Coyotes

I'm a female in my 60s who hikes alone, always have. I'm returning to backpacking after a number of years away from it. I grew up with bears so they don't scare me too much. I hang my food and try to avoid popular tent sites. What does scare me is coyotes. I've read a lot about modern-day coywolves---enough to take the threat seriously. These guys weren't a factor before, but the Northeastern woods have changed in the last 20 years.

Have you backpackers encountered coyotes in Maine, Vermont, or New Hampshire (in the woods, I mean, not in your backyard)? If so, what was the encounter like? What precautions can I take? I'm not armed and dont' want to be.

Not in the mountains, but I've had some issues with them in southern NH. But, to your point, they scare me more than bears.

Two years ago there was a small coyote in the woods at the Sugarloaf II campground off Rte 302. I was at a site between the campground and Zealand Rd, which has a good buffer of trees. He cruised in between the sites and didn't seem like he wanted to deal with humans. That's the only time I can think of where I saw one in a "hiking" environment in NH.

First off, I would not make it an issue. While they are around, they are rare to see. I have only seen two while hiking ( two at once). My dog actually alerted me to them, they were standing off in the woods, just looking at us. I just held my dog's leash and told him to "get them" while I held him and he went ballistic, they scampered off. Even without a dog, simple yelling would have worked. Wildlife by nature is not looking for a fight, simply an easy meal.

I have never encountered coyotes while hiking, but have encountered them many times while mountain biking after dusk in southern NH and Mass. Kind of spooky with helmet light panning forest and seeing 6 or 8 sets of glowing eyes staring back at you out of the darkness. They always kept their distance. I never felt threatened.

I've never seen one in the northeast wild but have heard them. On the other hand, I've never heard one in my suburban backyard but have seen a few.

Coyotes in northern New England do have wolf DNA and from what I've seen and heard, they look and sound very similar to wolves. There are isolated reports of attacks on humans, including the fatality of a jogger in Noca Scotia. Here in the suburbs, despite disappearing pets, there have been no notable human encounters. Wild turkeys have shown more aggression! I think your odds of an encounter are very low.

Coyotes are known to decimate wildlife, especially during harsh winters when deer and moose can be weakened and vulnerable. Hunters wishing to destroy coyotes know that it is much easier to scare them off than it is to lure them. Otherwise, I'd say step one is not to be vulnerable ... whatever that means. I'd take it to mean that you should be aware of your surroundings, don't let your body language or sounds express distress and don't activate their chase impulse by running away.

I carry a knife handy but don't kow how useful it would be in an attack ... better than nothing I speculate. My purpose in carrying it, however, is mainly to slice cheese and fruit and prepare my PBJs! ... though it was useful once while benighted.

If you are truly concerned and want to be certain of a possible defense, I'd suggest carrying bear spray. I only carry it in grizzly country out West. Bear spray is weaker than pepper spray and not subject to nearly the same restrictions but it works because of the extra sentive sense of smell of bears and I suppose the same could be said of coyotes. I also feel it can be a good tool to de-acclimate our blacks bears to the human presence.

Bottom line from me: don't worry but if you need peace of mind carry the bear spray

I don't worry about coyote in rural areas of northern New England. They tend to be very cautious, due to hunting (no bag limit, year-round season). I've heard them but not seen any.

The suburbs of southern New England are a bit more concerning in the longer term. I've seen a few coyote (though generally don't hear them), and they don't always run from humans on sight. If California is any guide, there's a gradual progression of losing fear of humans before they represent a real danger. Attacks on humans would be preceded by some months of daylight attacks on pets. We're not at that stage yet, as far as I can see.

I haven't come across any coyotes in the NH back country. But an aquaintance of mine, whom I trust, told me he was followed by several coyotes while hiking solo in NH a couple of years ago. They may have just been curious. He was pretty spooked.

If I'm by myself or with my kids or wife, I carry bear spray now (this is a recent development based on the number of bears I've seen in NH in the past 5 yrs). For you, it's a light weight, non-lethal means of protection against a wide variety of predators. I actually think the possibility of an agressive encounter is remote. But it's pretty good protection for a very modest cost/weight.

ForestGnome reported (with pictures) a coyote encounter in the Gulf of Slides back in 2007

Tim

hikerbrian said:

I haven't come across any coyotes in the NH back country. But an aquaintance of mine, whom I trust, told me he was followed by several coyotes while hiking solo in NH a couple of years ago. They may have just been curious. He was pretty spooked.

If I'm by myself or with my kids or wife, I carry bear spray now (this is a recent development based on the number of bears I've seen in NH in the past 5 yrs). For you, it's a light weight, non-lethal means of protection against a wide variety of predators. I actually think the possibility of an agressive encounter is remote. But it's pretty good protection for a very modest cost/weight.

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Somewhere, I also heard of a hiker in NH being followed by a pack of coyotes for quite some time. Ironically, I believe it was in Waterville Valley where I encountered the two I saw.

