[JasonHaley]

ive been calling about five times this year and have traveled all over the area here where i live and havent seen 1 dog in over 3 months! we have snow all over the place( easier to spot them while driving) and still nothing! normally by this time in the years past ive seen coyotes literally daily and killed one or 2 a week BUT this year i havenet even seen one..what gives?(southwest colorado) Jason

 

[John in CA.]

Im only able to offer a guess, not knowing a thing about your area, Jason, but Im a believer that (generally speaking) in a lot of open country, coyotes may populate an area for months, or even years, and then thin out, or a generation moves on, after facing the stress of declining habitat, OR pressure, either from human hunting, or lions. Or both.

And what could trigger them to move out of an established area is a poor litter the prior year. Natures way of telling mom she must move on....IF that is the case, they would disapper just before the next mating season.

Which is where we are now. May be time to try new areas. Good luck.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

From talking to biologists I've learned that predators move constantly until they find a stable food supply. I'd guess that either the food supply (mostly rabbits) in your area has declined, or maybe mange has gotten into the coyote population. Coyotes will continue to move through your area, but if the food isn't there, they won't hang around long. I wouldn't feel too bad, yet....last fall I made 52 stands in my area before moving a coyote....we got mange bad. Wiped out both foxes and coyotes in the local area. Just have to keep at it.

 

[BDOG]

What drought!!

My father inlaw just came back from gunnison. They stayed at the rv campground. They heard coyotes everyday. They were coming around the site trying to lure their pets away. He said they were thick.

 

[GP]

Jim in Idaho. I didnt know we had mange in this area. Ive hunted around
Burley and seen and shot plenty of coyotes and never seen mange. Do you hunt Fort Hall Res?

 

[Jim in Idaho]

I haven't hunted on the res for years. In the fall of '05, I did a backpack hunt into the lavarock area near home. I called in and killed 3 coyotes that day. Of the 3, 2 had mange bad. That was the first mangy coyotes I'd seen in almost 30 years. I killed a mangy coyote on the desert many years ago. That was about 15 miles north of Minnedoka. We also started losing our foxes 3 years ago. We now have very few, compared to what we did have. I wouldn't say we don't have coyotes...just that the numbers are down. I've called in several in the mountains the last couple of weeks.

 

[MI VHNTR]

Coyote hunting here in the UP of MI has changed a bit over the past years in similar fashion. Since the reintroduction of the wolf here, the coyote hunting has become more difficult. Places that used to have good sized coyote populations are void of them. The coyotes aren't as vocal at dawn and dusk either. They can still be called in, but they seem a bit more cautious when responding to a call. FWIW. MI VHNTR

 

[Darrel in Minn]

Is there any chance you could have Parvo in the area? We lost alot of our fox population 20 years ago. Alot of people's best guess was Parvo. Decimated the fox populaton. Coyotes started moving in then and the fox never really did come back. I have heard that distemper will take out the grey fox population every so often. Darrel

 

[Jim in Idaho]

It could be....we have parvo in the wolves, from what I've read. I did see two mangy foxes though......one was completely hairless. Took me a couple of seconds to realize what I was looking at.