The first explanation offered is urban sprawl. While we have had a population
influx from the north, all of the construction has been close to town or along
major roads.
|
| We are located where the red star is, just north of city limits. |
So it could be urbanization, but I find it curious that coyotes would migrate toward populated areas rather than toward increasingly unpopulated wooded areas and the mountains. Food perhaps? One benefit of semi-rural areas like ours is that a lot of people keep chickens. Plus the area is plentiful with small game, not to mention people who let their pets roam. Another explanation might be that there's been an increase in the area coyote population and they're spreading out.
When I wrote Prepper's Livestock Handbook, I did a lot of research on livestock predators, including coyotes. I
learned helpful things such as coyotes hunt in packs, hunt between
dusk and dawn, prefer to hunt in isolated areas, and can jump five-foot
fences. They are also known to dig under fences and bite through chicken
wire. A tell-tale sign they've been in the area is that they tend to
leave scat on elevated surfaces such as a log or rock.
Coyote game of choice includes: squirrels, possums, raccoons,
groundhogs, poultry, rabbits, pigs, goats and kids, sheep and lambs,
calves, and small pets. They've even been known to eat skunks plus
choice garden produce such as melons.
We've been hearing them, but often the first sign on coyotes is the
remains of the prey they leave behind. Signs of coyote attack include:
attacking the throat, puncture wounds on head, neck, or shoulders,
intestines or rumen may be dragged away from the carcass, carcass may be
dismembered, calves tails may be chewed.
Being shy, they prefer hunting away from humans, but if they are hungry,
they get bolder. This came up when Dan and I were assessing how safe our
goats are, and Dan said, 'well, when was the last time we saw a possum
or skunk around?' This struck me because Dan has caught dozens and
dozens of these critters in the past couple of years. We used to catch
them nightly on the trail cam and he's made numerous trips to the park
outside of town with one he caught in the live animal trap. Lately,
we've seen none. That may explain why I've been able to harvest all my strawberries. And come to think of it, we hear fewer roosters crowing in
the distance.
Australian Permaculturist Bill Mollison tells of being asked once by a
student, of how to deal with slugs in the garden. His response was that
they didn't have a slug problem, they had a duck shortage. His Austrian
counterpart, Sepp Holzer, says the way to deal with predators is to let
nature do it with a predator's predator. This thought is only comforting
up to a point. What kind of predator would it take to decrease the
coyote population?
The poultry are shut up for the night, as are the does and kids. Our
bucks, though, aren't closed in and often graze at night.
Their shelter
is three-sided with pony wall and an overhang. There's only a gate for a
door. Even so, Dan has taken to closing them in at night. Even though
our 4-foot fences could be jumped, we have a rather intricate fencing
arrangement due to our rotational grazing. Coyotes would have to jump
three fences to get to the buck barn.
So far, all our critters have been safe. I make it a point to go to the
lower gates in the late afternoon or various times during the day to
bang the chain on the gate. Its loud clanging sound is hopefully a
warning that humans are near.
Losing livestock and pets to predators in just one of those things, and we've had our share of loses. The only thing for it is to be good stewards in protecting the animals we're responsible for and continuing to remain vigilant.
Our Coyote Shortage is Solved © May 2025
18 comments:
Ugh Coyotes.. We have a pack that roams our area. I've seen coyotes crossing the road, running along the roadside, and across the neighbour's fields. We hear them at night when they're announcing that they've caught their dinner. Their howls are both beautiful and scary at the same time. We make sure our chooks are locked up every night and our cats are indoor cats, as the neighbour's barn cats tend to disappear regularly.
I live in a suburb of Nashville, TN and we have plenty of coyotes. Like you, we mostly hear them, but years ago on a morning walk with my dog (gone now), another small dog came sprinting toward us, with one coyote chasing on either side from a few feet behind. I watched them run down the street and it appeared the dog would successfully outrun them. I don't think the coyotes even saw my dog or me.
Nina, I confess I worry some about our cats, as they are both outside and in. They used to go down to the woods quite a bit, but they never do that anymore. Fortunately, it would take some work to get into our yard, and I suspect there are easier pickings around.
Bob, glad to hear the dog got away! We've seen coyotes cross the street at dusk.
People are seeing coyotes here in Montreal, Canada 🇨🇦 as well.
Linda, it would seem that coyotes are becoming more and more comfortable around populated areas.
