the very few things I will kill without eating it.
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I don't know where you live, but here in our area of TX we have far too many deer. Human hunting doesn't come close to managing the deer population, and there are places where humans aren't allowed to hunt.

If coyotes are hunting deer, to me, that is a sign of a healthy habitat. The coyotes are predators, the deer, their prey. That's the way it's supposed to be. If you've actually seen coyotes taking deer, count yourself lucky; I'd guess that is actually a very very rare thing, except for the occasional sick animal or fawn.

One of my favorite dogs was attacked (I assume, I didn't see the attack) by coyotes. The attack was my fault, not that of the coyotes. If they attack pets, it's usually because the pet owner hasn't properly restrained their animal.

Most killing of coyotes is done for sport by people who just don't get what role they play in the environment.

Andy
 
Mannlicher said:
big talk coming from a European. How many coyotes you guys have there? Lost any live stock to them?

passing judgment on others that live with the dang things, based on your touchy feely philosophy is not productive.:jerkit:
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I second that!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Andrew Colglazier said:
I don't know where you live, but here in our area of TX we have far too many deer. Human hunting doesn't come close to managing the deer population, and there are places where humans aren't allowed to hunt.

If coyotes are hunting deer, to me, that is a sign of a healthy habitat. The coyotes are predators, the deer, their prey. That's the way it's supposed to be. If you've actually seen coyotes taking deer, count yourself lucky; I'd guess that is actually a very very rare thing, except for the occasional sick animal or fawn.

Andy
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+1 we have so many deer in Central TX. There is no way that humans can put a dent in that population...
 
Great thread and a lot of good posts. While I respect everyones opinion, I still shoot on sight. I shot 7 in the last 12 months. Not one was more than 100 yards from my house. One attacked my 70 pound black lab. Another one attempted to get at my infant daughter who was crying on the floor in my house during the summer when the sliding glass door was open. He was at a fast trot coming from the vineyard and made it about 20 yards from the house when I spotted him. Another one ripped the throat out of a yearing blacktail deer not 60 yards from where my brother was standing. I have many neighbors who have sheep farms and not one of them will tell you that coyotes are not a problem for them. Some have been so decimated by coyote depredation, they have had to give up. Like I said, I respect all of the opinions posted here, but I shoot on sight.
 
Andrew Colglazier said:
I don't know where you live, but here in our area of TX we have far too many deer. Human hunting doesn't come close to managing the deer population, and there are places where humans aren't allowed to hunt.

If coyotes are hunting deer, to me, that is a sign of a healthy habitat. The coyotes are predators, the deer, their prey. That's the way it's supposed to be. If you've actually seen coyotes taking deer, count yourself lucky; I'd guess that is actually a very very rare thing, except for the occasional sick animal or fawn.
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I would agree with you, if they ate the deer. I was shocked, but they didn't. I saw them take the deer down, and then they left it alone after that. Why? I am not sure, but they didn't eat it. At least, not for the 4 hours I was hunting that afternoon.

We are trying to kill our deer herd also, but when they kill them and don't eat, it IS a waste of food for others. (I live in Ohio..)
 
I don't think they're a serious threat to deer populations, that's a bit far fetched for me, deer are prolific breeders, two can turn into a half dozen in about a year, in the next year those six mature and turn out four or five more per couple and so on until they've overpopulated and eaten their entire food source, then they get aggressive and dangerous. Coyotes are also prolific breeders, to an extent. Coyotes do get agressive, and people in the woods are easy prey for any predator. So while they don't really threaten deer populations, they will get bold and attack people, especially children; they will attack your pets; they will attack your livestock; I don't really support hunting them for the sake of hunting them, so long as they mind their manners, but they are pests, and just like groundhogs I wouldn't give popping one a second thought if it got too close.
 
I was VERY surprised to find that coyotes have now moved into my area (NC/SC border). I've seen plenty out West, but never before here on the East coast. Last summer my girlfriend took her son camping near Cearsar's Head & said that they were frightend by coyotes there. Then my son & I camped near the Joyce Kilmer area in Nov. for one last trip before it got too cold to camp &, sure enough, as soon as it got dark a dozen or more coyotes started howling all around us. Weird ! ! !
 
Purely to add a discussion point, I'd like to add the following:

I remember a discussion similar to this some time ago on another forum.

One of the points raised during this discussion was the effect that increased culling had on the population.

The following was quoted:

"Two major factors make the control of coyote populations extremely difficult. The first is their high reproduction rate. Females have an average of five to seven pups during their second year. If the population is lowered through some kind of a control program, coyotes respond by having larger litters and begin to breed in their first year of life. It has been estimated that we would have to kill 75 percent of the coyote population every year for more than 50 years in order to eliminate them.

The second part of the equation is the difficulty in hunting and trapping coyotes. They are an extremely clever animal and remarkably resourceful when it comes to the business of staying alive. Some people claim it is the smartest wild animal in North America. Any control program would do well to harvest 25 percent of the population. Coyotes could flourish even with this level of kill.

If we were to institute a $50 bounty with the coyote population at 10,000 animals, and succeeded in killing 50 percent of the population every year (an unlikely high number), theoretically we could harvest about 29,000 coyotes over a five year period for a total cost of around $1.5 million, and end up with 3,000 more coyotes than we started with! "

The article in full can be found here :http://www.gov.ns.ca/NATR/wildlife/conserva/coyotes-deer.asp

I'd be interested in hearing the views of those who advocate culling them as a means of controlling their numbers, given the information provided in the link above.




