Saw a Coyote? on our Land

[extrakt0r]

Wifey took these this morning, sorry it was on her iPhone - all she had at the time. Probably 100 yards away from the back of the house.

 

[MoKelly]

Neat. Keep any small pets you have inside.

MoKelly

 

[Raspy]

Nice pictures. Looks healthy.
I like seeing them in their natural world. Just this morning at about 4:00 AM one crossed the road in front of me. A couple nights ago there was one very close to the house, yipping and having a great time. I went out to see it, but didn't.

 

[Scott85]

I'm sorry if this offends anyone but shoot em shoot em shoot em.

 

[Sodo]

I have a friend who rode across Russia on a motorcycle, took a few weeks and he saw no wildlife. Russians shoot anything that moves. I see no compelling reason make the USA backwoods like that. I notice a lot of folks are not afraid of making our incredible USA like Russia (or China) probably they are young, don't remember what the woods were like and never will.

In WA we have a decent amount of wildlife, I like it but I admit seeing cougars in the game cams gives me a little worry - they hang around where there's deer. I see lots of coyotes and they don't bother me in the least. For some reason they don't make any noise in my woods.

 

[Scott85]

I have a friend who rode across Russia on a motorcycle, took a few weeks and he saw no wildlife. Russians shoot anything that moves. I see no compelling reason make the USA backwoods like that. I notice a lot of folks are not afraid of making our incredible USA like Russia (or China) probably they are young, don't remember what the woods were like and never will.

In WA we have a decent amount of wildlife, I like it but I admit seeing cougars in the game cams gives me a little worry - they hang around where there's deer. I see lots of coyotes and they don't bother me in the least. For some reason they don't make any noise in my woods.

I'm not out for shooting anything that moves. Here is the east we have never had coyotes and now they are all over the place. My land in western VA was full of deer when I was growing up. It was not uncommon to see 10 to 20 deer a day and now you would be lucky to see that in 2 weeks of hunting. We are all about deer management so our hunting practices to benefit deer and with the coyotes have decimated the deer herds. I could understand if they are native to the east coast but they are not. For example I respect all native wildlife but I really dislike black bears, I have seen a bunch hunting and never killed one cause I will not eat it but they have a place in our ecosystem.

 

[kw22614]

Better call the Turtleman!

 

[dave1949]

There doesn't seem to be a shortage of deer in Virginia. In fact, the hunting take was expanded in recent years to curtail the population growth.

Virginia, like many areas of the East, is missing some extirpated traditional predators; wolves and cougars. The coyotes are filling this open predator niche. We need natural predators to keep herbivore populations healthy. Hunting reduces populations but it tends to selectively high-grade the hunted species--which is not natural or healthy.

In densely populated areas where hunting is difficult, deer populations typically expand out of control, cause a lot of damage and represent a health risk to humans.

Virginia Deer Management Plan, 2006-2015

Virginia deer season preview | roanoke.com

New Genetic Evidence Confirms Coyote Migration Route to Virginia and Hybridization with Wolves | Newsdesk

List of mammals of West Virginia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eastern timber wolf
The eastern timber wolf (Canis lupus lycaon),[8] a subspecies of the gray wolf, roamed throughout the state in pre-settlement days. Bounties were paid on their “scalps” in West Virginia through the late 1890s with the last recorded one being killed by Stofer Hamrick in Randolph County in January 1900.[9]

North American cougar
The last officially accepted wild cougar kills in both Virginia and West Virginia were in the 1880s and the animal — eastern cougar, or mountain lion, puma or panther (Puma concolor couguar) — was considered totally exterminated in West Virginia by 1900. In 1936, however, came a last officially confirmed record of cougar tracks in the state; by a Smithsonian worker, near Cranberry Glades in Pocahontas County.[10][11][12] Recently, the eastern cougar was federally listed as "endangered" in West Virginia and sporadic, unconfirmed accounts of its presence (tracks and sightings) continued to be reported. P. c. couguar was deemed to be extinct by a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service evaluation released in 2011.[13]

 

[Scott85]

"There doesn't seem to be a shortage of deer in Virginia. In fact, the hunting take was expanded in recent years to curtail the population growth."

Numbers of deer in one part of the state and another part of the state are two different things. Bears kill deer I don't shoot them. Wolves and cougars are gone now. But when you sit on the porch and the sound of howls can drown out the bugs on a summer night there is something wrong. As for the deer numbers since you are so good researching stuff look at the number of deer killed in Bath County when I started hunting in 2001 and look now almost 2,000 deer killed you can read what you want about what the paper says but until you see it with your own eyes sitting in the woods is two different things.

 

[Lou66]

Here is one I saw and got a picture of about a month ago while mowing the back pasture.. Some what large.. I have a couple of donkeys that I put out in the pasture during calving season.. in the past I have found a calf or two dead from the coyotes but now I find a dead coyote or two from the donkeys,, Lou

View attachment 344919

View attachment 344920

View attachment 344921