The answer to your question of what would prey on a coyote is man. Growing up on a farm, I was lulled to sleep every night by coyotes yipping. However, in the 90's, it became the thing to do for a number of men from the small town to the north who were on various forms of disability or other government payment to occupy their time by running dogs to hunt coyotes in the countryside. By the mid 00's, they must have nearly hunted them out as I haven't heard a coyote in years. Likewise to Dan's point, the area is literally being overrun with small rodents like opossums, skunks and raccoons.
Ed, I think you're correct. And actually, our state wildlife commission tags a small percent of coyotes to encourage hunters to hunt them. Bring in a tagged (dead) coyote and get a lifetime hunting license as a reward. Or at least they used to.
We know eliminating them never truly solves the problem because more will move in. But we do have an obligation to protect our livestock, that's part of our end of the deal.
At my present homestead they are a rare sight or sound. Being in the Ocala National Forest enough people hunt and target practice that it's not a concern. Bears are a different thing... When I was living in horse farm country coyotes were abundant. They are noisier on moonlit nights, they travel a tenish square mile radius and spend about 3 months in a given area then move on. Lgd's are more common now than ever. It is disheartening to hear them so close.
Annie, that's excellent information. Thank you.
Our neighbor has two Pyrenees for his chickens and ducks. We hear them barking and are likely doing a good job keeping off the coyotes.
Sounds like the coyotes have been helpful with the strawberry harvest! I've more or less given up on strawberries, although I have some plants in a tiered planter, and hope to get a taste this summer. We have a fox who patrols the area, but the chippies are probably in bed when he comes around.
Leigh, in New Home 2.0 in our suburban neighborhood they used to be more of an issue, especially when the 40 acre lot behind us was not built on yet. When that happened (around 7 years ago) the problem reduced somewhat, but never faded. Someone posted on one of the neighborhood groups last week one trotting through the neighborhood. But they are less common now; The Ravishing Mrs. TB commented on how many more rabbits are around.
We have no shortage of coyotes here in the Wild, Wild West. We live on the ragged edge of town with citrus groves that butt up against a national forest. Out here, the coyotes will come into town when the hills start drying out. The rabbits, squirrels and the like will move towards town where there's more water and therefore more food. The coyotes will follow them. The hotter and drier it gets, the more coyotes we'll see.
A 5-foot fence is nothing more than a speed bump for coyotes. They regularly clear the 7-foot fence between our corral and the plant nursery behind our property. A couple of years back they cleared that fence, whacked fourteen of our hens, and fled back over the fence with several of them. They did this after I let them out at around 0830 and when I returned to the coop area about 15 minutes later. The sun was fully up. The nurserymen were already working. Another time they got into our nursery coop by digging under its chain-link fence construction. They did this after digging into our property under the 6-foot fence between us and out neighbor. A coyote can't help being a coyote. All we can do is make it harder for them to get at our chickens. The main coop is pretty well hardened. I bolstered the nursery coop by lifting it off the ground with the tractor, laying "No-Climb" goat fence on the ground, and then dropping the coop back onto the ground. The coop structure weighs several hundred pounds. Coyotes won't get through that. Now they can't dig into it either without getting a bad case of raw-paw. Coyotes know raw-paw is a death sentence. I free range my hens during the day but don't let them out until around noon when the nurserymen are working and the sun's fully up.
Getting rid of the coyotes is not a good answer, as without them we'd be INUNDATED with rabbits, squirrels, and gophers!!! God knows best. Don't try to box with God. he'll ALWAYS win! ...We live in the West. Our only course of action is to "go Western..."
And, Blogger ate my comment. Sigh...
They were around in our neighborhood in New Home 2.0 - they even had a den on the 40 acres that were at that time undeveloped behind our house. On more than one occasion they rather boldly walked by the dog and I as I was on my walk.
They are reduced now that the land is developed, but there are still posts of them wandering around our former suburban neighborhood.
TB, from reading the comments, that sounds like the way things are. Coyotes do help keep a balance of smaller wildlife, but unfortunately, they don't discriminate between that and domestic animals. :(
Rosalea, it certainly seems that way! I'm not sure if our coyotes are the reason for our better strawberry harvest, but it's true we haven't seen as many "pest" critters around since the coyotes moved in.
Pete, wow, you've got some stories! I agree all we can do is adapt in ways that keep our own critters as safe as possible.
I have observed that for all the balance coyotes have brought to our area recently, we are still inundated with squirrels and groundhogs! Can't win 'em all, I suppose.
TB, well, I found it! I have comment moderation turned on after a post is about a week old, but it sounds like it doesn't give a notification to that effect. Thank you for not giving up!
Post a Comment