Coyotes getting worrisome

[Larry Caldwell]

A Rainbow hippie girl brought her unvaccinated dog to a gathering a few years back, and it had parvo. It ran around and infected coyotes, and it's still killing coyotes years later. It kills the pups, the old ones die off, and domestic dogs get their shots. Life is good. A neighbor did take half a dozen with a wounded rabbit coyote call about 10 years ago.

 

[gwstang]

They are getting really bad here too. I live in the woods and it is about a mile of nothing but land behind my property. They come really close and my wife's dog do the same thing and go tearing off in the dark like those puny little mutts are really going to do something. Told her that she is gonna miss one of them eventually. The dang 'yotes have gone right by me in the field while chasing a fawn before. I didn't have my pistol with me. Won't happen again. This fawn came zooming out of the wood line and ran right by me and the pups. I was watching it wondering what the heck. Then the 'yote came zooming by and sort of surprised me. "they can run as fast as 43 mphé*�nd striking leaps that reach up to 13 feet. " Coyotes and Deer: Can They Bring Down Mature Bucks? - Petersen's Hunting

They are really hurting the deer population down here. I read a few months ago how many fawn/deer each coyote catches and eats every year. It was quite a surprising number. Don't remember the exact details.

"The coyote is the next big part of that equation. Buxton says coyotes are not a problem on your hunting property they will be in a few years. It has been said that fawns were at the wrong place at the wrong time. Buxton believes this is not the case. He trapped predators in 2009 during 3 months of spring and caught 20 coyotes and 15 bobcats from 1500 acres, beginning about a month before fawning begins. After 1 year, Buxton had caught 49 coyotes and continued into the 2010 fawning season trapping 14 more. In total, 54% of the coyotes trapped were caught during fawning season (34 of 63). that tells me when coyotes are targeting fawns Buxton states when fawns hit the ground its game on for coyotes? Ditchkoff agrees, saying, "coyotes might have learned to identify doe behaviors that indicate fawns are nearby." The Effect of Coyotes on Deer Populations

 

[gwstang]

43 mph is pretty dang fast in my book! No wonder it made a swooshing sound when it went by me at just about arms length. Sort of like one of those road runner cartoons.

 

[TheMan419]

I know they have to be around where I am. Have not seen any yet. Thankfully Indiana allows you to kill them on your own property any time of year. As long as it is you doing it and not an "exterminator". They need a permit.

Had an experience several years ago. Leaving the barn where my wife was boarding her horse at the time. You could hear the pack calling. I jumped in the car. Called the wife who was still at the barn. They heard it too. Closed up all the doors to the barn. It was unnerving.

Won't hesitate to put a hole in one if it is around.

 

[roadhunter]

Not to be rude but it seems like there may be some overreaction going on here. This almost makes it sound like coyotes are a threat to humans. Shutting up the shop and getting unraveled over a few coyotes seems like an city slicker overreaction.

People in other places have predators that are actually dangerous like lions, bears, and wolves. Coyotes are harmless for the most part and human attacks are extremely rare which is not the case with other top shelf predators. Don't let thier coyote howls strike fear into you and change you behavior.

Several neighbors of mine have had to shoot lions around thier homes. That is scary as they will attack kids. I've read stories of people having pets ripped to pieces by a pack of wolves. Hunters who have been challenged by lions and bears for kills. Bears getting inside buildings looking for food. etc...

Coyotes are just not that dangerous.

 

[oosik]

I've always had multiple packs of coyotes around my property. I know they come close to the house at night - they leave droppings to mark their presence. I lost my first dog, 34 years ago, when a female came into the yard and lured him to the waiting pack in the valley. This was in broad daylight.

Some nights they will yip, howl, scream etc - I think it must be the many packs talking to each other. This spring the neighbor killed 17 over a month period and it has not seemed to make a bit of difference. The "void" has allowed those further out to move in closer.

Generally speaking - they don't bother me, I leave them alone. The coyotes rule the night - I own the day.

 

[oldballs]

As the city moves closer and closer our coyotes are getting fewer. But they never seemed like much of a threat to me either, or to my free ranging Lab or ducks. Heck, my Lab was a greater threat to neighbor's chickens, and she had the #4's to prove it.

 

[oosik]

oldballs - be careful. The dog I lost 34 years ago was a healthy two year old black lab. It wasn't any fun to watch the pack dispatch him and drag off the carcass. It all went down in less than two minuets - so I was unable to come to his defense.

 

[roadhunter]

I know they have to be around where I am. Have not seen any yet. Thankfully Indiana allows you to kill them on your own property any time of year. As long as it is you doing it and not an "exterminator". They need a permit.

Had an experience several years ago. Leaving the barn where my wife was boarding her horse at the time. You could hear the pack calling. I jumped in the car. Called the wife who was still at the barn. They heard it too. Closed up all the doors to the barn. It was unnerving.

Won't hesitate to put a hole in one if it is around.

Did you think the coyote was going to come into the barn and kill your horse?

 

[roadhunter]

oldballs - be careful. The dog I lost 34 years ago was a health two year old black lab. It wasn't any fun to watch the pack dispatch him and drag off the carcass. It all went down in less than two minuets - so I was unable to come to his defense.

That sounds frustrating to watch. How many coyotes were in this "pack"?

I've seen hundreds of coyotes but never any sort of pack unless you count mom and pups. More often than not the ones I see are by themselves.