So far I have run into one coyote on trail in New Jersey and it trotted away from me once our eyes met. Last week we were staying at a campground near Saranac Lake and we got nightly concerts of howling coyotes with voices coming from many directions. They are definitely out there but I haven't been concerned about them nearly as much as about bears for which a large male can easily outweigh me by a factor of 2 - 3. I guess if you run into a pack of coyotes the situation can be scary but as nartreb points out, I hope they haven't lost all the fear of humans to launch attacks yet.

The coyote/wolf hybrid have attacked people up in Canada, but down here they are smart enough to stay away from people because they get hunted and there are enough dying moose and deer to keep them all fed.

I've never seen coyote or had any interaction with them when backpacking or hiking - the only wildlife I've seen/heard has been loud birds, especially at sundown

hikerbrian said:

I haven't come across any coyotes in the NH back country. But an aquaintance of mine, whom I trust, told me he was followed by several coyotes while hiking solo in NH a couple of years ago. They may have just been curious. He was pretty spooked.

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Oh man, I wish you hadn't mentioned that. Did you hear about this? http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/wolf-bear-bait-joanne-barnaby-nwt-1.3636604 What could be more terrifying than to be stalked by something for twelve hours, at night?

Let's make it clear that we're talking about coywolves here. I don't think there is any debate at this point among wildlife biologists that all northeastern animals are wolf-coyote hybrids; there are no more plain old coyotes left. Whatever we knew or believed about coyotes, their small size, their shyness, 20 years ago is no longer true. The coywolf is a much larger animal that is a predator. I saw one next to my house one night and it was huge.

P.S. I forget to mention that I have a severe allergy to capsaicin, the ingredient in bear spray. Dang.

Curious how well bear spray would work on coyotes? When I've had issues with them, it was never one...it was several (5-6).

To reiterate, this is southern NH in farmland where deer are rampant (and we'd see their kill 1-2 a winter). Only once in the mountains, near Gordon Pond, and it was just one running across the trail. We happened to have lost our dog at the time (gone for 8 hours) so while we were looking, we had the coyote on our mind. Turned out that wasn't the issue at all.

Flearoy said:

Oh man, I wish you hadn't mentioned that. Did you hear about this? http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/wolf-bear-bait-joanne-barnaby-nwt-1.3636604

Let's make it clear that we're talking about coywolves here. I don't think there is any debate at this point among wildlife biologists that all northeastern animals are wolf-coyote hybrids; there are no more plain old coyotes left. Whatever we knew or believed about coyotes, their small size, their shyness, 20 years ago is no longer true. The coywolf is a much larger animal that is a predator. I saw one next to my house one night and it was huge.

P.S. I forget to mention that I have a severe allergy to capsaicin, the ingredient in bear spray. Dang.

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The wolf DNA has been there far longer than 20 years. Native coyote had been extirpated from New England since the era of colonial farms and have returned by way of migration of canines which are a hybrid. The current and probably growing confrontation with coyotes is due to three factors: 1) loss of habitat not effected or frequented by humans, 2) lack of natural enemies including man who is limited by areas in which to hunt and limited by motivation to hunt them as we've long shifted from an agrarian economy, and 3) the natural instincts of any species to expand their territory as populations grow.

I am not a hunter but I'd say one way to avoid a growing and worsening clash with coyotes is to respect, if not expand, hunting rights. With the current trajectory, it is inevitable that coyote problems will expand from disappearing family pets and livestock.

The use of bear spray is directed several feet away from the user though I can see how someone allergic to it could have a reaction. Can you carry an antidote, perhaps an epi-pen?

Anyone familiar with whether a horn, such as used on small boats, could ward off a pack? They have sensitive hearing, too. Might also be useful for a SAR subject!

Stan said:

. The use of bear spray is directed several feet away from the user though I can see how someone allergic to it could have a reaction. Can you carry an antidote, perhaps an epi-pen?

Anyone familiar with whether a horn, such as used on small boats, could ward off a pack? They have sensitive hearing, too. Might also be useful for a SAR subject!

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The danger from bear spray is having it blow back toward you. I don't want to be dealing with bear spray, coyotes, and an epi pen all at once. I have thought previously about the horn idea as this was suggested to me for bears. In fact I have a strong boat horn that I use for kayaking. Thanks for that reminder. It's worth trying.

There are plenty of them down here in southern Rhode Island. I see them occasionally (running across the road) and my runner friend said one was following him for a while on his run last week. Scary!

There was a netflix documentary on the hybrid's origins. Normally wolves kill coyotes where their ranges overlap. There was a small population of Eastern wolves up in Canada that started mating with coyotes, probably to prevent becoming extinct. From there they expanded. These new hybrids can mate with either coyotes, wolves or another hybrid. They are smart.

egilbe said:

There was a netflix documentary on the hybrid's origins. Normally wolves kill coyotes where their ranges overlap. There was a small population of Eastern wolves up in Canada that started mating with coyotes, probably to prevent becoming extinct. From there they expanded. These new hybrids can mate with either coyotes, wolves or another hybrid. They are smart.

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Thanks Egilbe. Found the link: http://www.movies-net.com/nature-meet-the-coy-wolf/12726