Coyote kill?

[Rhune]

Found this today. Spent an hour looking for the rest but couldn't find anything. I have coyotes in the area, but they have never messed with the calves before. Need opinions before I go nuclear.

 

[Bigfoot]

Could have died, and then been eatin. Killin Coyotes is like preachin to sinners. You can't get em all.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Dang, that is too bad.
Any sign of a struggle on the ground anywhere?
I think coyotes would rip and tear between them and have pieces strung out. I also don't think they would have left that much behind. But I am no expert.

Like BF said, it could have been dead already. Especially if there is no sign of a struggle.

 

[Deepsouth]

How old was it and where was it's momma?

 

[Luca Brasi]

I agree that coyotes more than likely would have ripped it apart more. It looks rather clean to me, like vultures picked it clean, but I'm surprised that they didn't finish off the rest, or that you didn't see them still trying. Coyotes or others may have carried off the rest.

 

[Rhune]

No sign of struggle, but tbh, I don't really know what to look for. Fresh from yesterday for sure. Eyes were gone, but that happens in a matter of hours out here with deer. It was still wet. The hoof was chewed on as well (cant see that well in the picture).

I had a cow deliver yesterday evening as well, but she still has her calf. This could have been a twin. A neighbors cow had been bawling on our fence for several hours. She has a full udder and seemed to be looking for her calf on my side of the fence. I started checking around and found the remains.

 

[Bez__]

Never seen a wolf or coyote kill with that much meat left - and the bones would have been ripped and torn off and chewed through.

Head is hardly even touched - rib cage intact - front leg looks pretty much intact

Could have simply died

Dogs will kill and leave for the scavengers

In fact I bet for those that get killed (and do not simply die) dogs do more damage than folks ever imagine - after all "Pookie would not do that". Most folks would be astounded at how far the family pet can and will travel.

Even your little lap dogs will join in on a pack-up

And for that matter - in my opinion - it is so small that it would have been carried off into the bush if it was a wild predator

Betting Wiley is not your culprit

 

[sim.-ang.king]

The coyotes ate the easy parts, (butt, legs...) the vultures cleaned on the rest. Probably find the back legs 100 yards away in a brush pile.

 

[cow pollinater]

That looks like it was picked by birds of prey to me. They go for the eyes but leave stuff with hide on it like there is on that leg. Who knows how it died but coyotes for me would be low on the list.
That being said, keeping them thinned out will keep them from being a problem in the future.

 

[Muddy]

Looks like a wolf or coyote kill to me. These newborn calves sure didn't put up a fight against predators hence no signs of struggle. They usually don't eat the head region first.... less meat on it.

 

[Bez__]

Looks like a wolf or coyote kill to me. These newborn calves sure didn't put up a fight against predators hence no signs of struggle. They usually don't eat the head region first.... less meat on it.

Well, I have never seen a moose or deer kill in northern Alberta, Sask or Ontario and Kebec that did not have the nose and tongue eaten - eyes and lids as well as the cheeks - try the cheeks yourself sometime - they are good - prime eating with no hard chewing required - I have watched wolves fight over a head when the gut pile was gone and the meat was still on the shoulder - and ribs this size would have been ripped from the spine - almost all kills have them removed pretty darned quick. That untouched leg is interesting as well. Bear would have buried it. So that is out.

Sorry - in my opinion - picking on Wiley on this one is probably barking up the wrong tree - but he takes a hit nearly all the time anyways - look to your neighbours - and if the eyes are still in it the birds did not even get it done.

I figure it either died or was done in by something domestic.

Leave it there another day and a crew of coyotes will come and clean it up - most of the bones included. About the only thing they will oleave is the hard part of the skull - most of the spine and some bigger parts of the pelvis.

If they had tme they had a good schitte within 50 metres - and that will tell you at least who was there but no9t if they did the deed.

What the h ell grab the rifle - go nuke and start shooting - yiu cannot get them all anyways. But you can get a few trail cameras and see what else is walking your fields - I bet you are surprised at the results.

But I am a dumb schitte that knows nothing.

Out of this one - have a good one folks - snowing again tonight

Cannot wait for the chance to actually see some bare ground

Cheers

 

[Muddy]

That's a pack work but this kill looks like a single coyote/wolf or a pair of coyotes' work to me.

 

[jerry27150]

yotes are solitary & that's exactly how they work on a dead calf around here

 

[JSCATTLE]

I wasn't there but I see yokes in the pasture all the time . I stopped shooting them because I've never seen one attack a calf . Most of the time they lay in the pasture and when the herd moves they go to the last spot and eat the calf poop. Black buzzards do more harm than yotes .

 

[djinwa]

Bad logic: I have seen coyotes, and now see a dead calf, therefore the coyotes killed the calf.

