Coyote range
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tooln
5 year old buck +
I have 2 creeks that join together run through the entire property. Yes they have cam's.
Natty Bumppo
5 year old buck +
You are not incorrect. We found 0.8 miles to be the average, in heavily forested rolling terrain in perfect summertime conditions…that is…lots of leaves on trees. In winter that distance is MUCH farther. Humidity increase the distance. Flat, open terrain increases the distance. And if you are at a higher elevation than the animals the distance will be greater. So many variables are at play that 0.8 miles is really just a benchmark. It gave us something to work with as we worked on the coyote pop. estimation technique.
Natty Bumppo
5 year old buck +
That's a lot of coyotes to process. And man, 62 lbs. is a big one! Great pics Phil. Love the one of you holding the pelt. That must have been a fun job.
Thanks for posting that study. In the early 90's when I went to UMASS the first MtDNA analysis tests were being done and they suggested a hybridization event (maybe two) with western coyotes and grey wolves as the coyotes expanded their range east. Besides the social organization stuff I also did some cranial studies on the side…comparing western coyote skulls to eastern coyote skulls to grey wolf skulls. We looked for morphological differences in the skulls of eastern coyotes that suggested some wolf pedigree. Man, those were fun times. I have a love hate relationship with eastern coyotes. Hearing them howl and seeing them brings me back to my younger days and the good times in college. I can appreciate the animals. However, I will not hesitate to shoot them when the chance presents itself.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
I don't know their range, but I have three on my place that show up on camera almost every night, so they can't be ranging very far. I have read in magazine articles that they have a very large range. I guess it depends on several factors. I have so many rabbits here, they don't need to go anywhere else.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Pretty cool study you conducted, Natty. And a great subject for your thesis. They certainly are a smart animal, and I can appreciate that. But like you I won't hesitate to whack one if I see it.
I'm 56 and have hunted since age 12. My hunting area for all my life is North-central Pa. I can tell you that back in the 70's, 80's, and into the mid-late 90's I never heard a coyote howl at night in the mountains. ( And I've hunted dark-to-dark for YEARS !! ) I ALWAYS walked out from my hunting spots to my vehicle after dark - a distance of 1 to 2 1/2 miles depending on my chosen spot for the evening hunt. I never heard any yotes until around 2000. Now, they're all over in those mtns. I don't know what that may tell you about encroachment of the coyote population in the Northeast, but there it is FWIW !!
I'm 56 and have hunted since age 12. My hunting area for all my life is North-central Pa. I can tell you that back in the 70's, 80's, and into the mid-late 90's I never heard a coyote howl at night in the mountains. ( And I've hunted dark-to-dark for YEARS !! ) I ALWAYS walked out from my hunting spots to my vehicle after dark - a distance of 1 to 2 1/2 miles depending on my chosen spot for the evening hunt. I never heard any yotes until around 2000. Now, they're all over in those mtns. I don't know what that may tell you about encroachment of the coyote population in the Northeast, but there it is FWIW !!
Natty Bumppo
5 year old buck +
I was fortunate at that time to have as a professor and advisor one of the leading canine experts in the country....Todd Fuller. He really fostered my interests. It was a cool time to be studying eastern coyotes for sure!
Yup! I'm 10 years younger but had the same experience in northwest Mass. in the 80's when I began to hunt. Pretty much unheard of in the late 70's and early 80's. By the early 90's I could go out with my crew after dark and get no less than 3 or 4 different packs to respond to my howls on any given night in my small rural hometown.
phil@thesidehill
5 year old buck +
I can still smell the odor of boiling coyote skull flesh/brains....lol. i think yotes stink in general the hides definitely had a distinct odor to them as well...not a particularly pleasant odor.
The author of the article that i linked in my previous post was UMASS and BC grad, and is now with a research biologist at Clarke as far as I know. His studies focused on not only the genetics of the eastern coyote (which he asserts should be called a coywolf given its pedigreee), but also the ecology and behavior of the eastern yote as it related to suburban/urban environments in SE MA and the Cape (Barnstable area). Unfortunately he seems to be pretty anti hunting. He actually has argued that the highly unregulated hunting of the eastern coyote helped facilitate the rapid expansion and localized increases in population density. He asserts that the killing of the alpha male in a territory (which the alphas typically are the ones that respond to calls both prey in distress and threatening coyote vocalization) opens the territory to other males (transients, displaced younger males, or adjacent alphas looking to expand). The outside males are not related to any of the females in the group where the alpha was removed, whereas the original alpha would have had his paired, unrelated female and then most likely some of their female offspring would stay with the pack. So the new comer male from outside will breed all the females in that pack when the original alpha is removed...therefore increasing the population density by having more than one female in that pack whelping a litter. He states that mortality rates for multiple litter packs have not been studied though so its hard to tell if those additional pups end up being recruited into the population.
