Here’s how to check to see if a female coyote birthed any pups on last cycle.

Oldcoyotetrapper

Oldcoyotetrapper

Well-known member
This was a yote I caught on july 13th. As you can see all her hair has grown back from nursing pups. Opening her up to look for pup scars. Nipples have returned to regular sized. A giveaway that she is a breedable gyp is the color. That blackish/blue/purple color of her nipples. Shows she’s had pup at one point. This kind of intel is important to my ADC work. It shows me I still have work to do.

 
DoubleLungRage said:
How many pups does a coyote usually have?
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Honestly I can’t answer that as I think it varies on a lot of factors. Food sources, climate, coyote numbers in said area. I have personally seen between 3-11 pups. Most commonly here in my country 4-5 pups being a normal litter. I’ve often wondered does litter size increase with the number of times she’s had pups. I’d kinda like to start a new thread of ( is a coyote just a coyote ) as a on going post for folks to share different experiences ( as that’s all we can really judge anything about yotes on) our personal experiences about this that and the other. I hope that makes sense, the one thing I know is there are really no coyote experts out there. Do to how they evolve. Sorry so long winded for a simple question.
 
It sure does and while that makes absolute perfect sense, areas of my county with highest numbers of dogs have the higher pop counts. So it’s very difficult to draw a definitive conclusion.
 
I also want to believe that because it just sounds right, but what makes me wonder about it is the number of coyotes vs food in my area. We have coyotes, but nothing compared to the amount of food. Like deer, we have so many deer that a lot of hunters/farmers won't let you coyote hunt because they want more deer killed off of their land. Just about every farmer in my area uses dep. permits. I had land that we would kill 10-25 rabbits a day running beagles. The only thing that we lack these days are turkeys and quail. I would just think that my area would have a lot more coyotes that it does. I will say that I have never seen a skinny coyote in my area.
 
Interesting stuff there Paul. Will the nipples lose the dark color before next breeding season or is that just indicative that sometime in her life, not necessarily this year, that she had pups?
 
hunt0168 said:
Thanks for the education / information. I don’t tear into my coyote kills, but always enjoy learning about this kind of stuff. You take your job seriously and it shows.
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Thank you I appreciate those words. I sure try to do my best for the ranchers. Coyotes kinda haunt me, I often obsess over things I have no control over. Pretty much an unhealthy addiction, I loose sleep over worrying. On that note I’ll do this ADC stuff till I can’t no more.
 
jmeddy said:
Interesting stuff there Paul. Will the nipples lose the dark color before next breeding season or is that just indicative that sometime in her life, not necessarily this year, that she had pups
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Thanks, not from what I’ve seen they’ll remain dark once having nursed pups.
 
Oldcoyotetrapper said:
Thank you I appreciate those words. I sure try to do my best for the ranchers. Coyotes kinda haunt me, I often obsess over things I have no control over. Pretty much an unhealthy addiction, I loose sleep over worrying. On that note I’ll do this ADC stuff till I can’t no more.
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Well sir, if it keeps you from feeling singled out, I don’t think I’ve slept in 20 years! Lol. I have the same issue of not being able to turn my head off when there’s something rattling around up there! Unfortunately for me I have a very active mind. Been like this since I was in my mid teens. Was brought up to do the best I possibly could, no matter what it was. I’ve always strived to do just that. Bothers me to no end if I ever thought I could have done something better than I did! I think it’s worse when I know there’s a better way but it’s beyond my control!

I appreciate your way of doing things, and more so your willingness to share and teach what you know. I’m glad you found the Predator Masters forum! Great content you’re contributing.
 
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Thank you. I enjoy this site as well I’m always ready to learn new tricks/techniques

I think we was raised the same. Fact recently went to the doctor 1st time in probably 20 years. Few small issues lack of sleep/sleep apnea interrupted sleep, figures to not help. Any how doctor who is a rancher concluded the things that I struggle with are the same things that make me strong in my job. Very small town I reside in.
 
I thought dark nipples in everything meant they’d given birth. Back when we were kids and trapping, we’d draw straws to flip the coons over to see if male or female and if the female had been sucked. Dark nippled coons didn’t bring as much as the males or females that hadn’t been sucked. Don’t know why, just are buyer paid less so we let them go. Back then two 12yr old boys were making more in 3 months than are dads did all year. Fur was worth something back then, and that was Southern fur too, lol.
 
Spurchaser said:
I thought dark nipples in everything meant they’d given birth. Back when we were kids and trapping, we’d draw straws to flip the coons over to see if male or female and if the female had been sucked. Dark nippled coons didn’t bring as much as the males or females that hadn’t been sucked. Don’t know why, just are buyer paid less so we let them go. Back then two 12yr old boys were making more in 3 months than are dads did all year. Fur was worth something back then, and that was Southern fur too, lol.
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Yep I caught the tail end of the money in hides. I think it was still decent up to 1983

That’s a very interesting comment. I’d never thought of other critters nursing. Like with yotes they may have bred one year but not the following year.
 
Yea I know it kinda one of them odd things sometimes I wonder if this stuff is a little over the top. Again I do it so I can chase after the pups before they turn into killers.
 
Very few here do ACTUAL ADC work.
Many call and kill coyotes at the request of ranchers as a courtesy in exchange for land to call/hunt. The majority are recreational callers with some claiming they do so to help the wildlife population.
It's interesting to get a peek into what actual ADC people do above and beyond simply calling or setting a few traps & snares.
As Cal Taylor has said in the past, just because there is a dead calf with a coyote eating on it's carcus doesn't mean that coyote was the killer...or something like that. There is a lot more to ADC work than just killing a coyote. Sometimes killing the wrong coyote can create a problem that didn't exist before. At least, so I've been told /heard (I also belive from Cal). I find this type of information interesting although I'll probably never have the need to cut open a coyote to see the number of pups it had or what it's eating (got poop for that) or dig up or gas a den.
Thank you and Cal for sharing these nuggets of information.
 
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