# spring coyote sightings



## glv (May 31, 2007)

has anyone seen many coyotes this spring? I assume they are keeping a low profile because of their pups. I have only seen a couple.


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## Danny B (Jun 6, 2006)

Good question, I have not seen one for a couple months. No big surprise, that happens every year this time of the year. 
There are some who say they see coyotes this time of the year all the time, I wonder what all the time is to them? 
I usually start seeing coyotes around Aug after the pups are weaned and start out on there own. Great time to start hunting them too if you're not a pelt hunter.


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## coyote_buster (Mar 11, 2007)

What a great time for this topic to pop up. This morning I was chopping cedar trees in my pasture. I seen a duck in the pond(unusual for our pond). I drove over there and was looking at it when I seen a coyote cross a valley south of the pond into the cedar patch thats about ten acres and I chased it through there getting about 30 yd from it at times.


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## coyote_buster (Mar 11, 2007)

hey welcome to the forum glv. :beer: do you hunt much or are you getting started


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## glv (May 31, 2007)

I have been coyote hunting for a couple years. Mainly in December and after. So I am excited to do some fall hunting this year and get to those pups early. I am always looking for some new ideas.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

Danny

Maybe it has something to do with geographic position. Up here in North Dakota the first pups arrive about April 1. There isn't much to eat that time of year and the old folks better hunt hard or the pups starve. They are pressured into daylight hunting to support the growing pups, and are observed as often, or more often this time of year. Also, they have less hunting pressure so daylight activity isn't as curtailed. I can see that in your neck of the woods things may be different. 
What time of year do your first pups show up? I would guess there are nesting birds, and perhaps even young birds by the time your first pups arrive. Right?? Wrong?? Kind of curious about that.


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## glv (May 31, 2007)

anybody watch dens over the spring to summer to fall?


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## Danny B (Jun 6, 2006)

Plainsman, some show a little early and some show a little late like anywhere else, usually the pups are born around April, May.

The young pups don't eat meat at first, they suckel mothers milk. She is the one that needs help from the male coyote to servive so the pups can servive.

Coyotes are normally nocturnal anyways, but in the southwest deserts 100+ heat they tend to stay that way longer during denning season.

I know this guy in Arizona who says he sees coyotes all the time this time of the year, I find that hard to believe unless there is some special reason for it.

This coming season well be my 44th year hunting predators including coyotes, so I am in no way new to all of this. I understand it may be a little different in other parts of the country, but the basics are still there.

The main places I hunted were in southern California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Mexico all hot weather country. In all those years it's always been the same this time of the year, few if any coyotes. But that don't mean it's that way somewhere else.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

You have been hunting coyotes longer than I have. In the eastern part of North Dakota where I live I seen my first coyote in 1966. They have steadily increased and are plentiful around my area now. I think I called in my first one in 1974. 
Most of the early sightings I see are in early June. I would guess that is the first chance a lactating female has to get away from the pups and start doing some hunting of her own again. Unless I find a den I don't see much of them again until late August. I suppose it is because the cover has grown up and hides them. That may also be a reason I see them often in early spring. Winter snow flattens a lot of the habitat, and grain fields, even at the end of may, are only six inches high. Not much cover to hide them. That's perhaps as much or more of a factor than behavior. By the time the sunflowers and corn are four feet high we don't see much (including deer) until after harvest (around eastern North Dakota anyway).


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## MossyMO (Feb 12, 2004)

I saw a large coyote this last Friday. I searched the area that it had left and found its den. I could also hear pups whimpering down in the den.

Then Saturday night I heared a coyote barking and howling from the same area; I tried both challenge and greeting calls and got no response.

Sunday afternoon I set up a half mile away in a different direction and tried coyote pup distress calls and again got no response. I was worried about educating them to my calls but was looking to call one in and take pic's of it responding and coming in to my call. Once again I was unsuccessful..... 

Any suggestions on what I could try different are welcomed.....


