without food what would hols coyotes in an area?? the mountain i hunt has the normal amount of coyotes that any big woods area does. when snow comes deer and turkeys move down to the low lands a few miles away. there are no rabbits up there. not enough squrriells out and active to feed any amount of coyotes. the coyotes DO stay there all winter. took a quick walk today and there was a TON of coyote sign, tracks everywhere! no kill sites as there was not ONE deer track. very little turkey sign as they do not move back up untill the deep snow has left. did see a good amount of mice tracks. how on earth do these critters survive in harsh conditions and THRIVE????
... :dunno: ...
One word: mice.
There are usually huge numbers of mice under the snow. That will become their primary prey in lean times. Wolves will subsist on mice and lemmings too...most canines are less reliant on large game than most of us think.
They do eat alot of mice. I have watched them catch up to 8 mice, and gulp them down on the way to my call, only to get shot then. Coyotes are amazing critters, and can survive in the toughest conditions.
They will also travel to those low lands at night to hunt deer and back to their safety up on the mountains during the day.
On a WoodWise cd call about coyote,the guy say that it's faster to name things coyote would'nt eat than things they would eat.Survivor for sure!!!
I agree with Bannock they're probably using the snow laden, barren mountains as a refuge and traveling into the low lands to do they're hunting in the middle of the night! Where I live we hardly ever see a coyote, but the trailcam in my garden in the back yard gets pictures of them every week! Very elusive animal they are!
Went times are hard they eat a lot of plant material. Here in AZ there is a lot of mesquite in their droppings went ever it gets tough.
MAP
Coyotes main dite is mice,If you ever watched them mousing you would be amazed how easy it is for them to catch mice.
i knew that their diet reviles around mice but it just does not seem like that would be enough to hold them on the mountan in the winter we had this year. i have never saw what i believe is a coyote "problem" where i hunt but was very suprised at the amount of sign today. amazing animals, i for one ADMIRE their skill and cunning.
QuoteOriginally posted by adkmountainken:
without food what would hols coyotes in an area??
Their den and mice, but you already have that answer. Our dogs love to hunt and eat mice. :bigsmyl:
Look for their den.
yup...mice and voles. i watched one from a stand catch either a mouse or a vole, and play with it before chomping it down.
Sign is all I ever see. They are amazing in how well they adapt to surburban living as well.
One or two coyotes can make lots of tracks ect. They also have about 7-10 square miles for thier teritory. Well out here any ways. They might live there and hunt in other places. And they do eat lots of mice and vegies.
I have a friend who has some really good dogs for running coyotes here in N.E. lower Michigan.
He tells me that it is quite common for coyotes to know ALL the best river crossings and all the best places in general, to loose dogs that are following them for DOZENS of miles in all directions from where they originally jumped them. He told me coyotes know VAST areas of land like we know our living room. The older the coyote, the more land they know. According to him, coyotes are familiar with areas of land so large nobody would ever believe. Always moving, always learning, always adapting.
In less than an hour, they can be in good hunting areas, and you can bet your favorite bow, that they KNOW exactly where the best areas are.
Like Michael in AZ, I've seen coyotes around here eating black/raspberries, apples, even corn. Like everyone has noted, they're real survivors.
I rolled up my seat pad for a few days and stuck it in the straps of my ladder stand to keep the snow and frost off. when I returned I noticed a little bit of fluffy stuff sticking out. Oh my, there were a lot of brown long tail things larger than deer mice, lots and lots of light brown mice things. In my quiver, running up and down my body, all over the tree branches hanging on my string silencers, lots and lots of mice, a lot of mice. I hate that ladder stand. Funny thing is i have never seen this particular breed before. there is a lot more rodents than we are aware of I think, especially in grassy areas. there was a controlled burn on one hill, it was covered with large ground squirrels and wood chucks after the burn, I never see them otherwise. Oh yes, there is a huge pack running these same hills. I think they do more damage to the turkeys than the deer, but they have lots of rodents to eat as well.
Pavan, I did that once and had a flying squirrel in the pad when I went back. That was a real rush, when I pulled out the pad!
Yotes are scavengers eating everything. A few deer had to be tracked the next day due to arrowed at dark and rain set in and luckily only lost one to the yotes. they ate most of the hind quarters when found first light. Stand was close by and caught few of the yotes trying to finish that carcuss before the pack got to it that evening. 2 days just hair and bones.
theres coyotes in NY :confused:
Interesting thread.
I have watched them hunt chipmunks in the rocks. I know they eat beavers, the area I was trapping this past winter had a few that got caught on the ice. Pretty smart critters.
When all the people are gone, there will still be coyotes
(http://www.shrewbows.com/rons_linkpics/Coyote.JPG)
Coyotes are survivors thats a fact,They will eat anything to survive.
I wonder if there isn't a den site in the area.It is that time and a lot of tracks sounds right.It doesn't take a coyote long to cover a couple miles for food.They can't stand other coyotes anywhere near the den site at that time so an area with less hunting opportunities might be picked for a reason.
One word....Anything.
Coyotes will eat just about anything they can find, period. If there's a pasture nearby they will eat poop, yes cow poop, horse poop, or any other kind of poop. They will eat any fruit that drops at certain times of the year, persimmons is a delicacy, apples, pears, wild plums, ect. They will eat it. Roots, grubs, worms, insects, certain plants and grasses......it's all on the menu.
They will eat road kill, possums, skunks, cats, birds, snakes, turtles, ect., ect., ect.
I've even seen them walk the river bank looking for frogs, snakes, crawfish, minnows, turtles, or whatever else they could find.
That's how they manage to survive and thrive, they will eat absolutely anything they have to in order to survive.
Mice are actually a well balanced meal, rabbits are a delicacy when the can get them, and a deer or turkey is a full blown feast.
Kinda like cake and ice cream is to us.
Coyotes are survivors for sure, there is a thread on a separate site I go to where a guy shot a 2 legged coyote who was chasing a deer. The front leg was half gone, healed over but had 2 bones sticking out, the back leg was 3/4 gone but healed over. Tough animals
Its the wrong time of the year, but when available, they eat a lot of fruit and other vegetation. I've seen a lot of coyote scat with juniper berries. Try eating them.
They will eat almost anything. Killed an old bitch once that had a slab bacon rind whole inside her gut. It was about 8" x 11". Imagine swallowing that.
I recall a story about a coyote that was making a living in Central Park, NYC, NY by decimating the cat population. Now that's one smart coyote.
I also agree with Ron LaClair that they will be around a lot longer than civilization.
Grouse
Yes, they have a varied diet for sure.
But I'm not so sure that they use a den to live in but use dens just to raise their young, like foxes do. I know that red foxes sleep out in the middle of open fields in the winter instead of using a den to live in. I would bet that coyotes do the same.
They do sleep in the open. Used to walk the snow covered wheat fields south of Moscow, ID and they would be curled up on the lee side near the top of hills. Real trick to get around sideways and have a decent shot.
Been living in town for three years and the second year we had a ton of cats roaming the yard at night. Last four months they got thinned down, not by the bow but by the yotes. Last winter we had them coming into town for the feast. And late one night as i sat out smoking the pipe i watched one come across the school play ground looking for the plump White and Black cat who liked my bench so well. Hope he tasted good, cause he is gone!I welcomed them for that. :bigsmyl: