Strange Coyote Behavior

[N80]

We have lots of coyotes around our place. Sometimes you can hear them howling in all 4 directions at once. But, this weekend we had a weird experience. We had just waked up about 7 am (braod daylight by then) when our Labrador started barking like crazy. We could hear another dog barking just outside. It sounded like a small dog and was barking non stop in a high pitched bark. When I looked out the back door I could just barely see a beige colored 'dog' pacing back and forth looking our way and barking. I have not heard a lot of coyotes bark but as it moved around it looked like a coyote. Tail looked bushy but I never got a clear look at the tail. I ran back inside and got my rifle. When I came back outside it was moving away from me but continued to bark and to keep me in sight. I never got a real clear, full body look at it and I only got it in the cross hairs once. It would have been an ify shot and in the back of my mind I knew my neighbor had recently acquired a stray dog as a pet but had heard it was a short haired dog. Anyway, that second of doubt kept me from pulling the trigger and it finally moved on out of sight and quit barking.

Anyone else seen this sort of behavior in a coyote or have an explanation? My first thought was rabies or distemper but even though it stayed in sight for a while it was fairly wary about maintaining a good 100 yards distance as I approached it. However, most coyotes around here vanish as soon as they see you. Then I thought about puppies but never saw any and that still would not explain why it would sit there and bark at our cabin. Our dog is a male, no nearby dogs in heat.

 

[rekees4300]

Anyone else seen this sort of behavior in a coyote or have an explanation?

Coyotes will send a scout as bait in an attempt to lure a pet dog to chase him. The pet doesn't know the whole pack of coyotes is waiting out of sight to attack him. That is how they kill big dogs. It would be prudent for your Lab to be indoors at night.

 

[Sigarms]

Coyotes will send a scout as bait in an attempt to lure a pet dog to chase him. The pet doesn't know the whole pack of coyotes is waiting out of sight to attack him. That is how they kill big dogs. It would be prudent for your Lab to be indoors at night.

I understand that coyotes are not stupid animals, however in another thread, a member claimed that yotes will send a female in heat out to lure a dog to kill it as well.

Can you humor me and provide any studies where yotes will send another member of the pack in as "bait" to lure a unsuspecting animal back to the pack?

 

[N80]

I have seen pairs of coyote chasing deer (rarely) but never in a coordinated way. In general it is believed that coyotes, at least in this region, do not work in packs at all. I rarely see more than one at a time. So I'm not yet willing to believe in the baiting behavior as a concern here. There is a lot of misunderstanding about coyotes and coyote behavior and a lot of 'mythology' to put it nicely. However, I think the reason for that is because coyotes are very adaptive and I suspect their behavior probably varies widely from region to region. So I'm not saying it is impossible that coyotes work in packs to bait dogs. I'm skeptical. But , maybe they do in some places. Nothing close to that sort of organized behavior here so far, even with calves and deer. When I've seen a pair chasing a deer the one in the rear hardly seems aware of the lead coyote which is usually out of site of it.

 

[oosik]

I lost our first dog, two year old black lab, to a technique the coyotes used. This was spring and into the year comes a young coyote - I'm sure it was a female and she was probably in heat. Our lab was gung-ho on this coyote and followed her down over the hill and into the valley. Three more were waiting down there - I sure hope they enjoyed black lab for breakfast.

 

[dodge man]

I have hear them bark, its different than a dog bark, sometimes more of a yip, but it is common around my house to hear them bark. Its often lost in the background because there is usually several of them howling at the same time also.

 

[95XL883]

N80, I have seen somewhat similar behavior, just without the barking. But I live in suburbia and the yotes here have lost all fear of man. In my instance, there is a vacant tract that had a lone female living in the north part. (I'm guessing it was a female as it was observed to have a pup in its care for a while.) It would watch from a respectful distance. It tried the stare on my GSD a couple of times but my dog is a spayed female so if it was trying to attract it, it just wasn't going to work. Then a couple of males (I'm guessing they were males by there somewhat aggressive demeanor (head up, eye contact, staring, following, stalking), showed up. They also stared but it seemed a more aggressive stare than the lone yote, heads more erect, unflinching when challenged). They followed us for a while and, IMO, were stalking us. One came up from behind while the other flanked us. It got within a couple of yards of me before I was aware of it being there. It darted to the side as I challenged it. Then the other showed up on our left flank. As we were now aware of them, they kept a little distance but clearly didn't want to give up the hunt.

