Yote hunting

[Reddog]

I got permission after deer hunting to do some predator control. During deer season I had noticed the yotes where traveling and bedding in both of the swamps on the property.

I picked a very calm snowy mid morning to go out and see what I could pull out of the front swamp. I was on the down wind side of the front swamp. Set up the critter and ecall, got set in a portable blind and started the ecall. After a few minutes started with some distress calls on an open reed, continuing on for around 30 minutes. Then shut every thing off and waited for a 10 or so minutes, nothing. Oh well that is hunting.

Packed up my stuff in the sled and then covered it with a white camo cloth and took the 243 for a little walk down wind to see what might show in the fresh snow. Just a 100yrds over the hill where fresh tracks coming in behind me from way across an open field. They milled around there for while from the looks but then headed back down wind. Walked to the back of the property and watched a dozen or so deer milling around in the pines. Seeing where the yotes had come from helped understand where they are now bedding. I will give it a week and then set up knowing the changes.
It was a wonderful day out.

[Chris Burchfield]

Last year I'd gone deer hunting out there before day light.  It was 9°F.  Nothing was moving, not fur, feathers or wind.  After a couple of hours my feet were getting cold and I'd started the shakes.  Folded and shouldered the blind, picked up the rifle turning around and looking before I walked.  There came a Yote, broad side to me.  Scoped on the trot and dropped him DRT.  Yotes and bobcat are why I don't see cotton tails anymore.

[SwampDonkey]

I saw lots of bunny sign, and one in the flesh, and lots of coyote tracts on the woodlot. I need the coyotes to keep them in check. ;D Looked like a barnyard of bunny trails. No deer sign around, we don't have hardly any maybe 3 or 4 in a wide area. We never had high numbers in my area.

[Reddog]

The only place we see rabbit tracks is around the house and buildings.

[SwampDonkey]

I used to get one or two behind the house. They have to travel across wide open fields for acres to get there though. Grouse to, they used to fly in for apples and cranberries.

[Autocar]

One rabbit at my bird feeder but plenty of coyote tracks in the woods. D.N.R. keep selling doe permitts we won't have any deer eather.

[Larry]

When I got out of the service in '72 I got a job, but it didn't pay much.  To supplement I shot and trapped critters in mid Missouri.  Think it must of been spring of '73 I sold some yote hides that brought $50 each.  They were so big the buyer called em Colorado wolves.

Wonder what a hide sells for now...50 cents?

[Reddog]

Find the right buyer around here and they still can bring 25. In the round 5 if you are lucky.

[SwampDonkey]

A neighbor had a nuisance dog that was always running. That included running in the woods chasing game, which is against the law. Mom's uncle was a trapper and he had a little trap line not far from his house, it was on his own and his cousin's land completely legit. Well, the dog got in the trap and it was a lethal trap. So uncle looked it over and figured it looked a lot like a wolf. He skinned and stretched it and and sold it on the fur trade. The buyers figured it was a timber wolf. The neighbor had been looking for his lost dog and asked uncle if he'd seen it, because he said the dog never leaves home. Uncle said he never seen his dog if it never leaves home. ;) This was probably 30 years ago and worth $200 or more. Beaver at the time, blanket sized, where worth $250 or more.

[Chuck White]

I inquired about yote furs about a week ago.  Not good!

The guy told me $10.00 skinned and stretched.

I told him they would find a ditch first!

I personally would not skin one for less than $25.00.

BUT, We hunt them anyway, sale or no sale! Good exercise and fun too!

[doctorb]

We had coyotes move into our county a few years  ago.  Don't remember having them before.  Now, they're gone.  No one has seen, or heard one in a year or more.

While some of my neighbors hunted them, i heard that that can backfire on you with regard to the coyote population.  I was told that, in any given coyote family or group, only the alpha male and the alpha female bear young.  Even if their offspring are sexually mature, they will not mate as long as they are part of that family group.  If the alpha female is killed, then all heck breaks loose, with coyote pups everywhere. 

I was told that this is one of this species' ways of extending its range, as young adults get tired of this "restriction", and strike out on their own.

Is this true?  Can you rid your area of coyotes by hunting or are they just too prolific?

Doctorb

[SwampDonkey]

The DNR here says that it's adds to the problem by placing a bounty on them. Where I am located I like the balance just fine. There never was a lot of deer where I live. It hasn't got a lot of the winter cover except cedar stands, and those stands are not continuous. Hardwood in winter deep snow and severe cold will not support deer up here. They have to yard up in good wintering ground where they can conserve energy while seeking food with the least effort.

[Reddog]

Doc,
I only know of one guy that could rid an area of yotes and that was with traps. As soon as he pulled out, others would move into the area from outside. If they have good a good food supply they are very prolific.

I have never heard what you where told about the alpha dogs. It is a constant battle in the packs for alpha status and they will kill or run off others over it. Hence the old saying Dog eat Dog world.

Donk, What do they mean by adds to the problem?

