Ramblings and Such From Hunting Coyote

[windypants]

Several times in the last couple of days I've heard coyote vocalizations from up in the den area that I'm curious about. They're high pitched howls and a few barks. The howls just trail off at that high pitch and are repeated over and over for quite a few minutes. It's not as high pitched and emotional as the alarm howls, and just a lone coyote. Hopefully this is a good enough description to give some insight on what it means.

 

[JiggyIi]

Thank You windypants, yes, it is a hard world out there! Going into you rifling the lands of the rifling aren't just straight, they are tapered so they don't shear copper from the bullets that's called lead angles. Alex wheeler was playing with different angles to see if it made any difference with speed and accuracy. Yes it takes a distance for my bullets to go to sleep and settle out a bunch of very accurate long-range barrels won't shoot well at closer ranges with the loads that are used to reach out there. So then for a calling rifle I will probably have a different load than for my longer shots. You are pretty close to the lands at .016 but that is good to know at this time I am still at .062 and may need to close it down. My last 6.5 liked .125 jump to the lands running 120 grain Nosler ballistic tips. Putting the brake on mine changed the barrel harmonics just from the added weight and length of travel for the gases. It's just an interesting subject to me. I sat and watched a pair of golden eagles hunting a mule deer fawn one time. They would make mom and it run by swooping down towards them till they got them to run into some willow brush then one of them landed and chased the fawn on the ground in the brush they got the fawn that way. I have also seen the golden eagles kill full grown adult antelope by hitting them on the back and making them run till they were exhausted and bleeding heavily then landing on their back to start pecking through the rib cage till they fell to the ground. Thankfully we here in the United States lead pretty sheltered lives compared to so many other parts of the world.

You remind me of an old writer named Ed Nixon. I love your stories ️ I wish you would write a book ️

 

[HRM Johnny]

I second the motion about you writing a book. Yes, I know it's been discussed before. Just chipping in my two cents worth.

 

[DSheetz]

windypants: I have heard that a few times and one time when I first heard it, I slipped in on the den location to see if I could figure it out. I parked my truck and walked back through some pines got to within a hundred yards of the coyote doing the barks but mostly high-pitched shorter howls. Then I sat and watched. At the den was a coyote messing around then off at another distance was another coyote that started doing the same thing. That time I figured there was an interloper messing with the pups and the pair was attempting to draw it away from the kids. Another time I watched as both adults stayed at the den area as another coyote was trying to lure them away from the pups doing the same things short sharp howls and a few barks. That time the adults laid down on a slight rise and watched the interloper and the den. I have often done the same thing gotten close to the den and pups did some howls, usually normal length howls two of them then one bark and another normal length howl just to get the adults to react in a display manner so that I could get a fix on the actual den site, have the aircraft come in and take the adults that were killing then be able to get the pups faster by knowing better where the den was. By doing it that way I was able to locate and get four pairs that were killing lambs and take the dens in one day one time. Located the adults and dens one day then called in the plane and got the adults the next morning and spent the rest of the second day cleaning out the dens of pups. It works for me because of me not always killing them as soon as I see them but taking the time to learn from them. It most likely is one of the parents trying to get the attention of another coyote or animal they feel is too close to the kids for their comfort, it might even be an elk cow with a calf or such. I have watched and heard them do it to cows with their calves also. But I have seen coyotes put out of the area by them as well as seen coyotes killed by mule deer does with a fawn. I had a coyote stomped into the ground by some cows one time in the spring when I had her in a trap and they had calves.

 

[DSheetz]

I have also had the mom come back and do two half howls and two quick barks trying to find the pups and get them rounded up and back to the den area. I have done that same howl bark combination when I took some pups and didn't get one of the adults or I figured that I still had a baby setter left that needed killed. The two short quick half-length howls and two quick sharp barks is a where are you guys come here right now or let me know where you are kind of thing like your mom telling you OKAY its getting time for supper get in the house and wash up right now I'm not telling you again.

