My wife is divorcing me over coyotes

[Slamfire]

My youngest son bought a gravid red wolf *****, that welped 7 pups/cubs. She was killed before she taught them everything there was to know about being wolves. Between sales, and ones that died somehow, we are down to 3. They do not tolerate coyotes. We can hear the dogs in the neighborhood going off as the 'yotes circle the neighborhood just devilin' the local mutts. They don't come near my place, and if they make a mistake in judgement turn into worlf scat. I don't know how NY feels about wolves, but here you can inoculate your own pets and acquire a rabies certificate, licenses are not required in rural counties.

 

[texasjohn]

Hmm... well all that can be said seems to have been said... Speaking for myself, if I were in your shoes, I would:

Keep rifle larger than .22 handy, unless you are not trained and comfortable or accurate with it.

Use 00 shot in shotgun... if you must use a shotgun... but range is very limited.

Visit neighbors and let them know you are concerned about coyotes or hybrids or wild dogs in the area.... don't threaten, just let them know you feel very threatened, personally. Observe their dogs/pets so you can avoid targeting them if possible... but hopefully they are being restrained to their home territory by your neighbors... if not, then you are now aware of that. I would agree with the comments of others that the behavior you describe seems uncharacteristic of the coyotes that I am familar with... however, very common for packs of free ranging domestic dogs doing baad things.

Obtain snares for coyotes and large enough for dogs, since you could get either. I purchased 12 heavy snares at the local ranch supply store for $29. Learn to set them where you see the obvious scat and trails... and, very important, run your snare line very early in the morning.... and, observe the numerous S's... snare, shoot, shovel, silence.... you will catch something... maybe what you are after, maybe not... if you set the snares only on your property and only where you SHOULD catch your tartet animal, that is the best you can do. However, if others know you are doing this,they will attribute all strange occurances and disappearances to you... and some will not be happy about it... so... shhh...mum's the word...and, you'll have to determine the local laws re taking coyotes. In Texas, they may be taken all year round. Also, dogs on your property may be shot if you personally or your property (livestock, pets, etc.) are in immediate danger because of them.

You can seek to hunt them.. I'd start in daylight... sitting in a stand... and be aware that they are extremely wary and have superlative noses. I wish you success but predict you will spend a lot of time observing nature without seeing your target. A rabbit call at night can be effective but again position yourself carefully and use a red headlight for spotting. Again, success will likely elude you.

Here in Texas snares seem to be the most effective at actually catching coyotes. They can be set either with or without bait. There is information on the net about how to set them....PM me if you can't find it. They work day and night... forever until they catch something...if you leave them set that long...They are the most effective, low dollar cost, least time comitted approach that I know of.

Be aware that you will not eradicate whatever is bothering you. You may get some, maybe even all of the pack you have heard but not seen yet... but more will move in... either coyotes or dogs or hybrids... so,this will be an ongoing activity. Be prepared for that... and adopt the attitude that this gives you a reason to wander over your property at odd times doing odd things.... and, remember, you and your neighbors will be happier if you simply do your deeds without comment, bragging, fanfare, or mentioning it at all.... you may even decide to keep your wife in the dark regarding the extent of your activities..... if you are successful in your efforts, the instances of concern will reduce and hopefully your wife will decide to stay in the neighborhood with you.

Good luck!!! But, don't tell me about it!!!

 

[scesnick]

Antifreeze !!! might not be legal, might not even be ethical. But if you are like me, when it comes down to my childrens saftey I will do what ever it takes, PERIOD.

 

[MarkV]

That sure had to be a scary experience for you and the family. I do hate that it is affecting the kids and wife’s comfort level at your new home.

I don’t know that much about coyotes. I am told we have some in our area but I have never heard them at night or seen one so we can’t have that many. Does anyone know of any actual statistics showing if or how many attacks there have been to humans by coyotes? I guess it happens, I just don’t hear of it in my part of the world.

MarkV

 

[dmccarty]

Mark,

I just googled on coyote attacks on people. I did not find a study but I sure got lots of hits. There certainly is alot of info on kids being attacked and in one case killed by coyotes. One 13 month old was attacked and many kids aged 3-5 years old seem to be mentioned frequently. One girl was killed in 1981 in CA. Many of these kids where attacked in their yard or on their porch. My guess is that parents are letting their 3-5 year old a bit of freedom and at that age/size the coyotes view the kids as food. This does not make me happy at all since my kids are that age and we let them play on the porch all of the time....

