# Incredible Coyote



## saskcoyote (Dec 30, 2006)

I've been fortunate to see many awe-inspiring moments of nature ranging from whales in the Pacific to the mass movement of thousands of cape buffalo, wildebeest, gazelles and such on the plains of Tanzania. Today, was another of those moments.

As I was heading north home this afternoon after a Montana rooster hunt, I noticed a few ravens geting up. As I got closer, I noticed a white streak head from the ditch, slip through a small willow clump and burst onto the edge of a field.

I couldn't believe my eyes! It was a white coyote. There was a bit of color on the side facing me but the rest was completely white. Momentarily, I thought it must be a white dog that looked like a yote but, as I slowed the truck to a crawl, there it stood, 50 yards away, looking at me.

I still couldn't believe my eyes but, a further 75 yards or so, stood a second coyote, also looking at the truck, although it was a regular-colored coyote.

I couln't tell if the coyote was an albino, whether it had the tell-tale pink eyes, etc. but the white coloration was so very obvious, other than that slight trace of color on the side.

I drove up the road and at the first intersection turned back were the ravens and the coyotes had been feeding on the road-killed deer, stopped, and there it stood, this time about 150 yards out. After a moment, with me stopped, the yote turned and headed east again, loping out of sight over a hill. A 20-gauge with #6 isn't much for coyote medicine .

I don't expect to ever experience that situation again. I've seen on other coyote forums guys who've seen and shot black coyotes but to see a white yote is so very special.

Had this occured closer to home, I'd set up a plan to try to take him. But at this point, I guess I'll have to settle for the memory although it will remain a special memory, one that I don't expect that will be duplicated. The memory of this white coyote will rank up there with the best of them.


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## kdog (Mar 13, 2007)

Hello Sask,

I envy you - what a sight for sore coyote caller's (or pheasant hunter's) eyes!  We all fantasize about seeing a white or black coyote out there, and you got to enjoy the sight of one. I would be tempted to take another "pheasant" hunting trip and bring my rifle, just to call the area where he/she was.

I will be making my first calling trip/outing Dec. 1st. I promise to write a story upon return - even if I get blanked and have to make one up.

KD

ps: I'll try to shoot straight......even though I will be under gunned.......(just had to say that) :roll: .


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## xdeano (Jan 14, 2005)

sask,
I've only seen two truely albino coyotes. One is mounted in a Cenex in Walhalla, ND the other was shot NE of Bismarck a little ways. It was complete with a pink nose, pink nails and bluish eyes. It was a very cool looking dog. I saw it alive and once in the back of a guys pickup. Don't know what happened to it after that. I would have mounted it or at very least sent it to a tannery for a wall hanger.

I've heard of a few black ones running around, but have never seen them. I've got several blonds on the wall, but nothing exotic.

I'd go back to that area and try picking him up.

Just another good reason to pack a half dozen #4 buck in your vest. You never know when you could use it.

xdeano


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## Sask hunter (Sep 11, 2008)

I seen a white coyote when I was antelope hunting by Leader in 2007. Also seen one that was shot at the taxidermist. I remember that coyote had bluish eyes, just like a husky.


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## saskcoyote (Dec 30, 2006)

Kdog, Xdeano, had the occasion today to talk to a friend/acquaintance who just so happens to be a coyote-killing machine, just like you two. :lol:

He's trapped, called, killed and snared more yotes than I ever would in five lifetimes. He told me he once shot a white coyote. Unfortunately, it had mange and he couldn't do anything with it. 

His words of advice? "Lin, go back. You won't be able to sleep if you don't". Well, it's a long shot. I've never hunted that part of the country, I don't know any of the land owners, I don't know if the spot where I saw it was its range or if it was its territory. Maybe it came from a mile, maybe six miles. I just don't know.

But that white yote was such a spectacular sight I got to take a crack at it, even if the odds are very, very long. Weather forecast tells me Wednesday's temperatures are reasonable, wind is from the NW 5-10 mph. Maybe, just maybe, with a little (no, a lot) of luck.


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## saskcoyote (Dec 30, 2006)

Well, the longshot turned out to be just that -- a longshot. I headed back to the area where I encountered the white yote the other day. The only luck I had was bad.

I hoped to work an area that covered roughly an area two-three miles in each direction from where I spotted the yote but nothing seemed to work. Land was posted, farmers weren't home or I couldn't get permission. Land that was open just wasn't good yote habitat.

I did have one interesting encounter, however. I stopped at one farm and as I drove into the yard, there were dogs (yes, the Rover-type dogs) all over. Some were chained, some were loose and all of them barked and howled as I pulled into the driveway. A girl -- about 20 years old or so -- came out of the house and when I asked if I could hunt some wooded cover about half a miles from the yard, she wouldn't give me permission because she was concerned her dogs would run to the call.

Fair enough. As I was leaving, I asked her whether she'd ever seen a white coyote around. She said "No, but my father and sister have seen a great big white wolf".

I hunted only the morning because the wind started kicking up but it wasn't a total write-off. I did call and kill a yote but unfortunately it was the wrong color.

I doubt if I'll head back there after seeing the lay of the land, the amount of posted land, etc. But one thing is for sure. When I head south for another rooster hunt in December, there'll be a rifle in the truck.

PS -- Trying to target a specific yote certainly isn`t easy. It gives one a whole new appreciation for the ADC guys who try to take out specific livestock predators.


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## xdeano (Jan 14, 2005)

Sask,

That's to bad that you ran into so much resistance, but you did it right by not trespassing and asking permission.

A wolf, huh. I get that quite a bit. A lot of people don't know the difference between a wolf and a coyote. I just write it off until i see a track or the animal with my own eyes. 99/100 times it'll be a coyote unless you were in wolf country, then it's the other way around.

