Not long ago, another hunter called Bull Crap on me[go figure LOL!]. He believed [in his little World, I reckon]. That it is not probable/possible to identify, a specific coyote from the others.

Perhaps in some regions, I suppose...near impossible?. But not in mine. From hunting the same general area, yr after yr for many consecutive yrs. It becomes obvious[if you pay attention]. That [each & every] coyote is abit different.

Different as in coloration/markings, size, sex, body structure, regular territory, bedding/hunting areas & core area.

Also helps, to have some optical equipment to assist in I.D'ing. These various individual coyotes. By doing so, a hunter can gain some advantage on movement, behaviors & habits.

I've been watching two specific alpha males all year, the blondish one a mile east of the house and the one with the dark back over in the coulee. I know their territories, their bedding areas, where I'm likely to see them in the morning and the evening, family groups they run with and when they aren't on their own turf or when someone new is passing through, I think I even recognize their howls...I'm just waiting for the cattle to go to market so I can shoot.

Coyotes are as individual and as distintive as a group of same breed dogs.

Alright! Now your talkin, bluebunny. Recognizing the locals & their habits/behaviors is priceless IMO.

remember a high % of coyotes use the same areas.

Yes ADCcoyote I agree. Territorial yearlings mostly stay within the boundry's of their parents territory. Often spending time on the perhiperal fringe's alone.

Come late December most have moved on. A few linger on the buffer/territorial overlap areas. Up until early-mid January.

As for the alpha's, seen them pass through another pr's area. But not very often. Especially when a single of a pr is alone. They tend not to stay long.

Lone alpha. Seen this coyote numerous times bedded 3/8 mile South of it den area. Most often it's mate is bedded nearby within yards. Wind @ it's back.






Another day, same very large hillside. Cream & gold from above & it's mate. Wind @ their backside.




Their yearling pup in this pic. They kept this pup in the area all season. Coyote was rather small, I suspect a female? Core area is that thick patch of pines, surrounding a pond above & behind the yearling.




Two Brother's that own this farm, don't allow any hunting.

yes i get to know coyotes and can identify different coyote in a family group in the same area too some times by size some time its the mannerisms definitely by territory.
i have concentrated on dominate pairs and left young coyotes alone hoping by leaving the sub adults and removing the dominate pairs i could keep other dominate pairs from taking the territory as fast.
sometimes i think it helpped but it never takes long before a big male finds out the pair is missing.
if i clean out as many as i can in a home territory it takes two weeks for others to fill it in.
home core areas are prized area that every wondering male is looking for.
i have seen the dispersal in December only to have them pack back up in February and the beginning of march to hunt deer I'm sure its the pair and that years pups groups of 6 to 8 hunting deer that are winter killing.
i feel these have to be family members because i don't think a dominate male would put up with that during breeding season. the rest will stand back when you challenge them and the male or the male and female will respond to challenge howls. you can shoot the sub adults and the group will stay together but if you get the male or female they will break up.

I've watched family group's stay together up until right around mid December. this perticular pr, would keep their yearlings together that late in the season sometimes.

Seen them do this twice in a row. Never seen any other alpha pr do that. Keep their pups so long.

Some yrs back. I killed the female of an alpha pr. They were killing sheep. Male left the area soon afterwards. He never came back. Two yrs later, other coyotes moved in & inhabited this perticular 2x2 mile section. It had perfect habitat. Not to mention sheep in an open pasture.

A yr after I killed the female. Sheep killing a mile West-SouWest @ another farm started up. I suspect that old male moved over there looking for a female. Et found one, et took over that territory. Et then started sheep killing again, in that new area.

In my area, nomads don't seem to take over a territory so quickly. As compared to some other area's. Low coyote pop in the area, being one influence IMO.

all this talk of alpha,beta and mega jeesh! Most coyotes are family groups and nothing more and dispersal will be in accordance to the coyote density's in a given area.

Remember Midwest coyotes and most exploited coyote populations defend the territory the most during pup rearing after that time frame you don't have near the home range defense at all. I have seen coyotes stacked up in large numbers come spring calving they will tolerate each other up until it comes time to start cleaning out holes for possible denning locations. I'm talking 15-20+ coyotes all within 3 miles of an early calving operation.

You have plenty of those pups from that year that hang together and keep tabs , again depending on populations and other factors many of those won't breed if you have a higher population and pecking order. Lower populations can see an increase of yearling females bred, not like wolves for the most part. Most of those early breeders only give you 1-3 pups on avg.

It is tough come Late November and on to tell if that coyote is a yearling or a 2 1/2 year old coyote. Body size can be deceiving and tooth analysis is the only sure method for aging coyotes, many who think they have just killed a 5 year old would be surpised by cross section tooth analysis.

Dominance is fought for each year and those more agressive coyotes will take the best habitat, you can open up areas for more coyotes by taking out the dominate pairs, but that window only last until spring denning. That doesn't mean that you can't have 2-3 pairs raising pups in a more confined areas as it does happen. Prey base, cover and age of those pairs all have bearing on that as well.

