Saw a coyote last night

I've lived in this same township for most of life and saw my first coyote last night. I called the police department and the person I talked to said they have been around for a number of years, but that their numbers have been growing the last eight years or so.

This is the first coyote that I've seen I was stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas. The little buggers were all over the place out there. I remember when we would go out to the field and groups of them would be running around our bivouac area looking for scraps of food. You could hear them scurrying around and making howling and yelping noises. To be honest it was a little unnerving when you are out in the middle of the night by yourself pulling guard duty along your platoon's perimeter. We had blanks, but I always carried boot knife when we went out on field training exercises.

We know we had them. One and her pup cut across our yard while Dad was mowing. Before they built the golf course community behind my sis's house you could hear pups playing and yelping at night.

Folks in the town south of here were complaining about coyotes and had to be reminded that they were moving into the animal's territory.

I saw one a few years ago, walking along the edge of a highway under construction a couple of miles from our house. He was so pretty and graceful... all legs. I guess I would have been afraid if I'd been on foot, though. Are they aggressive?

Apparently they are running rampant around here terrorizing farm animals. It is weird! I have never seen one.

The Sask government just put out a 20.00 bounty on coyotes today. Coyotes are stalking kids walking into the yards when school buses drop them off, and they are killing calves (400ish pounds) that are put in corrals for the night. They have also gone after cows calving and...well...too gruesome for most people here, so let's just say the end result is dead cow and calf. Sheep/goat people are having an even bigger problem. We had them about cleaned out around here not that long ago.....maybe should take up bounty hunting this winter.

I have seen them going down the alleys in many areas here. I saw one crossing the street just down the block from my house last Friday.

I am not for certain of this, but I want to say that Coyote's are present in most of the united states.

I believe they rarely bother people. I can understand how they would stalk a child though, as they are smaller and less intimidating than a grown man making lots of noise.

I still feel bad for the people who get paid to kill them, I couldn't ever bring myself to kill one. As much trouble as they are in some areas... I suppose I'm weak.





Oh, and to contribute to the thread... as scarce as they are in lower michigan, Cody and I almost hit one crossing the road on our way out to Perry, MI the other night.

Nekomania - was just a couple of weeks ago that coyotes pulled down and killed a hiker in Cape Breton...so they do go after people. They went after a bunch of kids north of here that were waiting for the school bus and almost got one. Coyotes are all over the place, they are opportunistic and will go into cities to raid garbage cans, and with that abundance of food, they breed, a LOT. When you live in an area, however, where the coyote population outnumbers the humans, and approaches the cattle population, you have trouble, and lots of it. I don't understand why you feel bad for the people that collect the bounty.....we (the collective farming community) are the ones that do the hunting and collecting. It is a case of protecting your livestock and your living, nothing more, nothing less. That said, I WILL shoot them if they come to the yard and I will collect my 20.00. Last one that came into the yard was found by me, frozen solid to ice under my truck, so they are rather bold about finding food/shelter even right beside an occupied house.

We have lots of coyote's here. I have seen them outside of town. I live in a small town of 3,000 and were surrounded by farms, cattle and corn fields. We have lots of wildlife here. I haven't heard of any coyote attacks on people in my area.

When we had our goats I would have shot one in a heatbeat if it had bothered my goats. Luckily our Livestock guardian dogs did their jobs well and we never had a problem.

Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

I saw one a few years ago, walking along the edge of a highway under construction a couple of miles from our house. He was so pretty and graceful... all legs. I guess I would have been afraid if I'd been on foot, though. Are they aggressive?

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They aren't generally considered to be aggressive but they are fond of taking small cats and dogs and making meals out of them (as well as other small mammals. They are quite adaptable, which they are thriving in densely populated areas (cities, towns, etc).

They have been known to attack humans but from what I understand it isn't all that common. I think there have only been two fatal coyote attacks on humans in the US.

I like wolves more. Coyotes remind me of those annoying little Jackals you see on the nature shows.

I couldn't shoot one around here even if I wanted to. Too many houses/people and a high powered military rifle aren't a good combination around here. Like I said earlier, I saw them at Fort Riley all the time, this is the first one I've seen where I live, but I lived out in rural Michigan and never saw one.

I just don't think it's right to kill something just because you don't like it. I am sure there are other measures that can be taken to protect your animals and keep them out of your garbage. =/

But like I said, I have a hard time killing things.