The single may have been looking for a pack to join. The pair were clearly hunting. The single may have been trying to lure my GSD to a meal but I doubt it. The pack seemed more than willing to just move in rather than try to lure my dog away.

 

[beowulf]

More than once I have seen coyotes - three at a time - trying to lure our dogs away. At least that was what it appeared to be to me. If not, I don't have an explanation of what they were trying to do. One would approach in a friendly way, and when our dog would timidly get closer, the coyote would retreat a bit. Then repeat the process. Our dog was moving farther and farther away from safety. I first saw one, then two other coyotes back on each side. It seemed our dog was completely falling for it until I yelled and ran that direction. The coyotes took off.

 

[N80]

Well, in this case, the coyote was barking before my dog ever went outside. All of my neighbors have dogs that live outside and no one has lost one to coyotes. But, they are all large dogs except for one. So, maybe this dog baiting behavior is real (I remain skeptical) but I don't think that was the case here, especially since he stayed in my sight even as I advanced towards him.

And I have heard coyotes bark. Like someone mentioned above it is usually when others are howling. The strange thing, among many, about this one was it was just a constant stream of barks, no howls, broad daylight in early morning.

 

[beowulf]

Yeah, I've heard the barking too. . .barking, yipping, howling - sometimes a real frenzy. But when they were - I assume - trying to lure my dogs away, they were totally quiet. I don't know if the dog baiting is real or not but it sure did look like that was what they were trying to do.

 

[rekees4300]

I understand that coyotes are not stupid animals, however in another thread, a member claimed that yotes will send a female in heat out to lure a dog to kill it as well.

Can you humor me and provide any studies where yotes will send another member of the pack in as "bait" to lure a unsuspecting animal back to the pack?

Don't know of any studies but there are many anecdotal stories on the Internet. The main point is that pets should be kept indoors at night in Coyote infested areas. However if that's a picture of your dog you probably don't need to worry about him ... no Coyote is stupid enough to mess with him!

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Yotes will send males to lure female dogs for adding new genes to their pack. Always larger dogs that can survive in the wild. We have some around here that look more like dogs than yotes with strange colors and markings. The half breeds bark like regular dogs and learn the language of the pack. This is an urban/rural area and the yotes are plentiful, and used to people around but still very wary and run rather than stand. Before we moved into town our lab used to set on the back porch and trade barks and yips with them. After killing a couple of them they stayed out of sight but still communicated with our dog. Neighbors lost chickens as fast as they raised them. They finally gave up when they got tired of ripped up pens and missing chickens.

Ron

Ron

 

[CalG]

Coy -dogs are like Zombies

They just want to make more of their own kind,

And are a figment of the human mind's imagination.

Get a grip everyone, it's kill or be killed out there. the coyotes "Don't send in females in heat" That is just not part of the game. Get a grip!

 

[Sigarms]

Don't know of any studies but there are many anecdotal stories on the Internet. The main point is that pets should be kept indoors at night in Coyote infested areas. However if that's a picture of your dog you probably don't need to worry about him ... no Coyote is stupid enough to mess with him!

I agree about keeping domesticated pets inside, but the reality is a lot of people don't feel that way.

I am curious however about how yotes are supposed to send themselves in to lure away pets, particularly a female yote in heat that was "picked" to go in a lure a male domesticated dog. For various reasons, I believe it's complete bunk, and figured that there would be some kind of scientific study on this so called practice. Heck, I'm willing to take ANY species who sends a female in as bait because she's in heat to lure the bait back to the pack to have a meal.

 

[Sigarms]

I lost our first dog, two year old black lab, to a technique the coyotes used. This was spring and into the year comes a young coyote - I'm sure it was a female and she was probably in heat. Our lab was gung-ho on this coyote and followed her down over the hill and into the valley. Three more were waiting down there - I sure hope they enjoyed black lab for breakfast.

1- You didn't follow your dog knowing it was following a coyote?
2- How do you know it was a female coyote?
3- Why are you assuming the coyote was in heat?
4- You witnessed the attack on your dog by the coyotes?

My only point is there is a lot of assuming and guessing going on with your story.

Just trying to figure out how a pack animal determines to send in a female in heat knowing that another breed will follow it back to the pack for a meal. There is a lot of thought process going on there that I don't believe the coyote is capable of. However, I could be wrong, thus the reason I'm looking for any scientific documentation on coyotes behavior to believe your assumptions.

