Night before last I was treated to a serenade -- I figure it must have been 5 or 6 of the critters yowlin' and howlin' back and forth to each other. It went on for quite some time.

Whereas it used to be one, now there is a pack, and I don't like it one bit. I called my neighbor Robert yesterday, since he's a cattleman with pasture adjacent to mine, hoping for some advice or concerted joint action in the neighborhood before any more house cats (as opposed to "field lions") disappear, or worse, we start losing calves or colts in the spring.

He said he'd think on it and get back to me.

This morning, the following arrived in my in-box:

"There's two strategies, one developed in California, and the other in Idaho. Which do you prefer?

California:

The Governor of California is hiking with his dog along a nature trail. A coyote jumps out and attacks the Governor's dog, then bites the Governor.

1. The Governor starts to intervene, but reflects upon the movie "Bambi" and then realizes he should stop because the coyote is only doing what is natural.

2. He calls animal control. Animal Control captures the coyote and bills the State $200 testing it for diseases and $500 for relocating it.

3. He calls a veterinarian. The vet collects the dead dog and bills the State $200 testing it for diseases.

4. The Governor goes to the hospital and spends $3,500 getting checked for diseases from the coyote and on getting his bite wound bandaged.

5. The hiking trail gets shut down for 6 months while Fish & Game conducts a $100,000 survey to make sure the area is now free of dangerous animals.

6. The Governor spends $50,000 in state funds implementing a "coyote awareness program" for residents of the area.

7. The State Legislature spends $2 million to study how to better treat rabies and how to permanently eradicate the disease throughout the world.

8. The Governor's security agent is fired for not stopping the attack. The State spends $150,000 to hire and train a new agent with additional special training re: the nature of coyotes.

9. PETA protests the coyote's relocation and files a $5 million suit against the State.


Idaho:

The Governor of Idaho is hiking with his dog along a nature trail. A Coyote jumps out and attacks his dog.

1. The Governor shoots the coyote with his State-issued pistol and keeps hiking. The Governor has spent $0.50 on a .45 ACP hollow point cartridge.

2. The buzzards eat the dead coyote.

And that, my friend, is why California is bankrupt and Idaho is not!"


I don't know if Robert's "suggestion" will be of any practical help, but I sure got a chuckle.


Bullseye

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Five screws and 3-1/2 inches.

if you were just a wee bit closer id come take care of them for you, thats the only animal in the woods i have no respect for and they give me the heebie jeebies. heres a good story........

I live in Wise county virginia, home of the strip mines/coal fields. I was out scouting around one day (had my .270) and saw a coyote out in front of me about 200 yards up a strip road. It ran away and I thought nothing of it. I walked for a good 45 minutes to an hour and decided id head back. I got around to where i first saw that coyote and noticed some more tracks in the mud......... thought nothing of it again. I decide to go on back to the truck and head home. Im walking down the dirt road and look out ahead of me and see another coyote, this one was a little smaller then the first and i figure its going to take off, and it does, right off the trail downa hill. I walk a little more and the coyote comes out again onto the road and stares me down, walks off. (its staying a GOOD distance away from me just walking right off the trail then back on but im anxious now) I decide im going to set on a rock on the side of the strip road and wait to see if it walks out again, I set for about 10 minutes and nothing, i figure it has finally buggered off, when i stand up off the rock I notice something out of the corner of my eye from where I had been walking from, 3 more coyotes had been tailing me the whole time and it was like the first one was leading me on?? Ive heard of some strange pack behavior and I knew they were smart hunters but I didnt expect anything like that. needless to say one dog went down and the others ran off. Now every time I see one it dies. we have an open season here and I take advantage of it. crazy, smart, nasty little things.

I love coyotes. I reallize what they do & all, but I still like to listen to their song & get a bit sad when I see a roadkill.

(This is the part where various people chime in with what an idiot tree hugger I am, what pests they are, livestock killers, etc ad nauseum. I already know.)