The hiker that was killed I am sure knew the risks of the area, we take risks every day. Just getting into the car could kill me, but does that mean I'll never drive another car again? If she hadn't been killed by a coyote, it would have been something else eventually. When you live a risky life, you are bound to face death in what most people would consider an odd way, at least one time or another.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...in-Canada.html

And I'm sorry if this offends anyone at all, but it's fairly dangerous to go hiking alone. I highly doubt she would have been killed if she had had a companion or two.




The bottom line is, they're just trying to survive like any other animal would. It's sad because more people are killed by other people than by coyotes. So why don't we just shoot every person that walks up onto our lawn?

If they would have gotten into my goat pens and tried to kill my goats, then I would have shot them. Since my goats were fenced, they could not run away and it was my job to protect them.

However, like I said, we had LGDs and they did their jobs well.

I have to agree with most people here. Coyote's are generally non-agressive. They are a pretty shy animal and tend to avoid humans. I've lived around them most of my life....living in the country as I prefer. See them on occasion, rarely in the light of day, but it happens. Their yipping is quite un-nerving but they are just calling out to each other...over a kill(usually small game, rodents, rabbits or other small critters...cats included) or just communicating where prey might be. They are a fascinating creature and just trying to adapt to their environment, as it shrinks. DH and I were so surprised to hear of the fatality in Canada. That is soooo rare! Usually coyotes will do almost anything to not cross a human's path. Personally, I love the sound of coyote's and don't hear them out here as often as I used to, and that makes me sad. They need a home, too.

I have to chuckle everytime I see television shows where a coyote a coyote is pouncing. It reminds me a little of my cats.

I've been watching some videos about coyotes on You Tube and ran across a couple where there were interactions between coyotes and wolves. In one of them a male coyote intruded on a kill made by a pack of wolves. The wolves weren't around the kill when the coyote approached but as soon as they him they chased him down and didn't show any mercy. Both species will kill each others pups if they find them. In the end, a wolf is too large, too fast, and too powerful for a lone coyote.

I'm not sure about Fort Riley, but we were told during basic training and AIT that there were packs of feral dogs roaming around Fort Leonard Wood (Missouri).

Just as a significant point for us cat lovers, I would guess the one I saw was out kitty and chihuahua hunting.

Here's the updated article for the recent coyote fears in and around Toronto, Ontario:

Coyote Fears in GTA

I'm sorry, but I do have to shake my head. If anyone knows the Toronto GTA area, we have clear cut all the forested natural areas to put up a huge amount of ugly suburban homes, cellphone towers and generic shopping areas. We have left nothing for nature and of course, animals will do everything to survive.

But, of course, when you're dealing with a metropolitan area like Toronto, animals come last and how dare an animal step near a city dweller! Heaven forbid!

I have been a cottager for all of my life and we always had bears, fox, moose and wolves. The only time we were concerned is when the animal showed signs of being sick. Otherwise, we're sharing their lands and they have every right to come by.

Problems started in cottage country when 'city dwellers' wanted the cottage country land but didn't want the natural element to come with it. They also didn't show much common sense (leaving food outside at night etc. )If they saw a bear, they wanted it shot in its tracks and would scream until it was done.

Wily Coyote Caught in New York City After 2-Day Chase
They're just about everywhere, but you generally have to watch for them. When I'm in the U.S. (Omaha suburb, usually), I like to sit in the dark the night before the trash is picked up and watch the coyotes come looking for something to scrounge.

When my family first moved out to the Midwest, one of my nieces coaxed a "hungry stray dog" into the house that followed her home from grade school one day. My sister fed the poor thing. Her then-husband, a native of Nebraska, almost had a coronary when he came home to find a pregnant coyote in the kitchen! They didn't let him shoot the "varmint".

Over here it's foxes. Our town is overrun with them, and twice recently I've crossed paths with one while walking to the train station in the morning. We've found signs of them in our fenced-in backyard, too, and our "pet" hedgehog (indoors during winters) disappeared without a trace a couple of weeks ago. He didn't venture outside the yard, and we're pretty sure a fox got him. People are only allowing their cats outside during daylight hours.

As far as I know, the coyotes we have around here weren't native to our area. They were "brought" here for some reason to do with hunting, go figure. I have heard them howling many times at night near my home, but the only one we've ever seen in our neighborhood was skin and bones and hairless (?) It was the most pitiful looking thing. I did see another animal that I thought was a coyote, but it was actually rather pretty and now I wonder if it was a wolf. (Long ears, long nose, long legs, mottled gray and red hair.)

They are beautiful animals. We have a lot if them out here in western Kansas.