My GSD used to "sing" along with the fire department sirens whenever they came around. Pretty funny, actually. She never did it with police or ambulance sirens, only fire department.

That a girl!

Back in the early '70 while in school, my friend and I would visit NE Texas bottom land farms and get permission to hunt rabbits. Back then the yote population had been radically hunted down resulting in an overpopulation of crop destroying bunnies. Such is natures .... balance. It wasn't unusual to see twenty or more yotes strung up on a farmers single fence line.

The farmers welcomed us with open arms and asked us to pick up shot cases and not shoot their cows. BTW ... the two of us busted 50+ bunnies in just one Saturday morning.

Now a days it's the feral hogs that tear places up ... nature has it's ways of surviving and thriving in the most unexpected ways.

We have them here in central Texas too. Often hear them at night. I won’t let my dogs out in the AM unless the sun’s up. Always make my presence known outside in the morning. We have lots of deer roaming and the coyotes feed on them. Pets, mostly cats, periodically disappear.

We have cougars as well.


I live in a subdivision that is rural and in the boonies, surrounded by Texas hill country. The subdivision is only about 1/3 developed so plenty of wildlife habitat.

I live in the Central Texas City Of Bunnyfarts, myself, and coyotes will come trotting down my street anywhere between 9PM and who-knows-when in the morning. That's why I keep hoping for more news about coyote/folk singer interactions - if I knew how to speak coyote, I'd give pep talks to the little flea bags.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
Probably what confused you was him getting your name wrong, Felicia

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But I do not feel a dead coyote is a bad one either.

Coyotes and hogs are 'shoot on sight' here. Day, night, family party going on - doesn't matter. If we can get a weapon on target before they disappear, they get got.

We're in a semi-rural, now nearly suburban, area in S.E. Michigan. Some of the only untamed woodland in the area is right behind us. We have coyotes and foxes. Deer, too, of course. And bunnies. Next-door-neighbour had a bunny nest with 7-8 babies in it, right next to his front porch, just last week. Also raccoon, opossum, groundhogs, moles, voles, squirrels, chipmunks, a couple varieties of raptors, and even a pair of resident Sand Hill Cranes. Had a pair of owls out in the woods, one year. Haven't had any rattlers around here that I've seen, but I'm told they're around. Regularly see a couple different varieties of "garden" snakes.

The bunnies are cute, but my wife's sorta hopin' the coyotes or raptors get 'em. They're hell on her gardens.

I don't think I've ever heard the coyotes callin', though.

There are some in my neighborhood. They're keeping the outdoor cat population down. Saw one in my neighbors backyard a few months ago. Sometimes I hear them call at night. It's kinda spooky but then the neighbors huskies get into the act and things get quiet.

Have plenty on the ranch. When they’re down in the valley eating the grounds squirrels, we leave them alone, glad to have them on the payroll. When the come up to the orchard and start chewing on irrigation lines, it is open season. Shoot, snare, terminate with extreme prejudice.

Im in Chicago. A big assed city of 2.8 million people, and a couple hundred coyotes!

There was a den of them on the south end of Solider Field, another few dens in Lincoln Park, a kid (5ish years old) got bit by one in Lincoln Pk earlier this week, so did a jogger.

There’s a big pack of them in the cemetery about 5 blocks from my house, and are seen in my neighborhood regularly.

I’ve seen them around the railroad tracks In Englwood (the BAD part of the city), and in downtown. Totally normal seeing them on the lakefront.


They are a pretty adaptable animal, and aren’t that afraid of sharing their space with humans.
And probably like when the dumb humans give them a free meal, but not so much the “petting” thing, the coyotes draw the line there.

I used to live in densely populated Fairfax, VA until about 2 years ago. Coyotes were common in our suburban neighborhood of about 1600 homes, most of them on 1/4 to 1/2 acre. They would come into my backyard, drink from my pond, then lay down and take a nap. Ate lots of squirrels. Had one report of a pack attacking a full grown Labrador retriever with the owner holding the leash! Eventually, the coyotes left, replaced by foxes.

Thermal night vision is the great equalizer on the farm.

New moon, a can of dog food 200 yards out.

They know I'm out there somewhere, but can't see me, however I CAN see them!

The last thing they know is their head exploding.

They are not native to Florida but we have them in pretty good numbers. Biologists believe they have been in Florida about 40-50 years.

I have been to a couple seminars put on by wildlife biologists from the state on nuisance wildlife and am fascinated by their adaptability.

They are territorial so you are probably hearing the same ones year after year. Generally a pair will not tolerate trespassing coyotes in their territory. They are carrion eaters. We hear them partying late at night after we have dumped deer or hog carcasses after a successful hunt. We almost never see them in daylight. I do not hunt them, partly because they are controlling rodents, not harming much, and partly because I am concerned about shooting a red wolf by mistake.

Wildlife biologists tell us their diet consists largely of plant material, but they are opportunists and will eat just about anything including whitetail deer, rodents, rabbits, your house cat, your garbage, and pet food that is left outside. Some will take young calves but not all coyotes hunt livestock-it is a learned behavior. If you have coyotes in your area that have learned to hunt livestock you have a problem. Many dead calves attributed to coyotes were killed by other predators such as bears, panthers, bobcats, feral dogs, or buzzards, or were stillborn and were eaten by carrion eaters. Virtually all ranchers in this area believe coyotes prey on calves. Where we live there is an abundance of food in the wild so livestock predation is not a big problem, not to say it won't be in the future.

They are also picking off some feral hog piglets which is a good thing. One thing is for sure, they are here to stay.

They are common here in upstate NY and even are in the nearest (to me) city - Rochester. I've seen them in my neighborhood. It has been my experience that most people have no idea they are here. The hunting season for them here is quite liberal. I hunt on lands owned by several different farmers and some encourage me to harvest "yotes while others ask that I not take them. I've never actively hunted them; the ones I've taken have been during deer season (including one with my bow). They get big here! Several years ago a town DPW employee I know picked a dead one up off the side of the road and it weighed 75 pounds, leading to speculation of it having some wolf in its DNA.

One came trotting thru my little piece of SE Ohio heaven while I was letting Superdog out this morning. Fortunately SD is oblivious to her surroundings and didn't spot it, or it might have gotten out of hand. Add in the fact that I was buck nekkid and it just wouldn't have ended well.

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Originally posted by HayesGreener:
They are not native to Florida but we have them in pretty good numbers. Biologists believe they have been in Florida about 40-50 years.

One thing is for sure, they are here to stay.

A close friend of mine is a fishing guide on Sanibel Island. He told me they've become established there which I found hard to believe, but it's true. They are one of the most adaptable creatures out there.

Haven’t had them n any numbers locally for quite some time. There was a bounty on them in several counties once and they got wrecked in a few short weeks.

quote:

Originally posted by Leemur:
Haven’t had them n any numbers locally for quite some time. There was a bounty on them in several counties once and they got wrecked in a few short weeks.

In AZ, there is open season on coyotes year round, with no bag limit.

TMK, wildlife biologists are big fans of suburban, and urban coyotes, provided they do not form large packs.

The more coyotes, the less rats, feral cats, etc. (Supposedly, the predominant form of their prey, in that environment, is rat.)

The other night they were definitely eating something. Something being eaten that's not happy about being eaten is a distinct sound. But they were at again last night, just the pack yelping and making noise, don't think they were eating anything Dogs were plenty pissed off about it.

Earlier in the night my dogs were flipping out at the fence, fur up and very agitated. my dogs are both large 80+ pounds but I worry the coyotes are looking for a canine snack. The coyote are coming right to the fence and don't seem to give a shit