Byron South
New member
This discusion comes up from time to time and always seems to have people on each side of the fence. Either coyotes kill calves or they don't. My opinion is somewhere in between. I have seen first hand cattle killed by coyotes. Some of which were 2-300 lb calves, some were grown cows killed while giving birth, some were calves trampled to death by their mothers, others were just crippled by their mothers and then died of complications later or eventually killed by coyotes. Fact is, this happens. How much it happens depends on many things. In certain regions of the country I believe it happens more frequently than others and in certain areas it is almost a non issue for cattleman. Problem is it has potential to happen anywhere. Coyotes no doubt get the blame for killing more than they do in a lot of cases, but anyone that thinks that a coyote won't kill cattle when given the opporunty is a fool. If their not bothering the ranchers cattle then that is fine and dandy for him and his cattle. Here in my area it seems to happen quite frequently that the coyotes prey on calves. On one particular ranch I hunt the coyotes move in in force during calving time. This particular ranch has about 2500 cows giving birth during Jan-Feb. This provided lots of after births for the coyotes and acts as a magnet to get them there in un-natural numbers. When they are congregated in these number they end up acting more agreesive and do things they wouldn't normally do. I used to hunt this particular ranch several years ago and they really didn't have a death loss problem associated with the coyotes. They changed ranch managers and he informed me I no longer had the rights to hunt there. I didn't hunt there for two or three years. A couple of years ago he begged me to come back as the coyotes had resummed picking of the calf crop. I'm happy to say that his death loss has decreased dramaticaly. I often hear people place the blame on a certain coyote and say that if this particular coyote is killed that the problem is solved. I say hog wash. If your a good enough hunter to determine which particular coyote this is and remove only him/her then your probably kidding yourself. They all have the potential, and that even if you try and kill them all you will fall way short of that goal. Coyotes that go un-hunted can become bold and do things that they wouldn't normally do. Just look at what they have been doing in some of the urban areas where they are NOT hunted. It is my belief that coyote hunting is never a bad thing on a ranch. We as recreational callers have a limited impact on the population and it keeps the coyotes wiley and watching his back side. We must however honor the land owners wishes and if he says "no coyote hunting" then there should be no coyote hunting.
Q,
Am I to assume from your statement that people that have problems with coyotes killing livestock are mistaken ? Never underestimate red neck coyotes /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif . I would be hesitant to assume that since the coyotes in my area don't do this or that that others in other areas are the same. I'm not questioning the validity of your 75 year old rancher friend, but I have grown up in and around the ranching industry here and have seen where coyotes have either killed or caused the death of livestock many times. As I said earlier in my post. They probably get blamed for more than they actually do, but how much is acceptable?
Happy Holidays
Byron /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
Q,
Am I to assume from your statement that people that have problems with coyotes killing livestock are mistaken ? Never underestimate red neck coyotes /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif . I would be hesitant to assume that since the coyotes in my area don't do this or that that others in other areas are the same. I'm not questioning the validity of your 75 year old rancher friend, but I have grown up in and around the ranching industry here and have seen where coyotes have either killed or caused the death of livestock many times. As I said earlier in my post. They probably get blamed for more than they actually do, but how much is acceptable?
Happy Holidays
Byron /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif