Coyotes eating coyotes....

Hi Curt - Do you mean live 'yotes or coyotes eating carcasses? 'yotes eat my skun out carcasses pretty regulary. I shot one about 3 weeks ago, and he is just bones now. All ripped apart. Coyote prints all around, with Turkey Vultures thrown in for good measure! Those vultures don't miss any scraps at all.
 
I have never seen or known anyone who has seen that happen. In extremely desperate conditions of starvation, I would expect coyotes to do "anything" in order to survive. Survival is their first order of business. Even higher order of "sophisticated" animals will cannibalize for survival. The Donner party comes to mind.

Sleddogg, coyote track around the carcass is not an indictment of them eating on it. Most likely they were checking it out of curiosity. The vultures are the culprits.
 
Yeah, that is what I meant sleddog. Coyotes eating carcasses.

This time of year I see coyote cannibalism pretty regularly. This is strange because food is pretty plentiful at this time of year and in the winter, when I think they would be more desperate, they seem to not participate in these cannibalistic activities as much. I have seen piles of coyote carcasses go untouched in the winter but this time of year very often they are quickly eaten by coyotes. In the winter I see ravens and eagles working the carcasses most of the time.
 
The CO DOW has issued it's annual "Bear Watch" warning. This time of year bear are eating anything and everything they can get their paws on. Sightings in Boulder are common as the bear come into town to raid trash bins, back yards, and alleys behind restrauants. They grab up RK faster than the ravens can get to it. That is another possibility to consider.
 
Curt,
Did ya see any bare tracks around those critters? Did I say that out loud? The devil made me say it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
LOL! No "bare" tracks Rich. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

NASA, haven't seen any bears on our property. Not saying none have never passed through before. They seem to prefer other terrain than where this occurred.

Take care, Curt
 
Hey NASA - /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

The yotes around here eat corn, grapes, little dogs, cats, fawns, roadkill, trash, almost anything I guess. Just wondering why they won't eat a carcass.

We have alot of bears here in Granville for sure. I see them all the time. When a bear feeds, he usually drags his find (or my trash)to a safe eating place, and has at it. Most of my carcasses have been eaten in place. Yup, once in awhile I see a bear track around a carcass, but not always.

bear_2.bmp


And those Turkey Vultures are indeed large powerful birds. I credit alot of eating to them, but....

Is that a fact that a coyote won't eat a skun out 'yote or folklore?

Thanks, Sleddogg
 
Sleddog, coyotes are indeed omnivores. They will eat just about anything, when they don't have any choice. They will even eat animal dung, including their own, rather than starve. You can never say never, when it comes to coyotes.
 
Nasa,
I've seen coyotes on coyotes that I had shot the previous day. If they weren't eating them, they were doing a pretty good job of immitating it. Maybe they didn't swallow? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif This was at the beginning of November (Deer Season)several years back and they weren't starving, what with cripples, lost deer and gutpiles. I have seen farm dogs eat bodies of their previous friends and I can assure you that they weren't starving either. It really is a dog eat dog world, /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif . Never say never.
Dogleg
 
I've wondered about this too. I've been out with Jay Nistetter and we saw vultures slurping them down, but I've always wondered if Coyotes eat each other. Good question..
 
Last year I shot a female which I left in the field and 2 weeks later found her remains (what was left) drug about 40 or so yards. There was a fuzz trail that led in and around some mesquites but very few bones and no edible parts left at all. Buzzards had all moved south at the time which only left the option of wild dogs.

Ive seen it happen a few other times and could always rule out birds of carrion/prey, or any large predator/scavenger since we dont have any or they all moved south for the winter, other then dogs.

Id say that it happens, if dogs will eat coyotes then Id say coyotes would do the same, no?
 
i often stake a couple of coyote carcasses down in areas that i think i'll get back to trap later in the year and always find them half ate by 'yotes.
 
Maybe someone with one of those motion cameras can get some evidence to find out for sure.
I've been doing taxidermy for eleven years,I used to throw all my leftovers out back everything from fish to birds to deer and coyotes, everything I through out was eatin right away except coyote carcasess only the bugs would eat on them.There was plenty to eat there so maybe it was just preference.
 
Odd, I never thought they would eat on a carcass. I've found scat on top of one of the remains I had thrown out, but that was about the closest. I've run across what's left of a hide of a coyote I shot the year before and nothing had bothered it but bugs. I also learned a lot from an old neighbor who even if he wasn't going to skin a dog would remove it from the area so it didn't scare off other coyotes in the area. Good post and good to learn something new.
 
Had another weird instance of possible coyote eating coyote just the other day. I was traveling through a field where fall calving was going on. I saw this coyote trotting down the edge of the fenceline. He took off down a cow trail and as I stopped he turned sideways to look back. Couldn't pass it up. As I got out, he of course kicked it in high gear running straight away. Wouldn't stop when I barked at him so I took a running shot. Went in right above his tail and made quite a mess of the abdominal region to put it mildly. Being in a hurry and on our own property, he got left where he died. Came back through the next afternoon and it was gone. It had disappeared overnight. No bears in the area. I didn't look for tracks or scat this time so I can't say it was a coyote for sure. Thought it was weird though.

Good hunting
 
I'm sure they will eat them before starving but around here it seems like nothing except bugs or buzzards has much to do with coyote carcasses.
Now I got another question I trap coons each fall and throw all my carcasses in a gully on the back of my place and nothing eats them except crows and bluejays. Beavers, disappear overnight so I know coyotes possums and other critters know where the carcasses are but nothing touches them except for birds. Anyone else ever seen this?
 
My buddy shot a yote up in WY the day before I joined him for a weekend hunt. He was going to show we the kill on our way out the next morning. When we arrived at the spot there was a little blood on the snow and no other yote tracks. The body was gone. No bear tracks nothing... We hunted until lunch that day and headed back for town. About a mile from where the yote was lying dead we saw an eagle sitting on a yote. We were looking through a spotting scope when the eagle picked up the carcas and flew down into the next raven. It was pretty impressive.
 
this is very interesting. as i stated before, i know that the coyote carcasses that i've staked down were eaten by other coyotes because it was during the winter and tracks clearly showed what went on, but someone mention about coon carcasses and i have never had any luck getting anything to eat them. probably beaver is the most sought after and being a male myself, i can understand why! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 


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