How to rid Coyote's

[Richard]

Seems we have coyote's around us.

At night, then can make the worst racket.... sounds like they are simply eating each other (or something else) alive....

We have the obligatory small dogs (note avatar) and cats.

Over the years, it sounds like there are more of them and at times, getting pretty close to the house. Wife says she has heard them directly behind the house in the woods (woods start about 20' behind the house).

I get that their voices carry and they might be a distance away however, with some dogs on the other side of the farm as a known location, these guys are pretty close.

So, that said.... I understand there is an open season on them year round however, you have to shoot them during the day or something like that?

(I'm not a hunter, own no guns but, am not against any hunting especially if it means thinning out little SOB's that might create a real bad night for me if they ever got ahold of one of our dogs or cats)

I'm now willing to wage some war on them but, have no clue what might work.

Poison? Nope, don't like that
Live traps? I'm guessing that won't work
Buy a gun, buy some night vision? (now you have my attention)

The land we live on is surrounded on three sides by a lake so their ways in and out are somewhat limited. If I could put a dent in them, it might take them a while to repopulate since their ways in here are restricted.

Thoughts?

It really is a blood curdling sound they make when they are doing whatever they are doing. What ARE they doing when they sound like they are eating and attacking something alive?

 

[lilranch2001]

I do not know much about them, but I have seen some wondering around my property and they are nasty looking critters
I have never been able to get my gun fast enough......

 

[DT86]

Honestly, if you don't hunt or own guns now I'd say leave it to someone else.

People ask me all the time to come coyote hunting on the farm. The ones I let come have mixed success. The guys that do the best have mucho dinero and time invested.

 

[sseelhoff]

Get a roadrunner.

 

[DuckSlayer1017]

See if you can find someone that will trap them. If you want to hunt them you may want to go on a guided coyote hunt to learn the ropes before you go out on your own.

 

[Tomtint]

Trap one, shoot it in the head with a 22, then hang it. Wait for its brothers and sisters to show up then blast all of them.

 

[EddieWalker]

There is nothing as satisfying as killing coyote. Sadly, I'm lucky if I kill half a dozen a year. I've had some success with calling them in, but it's time consuming and most of the time they don't come in like you want them to. Sometimes bobcats show up too. My best results are after I shoot a wild hog and I leave the gut pile out in the middle of a field. Three days later, when the buzzards are thick, the coyotes show up and hang out there.

I honestly don't think you can affect their population by killing them. When their numbers are down, they have more babies. When they are overpopulated, they have fewer babies. I've lost close to 20 cats over the last decade to coyotes. If you have cats that are outdoors catching mice, it's just a matter of time until a coyote eats it. I've also lost chickens, ducks and guineas to coyotes. I had one group of two coyotes kill 7 ducks and leave five of them behind. Just killed them for fun.

A couple years ago I installed a hot wire around my pasture where the ducks and guineas are. One is just inches off the ground, the next is about a foot up, then the top one keeps the horses in at 3 feet up. Since then, we haven't lost a single animal to coyotes. We can see their tracks walking around the fence, and where they test it and run away. It's very effective!!!!!

Something that I do all the time after it rains is to go for a walk in the mud and look at the tracks out there. Coyotes tracks are very easy to see. 4 toes with claws. The claws are the important thing since cats never walk with their claws out. They will look bigger because of the mud, that doesn't matter. Seeing their tracks and seeing how close they come to the house, your animals and out buildings is what matters. I've seen tracks inches from my house!!!!

 

[Sysop]

We have them around our place too. Generally when they're all cackling about, it's during the final moments of the kill, and the frenzy of tearing apart a fresh meal.

My advice, get some of the "driveway alert" motion detectors that sound tones on a unit in your house and identifies where something is moving around outside your house. That will let you know if they get close and where around the house they are. I personally wouldn't go after one with less than a 12 gauge shotgun. Not that it takes one to kill a coyote, but ya need the quick "point and click" without worrying so much about perfect aim. To see one standing still is a rare thing and having a spread to the shot increases the chances of a kill dramatically. To go hunting and find them, you need to be able to track them. They maintain large territories, so expect a hike if you want to go hunt them. That said, if you find or know of a path they travel; setting and waiting works also. Generally just shooting at them will cause them to alter their travel patterns. So you may not need to kill any to get rid of them. They're smart, and they figure it out quickly when something higher up the food chain is hunting them.

 

[sdef]

I have no coyote experience and they are rare very locally, but I understand they are more prevalent down the road a piece from our new home.

I am fencing the cleared portion of my back yard to help protect the garden from the deer and the wife's cats from feral cats, fox, dogs and potential coyote. I am armed and experienced and also have a fine cross bow I purchased for this purpose that is spot on. I understand coyote are very wily and would expect that to make a dent in their population would a challenge, especially for an inexperienced hunter/marksman. But since the entrance and exit to your place is limited, it sounds like an experienced marksman could be helpful to get the point across to the critters to stay away. But this would be time consuming and more conducive for the land owner to accomplish.

One way or the other I certainly think it prudent to arm oneself and train for future endeavors, although it may not be of immediate help for you. You may want to consider photo eye lights, sprinklers, sound, etc. for those close to the house as a first step towards deterrence.