[SwampDonkey]

http://www.gov.ns.ca/natr/wildlife/conserva/eastern-coyote.asp

"an eradication program might double their usual 4-year life expectancy (coyotes have been known to live for 19 years in captivity). It has been estimated that in order to overcome this built-in survival mechanism, an eradication program would have to kill over 75% of the coyote population every year for 50 years. In fact, a control program may even increase livestock predation by stimulating females to have larger litters, thus increasing the demand for food during the spring and summer when livestock are most vulnerable.

Despite extensive eradication attempts throughout North America - shooting and chasing with everything from snowmobiles to helicopters, and extensive poisoning campaigns - coyotes have not only held their own but have expanded their range. In Nova Scotia, as elsewhere, coyote populations will be controlled by the amount of available habitat.

Typically, a coyote pair (they often mate for life) will claim and defend a territory of about 50 km2 (20 mi2) in which to hunt and raise their young. This territory will be used by only the one mated pair, but typically it will also support 3-6 young-of-the-year as well as 2 or 3 transients. When the coyote population increases beyond the environment's ability to support it, parasites and density-dependent diseases such as mange and distemper will naturally prune their numbers. colonizing populations may overshoot this carrying capacity for a short time before these natural controls take over."

And Gerry Parker has written an excellent book on our eastern coyotes. He is a research scientist with the Canadian Wildlife Service. Our coyotes are bigger here in the northeast. Also, we have not had them here until the late 50's.

Member Coon in Sask. has been hunting them on bounty and I think he'll tell ya they are just as prolific as ever.

[Reddog]

Interesting thanks for the link, don't agree at this point but interesting.

[SwampDonkey]

All I know is you guys didn't kill off enough of them out there, because we got them now. It's all your fault. :D :D :D

Ask anyone who have seen ours from outside of the NE and they'll tell ya they are different critters. But, maybe you agree on that part. Just saying. ;) Personally I never saw my first coyote until the early 80's as family members where trappers all there adult life. ;) One young feller I knew, about 15 at the time caught quite few in snares in the early eighties and everyone was saying they were causing the deer decline at the time. We were also loosing deer wintering ground due to harvesting, which later became the explanation for deer decline.

Up on my woodlot there was a guy with snares the last few years around near my place and he never caught any and I know there where from 3 to 5 on my place routinely. I could find where a group followed behind one another on fresh snow. Plus their meet and greet howls and yips once in a while. It's funny I only see one at a time though, in the flesh. There's lots of tracks up there now after the hares. I've got too many of them hares.

[Ron Scott]

True Story:

The  Governor of California is jogging 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 hospital and spends $3,500 getting checked
for diseases from the coyote and on getting his bite wound bandaged.

   5.  The running 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.

Montana :

   The Governor of Montana is jogging 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 jogging. The Governor has spent $0.50 on a .45 ACP  hollow point
cartridge.

   2. The Buzzards eat the dead coyote.

   And that, my friends, is why California is broke and Montana is not.

[SwampDonkey]

 :D :D :D 8)

[spencerhenry]

i too have heard that the more coyotes you kill that the more you will have. personally i think it could be true, in fact i wish it were then i would  have more coyotes to call and shoot.
last year i got 39 confirmed kills and a couple of others that i am certain died but could not find, or ran across a fence. this year i am at only 16 so far. i have had road kill deer carcasses out for 6 weeks now and have not seen one dog on the bait yet, i got one picture of one at 3:00 am about 2 weeks ago. right now all i have is one fox that is a regular and bald eagles and golden eagles. i hunt the same areas over and over, there are not as many dogs in any of the areas that i hunt this year. last year i would see up to 5 at a time out in a pasture this year only 2 and not very often.

[beenthere]

I too have heard that the more coyotes you kill that the more you will have.

I think a lot of this rhetoric comes from those who are anti-hunting and anti-bounty hunting.

[doctorb]

beenthere-

You may be right, but you don't see a lot of groups taking up for this animal.  It's no polar bear, wolf, or grizzly!  I know that some are just anti-hunting, but the biology of this species is unusual.  I may try to look for more in depth info.  Maybe I should read the book that Swamp suggested.

[SwampDonkey]

I don't think it's anti-hunting or anti-bounty at all. I believe the ones studying the animals have to find a balance out there. We don't have big lobby for save the coyote foundations in these parts. Nobody with a gun hardly ever bother with them and we have a varmet license for coyote.

[Reddog]

I know a few Biologist's and have never had one tell me the way to less canine predators was to not hunt or trap them.
The thing is just like spencerhenry, you can never let up or they rebound and move in from other areas very quickly.

[SwampDonkey]

Trouble with coyotes is they are opportunists. If wild prey decline, then they could be in the sheep heard or the chicken coop, or the garbage dump. Shooting them knocks them back, but if there food source is around and you let up, they return. That's the trouble with bounties, once the bounty period is over, back they come. The food is still there. Something I think anyone can agree with. How many do the average hunter shoot? I think it's pretty low because it has not stopped the coyotes. Look at the wolf, we have wipe them out of this region about 150 years ago. And they ain't likely to come back. ;)

[Reddog]

Look at the wolf, we have wipe them out of this region about 150 years ago. And they ain't likely to come back. ;)

What makes you say that?