Coyotes

A question: Should I be worried about coyotes and my small dog when walking in the woods in Southern NE? I have always had big labs so I never gave it a thought, but now that I have a 14 pound terrier mix, should I worry when out on the trail?

The other night (the last full moon) we got back to the car after dark and heard a pack very close to us and when I read about them most of what I read wasn't good. This walk is a local land trust holding and is my favorite winter walk but I am afraid to let her go loose there now.

I always thought that a human's presence would keep them away but now I am not sure.

ours here mostly still move together at night but there's often a healthy single male that has trotted right past us while we've been in the yard, I mean within feet of my wife in the garden and within about 30 feet of me on my mower. So human presence might only be a factor in areas where they are hunted. Lots of "Lost Cat" signs in the area. I'd keep the dog in sight at least. I have friends with hunting dogs that have been shadowed by coyote.

John Satterlee said:

I always thought that a human's presence would keep them away but now I am not sure.

Click to expand...

It'd be very surprising if coyotes attacked a person, but a small dog? Sure. Coyotes are very opportunistic and quick, they could get a dog just out of your sight easily.

Yup, have to agree with Dave about the danger to a small dog. We see and hear an increasing number of coyotes around here, Franconia, and they're big. Supposedly they hybridize with Quebec wolves although that may be a myth. In any event, they're much larger than the coyotes I've seen in the west. As in Chip's picture, they run with tail pointing straight down.

Since coyote traps were banned in Massachusetts several years ago, the coyote population has gone through the roof. Coyotes in SE NE are now eating their share of cats and small dogs - no two ways about it.

I know a guy who lives in an area that has lost every cat and small dog in the neighborhood to coyotes. He has the last small dog on the street and one night around 10 he was going to let his dog go outside before going to bed. It was his normal routine. He happened to look out the door before he let his dog out and a large coyote was sitting in his back yard watching the door. It was like he had cased the house and knew the small dog (his meal) should be coming out around 10.

My brother's small dog was just attacked last month by a coyote in his backyard (Southern New Hampshire - I guess the Mass coyotes cross the line just like us M*$$holes ). He heard the noise and ran out there and saved his dog just in time. His dog needed surgery and extensive care but lived.

You should certainly not let a small dog off a leash in an area of coyote activity.

- darren

I came nose to nose with one at 9AM in Newton, MA. I was particularly surprised at how big it was; 40 pounds at least. It turned and ran away, but I've heard they can be very bold, snatching cats off decks with the owners 10 feet away.

I'd keep a small dog on a leash and carry a club of some sort.

Here is an excellent article on living with coyotes from the Mass. Fish and Game Dept:

http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/wildlife/living/living_with_coyotes.htm

My wife walks her 12 pound terrier and 65 pound Malinois through the local coyotes' home turf nearly daily, often at night. I have seen track evidence that one shadowed her on the walk. She never lets the terrier off leash. (On a couple of occasions, the Malinois has given the coyotes the scare of their lives -- they had no idea of the acceleration and murderous intent that their presence would evoke from him. )

Coyotes are intelligent, opportunistic, and fully capable of luring targeted dogs away from their owners. Yeah, you should keep the terrier close at hand, preferably on a leash. It's very unlikely that you'd have a serious problem if the dog is on a leash.

As far as I know both NH State Parks and National Forest say you have to have them on a leash anyway. Of course, in practice that's another story
But I think at the time of the original legislation the pets safety probably wasn't the concern.

sardog1 said:

Coyotes are intelligent, opportunistic, and fully capable of luring targeted dogs away from their owners.

Click to expand...

I've heard this also; One coyote allows itself to be chased into the woods where the rest wait in ambush. No proof in my experience but it sounds possible.

Keep in mind that keeping a dog on a leash won't stop the coyotes forever. Coyotes in southern California have learned that humans will let go of the leash once the dog is dead.

http://repositories.cdlib.org/anrrec/hrec/timm_baker_P047/

Chip said:

I've heard this also; One coyote allows itself to be chased into the woods where the rest wait in ambush. No proof in my experience but it sounds possible.

Click to expand...

We have the same problem around here with Velociraptors, I think it's the ones that escaped off the island in Jurassic Park. Those damn things don't care if your dog is on a leash.

BTW, Chip, if that healthy coyote routinely gets within 30' of you while you are on a lawn mower then it might be time to trade in your 35mm device for a 30 caliber device...

