It is an education to grow up on a ranch or farm, life, death, birth and everything in-between. Over the years I figured out that often less is better with coyotes. So very often keeping it simple seems to work the best for calling every animal so that you keep them guessing and interested in coming to see exactly what is going on. Hot air moving through an open window is better than no air movement at all. My grandma used to wet a kitchen towel and hang it on the west side window in her house so that the breeze coming in would cool the air through evaporation. Crack the top window open 6-8 inches and do the same for the bottom window cooler air in the bottom and warmer air out the top window.
Ramblings and Such From Hunting Coyote
- Thread starter DSheetz
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windypants
Well-Known Member
I enjoy the observing and learning as much as the hunting, so I'm curious about a coyote relationship I saw recently. I had been seeing 3 coyotes near a den site and figured it was a mating pair and maybe another male tagging along, kind of like a raghorn bull follows the herd. After watching ,I did confirm that it was a female and 2 males. The female would pee and then each male would sniff and give it a squirt. But they were quite friendly and at ease with each other. Later I spotted them bedded in a place I could approach, so I grabbed my gear and went after them. It took me an hour slogging through the deep crusted snow (and cussing myself for not grabbing the snowshoes) to get to a place I could shoot from. They had been bedded on an open ridge top in the full force of a 20mph wind (???), but were gone when I got there. But now I was out on the windswept ridgetop where traveling was easy, so I just headed into the wind, looking into the draws on the other side. I soon found them about a 1/4 mile away, this time curled up sleeping on a big snow bank in the lee of the wind. Two of them were snuggled so close they were almost touching, with the other about 10 feet away. I guessed the 2 together were the female and dominant male. They were almost at the right angle to get both with one shot, but I decided against it and took the lone one first with a head shot (it was only 240 yards). The other two took off circling to my right and I followed the closest one as it circled to me, but it saw me and veered off at full speed. I swung the rifle to the other one and it was doing that bouncing lope and looking over its shoulder, so I knew it was going to stop for a look. It did and I drilled it too. It turns out that it was the female I shot first and the 2 males were snuggled together, and this during breeding season??? Any thoughts?
Years ago, I had a guy riding with me, I would pull up to a gate get out open it, drive through it, stop get out and close it. After a few gates he asked me why do you do that? I looked at him and asked do what? He said every time you go to get out you open the door look down then step out. Oh, that it's just a habit I don't even think about it I just do it. There are too many things out here that I don't want to step in like cow pies, mud puddles, cactus and a lot of things that I really don't want to step on like a rattle snake in the grass or a patch of ice in the winter. We form our own little quirks for our own reasons then we just do them without thinking.
A lot of times I have seen where the breeding pair would carry a pup from last year with them to help raise this year's litter. Most of the time it was a female but have seen it be a male. I figured it was most often one of their pups not an out sider but when I would get them killed it was always a younger coyote from last year. I have taken a few dens where two females would both have pups in the same hole an older female and a yearling female having two distinct age groups of pups. I also have seen two younger males running together or two younger females running together. Those are the really tough ones to get killed without the use of snares as they tend not to answer calls very well and seem to be really cautious of everything.
windypants
Well-Known Member
The voles are thick this year. A traveling coyote is constantly stopping to pounce on a mouse, so it sure helps for shot opportunities. I see mouse trails and movement in the grass everywhere I go. I was talking to someone recently who said the rodent population has crashed in some areas leaving a lot of starving coyotes that will attempt to prey on anything.
Thank you for sharing your stories and your wisdom!
Gregg
Straight Shooter
Well-Known Member
Windy, that is quite an outfit you have put together.
Nothing is cut in stone with wildlife, but it was normally in good years when I would see an older pair carrying a younger one with them. I think it had to do with the female being in good health and going to have a larger litter. It's not for everyone but I opened up the females this time of the year till August to see how many pups she was going to have or had had latter in the season. That would give me an idea of the health of them and how much of a population of pups I would be dealing with. Canines have a Y shaped uterus each side will have pups in it this time of the breeding season they should be at least two inches long depending on how old the female is if she's in good health and older she will cycle earlier then if she's younger or in poor health. I would be inclined to think she was in good shape and was going to have a fair-sized litter thus the helper coyote being allowed to run with them. The USDA used to have a chart that had puppy sizes and ages on it that was handy for me so that I would know when she had been breed and would be pupping. I always wanted to know how many puppies the female had so that I knew that I got them all as I have seen where they would be scattered in different locations especially if someone had taken her pups before and not killed her. I have seen in years where they didn't have a good food supply where the average litter size was only five pups. But on the other hand, I have seen when the prey base was good, they would average 8 pups and as many as 13 pups.
windypants
Well-Known Member
Interesting--now I'll have to start doing autopsies!
I like to carry a pair or two of exam gloves in a zip lok bag for it. I turn one inside out while taking it off then turn the other one inside out over it while taking it off. I find it to be less messy that way and you can slip the used ones back in the bag while keeping the other pair clean. Some people don't I did it for information and it was all logged in my notes for future reference kind of like looking at the teeth of them to get an idea of their age. Good sharp points on the canines are a younger coyote, the larger the diameter and the more rounded the teeth the older as a rule, I have seen a few that had broken their teeth fighting a trap and had them rounded. I killed an old male one time that didn't have any teeth at all, he was a gummer. I figured him to be at least 10 -12 years old. Yes, I am a little different than the average person.
windypants
Well-Known Member
That's awesome. I see something puzzling to me and you can read it like a book! Opens up a whole new world of knowledge for me. Thank you!
