Coyotes are showing up in places you'd never think they'd be

It may be difficult to believe but folks living in populated areas are encountering not only foxes in their yards, but coyotes. There have been reports of a few seen on the local Ironton Rail trails in Stiles, Egypt and Ironton. A friend who lives by the IR trail in Stiles had one in their yard and one was stalking the neighbor’s cat. There was another report of coyote chasing a jogger on the IR Trail in Coplay. 

One friend used to trap coyotes behind Cedarbrook Nursing Home in Cetronia. Another example of how close these once deep woods animal are to local densely populated areas.   

Coyotes are extremely wary and smart. They’re tough to hunt and successful hunters hunt them predominately at night with night vision optics and electronic game calls. They’re hunted mainly for population control and their pelts. As for having them for dinner, I once sampled some at Bob’s Taxidermy in Orefield. That was the first and last time as their meat was very metallic tasting. Certainly not a gourmet delight.  

Since we’re in the deer fawning season, coyotes kill a high number of newborn fawns. They also kill turkeys and their poults. Some time ago a Berks County spring turkey hunter relayed the story that he had just shot a gobbler and before he could get up to retrieve it, a coyote came out of the woods and drug it off. 

If there’s one predator hunters hate, it’s coyotes, or “yotes” as they’re called. There are a number of circumstances that describe this predator that has also killed small pet dogs according to the Sportsman’s Hub. Their information is as follows. 

There are 19 recognizable subspecies of coyotes in North America. And their populations are exploding. They’re presently the most abundant livestock predators in western North America as well. In 2004, 135,600 sheep were killed by coyotes alone. 

Here are some other interesting facts about coyotes that you may not know.

Coyotes can run almost 40 mph and can jump over an 8-fence and can have up to 19 pups in each litter. Their pups in urban areas have a survival rate five times higher than pups in rural areas. 

In a 2009 study, a group of coyotes were tracked from Nov. 2005 to Feb. 2006 and  it was found that a coyote’s diet was found to be 42 percent cats, 33.3 percent unidentified rodents, 17.8 percent Lagomorphs, 2.2 percent birds and 6.6 percent dates. 

Coyotes are one of the few medium-large size animals that have enlarged its range since human encroachment began. As such, and despite population control efforts, there have been 111 coyote attacks on children and adults that were documented from 1977-2004. There were 136 number of individuals injured in coyote attacks including rescue efforts. Sixty-four of the attacks were on adults and 62 were human safety incidents where coyotes aggressively approached a human or stalked small children. Seventy-nine percent of attacks have been documented over the past 10 years, indicating that the problem is increasing. 

And some coyotes aren’t just small animals. The largest coyote ever recorded was 74.75 pounds and was five-foot seven feet in length. 

Pennsylvania Game Commission laws indicate that there are no bag limits on coyotes and no closed season with certain exceptions during big game season. 

It’s a good bet that livestock and poultry farmers would welcome responsible coyote hunters on their properties. But it takes a dedicated effort to hunt them, and perhaps an investment in equipment once permission is granted. 

COYOTE HUNTING MISTAKES

The Coyote Newsletter offers three mistakes hunters make when attempting to hunt coyotes.

*Calling too much: The Coyote Newsletter says to get the attention of a wily coyote, hunters should call with short sequences of mixed calls with time spent scanning for an approaching coyote. A howl followed by short bursts of fighting coyotes of your favorite prey distress call will outproduce a long, unrealistic sequence that just doesn’t sound natural. 

*Rushing the shot: Patience is needed when seeing a hard-charging coyote coming to a call. The right call will bring in a searching coyote that will stop abruptly for a one-shot opportunity. A lip squeak or bark will stop them allowing you to pick your shot.

*The dreaded mag dump: Having a one-shot rule ups your odds for harvesting more coyotes as opposed to rapid shots at a running yote. Most coyotes will run a short way and look back that presents  a second-shot opportunity at a stopped target. Lastly, with a one-shot policy, that coyote will return sooner if missed as it didn’t know what happened. 

Incidentally, you rarely see a road-killed coyote. I saw my first several months ago on Mauch Chunk Road in South Whitehall Township and across from GES Chemicals (Trojan Powder) land, and a short distance south of Grumpy’s Restaurant.  
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