Coyote sizes in the East

T

Tommy Johnson

New member
Just wanted to jump in here and ask you guys what kind of sizes you guys regularly see in the East.

I knew a kid down in East Texas who was swearing he was killing 75 pound coyotes. I offered to buy a pelt off of him and and also pay for him to have it professionally skinned and shipped but talks quickly dissipated.

So I would like to find out if 75 pound coyotes are fact or fiction.
 
The first one, from left to right is a Wisconsin Gray Fox, next is a average Wisconsin Coyote, third one is Crapshoot's Nevada Coyote, and the last one is a Colorado Coyote.
Quite a difference...size wise /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
yotes.jpg
 
Hi Tommy - I hear the NH state record is 72 lbs. Maybe a NH resident can verify this.

Ma. does not keep weight records, so its hard to tell fact from fiction. People tend to guesstimate way too high. I can tell you I entered a 51 pounder in a largest coyote contest a few years ago, and he was only around 5th place. I remember the winning 'yote weighed in at 63 lbs.

Maybe you saw this guy already, but he weighed in at 53 lbs. He looks much larger than that, but the scale doesn't lie.

im000669.jpg


Here is another big one:
jan20_10.jpg


But MOST weigh in mid 30's like this guy:
im000646.jpg


And you will shoot some of these dinky 25 pound pups:

im000658.jpg


Coyote3.jpg


faa2bd87.jpg


As for a 75 pounder, I'd say never say never, but I've never seen one close to that weight around here, and I've been shootin' them over twenty years here in the Berkshires. My personal best is 53 pounds.

Thats a realistic picture of what to expect callin' here in the Mountains. Hope that helps Tom!!!
 
I WILL GO AS FAR AS SAYING HERE IN PA 50 55 IB I HAVE SEEN KILLED ALL YOT ALSO NOT COYDOD
WE MOUNTED THEM ON SMALL TIMBER WOLF FRAMES

BUT THE NORM IS 25 40 LB

75 HERE COULD BE OUT THERE BUT WILL HE BE ALL COYOTE THAT I DON'T KNOW THEY COME BIG HERE
 
This is from the NH Fish and Game Web Site:

Eastern Coyote (Canis latrans var.)

Description
Eastern coyotes typically weigh 30-50 pounds and are 48-60 inches long, approximately twice the size of their close relative, the western coyote.

As for he NH State Record of 72 pounds, I have seen that in print from the Fish and Game before but can't find it just now. I have no doubt there are some really large coyotes in NH. Like Sleddog, I think that a lot of people over estimate them because of the amount of fur these critters have in the winter. I also think some people have mistaken wolves for coyotes here too. While there may not be a lot of them around, it only takes one average wolf to make the 100 pound coyote story get started.

An interesting note about the coyotes in NH:

The Fish and Game has decided to close a large area of the southern part of the state to cottontail rabbit hunting, citing the loss of habitat resulting in the almost extinction of the Eastern Cottontail. Funny how in this same area I hear a lot of people talking about the number of coyotes they see.
 
I don't think I've ever seen a coyote weighing 75 pounds. Not in Illinois anyway. I'd say the average goes about 30-35 pounds, here.
 
His claim was that he was seeing and killing 75# coyotes easy and knew where several more where. The pic looked to prove it, but you know how fish pictures are.

It was mentioned that it may be a red wolf cross but red wolfs are said to have left Texas in the early 70's, and no known specimans are in Texas today and if its a crossbreed I think 35 years is enough time to breed the wolf out of the animal, atleast get its size down.

Red Wolf

16a8aa20.jpg


I fell for it, even knowing that 75# is a lot of coyote and is definatly the extreme of extremes. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Funny how when I told him to name the price, talks quickly ended. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
My Buddy and Calling pardner ED shot a Coyote of over 80 LBS a couple of years ago in Winchester NH.I believe he holds the NH State record.
 
S.B. welcome to the board! Great place, great people, too.

Where in Central Illinois are you located? I'm in Decatur.
Nikonut /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Largest one I shot here in northeast Pa was 51lbs. I think the average adult female weighs in the low thirties with the males weighing 8-10lbs more. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
nikonnut, if you still have the photoshop job of the yote laying with the 8 pt thats like 3 times oversize, please post it, i cannot sem to get it to work
thanks Justin
 
Justin,

Let me make it VERY clear that this is entirely a "Photoshop" altered image and isn't real!
coypic.bmp

I made that coyote even bigger than the original perpetrator to prove the point of not believing all of what you see or read on the web. This took all of 5 minutes to do including uploading it to my webpage! So beware of what you believe... Nikonut /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Tommy,

You have seen my latest video, and on there is a coyote that will probably go 55 or so. It was the one that I shot with my daughter. I didn't weigh that coyote, but here is a picture of one that we did. He weighed 50 even.

DSC00454.jpg


If he was fured up like them northern coyotes he'd look like a 75# coyote. I dought very seriously that they are many 75# coyotes running around Esat Texas. They are deffinately bigger than the Western variety, but not that much. We rutinely kill mature male coyotes in East Texas that weigh in the mid 40's, and kill a couple that push the 50 mark every year. What would you give me for one of those? I got your address Tommy /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif .

Good Hunting

Byron
 
I think the high 40 to low 50 pound coyote is pretty common in the east, especially come the early winter. As winter wears on, they drop some of that weight, unless it is an unusally warn one. As for the 75 pounder, it's kind of like the pool on your favorite trout stream that holds the 10 pound brown trout. Now I have no doubt that there are some out there, but to get one you are going to have to be real lucky.

One thing I have noticed about the eastern coyotes more and more lately is they they are running in packs. Not family groups per se', although they may be, but packs of 5 or more, in certain areas. One area I go you see singles or pairs, and in another you see the packs. I wonder why this is? Anybody got a guess?
 
I'd say my average is between 30-35 pounds. A few young ones and females will go slightly under and once in awhile I get one around the 40 pound mark to slightly over. Biggest I've ever heard in my area was a hound hunter I know who seems a pretty reliable guy, he said they killed one that went 64 pounds. That's by far the largest he's ever seen. Allowing for some exageration, if it went over 50 pounds that's a whopper in my book! IMHO, any coyote over 45 pounds is a stud.

Recently I had a guy telling me of killing a 30 pound red fox. I didn't hold him as a liar because to an inexperienced person who seldom even see's a fox in the wild, let alone actually get their hands on one, a well furred winter killed fox or coyote does seem pretty big. And a bobcat seems to have long enough legs to weigh large on the scale too. It takes some experience and handling a few, and the williness to actually weigh some critters on accurate scales, to be able to judge with a fair eye.
 
Well said GC. I don't think people intentionaly lie about what they think they weigh. They do sometimes, look like they would weigh more than they accually do, especially bobcats. I take people hunting quite a bit, and when we kill something I have got in a habit of asking them to guess the weight. They almost without exception over estimate the weight considerably.

Byron
 


Write your reply...
Back
Top