One thing I did pick up from a government source is that problem coyotes seem to escalate in behavior which certainly makes since. At first you don't see em. Then you do. Next pets start to disappear. Then attacks on people. In my neighborhood only one home lets pets run loose from what I can see and they have a bunch of dogs so they likely are not at risk. I have seen one coyote near the house and seen evidence they have been here. Our dog has chased them off a couple of times.

Later,
Dan

 

[plumboy]

I have never heard of a cyote attacking anyone.They do anything and everything to stay away and not be seen by humans.You might have coy dogs,they can be a problem.I think if you do anything you should man up, stay up late and shoot them,not use poison.When I'm out I always have a gun with me at night but I'm not worried about the cyotes,its the wild dogs I dont want to run up on.That and the koon hunters(pot farmers).

 

[EddieWalker]

I have never heard of a cyote attacking anyone.They do anything and everything to stay away and not be seen by humans.You might have coy dogs,they can be a problem.I think if you do anything you should man up, stay up late and shoot them,not use poison.When I'm out I always have a gun with me at night but I'm not worried about the cyotes,its the wild dogs I dont want to run up on.That and the koon hunters(pot farmers).

Plumboy,

It's actually fairly common for them to attack small kids and pets. When I was stationed at Camp Pendleton in the Marine Corps, we had several attacks in one year. It was news on base, but not anywhere else. For what ever reason, you rarely hear about animal attacks on humans unless somebody dies.

Black bears kill more humans than Grizzly and Brown bears combined, but it's rarely reported.

Whitetail deer kill more humans than any other native wildlife in North America. But again, it's not common knowledge. The attacks are usually pets and livestock, but I think traffic accidents might account for some of them those deaths too, but I don't remember reading that.

As for you comment of "you should man up, stay up late and shoot them,not use poison" sounds more like TV than reality. When you shoot one coyote, the rest scatter. If you can get two, that would be amazing. In real life, things don't work like they do on TV.

If you had kids and you were worried about their saftey, there is no such thing as a wrong method to protectect them. To "man up" and risk your kids saftey when poison is a proven, effective method to eliminate a problem pack of animals is inexcusable.

Eddie

 

[plumboy]

Well in my AREA it is unheard of for somebody to get taken by a cyote.As a matter of fact I've had them on my back porch cause I throw scraps out and at the slightest noise they are gone,very timid.Poison is cowardly.A way of not dealing with the animals in person.Snaring is a good way.Once he shoots a couple they wont frequent as much.TV...lol..you dont need to tell me how to kill something,its not difficult.It just takes up our precious tv time,or internet time uno.Sometimes you have to do without to do the right thing.Where did all that info come from,human deaths by wildlife,personal experience or the internet?

 

[wushaw]

Tom_H, that was a great post and reminded me of the time when I was a kid camping alone and woke up early with a coyote sitting on the other side of the campfire coals watching me sleep, I think he/she was more startled than I was. I've had many close encounters since.
The local pack does a decent job of keeping the rodets and rabbits in check.

Laminerman, if you decide to hunt the coyotes I would suggest using decoys like a jumping rabbit with a tape recorder of a squelling rabbit close to it. They will focus on the bouncing rabbit while you can take a clean shot. This can be used duing the day or late evening while you have good daylight.
This may attract local dogs and other predators within hearing range.

If you built a fence and buried cattle panels a few inches below the fence then it would take an extremely smart coyote to dig a few feet from the fence then tunnel five feet in order to just get under the fence.
I use horse panels for my dog kennel...it works.

 

[sendero]

Well in my AREA it is unheard of for somebody to get taken by a cyote.

Around here, it is not unheard of. A fellow I buy fish from (for my pond) related stories of a couple of attacks in our area. Nodody was hurt, but one had to jump up into a hayloft and stay for a while.

This guy had this to say. He said that coyotes are not dangerous to humans, they prefer to avoid them at all costs. But in our area, a lot of the coyotes have bred with dogs. His claim is that these coyotes are much less afraid of people and can be quite aggressive.

We hear the yelping packs from time to time. Saturday night, there was one probably not more than a thousand feet away. I do not go out at night without a firearm.