 

[GregbkH]

I live in the sticks in Wisconsin. I've got all kinds of critters living around my place including deer, bear, turkeys and lots of coyotes. My dog don't stay out at night but I let him out to chase off the coyotes and raccoons. He hasn't caught a coyote yet but has caught a couple of coons ( a skunk and a porcupine also). As long as the coyotes leave the property my dog is satisfied and will not keep running them which is perfect. I know that he could take on one of them but not multiples. If he gets out numbered, he runs back the house where I'm waiting. He has broken up a few of the coyotes hunts for fawns which is what I wanted. He is a black mouth cur of about 80 lbs, an "old yeller" dog. He seems to be made for this.

Here he is eyballing a coon he chased up a tree. (Sorry, I don't know why photobucket didn't work.)

 

[CobyRupert]

I understand that coyotes are not stupid animals, however in another thread, a member claimed that yotes will send a female in heat out to lure a dog to kill it as well.

Can you humor me and provide any studies where yotes will send another member of the pack in as "bait" to lure a unsuspecting animal back to the pack?

Yes, lots of news stories how this a technique used in Craiglist personal ads to rip off gullible horny men.

 

[davesl708]

N80, I have seen somewhat similar behavior, just without the barking. But I live in suburbia and the yotes here have lost all fear of man. In my instance, there is a vacant tract that had a lone female living in the north part. (I'm guessing it was a female as it was observed to have a pup in its care for a while.) It would watch from a respectful distance. It tried the stare on my GSD a couple of times but my dog is a spayed female so if it was trying to attract it, it just wasn't going to work. Then a couple of males (I'm guessing they were males by there somewhat aggressive demeanor (head up, eye contact, staring, following, stalking), showed up. They also stared but it seemed a more aggressive stare than the lone yote, heads more erect, unflinching when challenged). They followed us for a while and, IMO, were stalking us. One came up from behind while the other flanked us. It got within a couple of yards of me before I was aware of it being there. It darted to the side as I challenged it. Then the other showed up on our left flank. As we were now aware of them, they kept a little distance but clearly didn't want to give up the hunt.

The single may have been looking for a pack to join. The pair were clearly hunting. The single may have been trying to lure my GSD to a meal but I doubt it. The pack seemed more than willing to just move in rather than try to lure my dog away.

95XL883. We have similar instances here in Shawnee. My neighborhood (Black Swan) has several coyotes living here. They do follow people with pets walking around the lake an on the trail.

I have observed them stalking the neighbors little dog from by backyard. They have also stared down my daughter and son-in-law when they had their two dogs here loose in the backyard. I had to challenge them to get them to move on.

Walking the back woods behind my house I find the remains of pets. Mostly cats. Could be the coyotes or bobcats we have. The fox don't seem to mind anyone or present a problem.

They do manage to lure dogs away from home and then the dogs are dead and eaten. So What method they use doesn't matter. The pets are at risk.

 

[EddieWalker]

I haven't seen or herd of a coyote barking at the fence, but yesterday my Mom saw one grab one of our free ranging chickens out of our yard just around noon. No sound, she was weeding in the garden and glanced up when she saw the movement. We have a hot wire around 11 acres that keeps everyone inside the fence safe, but some of them like to wonder off and those are the ones we lose. A couple months ago, first thing in the morning, we heard one cry out real loud, and then it kept yelping over and over again. It was in a lot of pain and wanted everyone to know it. We think that it hit the hot wire real good and got a full zap of the electricity. I followed the sound, but it kept just out of site until it crossed the creek onto a neighbors property. We are now planning on fencing in another five acres around the house to protect the chickens. Eventually we will have the entire place fenced in, but that's taking a very long time and there is no idea when it will finally happen.

 

[beowulf]

Neighbors lost chickens as fast as they raised them. They finally gave up when they got tired of ripped up pens and missing chickens.

That is precisely what happened to us. Coyotes would pick off chickens one at a time - and it seemed it would usually be the plumpest chicken they would take next. We would see a coyote loping away with one in its mouth every few days. Later, something got into the coop one night and killed every single chicken in a sort of frenzy - dead chickens everywhere. We were told it was likely a weasel. At least the coyotes took them one by one and for food. Anyway, that was the end of our chicken raising venture.