Anyway, the guy goes on in several of his other papers, articles and appearances to state that wildlife shouldn't be managed for the hunters. He says the current model of North American Wildlife management is inherently flawed because it only serves the interest of the hunter....and not the wildlife and other social groups.
phil@thesidehill
5 year old buck +
I am 35 and i have been at least tagging along with my father on hunts in North Central and North East PA since i was 5....i couldn't carry a weapon until i was old enough to get my license, which is 12 in PA. I remember in my first licensed bear season (1991) we hunted with a big crew (full roster of 25). We did some enormous drives in the mountainous forests of Clinton County PA. On the opening day, I saw my first coyotes...3 of them ran past me and my friend (we filled on spot on the roster between his dad and my dad in the drives and as watchers). we were in mountain laurel over our heads and they bolted through a clearing...i never even got the rifle to my shoulder. I was blown away by what i saw! later that day we pushed a few more yotes out of another drive. my dad shot one, and two other guys each shot one. We ended the first day with 3 yotes and one bear. the second day we killed 2 more yotes and 2 bear, the third day we killed 3 yotes and a bear. from that point on, i became very interested in them. Prior to that day, i don't even remember ever even knowing about them or that they even existed in our area.
I continued to hunt in about the same area out of a camp and every year that i hunted there from age 12 to 18 we killed at least one coyote in dear season....shot at and missed several more and started seeing their sign and hearing them in the night on the ridges above our camp down in the hollow. But in those years from '91 to '97 it seemed like more and more yotes were being seen, heard, killed. and more and more sign was around. Now it seems to me that they are just a fact of life...a part of the landscape. I expect to at least see the sign every time i go into the woods...in fact when i don't see the sign i am amazed. The area around my property, where the pic of the big black faced yote i posted earlier, has actually seen a net decrease in yotes over the last 2-3 yrs. not sure why....but the reduced amount of yote pics, the amount of grey fox, and rabbits around certainly are indicators of a reduced yote pop.
phil@thesidehill
5 year old buck +
of course he didnt....because it does not exist! the scary part is that this is the type of wildlife biologist that are being pumped out of the university systems and assumably are getting jobs in federal and state agencies. you should read his position on the management of wild canids in north america.....scary shit.
I've been stewing over his assertions every since i read them....have been teetering on writing a response to him...but im pretty sure it would be falling on deaf ears.
wiscwhip
5 year old buck +
Yeah, I didn't mean to sound like I was getting down on you at all Phil, far from it. I am just so sick of these idiots and hearing about how everyone else should have a say in wildlife decisions, but NOONE, EVER, has come up with any manner to fund these wildlife programs other than the hunters wallets. Sickening! This guys research is probably some of the best on the subject, but then he has to let his liberal university graduate ideals come into play with no good plan as to how to put any of those ideals into affect. I just want to take these morons and tell them if they don't have a course of action other than hunters to finance their grand plans, then shut the he!! up and move on with what you already know works and stop spewing your drivel to the masses until you do have a legitimate plan, then maybe we can revisit the issue. You are correct phil, waste of breath when you can be doing better things with your time.
phil@thesidehill
5 year old buck +
I didnt take it that way at all Wisc!
The bolded section is so spot on! the research this guy has done on the eastern coyote is unreal and is very eye opening....but he can't keep his personal ideals out of it! this newly evolved canine arguably has one of the largest impacts on game and non animals in the region and it is so vastly unknown exactly how deep the impacts are because the fauna did not evolve with this predator around. not to mention that the impact on game animals means it directly impacts hunters and we are the ones footing the bill for it all!
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
I know folks on both sides of the political spectrum that think as your coyote guy does. I think the one common factor is they are " city " boys and have no upbringing in the country. When you have no experience in the wild until you get to college and more often than not ( but not always ) are taught by another city guy, you end up with a slanted, one-sided view of things. I know plenty of left & right people that have NO idea of what nature is about. They think hunting is cruel and inhumane but have no problem with deer starving to death ( a slow & UGLY way to die ) and going to rot. The one common factor - city people.