 

[DSheetz]

I have written a book it's just scattered out over 225 pages in this post lol

 

[windypants]

windypants: I have heard that a few times and one time when I first heard it, I slipped in on the den location to see if I could figure it out. I parked my truck and walked back through some pines got to within a hundred yards of the coyote doing the barks but mostly high-pitched shorter howls. Then I sat and watched. At the den was a coyote messing around then off at another distance was another coyote that started doing the same thing. That time I figured there was an interloper messing with the pups and the pair was attempting to draw it away from the kids. Another time I watched as both adults stayed at the den area as another coyote was trying to lure them away from the pups doing the same things short sharp howls and a few barks. That time the adults laid down on a slight rise and watched the interloper and the den. I have often done the same thing gotten close to the den and pups did some howls, usually normal length howls two of them then one bark and another normal length howl just to get the adults to react in a display manner so that I could get a fix on the actual den site, have the aircraft come in and take the adults that were killing then be able to get the pups faster by knowing better where the den was. By doing it that way I was able to locate and get four pairs that were killing lambs and take the dens in one day one time. Located the adults and dens one day then called in the plane and got the adults the next morning and spent the rest of the second day cleaning out the dens of pups. It works for me because of me not always killing them as soon as I see them but taking the time to learn from them. It most likely is one of the parents trying to get the attention of another coyote or animal they feel is too close to the kids for their comfort, it might even be an elk cow with a calf or such. I have watched and heard them do it to cows with their calves also. But I have seen coyotes put out of the area by them as well as seen coyotes killed by mule deer does with a fawn. I had a coyote stomped into the ground by some cows one time in the spring when I had her in a trap and they had calves.

Thanks Dave. I wish I had access to that property where the den is so I could get closer. There were five cow elk that were at the den site harassing the coyotes for several days after they discovered it, but not lately when I've been hearing this howling. Maybe I'll get a chance to see whether it's an interloper or one of the pair doing it. I've been seeing the pair and four pups pretty regularly now. The male's tail is getting pretty thread-bare from the pups pulling on it like you said. I saw him come in with dinner the other day. It looked like it was probably a fawn, but he went out of sight when he gave it to the pups so I couldn't see if it was a live 'toy'. Nature is endlessly fascinating!

 

[DSheetz]

And I'm still in the process of completing it! Someday I might take the time to compile a few chapters of my experiences just for entertainment and so that maybe someone can get some good out of them also. I have had so many pleasurable hours and days in the field with coyotes and the other animals, and I enjoy sharing the experiences with others, mine may or may not be similar to what others have experienced, but I suspect that when people think about it, they can make a connection and comparison with their own time in the field.

 

[DSheetz]

They are like our kids they grow up too fast. We don't get enough time in one year of observing them to learn and see the things that we want to. They do so many amazing things with the pups with both parents taking a part in raising them plus often there will be a helper normally a young female from last year. I have taken the mom and the male moved the pups that night. They were older and camping in the sage brush traveling with the adults before I got called. After tracking him and the pups over a mile I found that he had another female helping him. I killed that female, and contacted the helicopter pilot told him where they were and that when I got him on them it would be the pups that gave him a chance at killing the old dog. They were in a huge rock pile and laid down except the pups gave his location away. He gave his life trying to save his pups. I figured he would because of his age and the way he was acting with his pups. Coyotes have so much that we can learn from them if we have the time to observe and let them, but I think it helps to have others that have observed them to help us understand what we are seeing a lot of times so that we can figure it out and put the pieces of the puzzle together in a timelier manner.

 

[JiggyIi]

This is Daughter and one of her twins just born this morning. She is the daughter of Gimpy, who showed up at our house about ten years ago with a badly injured shoulder, probably from being hit by a vehicle. She instinctively new she would be safe from coyotes here and spent the rest of her life living in close proximity to our house. For the next eight years she would have twins just outside our yard, and then bring them in for us to babysit while she went for food and water. She died about two years ago. Now her daughters and grand-daughter raise their fawns here every year, knowing it's a safe place from coyotes.
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I have a big doe who has been using my place as a nursery, & gets fed corn daily for 8 years& her mother before her

 

[DSheetz]