I wouldn't give up though. Maybe go down during a weekend when all the ranchers in the area should be home. I wouldn't give up so easily. White coyotes are worth pursuing.

ADC is the same, just keep after them, persistence and perseverance. It's similar to hunting a smart buck, they will slip up, but you have to be in their woods to take advantage of that mistake.

xdeano


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## Fallguy (Jan 23, 2004)

Very interesting thread. Best of luck on that thing....I hope you get him! A treat either way considering you got to see one!


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## saskcoyote (Dec 30, 2006)

Headed back there early this morning. Because the weather forecast called for freezing rain this afternoon, I only had the chance to make a few stands before I had to head north for home. Nothing.

I did stop at a farm that had posted land right beside where I saw the white yote. The farmer was more than accommodating when I told him I was calling coyotes. Actually, he posted the land because deer hunters were creating a few problems for him. It seems when I tell farmers that I'm after coyotes, it's quite unusual to be turned down.

The interesting part of our conversation followed me asking him if he'd seen a white coyote. "Yes, I have...and last year I saw a big white wolf. It was too big to be a coyote."

So there you go. Maybe, xdeano, there is a white coyote in the area and, at least last year, a white wolf. Up here, we're a couple hours from where the farmland turns into forest and the last few years, we've had more and more forest animals -- moose, elk and wolf -- move into our area so I don't discount the presence of both a white coyote and a white wolf in the area where I saw the white yote last Sunday.

This evening, chatting with a friend of mine who hunts the forest area a great deal for moose and elk, I told him about trying to call this white coyote. He told me about an old trapper friend of his who lived in the forest region. He said there's a special vacalization ravens would give if they came upon a certain kill.

According to this trapper, a raven that finds an animal -- let's say a moose -- that dies of natural causes with no breaks in the hide cannot start eating the animal except for the eyes. Therefore, the ravens will give a certain vocalization that wolves or coyotes understand to be the call (or invitation) to a dead animal. Then, when the wolf or coyote starts gnawing on carcass, the ravens can then start feeding, too.

I don't know if this is true or not but it certainly sounds like an interesting theory. Anyway, if the weather cooperates I'll head back to Montanta for what's probably the last rooster hunt of the year. And yes, I will be taking a rifle and timing my trip such that I'll pass the land for which I got permission today to hunt right about sun up.


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## xdeano (Jan 14, 2005)

Not saying it isn't a wolf. Just depends on where you were located in conjunction with the nearest pack. Loaners will break off the pack and wonder by them selves also. Wolves like heavy forest/brush areas but that doesn't exclude them from the plains.

I've heard this tail about ravens and crows also, they do have a certain call that they sell with some electronic callers that are crow frenzy. I don't know how much validity it has though, i'm sure it would work. That's probably why they call a flock of crows a murder of crows. I've known ravens to cut their own way into a carcass after i've opened it up for coyotes. The flesh usually looks like it was cut with a knife. I've seen birds do a lot of crazy things to dead animals.

I'd say keep after it, and maybe try some crow frenzy. You never know.

xdeano


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## roosterchaser (Oct 3, 2011)

Thought you guys would like to see this dark grey coyote I shot last year. Not nearly as rare as a black or white dog... but other than my fur buyer, I haven't talked to anyone that has seen one. Central MN. 45 lbs. Getting a full body mount.


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## saskcoyote (Dec 30, 2006)

Nice looking dog, Rooster. I'd be very pleased to have bagged that guy. I can't say I've ever seen one like that before and especially that size. I've shot the odd yote and the biggest was 47 pounds, although I wasn't there when it was weighed. Your yote would certainly make a fine mount.

Here's a question Deano can probably answer. I've heard of yotes breeding with domestic dogs, and wolves breeding with domestic dogs. Can wolves and coyotes successfully breed? The coloration of your yote, Rooster, has me wondering although I'm certainly not saying this was the case here.

At the start of this post, I mentioned I had experienced some awe-inspiring moments in nature. When I was in Tanzania some years back, I was involved in a project centring on literacy initiatives that involved our Canadian newspaper association, the Canadian government and an NGO. That's when I saw the mass migration of thousands of animals -- the only shooting I did, however, was with my camera. I decided I'd go back, but when I did I'd be packing my rifle. Karma.

That's how I was able to shoot a Black-Backed Jackal that'll become a full-bodied mount. I still haven't given up on that white coyote because, as Deano says, perhaps it bred and there could be a whole new strain, new genes, new DNA, and might result in a few more. To get a white yote would be the crowning achievement in most yote chasers' careers -- it sure would be for me.

Good luck, shoot straight. Saskcoyote


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## xdeano (Jan 14, 2005)

Sask, 
I don't see why interbreeding between wolves and coyotes couldn't happen. In fact I know it's possible. I know a guy who was doing work down in the southwestern US, trapping mexican greys before they went extinct, the transfered them up to Denver research center where they brought back the breeding program. They also were trapping coyotes in the same area and also came up with several cross breeds, to small for a wolf and to large for a coyote.

Wolves typically kill coyotes, similar to coyotes killing fox. It's due to resources, and territory. But I could see a big dominant alpha dog breeding with a submissive female wolf.

I've heard of a lot of old timers over in MN talk about a "brush wolf", which is basically a coyote, but the meaning had to come from somewhere right.

You definitely need to search out that white coyote. I've had the chance a few times now over the years to take white one, but no opportunity to retrieve them. One that was retrieved was in the early spring, when the weather was just starting to warm up. It came to me after sitting in the truck for almost 2 days. It was starting to slip. It had pink pads, pink nose, lips and eyelids. I was kind of ****** about the whole deal. But such in life. I know exactly where it was and i'll go back sometime.

xdeano


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## Keesha951 (Dec 2, 2013)

Great idea.
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