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## Danny B (Jun 6, 2006)

I don't think we'll ever get it all figured out, not in our lifetimes. Them darn coyotes are smarter then us to start with. But it sure is fun trying to get even with em.


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## glv (May 31, 2007)

MossyMo,

I have an idea. Try and find a spot suitable for a trail camera that is between you and the den and then trying calling them out to the camera. I am going to try this if i find a den.


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## MossyMO (Feb 12, 2004)

glv
PM sent.


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## Chuck Smith (Feb 22, 2005)

Well I saw one attack my Turkey decoy down in MO in april. Then last sunday I heard a bunch while I was turkey hunting. They all sounded off and made a racket barking, yipping, and growling. It sent the turkey the other way!

I guess I need to thin some out in that woods. Too bad the land owner only lets me trap them. I wish he would let me use my .243 then I would be better at the predator control!


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## coyote_buster (Mar 11, 2007)

hey chuck, why not find out who the landowners of the surrounding propertys are and try and call them over that direction and pop em


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## Fallguy (Jan 23, 2004)

MossyMo

I wouldn't worry too much about it. By the fall or winter when you are hunting that particular coyote will have probably forgotten all about that "stranger" howling near it's den. If it's still alive that is! :wink: If it has an aggressive personality it might not be but if it is cautious and passive it might be.


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## DOGKILLR (Oct 9, 2006)

A friend of mine said he saw 5 the other evening while a farmer was cutting hay in a large field. He said they were mousing and wasn't paying any attention to the farm machinery. Guess that was easy pickin's for them, getting mice and young cottontails leaving the cover of the field.


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## Chuck Smith (Feb 22, 2005)

coyote buster......I have asked permission to hunt the neighbor properties but got the big "NO" from them all. Oh well. I will keep trapping them.


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## Horsager (Aug 31, 2006)

I saw one this AM on the same section that the Cassleton range is located on. He was all wet and scraggly looking, typical for this time of year.


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## saskcoyote (Dec 30, 2006)

glv: I have seen very, very few coyotes this spring. In fact, the ones I've seen have generally been road kills.

But they're out there. Where I live, on an acreage outside a small city, coyotes howl from every direction on a regular basis at night (and they drive my three Labs crazy).

Just a point of interest, another forum (Fallguy knows the one) just had a long, drawn-out discussion about whether to hunt coyotes during denning season. I personally hang up the rifle in February so I don't try to whack 'em even though it would make my dogs -- and neighbors --happy.
(No, DOGKILLR, I'm staying away from the ethics of spring hunting, especially after the last go-around. LOL)

Calling, though, can be fun, particularly if you have some den sites. They're out there, and who knows, maybe a fellow can learn some good lessons that'll come in very handy when the fall season starts. Good luck.


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## coyote_buster (Mar 11, 2007)

Thats not good Chuck. Makes me happy that my dad owns about 1500 acres scattered all over a six mile radius.


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## iwantabuggy (Feb 15, 2005)

I was just thinking that some puppy pelts would make a nice addition to the decor of my home. (Probably going to offend someone with that statement. What the heck.  )


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## coyote_buster (Mar 11, 2007)

You can offend anyone with anything, if it isn't offending they change it to make i that way just to be a [email protected]@$$


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## Fallguy (Jan 23, 2004)

iwantabuggy

Go for it. Those pelts are going to look great next to some forkhorn or spike antler mounts! oke:


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## Danny B (Jun 6, 2006)

Who sold em a gun? Woops, I probably offended someone again :lol: :wink:


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## litko609 (Dec 13, 2006)

GREAT TOPIC... as I saw 1 driving into work this morning. He was about a 1/4 mile out of town, standing in a big corn field which was recently planted. He was about 55-60 yards off the road.

I have also seen 3 different coyotes on the side of the highway (and no longer available for the next hunting season). I believe there has been an 'explosion' in the population in my immediate area... only time will tell in a couple more months.

:sniper:


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