I can say for my area, when the animals are sick and die from it they usually don't touch it. I've told early in this thread that when we had a big die off of whitetails from EHD a few years ago that they just layed there and rotted. Occassionally a buzzard would pick at them but other than that they were untouched by any predator. I think they can smell the infections in animals and know not to eat it or risk getting sick themselves. As far as dead livestock, the sick ones just lay there but something such as injury or one dieing while calving or dead born calves they are all over it in short order.
Ramblings and Such From Hunting Coyote
- Thread starter DSheetz
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Something I have noticed is that if a cow's death left the hide unbroken it would take a while before they were scavenged on.
Any dead critter I use as a bait station will be opened up in a manner that allows the scent of flesh and/or entrails to freely move in the breeze.
As to cattle being "doctored" and not being touched, I can see how that could happen.
One of the ranches I worked on had 11 heifers get into a spill of produced water at an oil tank battery and died within a few days. No coyotes would touch those carcasses and they simply rotted away.
Ed
Terry Lightle
Well-Known Member
We had a cow struck by lightening years ago and nothing touched it,not even possums
Those are an ugly site. And a smell you never forget either.
Lightning strikes is the main reason for cattle deaths in my area . Sheep on the other hand seem to be looking for a place where a bunch of them can pile up and die . They will drift in front of the wind and snow up against a fence then pile up and drift in under the snow dyeing . The buzzards feast but not too many coyote . It's almost like them and the cats preferer to kill their own fresh food to eat here instead of scavenge from the dead .
DMP25-06
Well-Known Member
74honker ,
You must not have any wild hogs in your area , they will eat ANYTHING .
Several years back , I was allowed to night-hunt for coyotes in South Texas , at a huge cattle feed lot , that handled 20,000 + cattle at all times .
Any cattle that died due to diseases were dumped into a large pit 60' long x 15' wide x 10' deep , that was excavated by bulldozers , and when filled with rotting , diseased carcasses , it was then covered .
The thing was that whenever we drove past that pit at night , 30 - 50 hogs would run out of that pit , where they had been feeding on the cattle carcasses .
No one dared to eat any hogs taken from ranches in that area .
DMP25-06
Bucklowery
Well-Known Member
The ones that I trapped and kept I would feed all of my deer carcasses and the eat all but the hide and a couple of the vertebraes
Thanks
Buck
It's been another week of winter here . I turned cold and stayed that way with a couple of days only getting in the teens for highs . It snowed a couple of days we got around 10 to 14 inches of snow before it settled or the wind blew it into drifts . there wasn't much moisture content to it as it was so light and fluffy . The interstate highway I-25 has been mostly closed down by Cheyenne for three days due to winter conditions with blowing and drifting snow as well as wrecks . Today we have high wind warnings again with gusts up to 50 mph . It's been as windy as I can remember this year not very many days good for calling or hunting coyote . The trapping and snaring being harder with the high winds , snow and freezing ground . It can be done but takes more work and knowledge to keep traps and snares working in these conditions , with the bottom of snares freezing in the snow and ice or the wind blowing the snare closed . Traps will freeze down , drift under if set in the wrong places , or often blow clear and be uncovered by it . The mice will uncover them as well if they have any odors on them or the pan covers especially in the winter weather when they too are hungry . Awa March in Wyoming it's just the way it is , we get a big part of our moisture this month and in April so we hope for heavy wet snow not the Artic fronts from up north but the up slop storms from south of us swirling in and going counter clock wise hitting the mountains from the east , south east and full of moist air , as it climbs the mountains it drops the moisture as it cools with the gain in altitude instead of from the north , north west , where it is cold dry air . The wife and I went to Casper Monday evening the driving lane was clear but the passing lane was icy . Our speed limit is 80 so with my lane being clear I was running at 75 mph when behind me I saw one coming upon me fast , it whipped out onto the icy side with out signaling passed me in a flash whipped in in front of me again not using a signal and was gone . It had to be running over a hundred mph then they wonder why they loose control spin out and hit the ditch . I just shake my head pull off onto the shoulder as I dial 911 then drive off I've seen enough in my lifetime .
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Pretty much the same here. It snowed a little yesterday morning but was gone by noon. Today will be close to 70°, by Wednesday it will be in the low-mid 80's, then back in the upper 60's by the weekend. Of course, it will be windy the whole time, too.
Not Wyoming winds, but still 20-25mph steady with 30-35mph gusts.
Enough to make calling difficult.
I've been finding more thin-coated Coyotes lately and they're pretty skinny.
Only one yearling female that had mange, the rest are just in poor condition.
I should have taken a picture of the one big male I took last week with one extra long upper canine tooth. Weird looking.
The opposite upper canine tooth had been broken off short at some point in the past as it was worn smooth and cracked.
The long tooth was probably 2" long, thin, and sharp. He was roughly 3.5 years old, thick coat, and fairly heavy for our local coyotes, weighing ~25lb.
He had been shot at in the past because as soon as he saw me, he dropped to his belly and snuggled up against a mesquite bush, hoping to hide.
Unfortunately for him, I saw him long before he saw me and I maneuvered to a clear shot without looking directly at him.
He didn't get up.
Ed
I have been reading your posts this last hour. Impressed by your experiences.
But I must ask are you personaly typing all in youself?
I am impressed..
