Are coyotes smart? Or just robotically responding to stimuli combined with extremely good senses?

Newpond0

Newpond0

Active member
I was watching something yesterday showing coyotes responding to a call and the caller changing sounds. The coyote comes in, then runs away again, then comes back and so on according to the changing sounds. The narrator of the video felt it was all just stimuli and response, and didn’t believe the coyotes were that smart or could even think. He thought people confused their extremely good senses or smell, vision, and hearing with intelligence which is wrong and that you can basically go out and push their buttons and they will respond however you want as long as you’re careful about getting busted by their senses.

It made me think that in a way calling and baiting is simply using sensual stimuli to trigger the desired responses out of them. Some posters have described similar perspectives on here as well. What do you guys think about this?
 
Coyotes are smart like our pet/working canines. Within limits they can think, they can assess a situation and act accordingly to it. If they just responded to stimuli every one would charge straight into the call, instead they approach the call in the manor that is appropriate. Some will charge, in some circle, some use every bit of cover to sneak in.
They can work prey in a groups setting up a plan of action, one will come in to flush the prey(sound on the caller) and the other will circle to catch the fleeing prey.

I've trained and judged bird dogs. Some are smart, some respond to stimuli. I had an AWS the learned on her own to dig clams and how to open locks and doors on her own. My wife use to herd sheep competitively her dog learned on his own to dig dandelions out of the lawn just watching her. I judged a Clumber spaniel that learned to find every bird on the field by following the scent of the bird planter.
 
When responding to calling I think you are mostly seeing a reaction to stimuli and an instinctual response. However, I would say they possess a certain degree of intelligence in the sense that they can learn from what they experience. I do not think this "intelligence" if you want to call it that, should be considered conscious thought.
 
From a trapping stand point I know I’ve had a coyote or possibly a different coyote walk by a set 2 nights in a row and not even break stride according to the camera.
Now on night 3 he makes a beeline straight to the set and gets caught.
Wind was the exact same all three nights. Set was made and nothing added or done since the day it was made. So why all of a sudden the change?

My thinking is like humans we get something on our mind and we do it despite distractions. If I’m craving BBQ, I’ll drive by a steak house, burger joint, and a chicken place to get what I want.
Maybe he was off to a bait I knew nothing about. Maybe he was late to meet up with another coyote. Maybe he just wasn’t hungry or interested in what scents he was smelling. But that third night, something tripped his trigger and he got caught.

As far as calling, only a couple of times I’ve seen coyotes in the distance (300yds or so) walk by and pay absolutely no attention to the caller no matter what sound I played. Same with deer. I’ve set up and some nights a howl or fight or distress will have them hauling butt the opposite direction. Other nights they won’t even lift their head despite being as close as 75yds away.

Some nights a coyote will come hauling butt in to a howl without answering and almost stick his nose in the caller despite full volume. Some nights they’ll answer and won’t budge despite being in their bubble.

Critters gonna do what critters do. Persistence and patience is key.

I’ve played prey sounds and nothing. Switched to a howl and they answer less than 100yds away…so close I jumped when they howled. I played fights, distress, you name it and they wouldn’t budge. Went quiet for 5-10min and went back to low volume baby rabbit and within 15secs they’re charging in.

I’m still learning, but what I’m learning is if they ain’t in the mood, there’s nothing I can do to make them do what I want or expect them to do.
 
I think canines have some amount of intelligence, and are capable of forming their own conclusions, however limited that might be.

A case in point, every bird dog I've ever had, learned on their own to 'trap' a running pheasant between them and us. If a bird was running along a fence line away from us, the dogs would make a large loop to get ahead of the bird, and then the dog would work its way back to us. This was not something we trained them to do, they 'thought' of it on their own.

When my dog found a pheasant hiding in a particular bush one time, they would check that bush every time we got near it, and this went on for years, even if they only found a bird there one time.

Did the dog remember, year after year, or did the bush look good to the dog, so they would check it out?

Back in the 60's, my Dad's cars had small ventilation boxes down near the floorboards in front. Our dog would lay in the passenger footwell while traveling, usually sleeping. Traveling down the country roads to the next farm, the dog would be sleeping, until we got close to the farm we were going to hunt, then the dog would wake up and stick his nose into the vent box. They could smell the difference in farms we could hunt vs. those we could not.

Coyotes are fascinating animals!
 
Give them time!

It is one of the few animals that native Americans tribes that lived with them elevated their status.

Coyotes learned what happens when you partake in strychnine, 1080, and M-44s you don't learn that by trying and surviving but observing what happens if you do. Even if you do survive an encounter you have you have understand that it was that specific scent on meat that made you sick or the scent of a M-44.
 
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We hunted a creek coming into Puget sound. I was another 15 min. drive to the boat landing from m where you crossed it on the interstate. After that Everytime we crossed that creek on the interstate my dog would snap awake and stick her nose in the dash vent. We crossed that creek a lot and she did it even when riding in the semi with me.
 
Their intelligence has often been compared to that of domestic dogs. However, consider this: dogs possess an ability to read and interpret human body language that far surpasses that of any other species, including humans. In fact, dogs are much better at reading people than people are at reading each other. They can be trained to alert their owners to impending seizures and serve in a variety of roles as service animals. I don’t believe their minds are like TVs with no signal;



However, they do not experience an audible voice in their heads contemplating their existence and reasoning like we do. Much of their behavior is driven by instinct, yet they possess intelligence and problem-solving abilities. Here’s an engaging conversation comparing their adaptability to that of wolves.



Just like dogs, each coyote has unique intelligence and distinct personalities.
 
Fishing, anglers talk about "patterns". When I'm looking during the day, I watch for repeating locations. Some days coyote are in and around wood(trees). Some days fencelines, certain shapes of hills other days. Sometimes as simple as the sun is warming exposed dirt to the point of being " grease", coyotes don't like that to lay on so I don't need to look at exposed dirt. One winter hardly any snow, find an unworked soybean field with bean chaff from the combines fox or coyote could be spotted sleeping on the piles of bean pod and straw. VERY high success rate stalking sleepers in those fields on cold days.
 


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