Is this a den?

[Blancoalex]

Ran across this site which I think is den..Seems like way too much caliche soil dug out of hole for an armadillo. The opening is about size of basketball and is in area where heard howling, playing barks this past spring. The opening faces south and on hillside. If not coyote den then a big armadilo. . What do you think?

?

 

[Deleted member 115360]

It's definitely possible, but it looks like they have moved on.

 

[Blancoalex]

Yes gone for sure, just bunch old scat within 100yds.

 

[Rhett Crider]

Might bait it and throw a camera on it

 

[DSheetz]

With coyote they use the den only for a time period for the pups to grow enough to be able to travel with the adults then they move out of the den and camp out in my area . Of the few hundred dens I have taken the vast majority were south facing . When denning you will often find where they will clean out several holes and only use one or two of them the clean outs may be scattered out over a large area .

 

[DSheetz]

Fox dens are smelly and littered with rotting animal remains , coyote dens mostly are cleaner then fox dens but they still smell of wet dog and puppy scat as well as urine they have a sour smell to them . The area is most times tramped down around them by the puppies playing out of the hole and there will be little turds laying around it . Later as time goes by there will be some animal parts laying in the area and a lot of flies around an active den . You can often find fur from the adults in close proximity where they have shed when rubbing on things like sticks or trees .

 

[Gary in MD]

Guys, sorry about changing the subject but I didn't want to start a new thread. I was scouting a farm that I deer and ground hog hunt. Came across these tracks, I think they are coyote but I don't have much experience with them. Do you think this is coyote? Thanks

 

[Deleted member 115360]

Yep

 

[DSheetz]

How long is your pen ? they might be a small female but my guess would be a red fox from the size of them and most of the pens that I carry . Look back to last year in the ramblings and such and there are some pictures there with a tape measure in the picture there are a couple of red fox tracks there as well as well as a couple of pictures of coyote dens that were active at the time . But they also could be of a coyote pup . When you get to tracking them you will see where they place the back feet in the print of the front foot often and make them look bigger . Just some thing to think on .

 

[Gary in MD]

I think these tracks are larger than the usual red fox tracks that I see. I'm guessing that these were about 2" wide and 2 1/2" longish. I figured that if the were a dog then they would have been more rounded?
Thanks,
Gary

 

[Gary in MD]

 

[Blancoalex]

Can I assume this den will be reused next spring. It is in location that they were able to rear pups without any human interaction.

 

[DSheetz]

In the past I have taken coyote from the same den holes in rock piles and only a few from holes in the ground as previous years . But I have taken coyote dens in nearly the same locations year after year . I have taken red fox dens from the same holes year after year . I do my best not to tear the den holes up while taking the pups out of them for that reason it made my job easier the next year with the reds . Mud prints are hard to tell the exact foot size but prints of that size would tell me it was a male coyote or a dog . Dogs often have the same foot shape as a coyote or fox . Several male red fox here will have nearly the same size foot print in the mud as a smaller female coyote . Walking tracks look different then running prints but they also are farther apart and the toes splayed apart . Bob cats will be more rounded . A dog like a great Pyrenees will have a track nearly the same as a wolf longer then wide . The rear feet are also smaller then the front feet are . If you can look at the prints of a shepherd dog then a hound in the mud to compare them .

 

[2buffalo]

I think these tracks are larger than the usual red fox tracks that I see. I'm guessing that these were about 2" wide and 2 1/2" longish. I figured that if the were a dog then they would have been more rounded?
Thanks,
Gary

Fox tracks are round and coyote tracks are pointed.