Coyotes in S.C.?

[Jim]

I've been selling a lot of ammo for the high speed small bore calibers. .222, .22-250, .223, even .17HMR. It puzzled me the first coupla times the customer asked for soft points or hollow points. Come to find out, we got coyotes in mid South Carolina.
I'm sure somebody's gonna say "You didn't know that?". That's right, I didn't. I had no idea they had migrated that far East.

[Possum]

Hello from a fellow Columbian. Glad to see someone on here from the Midlands. Yep, I've been seeing and shooting them for about 15 years now. They have their strongholds across the state, but are just about everywhere now. Down in the Lowcountry when the train comes by, you can really hear how many there are. I used to see them a lot around Lexington out toward Lake Murray.

We have resorted to traps now in the Lowcountry to help control them. Two years ago I shot three in one sitting while deer hunting. It was a young group. At the first shot, the mother took off and the other two young ones hung around due to a grunt call I kept blowing. They got curious and that was their downfall.

I have seen the red ones, brown ones, and occasionally a black one.

[NVcurmudgeon]

IIRC there was a newspaper story a few years ago that said that coyotes had been seen in New York City, and that they were established in 48 states.

[jim4065]

About a dozen years ago I saw one trot across Cicero in mid Chicago. They make a pretty good living in urban areas by feeding on pet foods (and pets).

Saw one beside the Interstate just east of Waterbury, but I've heard they're scarce in the NE.

Here in Arkansas they make it kind of nice, since we can now carry a centerfire rifle up to 30 caliber in the woods from October through February - coyote hunting. Used to be you could only carry a rimfire - too many GD poachers.

[walltube]

http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/larson/ice_age_animals.html#


Click on 'Dire Wolf'

[ebner glocken]

Wow, being born and raised in SW, MO. I thought they were everwhere in numbers.

[Jim]

Possum, check your PM, Bubba!

[CT Kid]

There are a lot of coyotes in Eastern Connecticut for several years now. They seem to roam around in packs. I have seen them on the beach in Rhode Island they seem to come around in the fall after the summer people have left.

[georgeld]

Keep in mind you'll never be able to kill them off either.

It's a real challenge just keeping them within reasonable controlled numbers.
Kill one or ten, and a like number will replace them in the same hole's within two weeks.
That's a promise!

Only way to really control them is poisons like 1080 and such that kills several cycles that eat the dead.
Really the very best way to take care of them is a .40gr v max in .224"s, or .17 cals with calls, but, don't over do the calling, and vary which one's to keep from educating them. make sure you kill at each shot, don't miss and teach 'em what those calls mean.

It's best to do it in winter when the pelts are best and make a few bucks while at it. make sure to carry a garbage bag and can of flea spray. Bag the dead, spray well and tie the bag tight. By the time you get around to skinning the stinking things the fleas will be dead. Make sure to wear those rubber glove's though.

A .223 w/50gr or heavier will exit and blow big holes thru them. Those 40gr will not exit. Just make a solid body hit and they die quickly. Lay them hit side up so the blood don't leak all over the fur and you won't have too big a mess.

Here's a tip. Don't make running shots. IF they're running, bark at them and they'll stop, but, be ready to fire as they won't hang around more than about five seconds til they're running again either toward or away. Even when you miss, or kill one, bark at the rest and they'll still stop to see what's happening. We've killed four out of five a couple times doing that after shooting one at a time. The rest would run, we'd bark, they'd stop, we'd kill another. Repeat and repeat seems to work good with them.

There's nothing like the challenge of hunting the professional hunters. They are the pro's! They either get good at hunting, or they'll starve to death. Early fall is the best time to kill the dumb pups of the year though. Just don't start shooting them too early as the fur hasn't filled in good yet. By late winter those that are left in hunting country will be smart and very hard to call in if hunted/called hard. So vary your calling technique.

Good luck, best get with the program to find a fur buyer, hide stretchers and skinning tools. A good branch cutter for trimming tree's and such comes in real handy to clip off the feet at the ankle's.

Good huntin,

[wolfspotter]

I live about ten miles South of the Adirondack Park, Lake George area of New York and we have too many coyotes. Can't even go camping without them rubbing their noses against the tent at night, yipping and howling. Only thing that made it in was a mouse that started eating my granola bars. Had three coyotes living in a friends backyard down the street and we're in a village. Have a few moose and mountain lion around here too.

[hydraulic]

We have lost our coyotes here in northeastern Nebraska; mange. For years my buddy and I would drive around the section lines each morning, after the first snow, drinking coffee and telling lies and, usually, managing to get a shot at a coyote. Killed one about once a week. Now the buddy is gone and so are the coyotes and now the foxes have started to move in. Not many; saw my first one this past summer on the edge of town.

[georgeld]

Buddy Mike in the middle of CO Springs has three different red foxes that take turns
napping in his back yard. He live's alone and seldom goes out there, so it don't matter.

I saw one a couple weeks ago when I dropped in to visit the first time. Kinda cute.
Wife used to keep dog food on the front porch here in Pueblo. Said she watched fox
eating there now and then. Skunks too. One time a coyote but, it spotted her and took
off. Never came back that she knew of. Now that she's gone, I don't put that stuff out there.
They can fend for themselve's.

There's what's called: "Big Hill Open Space of around 60 acre's just 1/4 mi S. of me. Then the state mental hosp with lots of open space to the west of that. One time a bear was seen up there. and red fox have had a den in the bluff's for many yrs. Lot's of quail, deer now and then, though I've never seen anything myself other than skunk, red fox and quail.

Some rich dr's bought it and donated half the value to the city if they'd fence it off for the open space as a hiking area and kind of a wild land park.

Historical area there when Pueblo was Indian country and just a fort a mile south of the hill. They had a cannon on top and someone was stationed all day with the job of firing off a round and riding hard for the fort when they spotted Indians. Christmas 1847? they massacared the whole population of Ft. Pueblo. About 23 people. Mostly Mexican's and traders etc. Wasn't much around this area those days.

[testhop]

not all the coyotes are migrateion some were released by game depts there have been sightings of coyotes in BALTIMORE CITY LEMITS the game depts release

[JMax]

I can hear them coming down from the Santa Monica mountains at night getting my neighbors loose pets. They have been in parking lot behind my condo running down those same pets. Needless to say my solution is not generally accepted by the PETA crown. Personally I like a 17HMR for such close work.

[StanDahl]

I used to occasionally hear them in the distance, but lately we've seen one trotting up Whittier Blvd at 7am a couple of times. This is in suburban North Orange Co. There are still bare hills (undeveloped) nearby. My sister-in-law spotted one with a cat in its mouth and followed it in her van for while until it went down a dead-end street. It dropped the cat and jumped straight up on top of a 6' block wall and took off through a back yard. I don't have a single problem with them taking care of the excess cats in the area. There isn't a patch of bare dirt around my house that isn't hosting at least one cat turd.

[Ivantherussian03]

I just read a predator hunting book. the author seemed to think the coyote population explosion is because of the virtual extinction of wolves from across the country.

Predators kill competitors. Wolves kill coyotes. Coyotes kill foxes. The book claimed fox populations are in sever decline in upper mid west, while the Coyotes prosper.

Interesting thought. They are many wolves around me, but no Coyotes, and lots of foxes.

Good thing I am a trapper.