In 15 years we've never had one inside our fence, but I still like to supervise the dogs on their night time pee excursions.

Coyotes have made a big time recovery here. There's a large problem in Chicago (they're spotted downtown) and surrounding counties. Last month a Coyote was spotted on a chunk of ice floating in Lake Michigan. They sent a Police boat out and recovered the yote, stuck him in an animal shelter, and relocated him. Grundy county, north of Chicago, has put a $15 bounty on coyotes just recently. We'll see where this goes. Are they going to have a year round legal hunt? More than likely it will be trapping, if the program even gets off the ground. Hunters downstate here tell me the Coydogs are really bold.

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SOS USA

I call shenanigans...

Where did he get a hollow point .45 for only 50 cents a round? Or was that government pricing?

It's getting close to mating season for coyotes. They howl and 'pack' up for that reason more than any other.

I used to hunt coyotes for their pelts. To understand them better, we would examine stomach contents when skinning. I never--not once--found anything but mice and an occasional rabbit in a coyote's stomach. These were Kansas coyotes, living on the same land as cattle herds. Dogs, even domestic ones which will form packs, kill more livestock. YMMV.

Yotes in IND. can be taken year round but when they are in season you must go by the fair chase rules (exceptions for damage control). Now haveing said that they are becoming more of a problem,especially in March and April when the pups are learning/being taught to hunt. That is when we have calves on the ground, that and all the road kill deer make my place a giant draw station.

As for the OP do you want to get rid of the yotes? 5 or 6 will soon be 12 or 15 if you have the resorces for them to survive. Their are prob. more around already that may be who they were hollering at.

In Nevada, coyotes can be hunted 24/7/365 using any weapon of one's choice, using lights, using bait, no limits and no hunting license required. There is no bounty offered. You will just get the thanks of the Sheep Herders who know full well that the coyotes take a lot of lambs each spring.

I have observed that the closer to the edge of a Nevada city one lives, the fewer 'outside' house cats there are roaming around. :-) .......... Big Cholla

I once shot a coyote that was nipping on the ears of a baby calf while it's mother was down and delivering it. Being somewhat hindered by a slow delivery, she couldn't get up to defend her calf or herself.

Wiley got dead muy quick!!

One of my chores when I was a kid, was to go out in the evenin' and gather the ewes with new lambs into little bunches. My Grandpap, would have me take kerosene lanterns out and place them around them little bunches and shoot
5 .22 rounds in the air by each bunch. He said the light and the smell of gun powder kept the coyote away from the new lambs.

I sed all I was doin' was sendin' out a signal to the coyotes that dinner wuz served and I wuz even puttin' out a beacon to make it easier to find the lambs and and candle light for them enjoy their snack.

The family quit the sheep business maybe 40 years ago. It got so bad that one day there was 20 lambs born and coyotes killed 19 that night.

I have shot lots of coyotes out of a Piper Cub with a shot gun. Pilot flies down onto the deck behind a runnin' yodel pup. Shooter leans out the side of the plane, aims at the end of his tail, and touches her off.

Don't miss them days one leetle bit.

I quit the LE business and went back to ranchin' not long after they quit raisin' range lice.

I live in central OK and have seen a rapid increase in coyotes, both in the city and rural areas. On three occassions I have seen them in my neighborhood, once out my front door as the song dog trotted down the sidewalk. I have seen an alarming increase in numbers on my rural acreage. One pack to four in 5 years. When I was out visiting with neighbors at Christmas the main topic was coyote control. While I enjoy the song dogs when I camp, they have become a serious problem, along the feral hogs, which is another problem. Suffice it to say there's gonna have to be some organized predator control.

They come around my house at night but I don't bother them. They cause my dogs to wake me up at night but I still don't want to hurt them. I love their song.

