I used to work seasonally and trapped coyotes in the winter and then moved into year round coyote control work. It was a tough way to make a living but I enjoyed every minute of it. I had several very large ranches to trap and took a lot of coyotes from each one. My favorite ranch was about 15,000 acres; dryland wheat, cattle and a little irrigated alfalfa for winter feed for the cows. That ranch consistently produced 50-70 coyotes every year. In 15 years of trapping that ranch, the owner never had any issue with stock killing coyotes.
In talking to an old trapper who had once trapped that ranch, it had historically been known for stock killing coyotes. When we discussed the change in coyote behavior he explained that he had done an extensive job one year of completely wiping out the family group or groups that were responsible the stock killing. He was successful in his efforts as the killing came to an end that season. He was one of the top coyote men in the US and it was his contention that once a stressor had been introduced to cause a family group of coyotes to start stock killing, the killing would continue generationally until that family group was exterminated. In other words once it started it was passed along from one generation to another as the pups were taught to hunt by the mother. Discussions with other high level coyote trappers and government wildlife control trappers have confirmed this. It seems coyotes are not prone to stock killing until something pushes them in that direction, i.e. low food sources, injury, over population, etc.
Coyotes are neither good nor bad. They are omnivorous, opportunistic predators, doing what they need to do to survive. They will feed on what ever food source is available, fruit, carrion, game or livestock. To address the OP's question, there is no way to know what behavior the replacement coyotes will exhibit. However, if they are not controlled, eventually they will turn to pets and livestock as the available food sources dwindle because of the rising coyote population.
Thin em out.
Mart
In talking to an old trapper who had once trapped that ranch, it had historically been known for stock killing coyotes. When we discussed the change in coyote behavior he explained that he had done an extensive job one year of completely wiping out the family group or groups that were responsible the stock killing. He was successful in his efforts as the killing came to an end that season. He was one of the top coyote men in the US and it was his contention that once a stressor had been introduced to cause a family group of coyotes to start stock killing, the killing would continue generationally until that family group was exterminated. In other words once it started it was passed along from one generation to another as the pups were taught to hunt by the mother. Discussions with other high level coyote trappers and government wildlife control trappers have confirmed this. It seems coyotes are not prone to stock killing until something pushes them in that direction, i.e. low food sources, injury, over population, etc.
Coyotes are neither good nor bad. They are omnivorous, opportunistic predators, doing what they need to do to survive. They will feed on what ever food source is available, fruit, carrion, game or livestock. To address the OP's question, there is no way to know what behavior the replacement coyotes will exhibit. However, if they are not controlled, eventually they will turn to pets and livestock as the available food sources dwindle because of the rising coyote population.
Thin em out.
Mart