It depends on where you live as to how feeding wildlife is viewed. Here where I live it is discouraged by the state and departments like the game and fish. In the area where my daughter lives a couple of winters ago there was a couple that were feeding the mule deer. Sadly, they lived near a busy road and were encouraging the deer to cross the road from the river bottom to where they were feeding them and several of them were hit and killed by vehicles before the game and fish department came and took the feeders and used cracker shells to discourage the deer from being near the road. As with all of the other things that we do a little thought goes a long way so that the end results are good the way we intend them to be. In one of the parks near the river there are people that feed the ducks and Canada geese everything goes well unless they get too much white bread with larger amounts of salt feeding them grain is what the city and state recommend. They did get the avian flu and all but three of them died from it this year. there again it depends on the location they aren't near a busy road and in a park on the edge of the river. They do however lose their fear of humans and get aggressive toward people wanting to be fed by everyone. Every year there are close to 80 people killed by deer in the United States, bucks in rut and does with fawns are the main culprits, once again a little thought and knowledge goes a long way in the outcome and how the behaviors of the wildlife affect us. The situation dictates when it's a good or when it's not such a good idea. In my neighborhood there are a lot of cat people that allow their cats to roam so if you were to feed the birds, as a lot of people do, you will be getting a bunch of birds killed by the cats as I see the cats hunting the birds in peoples hedges and wind rows where the birds gather out of the weather.

 

[JiggyIi]

It depends on where you live as to how feeding wildlife is viewed. Here where I live it is discouraged by the state and departments like the game and fish. In the area where my daughter lives a couple of winters ago there was a couple that were feeding the mule deer. Sadly, they lived near a busy road and were encouraging the deer to cross the road from the river bottom to where they were feeding them and several of them were hit and killed by vehicles before the game and fish department came and took the feeders and used cracker shells to discourage the deer from being near the road. As with all of the other things that we do a little thought goes a long way so that the end results are good the way we intend them to be. In one of the parks near the river there are people that feed the ducks and Canada geese everything goes well unless they get too much white bread with larger amounts of salt feeding them grain is what the city and state recommend. They did get the avian flu and all but three of them died from it this year. there again it depends on the location they aren't near a busy road and in a park on the edge of the river. They do however lose their fear of humans and get aggressive toward people wanting to be fed by everyone. Every year there are close to 80 people killed by deer in the United States, bucks in rut and does with fawns are the main culprits, once again a little thought and knowledge goes a long way in the outcome and how the behaviors of the wildlife affect us. The situation dictates when it's a good or when it's not such a good idea. In my neighborhood there are a lot of cat people that allow their cats to roam so if you were to feed the birds, as a lot of people do, you will be getting a bunch of birds killed by the cats as I see the cats hunting the birds in peoples hedges and wind rows where the birds gather out of the weather.

I laugh about the idiots getting tossed around by the Buffalo in your back yard

 

[DSheetz]

I do as well people don't know what they are dealing with. I am not sure what they have been taught. I think they have had too much Walt Disney type of education the same as so many that have watched too many rambo type movies and then think they are an authority on AR15's. We as a general population have been pretty far removed from the realities of the ways of the world. Even when most of the people of the United States travel abroad, they just see what is offered to tourist to see, they don't see the filth and poverty that the majority of the world lives in heck we mostly deny that there is poverty here in the United States unless we are exposed to the homeless or happen into a poverty-stricken area. Sorry I got on a rant this isn't supposed to be a political site, forgive my error.

 

[Panhandle Pete]

I do as well people don't know what they are dealing with. I am not sure what they have been taught. I think they have had too much Walt Disney type of education the same as so many that have watched too many rambo type movies and then think they are an authority on AR15's. We as a general population have been pretty far removed from the realities of the ways of the world. Even when most of the people of the United States travel abroad, they just see what is offered to tourist to see, they don't see the filth and poverty that the majority of the world lives in heck we mostly deny that there is poverty here in the United States unless we are exposed to the homeless or happen into a poverty-stricken area. Sorry I got on a rant this isn't supposed to be a political site, forgive my error.

Heck ranch bulls have put a lot of people in the hospital or under ground-buffalo are a lot more dangerous.