I don't know what TX policy on them is but we need to take a serious look at ways to control them soon especially in urban areas. I live in a suburb of DFW and I've seen them @ night while driving home and even up near the airport in the mornings when I went that way to work. It's time for the tree hurgers and lovers out there to realize that things aren't the way 50 or so years ago and we've increased the areas we live in and there is no place for the wild animals to go. When I lived in central OH I'd see deer in the middle of the day next to the freeway that ran along the riverbed in the center of town. As much as I hate to see useless killing of animals we need to do something to get these populations down before there are serious problems.

O2B

I only have a few words on the subject of coyote control. We had a BAD problem with them on my West Tennessee farm up until two years ago. Deer production was way down 1998 - 2008. A friend told me he had placed two Mountain Cur dogs on his farm and within a couple of years no more 'yote problem. We did the same as he did in the early part of 2008 and have seen a major drop in the coyote population. Deer populations are making a good come back and this year, twice while walking a deer trail, I found the remains of a yote that the Cur dogs had taken care of. It use to be every time the train went by at night the 'yotes would start singing. This past deer season we only heard them a few times, and they where a LONG way off.

BTW, In Tennessee they are considered a pest and are open to hunting year round with no bag limits. There are some restrictions on the weapons used, but only during deer, bear, boar and turkey seasons.

Class III

I was all set to go after some song dogs today but when I first checked the weather it was foggy, cold and now the wind has come up to about 25mph. Any self respecting 'yote will be lying low for a while. I'll just have to go out on wednesday or so.

So, it is off to the man cave to load up some more ammo for the summer excursion to shoot prairie dogs. I figure somewhere in the neighbohood of 1000 rds each of 22-250 and 220 Swift with about 5-600 rounds of 243 should see me through a 3 day trip.

bob

see the story here Rick Perry Shoots And KILLS Coyote: Texas Gov Carried Laser-Sighted Pistol On Jog

It was the Texas governor who shot a coyote and made the news recently....and Ruger came out with a 'Coyote Special' 380 just for the occasion.

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On the Oak Savannah

I live in a suburban/urban neighborhood in Baltimore and the week before Christmas, I had a good size one in the backyard. Way to big to be a gray fox and it showed absolutely no fear of man. Guess we now know what happened to all the rabbits and neighborhood cats.

COOL!!! does that mean we can use dynamite or Claymore's? Ok, I didn't think so, but it was a good try.

I had an air conditioning tech that did some work for us before I retired. He was a good guy and we had some opportunity to talk (the idea of AC is you make an adjustment, then you sit and wait to see how it worked.) His pet is a wolf. I know, there are questions about the wisdom of it. But at least it was protective.

A few years ago they were out in their hot tub. The wolf growled. It knew every thing that moved or made a sound in its turf. Then it went on red alert. Unless you've seen a full grown male wolf do that, it does tend to get your attention. But it was frozen in place, just guarding.

Soon out in the back of their lot appeared a female coyote. It was just playing around, squatting to pee and acting frisky. After a little while the wolf had enough. It got up and trotted out to where the 'yote was enticing him. So she decided to trot out toward some overgrown brush. It was nothing for the much larger wolf to keep up. Soon it overtook the 'yote, reached over with its huge jaws and snapped the little female's neck. Then with its hackles up, it waited for the ambush to be sprung by the companions. Only one was stupid enough to try and take on the wolf. It died quickly, too.

The wolf then stood its ground for a while, waiting to see if any other critters wanted to challenge him for his turf. The others evaporated.

Late last winter we went to a seminar put on by the local park board on urban coyotes. I really don't trust much that the state paid naturalists have to say. They lost my trust when they publicly announced there were no mountain lions in the state. Well, that and telling me there were no poisonous snakes here, either. I have no idea what brand of political correctness dictates they say such ****.

But the gist of their presentation was that cars are the main killer of them. And that they think the population will remain steady as long as the food supply does. It was their feeling that the only reason they kill domestic dogs and cats is to prevent competition. But these are the same folks who also tell us we have no ground nesting birds, either. I guess I just imagine quail exploding upward, scaring the **** out of me...

