Coyotes and calves?

[Kathie in Thorp]

Do coyotes get any credit for the good they do? I wonder how many mice they eat in a year?

They probably eat lots and lots of mice -- no doubt! But if they eat my barn cat, that doesn't help me. We've had 4 disappear in the last year. We also have big owls. I don't know who to give the credit to, but these were spayed/neutered cats, raised here, and not likely to wander off.

 

[dun]

My vendetta against coyotes results from when we were in the ca central valley. The neighbors hows would come to near our back fence to calve. I watched on a couple of occasions yotes ripping calves out of the cows while they were in labor. That was all it took for me.

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

My vendetta against coyotes results from when we were in the ca central valley. The neighbors hows would come to near our back fence to calve. I watched on a couple of occasions yotes ripping calves out of the cows while they were in labor. That was all it took for me.

I haven't seen that; don't want to see it! :frowns: That's why we are on the offense vs. the defense.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Do coyotes get any credit for the good they do? I wonder how many mice they eat in a year?

They probably eat lots and lots of mice -- no doubt! But if they eat my barn cat, that doesn't help me. We've had 4 disappear in the last year. We also have big owls. I don't know who to give the credit to, but these were spayed/neutered cats, raised here, and not likely to wander off.

They do like cat easy picken's. I have had many a chicken turned into a cat turd. Think I would rather have the yote's, wood's are full of feral cat's.

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

CB -- We're not in the woods, and don't have lots of feral cats, cuz we don't have alot of folks in our neighborhood. And our cats leave the chickens alone. You can have our coyotes; I won't worry much about a few cats.

 

[Caustic Burno]

CB -- We're not in the woods, and don't have lots of feral cats, cuz we don't have alot of folks in our neighborhood. And our cats leave the chickens alone. You can have our coyotes; I won't worry much about a few cats.

I don't live in a neighborhood, direction's take the dirt road then turn on the highline rightaway. I have to go towards town to go hunting. Turn north or south out my front door and you have sixty miles of nothing but woods in both directions.
We have cats from city people throwing them out on the highway about a mile to the south, you can take a spotlight on any night and get four or five set's of eye's in the pasture. I will give them one thing they survive on chicken's, trash barrel, and every small bird they can catch. They are as wild as any bobcat.

 

[dun]

CB -- We're not in the woods, and don't have lots of feral cats, cuz we don't have alot of folks in our neighborhood. And our cats leave the chickens alone. You can have our coyotes; I won't worry much about a few cats.

I don't live in a neighborhood, direction's take the dirt road then turn on the highline rightaway. I have to go towards town to go hunting. Turn north or south out my front door and you have sixty miles of nothing but woods in both directions.
We have cats from city people throwing them out on the highway about a mile to the south, you can take a spotlight on any night and get four or five set's of eye's in the pasture. I will give them one thing they survive on chicken's, trash barrel, and every small bird they can catch. They are as wild as any bobcat.

We had similar issues until I descovered they would come to a varmint call.

 

[houstoncutter]

I pretty much believe in the live and let live. I will even leave a cottonmouth, copperhead, or rattlesnake along as long as they stay out of the yard and barns. Yotes will get dropped as fast as i can shoot, they no longer have any predator to keep them in check here, of course I know some people say we have wolfs back in SoutheastTexas, and they in the past helped keep the yotes in balance

 

[Caustic Burno]

I pretty much believe in the live and let live. I will even leave a cottonmouth, copperhead, or rattlesnake along as long as they stay out of the yard and barns. Yotes will get dropped as fast as i can shoot, they no longer have any predator to keep them in check here, of course I know some people say we have wolfs back in SoutheastTexas, and they in the past helped keep the yotes in balance

I am with you on let live I do have an exception and that is a timber rattler and a cat.
The Red Wolf is gone last one I seen was early 70's, the only remaining ones are in a breeding program in NC.
If you ever see or hear one you would know the difference immediately over the yote much larger.
The scientific community has all kinds of arguements on it's origin from thousands of years ago from being a sub species of gray wolves to being a hybred cross of gray's and coyote's.
I know this the one's that used to roam these woods were big and howled like the ones in the movies, it wasn't none of this yapping like the little turds running around here today.

 

[Roadapple]

Sorry, but I don't believe in "Live and let live." I spray for flies, lice, etc. and I shoot every damn flea ridden fox that comes in my yard and kills my mouse exterminators, that has about finished off our pheasant population (the fox and yotes), rabbits, and every other small game around. And I also believe in exterminating some of the scum in our prisons. And some that ain't in prison. So I don't think you all believe in "Live and Let Live".

 

[hillbillycwo]

CB,
If memory serves me correctly in the late 70's early 80's the KYDNR released some Red Wolves in the Land between the lakes area to help with the deer starvation that was occuring but I haven't followed it much so I cant say for sure.

 

[VCC]

It seems some coyotes eat larger pray others will stick to small game, if you have coyotes and they are leaving your stock alone they say it best to not run (kill) them off, the next group that moves in may prefer veal and lamb over mice and rabbits.
The coyotes that have moved into the north have become quite efficient at taking down adult deer, not one of their normal prey animals in the past. The singer that was killed in Canada a year or 2 ago was killed by coyotes, these coyotes were bigger and more aggressive than the ones in the south, and they think they may have crossed with the wolf sometime during the trek north.
They adapt to the most abundant prey, they can put a hurting on fawns, turkey, pheasant, sheep or calf crops. My uncle ran an alfalfa farm in Nevada you could tell when the coyote population was getting out of hand, there would be more does with out fawns and allot less turkeys. They would have the government trapper come through and shoot them from a plain, the next spring turkeys and fawns everywhere.
The ranch just west of me lets people hunt coyotes on it; they have removed over 200 coyotes in the last 5 years and will probably get 20 or 30 this year as well, it is like an endless supply. They really start hitting them hard in November (after fire season) up through calving season, has helped with calf losses.
Since they are one of the few animals whose numbers and territories have expended since Columbus came to America, I would have to say they are here to stay. They are intelligent, resourceful and prolific; you will get some but never all of them.