Reminds me of the trapper that claims he can target the alpha males when trapping coyotes durring the fur season LOL.

Well then ADCcoyote, your areas differ from where I hunt. I've hunted the same 4x8 mile area for 45yrs. I know what I see & by yrs end. I know what is out there. I know their core area's, I know their main hunt areas & I know where they prefer to bed & when I expect to see them there.

Not to detract from your observations/experience. But not all coyote lives & territorys are etched in stone. Such as you would like me to believe, from your observations. I spend hundreds of hrs a yr, observing these same coyotes. Yeah I've identified the local breeding pr's.

As they most often hold the same territory yr after yr. Unless of course one gets killed, then things can change.

This season, once the crops are all out. I expect to see pretty much the same alpha prs. Just like all of the previous yrs. Holding the same territory.

However, I agree somewhat that it can be hard to identify yearlings from long range. As I don't spend much of my time on them. Who cares about a yearling anyway? I spend it on observing the apha pr of that area.

Yeah, alpha, beta, omega. Beginning, middle, end.

No I only use size as one factor in I.D'ing. Coloration is another factor for example.

Adult male





Another male, both similar in size. Colored completely different. Easy to I.D. even @ long range with my spotter scope.

If your hunting a 4x8 mile area that is 32 sq miles how many coyotes you have in that? I mean ones so called holding territory?

No offense but I have ranches that size and bigger. Your area is 19,200 acres I have ranches above 22,000 per ranch.

I know you know your area well because of the small size your "patroling", but things change as you move about.

I have never seen color of a coyote as a good way to determine age. Color runs the gambit. I have had pale coyotes turn out to be much older than the dark backed ones and visa versa.

Color?...No not to determine age. To determine a specific coyote. Mainly the adults.

As of last season I figured 24-26. Out of those, most were yearlings.

As for age, I use tooth wear to give me a rough estimate. I also figure in how many yrs I've seen the same coyote to further my estimate.

Here's an old still shot off of my video camera from some yrs back. This pr most always laid on this hillside. When the wind was a NorWester. I tried over a 5-6? yr span to stalk in on them, repeatidly. They kept bustng me before I got a decent shot off.

One day, I came in on one of them from a different angle & killed that coyote. It was the male from the pr. Female kept laying on the same little rise the following two yrs. She never mated again from what I seen. The last season I stalked in on her. I missed a very close in shot, as my rifle was set long. She ran right by me, she was almost bald from mange. Never seen her again after that hunt.

i determine age more by mannerisms as far as dominate and non it is obvious what coyotes are running the area
not saying that some batas are not old but i don't think the female and male would allow them into a pack with them DURING BREEDING season when i see them hunting deer.
i had two different packs doing it both packs you could tell what was the alpha pair and when you challenged them they were the only two out of 8 in site that would challenge back and come in.
i have found that you could kill the others but when you kill the alpha the group will split up.
i also had a butterscotch color coyote pup i saw from the time it came out of the den i kept a eye on it all summer and planned on shooting it when it got furred up that winter.
i was going to get it mounted.
i made the mistake of telling some long range out of state antelope hunters about it.
they shot it in august
i was pissed i expressly asked them not too. it was the only coyote i ever thought about getting mounted.
I've had several coyote we would name bulletproof because we had such a hard time hitting him
i knew him by sight and did finally set him up by setting a hunter in the spot he always came out of.
funny thing was sorefeet and i both shot at the same time him at 150 yards and me at 450 i never heard mikes shot.
we both hit him.
he had a bullet hole from the year before threw his ear.
you can't tell every coyote from each other but some you get to know and yes you will know its them when you see him.
I'm not a biologist or ADC trained but i have hunted and called from the time i was 12. I'm 47 in 35 years you tend to come to your own conclusions.
I've done the legwork tracking and observing calling planning and setting up battle plans. if i had collage credits for the time i have chasing coyotes i feel I'd have my PHD.
i admit its all my interpretations some may be flawed but to say you can't tell one coyote from another is wrong. its the way a coyote acts, where he lives, where he hunts, how he responds to a call that you can tell its the same coyote.
age is more the coyotes manners size and dominance
I've never broken it into years only old coyote and adult coyote 4 yrs and up is old, 2&3 yrs is average and pups are pups. you can tell the difference when they are on the ground so you can see it when they are standing on their feet. no i can't tell you its birth date but old, adult and pup is all the farther you ever need to break it down.

ADCcoyote, I don't have pics of every pr in my hunt area. Here are a few below. Some of the other pr's, I only have one of the pr photo'd.

A pr.




Male from a pr.





Another pr previously shown. Note this male is also cream & gold colored. I believe the male above is it's litter mate. Both are pr'd up & hold adjoining territory's.





Another pr, large coyote bedded behind a bush, right above the hay bale. Mate off to the right.




The above are the "main" pr's in this 4x8 square mile. There are other pr's on the outer fringes. But within the 4x8 area.

Oh & as for "patroling". I've patroled many miles on foot, through these hills over the yrs.

Dang it Kirby, all those cool pictures make me want it to snow!lol, I can't wait, hope I have fuel money!