OK, I don't like the critters one bit. I'll listen. But its not so much because I like the music, its that I'd like to shoot them. I listen to try to get an idea of how many there are.

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Dick Burg

dont know what part of KY you are from but you had to have heard of the lady having her dog ripped away from her on a neighborhood walk, it was all over our news stations.

They have made a big come back in SE Michigan. Neighbors and I shoot them when ever possible.
If they run out of mice or rabbits, they'll eat what ever they can.

Look for help and advice at www.coyotegods.com and www.varminthunters.com; both excellent forums with helpful members.

rburg: Sure you can IF you are a licensed blaster or a member of the Nevada National Guard!

Seriously, there is a little known and kept very quiet Federal Pest Eradication program run from the offices of the Federal Game and Fish; They employ experts to eradicate problem pests including coyotes when invited in by your local Government Officials. They use all sorts of methods, but the old fashioned Ghillie suit with a suppressed .22LR rifle method is used a lot. My rural home town in So. Nevada was being overrun by coyotes. The citizens were up in arms over the number of outside cats and little dogs they were losing. The Federal man came in by invite of the City Fathers and in about 6 months eliminated a little over 40 of an estimated 60 to 65 local coyotes. He then moved on to his next area of assignment. I was gunsmithing at the time and fixed a problem on his 10/22. Once, he killed a coyote on the front lawn of a home where the front door was open with a screen door closed while the family was watching late night TV and they never had a clue! .......... Big Cholla

That would be a fun job to have.

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- Change it back -

I live in sugar cane country here in louisiana. Haven't seen any rabbits in the last 5 years. We have coyotes and wild feral hogs.
I don't know what the regs are for coyotes but for wild hogs its 24/7 365 days a year. All you have to do is hold a valid hunting license. But have heard that the big hogs cannot be eaten and that the smaller ones can be pretty good. So where does one stop at guessing live weight to make sure he gets a good one?. Frank

my buddy had one that weighed right at 350 pounds ground up into sausage............... i didnt have any problems eating it.

Some years back bought a 40 acre mostly grass and woods place in Callaway county. The coyotes were fun to watch until they got way to brave. We found out we had a group of feral hogs also. I started to let two Orrang type Airedale dogs out of their pen coyotes ceased being a problem. Feral hogs were different. Those Airedales fear nothing and tore into those hogs and believe me had the fight of their life. Hogs just got tired of the hassle and moved on. Getting the Airedales back into their run was some problem. No matter how well trained, Airedales are hard headed when chasing prey. Great around kids and loyal to a fault...."They would guard their pauper masters as if he were a prince" Old Drum case Mo. Supreme Court archives..(Not about Airedales but same traits)

I'm not a sworn enemy of coyotes. It is simply that I consider them to be -- in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwestern Virginia -- an invasive species, one that has wreaked considerable havoc on the indigenous populations of rabbits, red squirrels, and other native wildlife.

That's why I think they've got to go. But, I could be wrong. Does anyone know what their native, or natural, range was? I've always thought it was west of Mississippi.

Thirty-five years ago, when I first started coming to this neck of the woods, coyotes were never seen, nor heard. Most folks here had never seen one, anywhere. Now, that situation has changed, considerably, and to the detriment of some of the native species.

When I'm out in South Dakota, I see and hear them, and in that place, I like them. If I was a rancher there, I'd feel differently, of course, and it strikes me that they belong there. But not here.

Rburg has it right about certain "wildlife experts" who claim that there are no mountain lions in Tennessee or Virginia. They are most definitely here, and a neighbor of mine claims he's actually seen a black one. A few years back there was a report in the local paper of a woman who was washing dishes and looked out the kitchen window above her sink and saw "a very funny looking deer, with short legs and a long tail," perched on a large rock outcropping in her backyard. When the shock of disbelief passed, she realized it was a mountain lion.