 

[Caustic Burno]

CB,
If memory serves me correctly in the late 70's early 80's the KYDNR released some Red Wolves in the Land between the lakes area to help with the deer starvation that was occuring but I haven't followed it much so I cant say for sure.

If they released them in my area around the lakes they didn't make it. I don't doubt they did they have release rattlesnakes here. I hunted the forks of the rivers 13,000 acres government land accesable by boat only. It is just as God made it, if it is East Texas it's in there.

 

[Limomike]

Never lost one yet to a yote and they sing here all the time. Yote gets a bad rap your calves are in much more danger from dogs. I had to discourage one from running the cows this morning.

I totally agree with CB here.. I have had ZERO calves killed by coyotes.. and a few by wild dogs.

 

[Farmerjon]

We shoot coyotes when they get real noisy (figure the population is up). Have heard the same theory on limit hunting them if they are not bothering your stock. Kill them off, others will move in and they may not be so nice (kind of like the rental house down the road after the old man died). Coydogs are a whole nother story. Mean, instincts of a coyote, loss of fear to man due to the dog genes. Coydogs will kill your dog on his chain for his bowl of food. Oh, I also kill only rattlesnakes, (all snakes are rattlers until they are dead and I can inspect them closely!) :nod: .

 

[fitz]

We shoot coyotes when they get real noisy (figure the population is up). Have heard the same theory on limit hunting them if they are not bothering your stock. Kill them off, others will move in and they may not be so nice (kind of like the rental house down the road after the old man died). Coydogs are a whole nother story. Mean, instincts of a coyote, loss of fear to man due to the dog genes. Coydogs will kill your dog on his chain for his bowl of food. Oh, I also kill only rattlesnakes, (all snakes are rattlers until they are dead and I can inspect them closely!) :nod: .

One of my neighbors told me the same thing about others moving in and maybe not being so nice. If they're leaving the calves alone I won't shot at them. One problem would change that in a hurry. Years ago I saw a coyote on a still born calf and I think he took it away from the buzzards. Have read that if a female has a larger litter than she feels her territory will accommodate, she'll reduce the number. Most of my cows were born and raised here. Happy that they chase both coyotes and dogs.

fitz

 

[backhoeboogie]

As I said the coyotes are all over me. Got a neighbor down the road with a bunch of goats that go everywhere. They even jump the chain link fences and go into the cemetery. The whole herd rountinely gets into the wheat pastures before I graze them each year.

Maybe I actually need more coyotes around if they will start taking out those goats.

 

[raykour]

I live NW of Denver, CO in the rockies. The only thing I have lost to coyotes are a small dog, a cat, and some chickens. I have never lost a goat or calf. We have a healthy population of coyotes and we leave them alone. WE shot one juvenile male last year. This year I found a female pup dead on the road. Mom and Dad live on our property, and have behaved themselves however one time last year they did try to bait one of my dogs away from me out into the draw. My bigger worry is cats....bobcats and mountain lions. A bobcat might seem small but it can kill a medium goat or baby calf. A lion can take a calf or a 6 month old horse colt. They are around here and much more a threat to livestock than a coyote in this area. Easy prey is plentiful and the coyotes are still "wild."

 

[MO_cows]

Coyotes are pretty smart and VERY adaptable and opportunistic. So every population is gonna be different based on what they have learned and what opportunities they have had. We haven't had any losses here but we hear them all the time. The trains blowing their whistle makes them sound off, like dogs and sirens. We try to put new calves and moms in the corral for the first 3 nights but it don't always work out that way. We shot one coyote that came in the chicken house in broad daylight towards the end of last winter. It was starved, nothing but fur and bones. Didn't go after the hens, seemed to be so starved or weak it didn't know what it was doing. We have two big dogs, even though they sleep in the house I think the territory is marked and the coyotes don't come around too close to the house and outbuildings.

 

[djinwa]

Sorry, but I don't believe in "Live and let live." I spray for flies, lice, etc. and I shoot every be nice flea ridden fox that comes in my yard and kills my mouse exterminators, that has about finished off our pheasant population (the fox and yotes), rabbits, and every other small game around. And I also believe in exterminating some of the scum in our prisons. And some that ain't in prison. So I don't think you all believe in "Live and Let Live".

But you might be allowing more mice to live by getting rid of the coyotes. I watch them regularly out on a grassland range near here hunting mice all day. Probably catch alot more than cats. Many people also want to kill every snake they see, but I count up how many more mice and bugs will live after I kill the snake, and then let it go.

There may be situations where coyotes should be eliminated, but just seems like we need to put all the pros and cons on the table.

http://www.dfw.state.or.us/wildlife/liv ... oyotes.pdf

Coyotes play an important role in the food chain by controlling mice, rats and other rodents and scavenging on dead wildlife that otherwise could spread disease. Rodents make up the bulk of the coyote diet in both urban and rural settings. Many areas, such as cemeteries and golf courses, have reported declines in damage associated with gophers once coyotes appeared. Coyotes also help to control geese in urban areas and on agricultural lands where flocks can forage and destroy young crops. Coyotes sometimes kill domestic and free-roaming cats for food or to remove competition. This can be controversial with some members of the public; however, a positive consequence of coyotes preying on feral cats can be an increase in nesting success for neo-tropical songbirds.