I have to relate a prime example. When growing up in Williamsport, Pa., we had visitors from New York City and some surrounding suburbs. We were sitting in our back yard in the evening after supper and were talking. One woman asked if we weren't being a little loud. My Dad asked why and she said " don't the deer come out in the evening? Which way should we look? " One of the guys asked " Are they hiding in those bushes over there? " This was IN TOWN with only lawns & yard shrubs !!! A house every 30 ft. !!! Phil - you know where I'm talking about. Their idea of going to see animals up in NYC is to go to the zoo or the pet store !!! Being raised around a city BLINDS people to the ways of the wild
no matter what your politics, L or C or in between. I visited them in NYC just to see what it was like. I was as " out of my element " as they were in the " wilderness " of Williamsport !!
My Dad's comment to me after they left the wilds of our back yard was - " Holy sh!t ":p:p
I have to relate a prime example. When growing up in Williamsport, Pa., we had visitors from New York City and some surrounding suburbs. We were sitting in our back yard in the evening after supper and were talking. One woman asked if we weren't being a little loud. My Dad asked why and she said " don't the deer come out in the evening? Which way should we look? " One of the guys asked " Are they hiding in those bushes over there? " This was IN TOWN with only lawns & yard shrubs !!! A house every 30 ft. !!! Phil - you know where I'm talking about. Their idea of going to see animals up in NYC is to go to the zoo or the pet store !!! Being raised around a city BLINDS people to the ways of the wild
no matter what your politics, L or C or in between. I visited them in NYC just to see what it was like. I was as " out of my element " as they were in the " wilderness " of Williamsport !!
My Dad's comment to me after they left the wilds of our back yard was - " Holy sh!t ":p:p
phil@thesidehill
5 year old buck +
Haha too funny!
I didnt realize you grew up in Williamsport. I was born in Williamsport, but lived in Woolrich. I went to Bishop Neumann for a year before we moved to Norther NJ when i was 13....NYC suburbs of NJ. Boy has Williamsport changed in the last 5 yrs. I know the people you speak of all too well. I have had the pleasure/misfortune of living in 7 states...mainly in big metro areas and suburbs. But i have also lived in the middle of nowhere for more years of my life than not....you know where i live now...Sullivan County is as about the middle of nowhere as it gets in the northeast.
Your story reminds me of a story of my own along the same lines. I used to work for NY state's cooperative extension system. I worked for two programs, a summer camp with an environmental stewardship program and a youth at risk environmental education program in Suffolk County, NY on Long Island. Both were very rewarding and fun...until the politics got in the way. My boss at the time and I were the environmental conservation minded (hunters and fisherman) guys and we developed the cirriculum for the programs. Wood Duck Nesting Box program with the DEC, Trout Habitat Improvement program also with the DEC, Quail Habitat Restoration project with the DEC, Maple Syrup Production, Shellfish Aquaculture program, Recreation Fishing Program, Interpretive Nature Trail design and construction in parklands and preserves, etc etc etc. Lots of great programs that got the kids involved with being outdoors and being stewards of our environment and wildlife. We were hunters and anglers and werent afraid to talk to the kids about both pursuits. Obviously fishing is more "accepted" and participated in by the "city folk" especially in that area where salt water and fresh water opportunities abound. Hunting however was a little more taboo. we came across quite a few anti's and handled them quite well. Fast forward to a time when the both of us were now preparing to depart as we could see that the powers that be wanted to take the programs in different directions....directions neither of us wanted to go. The new director of programs was hired and we were bringing him up to speed. A recent masters graduate from a VERY liberal academic institution. Educational background was environmental and education...seems like a good fit. Turns out he did most of his "environmental" studies in Costa Rica. We were showing him the nursery of native trees and shrubs we had established as a part of our stewardship programs, when we stumbled on a litter of baby rabbits....the new director shrieked with joy as he exclaimed "look at the baby deer!". This was coming from a 26 yr old man that was to be the director of an environmental based education program! My boss and I were both so in shock at his ignorance and were trying so hard not to laugh in his face that i don't think either of us really even corrected him...lol.
Last i heard the summer camp program starts with morning yoga and meditation, involves several hours a day of "nature journaling", has a library for environmental book reports, has a theater component, most councilors are from the UK, Australia, NZ, no longer has flag pole nor does flag raising/lowering and the pledge of allegiance. Not that there is anything wrong with yoga, journaling, book reports, theater, and the foreign councilors in and of themselves, but for Christ's sake the kids used to get to go out and get dirty, do work, and have fun all the while learning about the nature in their own backyard and that hard work wont kill them and that it can be fun, but it isnt always going to be. Now its like some sort of new age spa vacation.
phil@thesidehill
5 year old buck +
a combo snipe hunt and squatching.