 

[BHD]

I do not think you will ever get rid of them, you may lessen them some but get rid of them, my neighbor is or was an avid hunter, one winter he had over a 100 coyotes hanging in his shop (selling the skins), I never noticed the "reduction in them". I have shot them in my yard, 15 feet behind the barn, 30 feet front of the house, can hear them running with in 100 yards running north of the trees, a lot in the evening, I from time to time have some kids who want to try to call them in, and they may get a few a winter, I get a few from time to time, but to eliminate them I do not think so,

 

[k0ua]

I guarantee they will eat your cats, and smaller dogs too. We have lost some cats to them. 12 gauge with #4 or even 00 buckshot will work out to about 40 yards. They get pretty wary after being shot at even if not killed. They are NOT stupid, and they learn pretty fast. I blast when ever I get a chance, but I don't get a lot of chances. A 12 gauge pump shotgun is a good investment in any case..if you have open areas (fields) and a sufficient backstop then an AR-15 is a good remedy for them.

 

[Raspy]

It's probably better to bring the cat in at night. You can't really tell how far away they are from their singing. Killing them is one of the things that INCREASE their population. And killing them for fun is a very ugly thing to do.

Enjoy their song. You chose to live in the country and they are part of it. If you want to know a bit more about what they might be like, read the thread "Found a coyote, I think" in the Rural living section. You might find they are much more like your dogs than you thought?

We have a lot of them around here too. I like listening to them at night with their wild kind of joy.

 

[jerrybob]

Here's another method of getting rid of coyotes......

How Hillbilly Farmers get rid of Unwanted Coyotes - YouTube

 

[L39matt]

I borrow an electric call from a friend. The most common kill is cats and chickens around here so I use a chicken distress call, seems to work well. I set it up at night and wait quietly for one to come out of the brush. It works well for the ones that are used to hunting around houses. Once I kill the one or two there are no problems for a while but eventually they come back. I use an AR or the shotgun.

 

[Scrambler82]

Coyotes are around the hous in SoCal but it is part,of,living here.
The more we take away their environment the more they will bother us.
They also work the area in cycles, I think that allows the food sources to recoup a little or just get used to them not being around.
My 20 ha with 4 shot does the trick nicely, get one and they stay away for awhile.

I don't think you will get rid of them completely !

 

[prichard]

There was recently another thread on here and many were saying what I heard before. They are opportunistic. Make it hard they move on. If you take out a couple they won't be back for awhile.

Not sure how much is habitat destruction. What I've been reading says there are likely more here than 100 - 200 years ago. Limited predators and people aren't after pelts like they used to be.

 

[Pilot]

First thing I would do is to alter the habitat--for whatever they are eating or for them. If you have brush around your place, clear the brush.

I have limited, but interesting experience with them. Just after we built our house--brush & scattered timber on one side and nursery stock on the other. Got a call from my wife. She had been eating breakfast and looked up to see a coyote sitting on our back deck watching her thru the glass door, not 15 feet away. Stayed 2 or 3 minutes.

Coyote got our cat shortly after we moved into that house. Used to see feral cats, but they slowly disappeared.

A kitten followed us home & we decided to keep it. When he was an adult, we used to let him out in the evening to relieve himself before we went to bed. One night he didn't come back. It was November so I left for work before daylight & there wasn't much light to search for him or his remains before or after work. Next morning I opened the door to leave & he came shooting in, sopping wet and smelling of pitch. So he had spent 2 nights up in a tree. He spent the whole day by my wife's side.

When I was young I got a varmint call. Friend & I set up one night, back to back in an area with lots of rabbits and I blasted away on the call. In just a minute or 2 we heard a noise overhead. Flashlight showed an owl about 2 ft. above Bob's white cowboy hat. Let things quiet down, blew on the call again and sure enough, that owl came back again, this time maybe 4 ft. above Bob's hat. That owl came back about 4 or 5 times.

Another time I was a greenhorn in the woods, sat down with my legs stretched out in what I thought was a likely spot and blew on the call. In a minute or so several mice came from behind me scampering along my legs and some over my pants heading into the weeds. Something was behind me but when I turned around it was gone. Never heard a sound.

All I can say is those wounded rabbit calls are pretty good for some critters.

 

[oosik]

At night I can hear three distinct packs of coyotes - to the West, to the South, and again, to the North. They will let me know they are around and always looking for the easy meal by "marking their territory". They poop where my driveway ends and dumps into my yard and again at the far edge of my lawn.

The neighbor went on a hunting spree this spring and over a two week period he killed seventeen. He was pleased with his success and asked when he was last over if I noticed any difference. Unfortunately, I have noticed no difference. I think killing the seventeen just made way for those in close outlying areas to move in a little closer.

Its kind of like spraying the yard and killing mosquitos - the vacant territory is soon repopulated by those from close outlying areas.

Its also like digging a hole in the sand, near the ocean and hoping to dry up the ocean by baling water out of the hole you dug.

There is a never-ending supply - - always has been, alway will be.

 

[kidr]

Here's the problem.In a pack only the alpha female breeds. If you kill this female all the females will breed. You will end up with the the same number of coyotes or more. bounty programs are a miserable failure because of this.
We have a couple of packs that seem to come and go, and I have an individual who lives in a thicket nearby. None them bother my neighbors or me. Their main prey seems to be 'possums and rodents. They also eat carrion and berries.
I rather enjoy listening to them in the evening.It's fun to watch them hunting field rats.Unlike a dog they are very graceful and fluid in movement. In general they are better neighbors than some humans around here.

 

[Tomtint]

If I did not have dogs of my own, I would have no problem with them. I have a senior Weimariner that would be easy for them to take down and a 5 year old Doberman that would pose a challenge for one or two of them. But a pack would over power him as well.