Coyote Ran by Me Today

[MF1652]

In New Hampshire they are legal to kill year round. The only restriction is against poisoning them. Trapping and shooting them is fine here.

 

[J35]

Sounds like a good solution, but we are within 400 feet of other houses and people.

If they are not bothering you or your stock don't worry about it, probably just mousing in the field.

Kill your present crop off and the next ones that move in might really cause you problems.

Don't rock the boat ---- J

 

[Raspy]

This is part of the reason there are so many. So many people want to use them for target practice or don't understand how many rodents coyotes consume. They can be a nuisance and dangerous, but the solution isn't always to start shooting, especially when it's just for fun or because you don't understand the repercussions.

Learn some more about coyotes and you'll understand that killing them INCREASES their numbers. It actually causes others in the pack to have more and larger litters. Poisoning them leads to the poisoning of birds and other scavengers. Eradication measures by states have proven to be ineffective at reducing the population.

Coyotes have expanded their population from Alaska to South America and across the width of the US. They are here to stay and a "kill 'em" attitude has only helped with that expansion. Do the research and you'll see what I mean.

If you want to understand them better, take a look at your own domestic dog. The significant difference is that coyotes live in a pack, are wary of humans and must kill prey or scavenge to survive. They are also happy to eat fruit, berries, lizards, roadkill, etc. Domestic dogs are pack animals and are used to humans who also feed and shelter them. Domestics are less driven by instinct, maybe, but they are all dogs from the same roots. Coyotes are more determined and wily. Coyotes like to patrol around at night and that is when cats like to be out to. If you leave garbage out for them, you can't expect them to stay away.

 

[JoeBuyer]

I agree that coyotes keep the rodents in check as well as clean up dead calves, etc. Unless you have smaller livestock like goats or chickens, I would let the coyote population stabilize and stay wary of humans. When the neighboring farms shoot the coyotes, our rodent population increases and the new coyotes that move in are less wary.

 

[big bubba]

Today about 3:00 pm when I was cutting the grass a coyote ran by about 50 feet from me. There are lots of coyotes in the woods around us. This is the first time I have seen one out in the open in the bright sun. Attatched is a picture that looks like the one I saw.

you have a really nice pic there...it is yours? ok. stepping on a lot of toes. lots of vendettas out there, & venom. to me the coyote is a beautiful animal. & free ..... and, of course, encroaching on all of your personal prop/belongs. ok shoot them, you decide what's important. ****, i'd shoot the wild hogs marauding my hay fields. but, well...i donno, think the coyote has a bad rap. a better survivor than you or me. can you see any beauty in the animal, or just another cockroach? please excuse the thorn in side....... shall we have all suburbia with manly control? coyote gun in one hand, Roundup in another? ....

 

[Raspy]

Here's some pictures of one I know quite well:

 

[big bubba]

good for you....& the animals.

 

[big bubba]

i do make a concession on coyotes as this is a forum on safety...rabies & spread of other canine diseases can be problematic if left unchecked. had to shoot one in it's last stages of (parvo? distemper?). understand thinning population for that reason. just don't understand killing for sport or recreation. overall i like the animal...now wild hogs are a different story in my book.....

 

[Tig]

I've been around them all my life. I remember it being spooky walking home as a teenager, late at night, long dirt road and the coyotes whooping it up somewhere on the other side of the fence that separated the field from the road. They always sound like so many and so close.
Now a days, I often see their tracks around my house in the mud and snow. In the winter they are easy to spot, traveling on the lake.
The only time we ever have problems with coyotes or any other animal for that matter, is when people start feeding them. Otherwise they just keep the critters in balance like they are supposed to.

 

[dave1949]

I've been around them all my life. I remember it being spooky walking home as a teenager, late at night, long dirt road and the coyotes whooping it up somewhere on the other side of the fence that separated the field from the road. They always sound like so many and so close.
Now a days, I often see their tracks around my house in the mud and snow. In the winter they are easy to spot, traveling on the lake.
The only time we ever have problems with coyotes or any other animal for that matter, is when people start feeding them. Otherwise they just keep the critters in balance like they are supposed to.

That's my feeling too. We have them around, I think maybe the road out front is a territory boundary lately. I will hear two different groups howling and yipping, one from each direction. They leave scat on our trails and our dogs have scent marking contests with them.

I know feelings about coyotes run strong. They are an invasive species here like most of the eastern US, but most likely only because wolfs were eliminated leaving a predator niche open. I don't like it when deer hunting revenue becomes more important than wildlife diversity and balance. Besides the research showing that coyotes increase their litter supply to match the resources available, it just isn't a valid long-term strategy to manage wildlife to optimize for one species such as deer.

When deer hunters pop out of the woods 100 feet from my house, it means they don't even know where my house is. That is not a comforting thought and they represent a bigger danger to me than any coyote ever will.

We certainly have coyotes around, but also deer and the neighbor's roaming cats. I can't see that having coyotes is eliminating the deer by any means and the cats are surviving too. To my mind, the cats are probably harder on native wildlife than the coyotes when cats are allowed to roam. The cats don't belong here either, they are also an invasive species. When coyotes eat cats, it could be because the cats aren't where they should be to begin with.

The hair in coyote scat here looks to be mostly snowshoe hare, in the late summer it is loaded with blackberry seeds. I'm sure they eat their share of white-footed mice and voles too.

The people who keep livestock may have a valid reason to kill coyotes but even then, somewhere there has to be a balance between protecting livestock and decimating whatever happens to make that more difficult or expensive.

The woods around here would be a poorer place if I can't step outside and hear a coyote now and then. As people take over more and more habitat space, we have to make choices on co-existing with and preserving wildlife if there is to be any left.