Coyotes in Southern Ohio

[brewdog]

I was Deer Hunting with my son this year in southwestern Ohio and one of the local young fellas hunting with us was telling us he sees Coyotes in his back yard all the time. They're afraid to let the kids play out in the yard.

There really needs to be a "bounty" put on them. The population is growing out of control. They have populated every county in PA, and I imagine everywhere else too. Forty years ago there wasn't a Coyote anywhere in PA. We had wild pheasants too. We live in rural PA and I hear the Coyotes at night but never see them in our field.

What are you guys seeing in other parts of the country?

 

[BigD9]

Yes, we see and hear them here in Central Kentucky.

 

[PMA]

I am 57 years old and never saw a coyote until around 15 years ago. Now they are everywhere. I haven't seen in a red fox in years and only a few greys. We use to have some of the best quail hunting around but now they have all but gone.

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[S. Shaner]

PA just passed (in the house) a $25/per bounty on coyotes. Looks like it will become law. Here, west of Pittsburgh, we fairly regularly see them or evidence that they were here.

 

[Gunny]

They're pretty thick here in Northern Kentucky, so it's no wonder to me that you have them in South Western Ohio. When I step outside in the early morning, I can hear a bunch of them howling up on the hill behind the farm. Just about every time I was out in the boat this past year, I'd always see at least one or two running along the riverbank.

Post an ad on Craigslist or in the local paper for people to hunt or trap them, around here there's always somebody wanting a place to hunt them, but keep an eye on them and what they're doing until you're sure they're doing it in a safe and responsible manner.

They're kind of like wild hogs, it's not going to be easy to get rid of them, you clean them out of one farm, others will quickly move in.

 

[PMA]

PA just passed (in the house) a $25/per bounty on coyotes. Looks like it will become law. Here, west of Pittsburgh, we fairly regularly see them or evidence that they were here.

Wish SC would do that. They say they kill 30% of the baby deer each year here. Seldom see many rabbits anymore.

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[polo1665]

We recorded four of them on security cameras, patrolling around our house a few weeks ago.

8:30 at night, we were watching TV...... had no idea they were out there. Only reason I even looked at the DVR was due to dog prints found in the snow outside our front door. We live between Pittsburgh and Canton, Ohio.

 

[CaptFerd]

I've seen them on the banks of the Ohio river while fishing from my boat. Very close to downtown Cincinnati.

 

[DKCDKC]

Coyotes are in Virginia, and have been. Our country had a bounty on them when they first appeared years ago. However, they dropped the bounty two years ago when experts said it wasn't doing any good, and numbers were increasing anyway. The experts said that shooting some coyotes just opened range for others and the birth rate would increase to reach a staple population. They do kill some deer here, but spend most of their time on rabbits, groundhogs (a very good thing) and other small mammals. They have eliminated the feral cat problem -they love cat meat. We lost out quail population here in the Valley of Virginia some years ago to the decline in small farming and feral cats - but I don't expect quail to make a return. Our turkey population seems to be holding its own against the coyotes.

I have four or five coyotes on my 120 wooded acres most of the time. My deer hunters have killed a half dozen over the years. I got a rifle sighted in on the wooded hill behind my home now, so when I sometimes see them there I can go out on the deck and pop them.

Like multi-flora rose, autumn olive and other invasive species, coyotes are here to stay, so we have to just learn to live with them. When we eliminated wolves, a lot of foxes, mountain lions and other such predators, it was only a matter of time before Mother Nature filled in the gap.

 

[rekees4300]

What are you guys seeing in other parts of the country?

Coyotes cover all of North America. See/hear them here in SE Indiana all the time. Had to start packin' for protection during dog walks!