Kind regards
Mick
 
As my prior posts indicate, I don't have a dog in this fight (sorry about the pun). The article seems to contain quite a bit of conjecture and it is in desperate need of a proofreader. Nonetheless, I'd be interested to see the statistical results of coyote abatement programs in various areas. They might help identify which management techniques work and which don't.

DancesWithKnives
 
They are one of the most successful animals .After years of trying to exterminate them they just spread and multiplied. Here in NY there originally was a 'brush wolf' which apparently was a red wolf which was eliminated.The coyote just replaced that.They've even had them in NYC !
 
SouthernCross said:
Purely to add a discussion point, I'd like to add the following:


If we were to institute a $50 bounty with the coyote population at 10,000 animals, and succeeded in killing 50 percent of the population every year (an unlikely high number), theoretically we could harvest about 29,000 coyotes over a five year period for a total cost of around $1.5 million, and end up with 3,000 more coyotes than we started with[/I]! "

I'd be interested in hearing the views of those who advocate culling them as a means of controlling their numbers, given the information provided in the link above.




Kind regards
Mick
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well, IF the information is not pro coyote propaganda, and the data is in fact true, then I'd call this 'sustainability'. ;) Just think of it, a money making endeavor that never runs out of raw material. :D
 
I struggle with this topic.. Because I find I can't even read the reasons why NOT to kill them.
I shoot every damn Coyote I have seen the past 40 yrs! I hunt them by calling them in.
The only coyote sitting under my tree is a dead one.
Your first line said it all " did not see any deer" well thats because the number one natural predator was sitting under your tree. He probably killed every fawn within 5 miles of your tree.. and the adult deer know what he smells like.

I could write about countless stories about the damage of coyotes to livestock on my father in laws farm!!
Or about how the wolves have wiped out the moose in alaska, and the deer in minnesota..

Maybe I would have a better chance if I told you to eat them... I heard they taste like chicken:)
 
I have been camping in NH in the White mountains. I remember several years ago, just after sunset hearing them start howling first from one direction and then others from another direction and more still from a third direction. I think they were all a fair distance away but still. It is an eerie sound.

KR
 
harleyguy02,

Dave Canterbury from Pathfinder has eaten coyote and said it was one of the less desirable foods he's had (and he's eaten a lot of different things in some way out places). He said the meat had sort of a granular consistency, a bit like very stiff tapioca pudding. He remarked on the flavor being foul (and he didn't say "fowl":D). Definitely only a survival meat.

DancesWithKnives
 
harleyguy02 said:
I struggle with this topic.. Because I find I can't even read the reasons why NOT to kill them.
I shoot every damn Coyote I have seen the past 40 yrs! I hunt them by calling them in.
The only coyote sitting under my tree is a dead one.
Your first line said it all " did not see any deer" well thats because the number one natural predator was sitting under your tree. He probably killed every fawn within 5 miles of your tree.. and the adult deer know what he smells like.

I could write about countless stories about the damage of coyotes to livestock on my father in laws farm!!
Or about how the wolves have wiped out the moose in alaska, and the deer in minnesota..

Maybe I would have a better chance if I told you to eat them... I heard they taste like chicken:)
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Wolves didn't wipe the moose out of Alaska, they did however get hunted to increase prey for hunters to provide for a boom in population.

I do my best to not provide misinformation so here's an exctract.

Studies on predator/prey relationships and management experience in Alaska and elsewhere during the last three decades have shown that wolf and bear predation usually keeps moose populations at low levels even where hunting is minimal and where there is enough food to support many more moose. Although moose numbers may fluctuate slightly, the population cannot increase to a higher level until substantially more calves survive to adulthood. The combination of wolf and bear predation on low-density moose populations prevents them from increasing. If predation is reduced, moose populations can increase and/or additional moose can be harvested by people. However, if predator populations increase again to high levels, moose numbers will likely decline again, resulting in lower harvests.

cited http://www.wolfsongalaska.org/wolves_bears_Mcgrath.htm

Wolves were decimating reindeer herds decades ago, fortunately some very good hunters helped out.
 
koyote said:
I'm not bloodthirsty, and I have a lot of respect for the animals.

But-

The reason coyotes are a nuisance and overpopulated and expanding their territory is- us. And as far as it goes, we're the "control" in their food chain.

So, yeah- it's varminting season.
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I'll second that:thumbup:
 
My opinion, like deer , coyote populations should be managed by hunting but not exterminated. The coyote hunters here have done a good job at keeping the species in check. I do wish though, that people would try to be humane about it and not take a shot unless they are almost certain the animal is killed quickly. I hate to see animals suffer.
 
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Doesn't the notion of 'managing' and 'controlling' nature strike anyone as hilarious and arrogant? Anything man has ever done has made things worse, not better.
I agree man has messed up nature in a major way, but the best approach now is leave it alone.
Who 'kept things in check' when humans weren't yet busy wiping out species after species out of financial gain or bloodlust? The only ones disturbing the balance is us humans, and any attempt by us to restore it is destined to fail spectacularly.

The idea of managing deer and other species would be laughable if it weren't for the sad fact that we've basically killed off most of their natural predators. But oh my god, there's still coyotes around who might take deer. Better kill those too. :rolleyes:
 
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