Found a coyote den with pups

[KLB]

Anyone that questions killing these coyotes must not live where they have to deal with them on a regular basis.

I wish I could find the dens around me. Coyotes are constantly killing my barn cats and every year get bolder. Last year they killed all but one of my adult barn cats. Including two that never left the area between my house and barn. This winter I found tracks across my patio. Sadly, I never actually see them though.

 

[ghuns]

I am 40 years old. When I was 15, a neighbor said he saw a coyote on our property. We all thought he was crazy. 25 years later, we can hardly go a week without seeing one, or a couple days without hearing them, and this is after a good 15 years of killing every one we could get a shot on. When they killed our one of our dogs a couple years ago a hundred feet from my backdoor, we went on the warpath and took out a dozen from our little 200 acre farm. I know we didn't get them all, but they seem to have gotten the message. We no longer have tracks anywhere near our buildings and the ones we see and hear tend to be much farther away.

I say, try to kill them all. Not because I want them ALL gone, but because trying to kill them all will leave a population that is plenty big enough for taking care of sick and weak deer, turkeys, rabbits, cats, etc...

 

[ghitch75]

you did the right thing.....you saved a lot of rabbits and fawns....don't worry about there is plenty more out there....

 

[augdog]

Great Pictures never seen A den of coyotes before. I like to deer hunt but also love to hunt yotes!

 

[Que]

I would have done the same as the OP. Not pleasant and I am not one to kill puppys or kittys but Coyote are a freaking menace. Yes, they have the right to live but not when we catch them. We are the only natural preditor they have and the population is running amok. We see them here in the city.

I had no idea about the population being so large and out of control. If that's the case, I would assume it's okay to hunt them year-round?

 

[cwillour]

I had no idea about the population being so large and out of control. If that's the case, I would assume it's okay to hunt them year-round?

On your property or with the permission of the landowner:

DNR: Coyotes

 

[poppy]

I had no idea about the population being so large and out of control. If that's the case, I would assume it's okay to hunt them year-round?

Check out the 2013-2014 Indiana Hunting&Trapping Guide and click on Furbearers Hunting

 

[KLB]

Does this sound confusing to anyone but me? Do other people need a permit to hunt coyotes on my property or not?

Landowners, or a person with written permission from a landowner, may take coyotes year-round on private property by snaring, trapping or shooting without a permit from the DNR. A landowner does not need a permit to take coyotes on his/her property by one of these methods, but a hunting or trapping license is required to hunt or trap coyotes on land other than your own.

Are there both permits and licenses?

 

[PapaScout]

I just looked at the second picture. I couldn't have done it.

 

[gunworks321]

With at least 9 (7 pups, male,female) on the property that you know of, rabbits, squirrel, deer would have been slaughtered along with any pets/livestock you may have.

Adorably fluffy, Yes. But, sustaining the property without emotion is what you gotta do.

Agree, and not least of the concerns is they are the largest spreaders of cainine distemper.

 

[MiNDRiVE]

Probably the most humane way to deal with the situation. I personally don't like killing anything but at least you didn't trap them/starve them to death.

 

[findingZzero]

*******snip**********. I had learned at a presentation by a wildlife specialist that the average survival rate of a doe's two fawns in a coyote free area is 1.4 and in a coyote endemic region it is 0.4.

I thought those odds were set in Vegas by Jimmy the Greek? I had bets on the 'yotes. Doe lover............

 

[Jason R. Bruce]

Everything outlined here in the original post is very accurate and typical of coyote denning. Fairly open, well drained den sites like that are common 2nd & 3rd stage drops for coyotes. The whelping/birth site was probably more secluded in thick cover and better sheltered by overhanging logs or rocks or even tunneled into loose soil.

Moving them 200-300 yards after being disturbed is spot-on. Threat barks upon approach are also typical, the range you'll start getting those threat barks evolves from gestation to whelping to rearing and is also affected by the frequency at which they're encroached upon. Very good recap that others can learn from. Usually the internet brings us much more grandiose stories of coyote dens when in fact they're humble abodes like the one seen here.

Seeing what you did with the pups, it may be advisable to keep accurate logs of where these pups were found this spring. The grade of the terrain and the direction of slope will likely be replicated next spring. If not for whelping, the 2nd or 3rd drop (as you've found here) will probably be made in a similar location. I'd suggest looking a few weeks earlier next year as these pups are a little late. I was finding pups like this a month ago, but last winter was a doozy.

You certainly did help save some small game in the immediate area over the next 8-12 weeks. There's no two ways about it, they were going to hammer some small critters while feeding those pups. The question is, will you see a noticeable improvement in small game or fawn populations? That goes back to your current coyote population density. 7 pups is a decent liter so it doesn't tell us much about her state of compensatory breeding where extreme liter sizes (either way) come into play. Removing this litter will allow the neighbors to expand their range to include your property while taking less of a toll on the resources therein, but the parents of this aborted liter are still taxing the same resources themselves.