Jswiney9, I'll be in touch. Maybe we can work something out. I think, all things considered, that calling them in may be the best way to go, but I am also afraid that at this point the yodel dogs are so well established that we will never get rid of them.

Personally, I like the idea of trained wolves as a defense, but I am fairly certain that my cattle-raising neighbors would not be of the same mind.


Bullseye

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Five screws and 3-1/2 inches.

I live in southern Michigan, about 15 miles from the Ohio border. The neighborhood I walk my dog in is on the ourskirts of town. Last weekend I found a yearling doe that had been completely eaten. The hide was torn into 3" wide strips and the head was gone. I'm sure it was coyotes as I've never seen dogs running loose in the area. The kill was in the front yard of a house, not 50 feet from the front door.
Also, last week I saw 2 separate yotes hunting the edge of the field on the Ohio turnpike 20 miles east of Toledo. They were completely unphased by the traffic.

I feed them, enjoy their company.

"Rburg has it right about certain "wildlife experts" who claim that there are no mountain lions in Tennessee or Virginia. They are most definitely here, and a neighbor of mine claims he's actually seen a black one. A few years back there was a report in the local paper of a woman who was washing dishes and looked out the kitchen window above her sink and saw "a very funny looking deer, with short legs and a long tail," perched on a large rock outcropping in her backyard. When the shock of disbelief passed, she realized it was a mountain lion."

I have seen big cats here in Virginia-one in Bland County, which is on the Virginia-West Virginia border, and the other one in Frederick County, about 15 miles north west of Winchester.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

I am pretty sure your correct that their natural range was west of the Mississippi River. When man did not affect the balance, there was little overlap in the range of wolves and 'yottes. Wolf packs are territorial against Coyotes but not so much with foxes.

Coyotes have been very successful at living close to man and taking advantage of little preditor competition in the Eastern part of the country. Here in Central Ky we call Toy Poodles -- Coyote bait. I know people that have seen them in downtown Lexington early in the morning (3-4 am).

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Revolver luvin' Mountaineer

My sister-in-law has cats and their house backs up to a creek in Arlington Texas which butts up to Ft. worth. She has lost two to the yotes that run the creek for a long way. Animal control says they have no luck in trapping the yotes. All that is left of the cat is it's collar.

Silver77 I live in the south Arlington/north Mansfield TX area and have seen coyotes several times along the creeks & wetlands areas late at night. I'm surprised I haven't seen them in my neighboorhood yet.

O2B

I believe they have "Coyote Derbies" periodically just a few miles from me. Hop in your truck, ATV, or whathaveyou and chase them down. Think there was a bit of a PETA-type hubbub last time, though.

Big Cholla, do you happen to know what pests/varmints are fair game, so to speak? I've heard coyotes, jackrabbits, and some pest birds (magpies?) are OK, but I never knew for sure.

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This...is my BOOMSTICK

I will still shoot a 'yote, but I am convinced they do as much good as harm, in my area, anyhow.

They help keep the feral cat population under control. I think cats do a whole lot more damage to the small-game population than the coyotes do. I don't mind the 'yotes taking the occasional fawn, as the deer population can get out of hand, too.

One day about a week before Christmas I took some trash to dumpsters near home. As I was backing the truck to the dumpster, seven grown cats ran from between two of the dumpsters. I regularly see coyote scat on the roads on the farm, and the droppings are invariably filled with cat hair. I can't get to "het-up" about getting rid of something that is getting rid of cats.

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Georgia On My Mind

I know for a fact that what we call "Jackrabbits" and coyotes are on the pest list for unlimited, no-hunting-license-required hunting. We don't have any significant Magpie population here in Clark County, so I don't know about them. I think that a simple phone call to the Nevada Fish and Game Office in Reno would clarify the situation. Good Luck! .... Big Cholla

That's the one redeeming thing about coyotes. I like cats, but they need to be kept indoors. Outdoor cats are murder on song birds and other wildlife.