One has to admit that it is ironic that the animal lovers that voted to ban coyote traps are now losing their cats to the same coyotes they fought to save. Talk about paying the price for what you believe in.

- darren

FWIW, they're also capable of hunting much larger things in a pack configuration. You knew that, of course, but at the risk of repeating myself:

Two Septembers ago, we were sitting out by the firepit of a cool early fall night in "downtown" Waterville Valley. It was just about sunset, and there were about six adults chatting quietly. Off in the woods behind the condo complex, we heard a kind of bawling sound... It sounded something like a cow or calf in distress, or maybe a little like Gentle Ben (for those TV viewers of a certain age). It was really a chilling sound, and it went on for a couple minutes. By the volume and direction of the sound, it was probably a quarter mile into the woods and slightly downhill from us. Soon after it started, we heard a series of excited barks and howls -- a group of coyotes -- up hill and in the woods. Over the next couple of minutes, the bawling and the barking converged, and the bawling intensified.

It was a very primal experience -- we assumed that it was probably a downer moose (brainworm or whatever), but hearing the pack of coyotes sweep down and take it -- and very close by -- was pretty intense.

Based on the half-dozen or so sightings I have enjoyed (in suburban Boston and in the Whites over the past couple of years), I would not assume that your presence would dampen a coyote attack much. Back about the time I first saw a coyote (out walking my very large greyhound late one winter night) in Hingham, there was a small child attacked while playing in his back yard under his mother's watch a few miles away. She ended up beating the coyote off, and, IIRC, the coyote was later caught -- not rabid, just hungry.

darren said:

BTW, Chip, if that healthy coyote routinely gets within 30' of you while you are on a lawn mower then it might be time to trade in your 35mm device for a 30 caliber device...
- darren

Click to expand...

All legal options are in play. The last time I saw it while mowing I stopped and made a "tch tch" noise (like when calling in your dog) and it actually stopped and took a few steps towards me before deciding better and moving on. My dog did contract "fox mites" (mange) last year and was successfully treated, but that may have been from fox and not coyote. If my boys or dog were smaller I'd be more concerned. There is a wild/non-house cat in the neighborhood that's been able to survive. I'm generally more concerned with unhealthy animals that may have mange or rabies.

DrewKnight said:

FWIW, they're also capable of hunting much larger things in a pack configuration.

Click to expand...

A hiking friend told me that he saw a pack chasing a deer (Lake George area, NY).

When I repeated this to my wildlife biologist brother, he told me that in areas where wolves are absent, coyotes have been getting larger and exhibiting more wolf (and wolf pack) like behavior.

Doug

I used to have to chase coyotes out of my yard occasionally. I also had to break up a stare down between 4-5 of them and my lab. Only when I came out of the house and called my dog in do they eventually leave.

And, on a side note, my dog always came inside and looked me with a "What? I coulda' taken 'em" look on her face.

With a small dog, I would always be concerned with Fisher Cats and Coyotes.

DougPaul said:

A hiking friend told me that he saw a pack chasing a deer (Lake George area, NY).

Click to expand...

I've watched "our" coyote push a small herd of deer through the tree farm and town open space that our yard borders. I don't know if it was ever successful or if this behavior was more instinctual, though. The pack activity we sometimes hear at night sounds more like they are trying to flush rabbit, or other small game, but they could be chasing deer (young, weak, etc).

DougPaul said:

When I repeated this to my wildlife biologist brother, he told me that in areas where wolves are absent, coyotes have been getting larger and exhibiting more wolf (and wolf pack) like behavior.

Doug

Click to expand...

I thought DNA testing had established that the eastern coyote was a coyote/wolf hybrid (as opposed to coyote/dog or just healthier western coyotes).

Chip said:

I thought DNA testing had established that the eastern coyote was a coyote/wolf hybrid (as opposed to coyote/dog or just healthier western coyotes).

Click to expand...

Hybridization could also be a factor.

Doug

I remember when we first moved to our current location (about 13 years ago)...we set a new house on a up till then uninhabited farm field. I think it was about 2 months after we had moved in...hubby was outside burning brush one night. He then came running into the house with our Shephard-mix dog on behind him. He stated that as he was standing there watching the fire, he saw one set, two set, three sets of eyes. Then he noted they were actually surrounding him...if it hadn't been for our dog coming in to distract them...he may have had a problem. On his way to the house, he saw a couple of them and they were coyotes...

We called the local game warden who stated that we had set our house right in the middle of their land...we had a little more respect and awareness after this.