Now for my OPINION: Assumption: CONJECTURE: You'll lose far less prey species between now and August. BUT. Between the first frost (Oct?) and Christmas the surrounding coyotes will have absorbed this vacant territory and depleted the small game resources down to the same level you would've had if this litter had survived. By the time you're ready to climb a deer stand, you'll have the same amount of coyotes as you would've had if this litter survived and maybe 5-10% more yearling deer. That said, without the assistance of an experienced trapper (or extremely experienced predator caller) you've done the best coyote population control possible for your property.

There are very few people in this state making sizable impacts on coyote numbers but you made a significant dent in that small area's short-term food chain. If you were able to find 4-6 nearby litters next year, and do this for 3-4 years, you'd start seeing some changes. Then compensatory breeding would kick in and throttle back your gains. Research shows coyote populations in this state have gone largely unchanged for the past 15 years and I don't see it changing, one way or another, in the next 15 years. Your best long-term plan for growing game species on your property should include habitat development and a fur harvester you can trust.

 

[printcraft]

I would have done the same as the OP. Not pleasant and I am not one to kill puppys or kittys but Coyote are a freaking menace. Yes, they have the right to live but not when we catch them. We are the only natural preditor they have and the population is running amok. We see them here in the city.

Over the last couple of years they seem to be growing in numbers. 10 years ago I almost never saw them, or even heard them.
Now, I have them running through the backyard, yelping and carrying on at night frequently
and have seen them running around in broad daylight on the edges of town.
As far as the OP, yeah they look like cute little puppies......... they are not...... they grow up to be dangerous...... there is no way around it, it's in their nature.

 

[remauto1187]

Well thanks for your moral lecture.

You certainly are very welcome....It appears you needed it.

 

[remauto1187]

I do not own a large amount of land, so I have no idea what you go through as a land owner to manage your property. If deer is your primary meat source for your family, I can certainly understand, but if not, I'm a little lost. Also, if there have been incidents that cause you to fear for the safety of your family, well, that is certainly a good reason. If it was just a case of what they "might" do, then maybe you could have let them live.

Oddly but not so suprisingly....I noticed nobody yet has the sack to challenge you on your position on this thread EVEN THOUGH it is more or less the same as my position.

So for much for all this "intestinal fortitude" the last courageous clown spoke of.

 

[iChokePeople]

Oddly but not so suprisingly....I noticed nobody yet has the sack to challenge you on your position on this thread EVEN THOUGH it is more or less the same as my position.

So for much for all this "intestinal fortitude" the last courageous clown spoke of.

In other news, challenging someone on an internet forum now qualifies as having "sack". Oy.

 

[Percolater]

Over the past 4 years the yotes have been populating my area. Unfortunately, I'm still in Carmel city limits Otherwise I could save all the neighborhoods little pets and make a small impact on the local population as they have den sites just beyond my property line every spring. It has turned into a love/hate relationship as we no longer have any problem growing anything, but have to listen to the dogs bark at them nightly.

 

[bwframe]

Oddly but not so suprisingly....I noticed nobody yet has the sack to challenge you on your position on this thread EVEN THOUGH it is more or less the same as my position.

So for much for all this "intestinal fortitude" the last courageous clown spoke of.

Maybe you should study Que's posting habits a little further? Never know, might learn how to play well with others?

 

[Jason R. Bruce]

Over the past 4 years the yotes have been populating my area. Unfortunately, I'm still in Carmel city limits Otherwise I could save all the neighborhoods little pets and make a small impact on the local population as they have den sites just beyond my property line every spring. It has turned into a love/hate relationship as we no longer have any problem growing anything, but have to listen to the dogs bark at them nightly.

I will not dispute that coyote populations have expanded into new ranges over the years, but I think the public's perception of coyotes "moving in" is amplified once the coyotes start relaxing. As coyotes inhabit an area over generations they become more aware of their surroundings and the dangers therein. Coyotes often look both ways before crossing Michigan Road and know every outdoor pet food bowl up and down 106th street. These are not instinctive behaviors shared by rural coyotes, they're patterned behaviors conditioned to the individual coyote based on its surroundings. I was calling and filming urban coyotes in Carmel, Zionsville, Westfield & Broad Ripple regularly in 2007, I know ADC trappers that were catching them there many years earlier. I still flirt with a few of the old den sites in the summer and coax a few around the city limits in the fall but there doesn't seem to be any more than before. I have some pretty cool nigh vision footage of a coyote running down and swallowing a rabbit beside the storm water retention pond in front of Kroger back in August of 08. A nice 8pt buck frequented that area then too.