# A new farm, a challange I think.



## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

My friend John got a call last week asking for us to come take care of a coyote problem the farmer was having. John told us he was rather vague on the phone just what was going on and that it was even coyotes bothering him. John told him we would come on Saturday and talk with him.
John, Dean and I drove up there Saturday arriving about midday as arranged before hand. The problem is Coyotes embolden coming into his loafing yards where his milk cows are staged before the milking's.
He runs 500 head of milking cows at this time, they milk 3 times a day 10 cows at A time in their set up. 
He told us where we could park and be out of the way, didn't really want to give us a out line of his property lines. Just figured we would come and set up near the loafing yards and shoot any coyotes that showed up. We told him that could work if we wanted to set around near the loafing pens all day, we would much rather call them in. That way we would not waste all our time if they didn't show up.

Finally he decided that since his brother had recommended us he should listen to us. Gave us a ruff property line lay out and some special things like a sand pit with trees and shrubs around it. Nearly no fence lines (farm from road ditch to ditch but a intersecting drainage ditch with a wet area near by with deep grasses. 
So John, Eric and I were going up on Tuesday Morning for our first try. Snowing like crazy at 5:30 with a 20 MPH wind, called it off. Snow is supposed to change to rain in the afternoon. Will try Wednesday afternoon, 
*Wednesday weather forecast, 243 weather.*
Partly cloudy early then becoming mostly cloudy. Highs around 40. South winds 10 to 20 mph. 

This is how we have gotten permission to hunt all but the first farm, word of mouth from farmer to farmer.
Over the last 10 years we have gotten permission from many farmers after we have hunted coyotes there to hunt other things. This farm is 22.

 Al


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## brownegg (Jan 5, 2006)

Nice permission story Al....just watched the pbs story on coywolfs and how brazen they have become.....have you noticed any of these hybrids that have seem to be growing in large numbers? Seems they started in Canada and moved south.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Just got back a little bit ago. Glad I took the 243 as the wind was honking across the fields up that way. I saw the farmer had up a weather station transmitter. So when he came out when we were loading asked the temp he had and wind speed. He said it was 42 F and the wind was steady at 15 MPH with gust up to 25 MPH.
WE quit at quarter to 5 when it started lightly misty raining. We had gotten 4 as usually Eric got two. I am going to have to find me a auto loader to change over like Eric did.

Fur is still looking good and thick but it has been below normal cold. I also saw that PBS program and the picture of those coyotes. Ours look about the same size, fur seems to be in the same color range and we do have singles that come in to the calls some times but a lot of times we have triples and quads come in and every once in a great while 5 or 6 so they do run in packs more so than what I hear they do west of the Mississippi.


I think it would take a DNA test to know for sure.


 Al


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## rininger85 (Feb 29, 2016)

alleyyooper said:


> Fur is still looking good and thick but it has been below normal cold. I also saw that PBS program and the picture of those coyotes. Ours look about the same size, fur seems to be in the same color range and we do have singles that come in to the calls some times but a lot of times we have triples and quads come in and every once in a great while 5 or 6 so they do run in packs more so than what I hear they do west of the Mississippi.
> 
> Al


That is interesting... I had recently read where some guy in one of the hunting magazines claimed that coyotes do not hunt in packs... I said BS because I know for certain the coyotes on our property in TN hunt in packs. They sound like they circle an area and then you hear what sounds like 20 or 30 coyotes start yipping in a circle which I assume is them trying to jump anything within that circle and chase them to their buddies but I have not figure this whole coyote hunting thing out yet to actually get to see them in person to learn first hand what they do.... I have had even less luck trying to hunt them in Michigan (is that such a thing? Less luck than no luck at all?) 

Then I read another article talking about the hybrids that claimed the western "real" coyote is much different than the eastern "hybrid" coyote. So must be this pack mentality is a cross over from the wolf genes and maybe the first article wasn't completely full of BS, just didn't know anything about eastern coyotes?


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

As I said I believe it would take a DNA test to know for sure but coyotes in our area do hunt in packs. I have never kept a journal on our hunts but I would venture to guess any singles we have gotten were young males looking for a new territory of operation. 
That PBS program mentioned 6 square miles as a coywolf territory, Believe I read that a pure 100% coyotes territory is 25 sq. miles. That would hold with what I hear around my home. Will hear them for a week or two in the evenings and when they make a kill, then we can go a couple months with our hearing a peep. I can run the locator sound and not get a howl at all till they start sounding off again in the evenings.

Found this interesting as well, We do not have wolves in lower Michigan as yet and not very long in the UP either.

*http://www.coyotesmarts.org/coyotes101/*

*" Because there are no wolves in Rhode Island, our coyotes are not actively cross-breeding and are not âcoywolves.â They are coyotes with some wolf genes they picked up along the way to New England. These genes give them the tendency and the ability to hunt deer. This trait is very beneficialâfor coyotes and peopleâin regions overpopulated by deer. Because many canids (species in the dog family) readily hybridize, our coyotes have some dog genes incorporated in their DNA as well."*

 Al


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

from the bolded statement in " " I think the person who said they don't have coy-wolves because they don't have wolves then goes on to explain how the coyote picked up wolf genes on the way to RI has their head up their britches.

they may not be an exact 50/50 but if they say they have wolf genes and the ones with wolf genes thrive because they take deer , then they kept the wolf traits and they are coy-wolf.

also I don't see where a coy-dog-wolf unafraid of larger animals and possibly eventually humans is a benefit to people.

then again once you read the web page you realize they are anti hunting and want a huge population of coyotes.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

I didn't read the who page I was looking to confirm where I had read the territory was 25 sq. miles. I was also hurrying as I had an appointment to make and never did confirm what I though I had read some place.
I do know I and my bunch of yahoos are doing out part to reduce and maintain a low population of them.

 Al


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

I figure the population is about right when most people never see a coyote.

if people not specifically looking for coyote are seeing them then the population is probably out of control


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

I feel that if you can stand in your yard any time of the day early just at day break to late evening and hear them raising cane there are to many to close.
You will normally see me with my pistol as I walk my pups over our mile plus of paths thru the abandoned over grown fields and woods. We rounded one corner last summer next to the horse pasture fence next door to see 4 or 5 coyotes run off to a woods across that pasture. A deer about a year old I believe lay dead in the horse pasture. That is when I started carrying.

 Al


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