Thank goodness our justice system doesn't work that way.

I'm not saying coyotes never kill calves, but many other things can, and calves can die, and coyotes just clean it up.

I'm curious, though. How many have actually directly observed a coyote killing a calf? What was the situation, and where was the cow?

Seems many assume it was a coyote, but are we actually seeing that? One guy assumed it was a coyote that jumped the fence with a calf. Only problem is that most calves weigh a lot more than coyotes.

So I'm interested in stories directly witnessing actual killing by coyotes and the situation.

 

[Rhune]

Thanks for the great info guys. It so happens the vet is coming out tomorrow. I'll have him take a look as well :deadhorse:

Bez - Great idea about the droppings. I'll look tomorrow. No dogs in the area. Probably should move some trail cams over.

Muddy - I was thinking the same thing. I have seen coyotes on fawns before. And the results looked similar. I have only seen them in singles. There is a pack of them though, for sure.

Djinwa - My hunch is that the attack took place on the neighbors ranch and the calf was dragged through/under the fence. The fence is in horrible shape. It is uphill from me and hard for the cattle to even access, so replacing it is a of a low priority. The calf remains were actually on the downhill side of that fence (which caused them to stick out) near my corral. Hard for my wheeler to even get up and down that hill.

Lastly, I had two calves die at birth last year. I didn't bury them because I knew I was sending in DNA for paternity and the ground was frozen. Buzzards ate the eyes and ass. But everything else remained untouched. Last summer we had a serious issue with a virus going through the whitetail deer population. I recorded 15 buck deaths and three doe deaths. I even had to rope a floater out of a pond. Birds went at the ends, but all of those skeletons remain intact (pulled the antlers off few weeks past). My local experience doesn't jive with what I found today. Reason for my post

 

[Supa Dexta]

Had a dead calf last year that I set out with a trail cam on apr 25th - it was around 110lbs

Cotote found it on the 27th, but they are real nervous about coming out in the fields around here so he didnt touch it, he came back on the 29th and drug it off a few hundred feet. Just one coyote on the camera. He ate most of the hind end, But ravens had taken the eyes on the 25th and eagles showed up in the afternoon the first day it was put out, they worked on the face, naval and rectum. Here he is lifting the head

And navel

And yote on 29th

So as you can see birds had 4 days at it, and still barely had it eaten.
Thats a deer carcass next to it, couple young eagles cleaning it a few days prior:

 

[fenceman]

We have alot of coyote problems with our sheep. Cant say ive ever seen one kill a calf, but i have no doubts they would. Buzzards always leave lots of droppings behind, but that doesn't tell you what happened. A fresh coyote kill they flesh well be torn from they bones leaving threads of flesh behind, image a coyote tearing with teeth, not like cutting with a knife. Parts especially stomach contents will be strung out for yards , imagine multiple coyotes pulling tearing and dragging in different directions. Thats how,they tear a carcass apart, by pulling against each other. They fact that half this calf is missing definitely indicates coyotes have been feeding on it. What killed it ? Cant say. You better get after them though, fence snares work very well. Ive found if you kill a few they will leave(but always eventually come back.

 

[greybeard]

The dogs I have seen in this area are not interested in eating a calf--but are very much interested in running it to death or into water where it drowns--usually just too weak to continue standing in belly deep or shallower water and pretty much just lay down and drown. Lost 2 last year that way.

Lost one 3 day old to coyotes that found it where it's momma had put it. I heard the commotion of the yapping they do, jumped in the truck and drove about 300 yards up the powerline easement and found it belly chewed open, ears ragged and still warm and bleeding. If it had been a little older, I don't think they would have messed with it.

Coyotes work different here--in packs of 5-6, and love to kill dogs--in daylight. One coyote will come out on the edge of a open space, lure a domestic dog to come after it and that coyote just trots back into the brush and woods--as soon as the dog gets in the woods, the whole bunch jumps it. I think they're doin it for fun too--way too many rabbits around here for them to be so hungry they'll want to kill and eat a dog. But having said that, there's hardly a night goes by I don't hear a big pack of coyotes start up that howl, then yapping and make a run all around the outside of my place.

Cats are a different story--you won't find a calf looking like that when a cougar kills it--or left out in the open. They'll drag it off where they can protect it and eat on it more than once.

But I do agree, that coyote kills is a rare thing with calves, but it don't mean they won't or don't run them--I think a good part of their life is entertainment for themselves.

 

[Aaron]

Wolves/coyotes can't resist the tasty marrow hidden within the ribs. Such good stuff. Ribs on that calf should be missing and broken. That is no wolf/coyote kill I have ever heard of, or seen. The head being untouched surprises me as well. A lot will fight over the skull and lower jaw.