As far as coyotes in cattle most of the time it is just one. Ocasionally one will teach it's mate how to take down cattle.I did run into a pack of three at this time of year that was led by a female. Taking her out stopped the problem.Evidently she was the one that had figured out what was needed to do the job and the other two had'nt learned it yet but they always fed on the animals she killed.
Pack havior is something not normally seen in coyote's.This is something done by dogs and wolves as they are pack animals. Some behaviors like this may be explained by crossbreeding with the wolf family during territorial expansion. The jury is still out on this as there is not yet enough DNA data to prove it possitively.Then again it may be a learned behavior when groups hang out around deer yards and feedlots. They learn to co-operate in order to get more food. Once deer yarding is over this type of behavior tends to stop until the next season.
The killing itself is an instinctive behavior. The knowing how to hunt a particular animal is a learned behavior.They instinctively know to take them by the throat in order to smother their prey as quickly as possible. How to catch say turkey's is something they have to learn. Once they learn how ,they will consistantly stick with this type of prey because it has become easy for them to do.
There is almost always a reason for coyote's to become stock killers.They usually leave livestock alone unless they have trouble hunting other prey, usually due to some type of injury be it caused by a bullet or some other accident.Once a stock killer always a stock killer.
Deer looking up is taught and learned. Moving around too much is the cause of it. A deer moving through the woods catches a faint scent in the air. It instinctively does a flemin posture to aid in identifying and locating this smell.It stands stock still while doing so, to move without knowing is to die.Soon it sees movement in a tree a hundred yards away. It sneaks a little closer to see what and exactly where this thing is. It gets a good whif of man and slips out without the hunter ever knowing it was there.It learned to ascociate man with the trees.They will then do this out of habit teaching it too the young because they are seen doing this constantly in heavily pressured areas.Jimmie
