Coyotes Pushing Their Limits & Luck

[Kevin Dill]

We live in rural Ohio. Over the past many years the coyote population has really increased; mainly due to great habitat and prey availability. In response I've been killing them with some degree of regularity here on my farm.

Last night at 9:30 my wife was outside with our dog when she saw movement ahead of her. Shining the flashlight she was able to identify a big coyote just on the edge of our lawn. She immediately located our dog and put her inside. Keeping track of the yote, she tapped on the window and alerted me. I brought the .223 to our dining room and dropped a window. The coyote was basically prowling back and forth on the edge of our lawn and clearly wanting to come toward the house. With the bright flashlight on it, I dialed the scope down and killed it with one shot at 40 yards. My wife said another coyote was out there somewhere, but we couldn't locate it.

This morning another coyote was in close to our home. It was just after daylight and I again dropped a window for the kill.....which didn't happen. This dog spooked and buggered off for the weeds in a hurry. I'll be watching for him today and going forward.

None of this really shocks me. We find coyote scat around our home at times, and we hear them howl extremely close some nights. I've had them run right past me while talking with an employee. They are surprisingly brave when they sense an opportunity. And this is further reinforced by the following story which I noticed today:

https://www.wsaz.com/content/news/N...s-off-coyote-with-baseball-bat-522545051.html

 

[dakotaduner]

Very lucky the woman in the article fought back and won. These animals need the fear of man

 

[Billy Goat]

I basically always have a truck or tractor gun with me now. I hardly ever see them hunting mornings or evenings, but drive laps in a field middle of the day with a tractor and they will walk right through it. Actually had a bear walk right through while I was planting this year.

 

[coyotecreek]

I hear them most every night here in Western Kansas. Snared two of them last winter coming through my yard on our farm, 100 yards from the house. Always see tracks in the snow. They go where they think they can find an easy meal.

 

[cbeck36]

Go to any neighborhood in SoCal, whether it’s rural or industrial. Turn your lights of and watch the show. It’s unbelievable how many there are.

 

[wildwilderness]

Trapping is the only way to put a dent in the population (other than poison but thats generally not legal anymore). My buddy ran a trap line on his Arkansas lease and got 40 the first year. Way more than he thought were even there! Saw a bunch more fawns that next summer as well

 

[bowieknife50]

The two last living things on earth will be coyotes and cochroaches.

It's very interesting to me how coyotes will act with dogs in different situations. They will regularly predate even medium size dogs in many places, but you put a barking hound on their track and they will run like a top notch coward. Never once had a coyote turn to fight a hound untilit didn't have another option.

When I lived in downtown Lansing I saw them at night. Saw one trot right down the middle of my street twice about midnight one am. Screwed up and yelled at it once. Sat up a few more nights with my bow but it never came back.

If you dig into the research there's really no great way to reduce coyote populations period. Literally the more you kill the higher the population gets because it changes both social structure and litter sizes.

Somebody in our group wounded one about 10am one day. Dogs ran it until dark and never caught it, it bled and drug one leg that whole time. They are amazing critters.

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[Treerat-sniper]

I found a fresh rabbit kill on my property this afternoon, I've had them come within feet of the house going after my dogs.