How do I start to learn how to find den's?

Norcalkyle

New member
I do not have dogs to track down dens, so I would be relying on my eyes, ears and a lot of walking. What do people look for, and how do they locate them.

The area I live in is very steep, lots of brush and timber.

What time or year? What to look for? Any help would be great.
 
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A good start, would be to get away from where man dwells.

Here in Iowa most Red Fox, will den within a 1/4 mile of man. Coyotes a little farther away. Nothing is etched in stone [where] a critter will decide to make a den site. But, coyotes are more wary of man, so they will live farther away from man.

Places to look.
Most coyote den holes, I found. Where 3/8-1/2 mile away from any farmsted, acrege or active area. Coyotes prefer a view & prefer a place that has drainage. So they'll often den on a hillside, or terrace, whatever. Sometimes out in the open other times, hidden in briars, bushs or in a timber. BTW, they really like to hang around the timber.

A Red Fox or coyote den hole, under a hard structure/[building, boulder, log, ect]. Can be of any shape. Irregular, cup shaped, ect.

Canine den holes on soil;
Coyote [entrance holes], tend to be around 9-10"wide x 12-14" high. Point being, [most often the entrance hole, is taller than it is wide]. Most often, but not always. Red Fox den holes are slightly smaller in both demensions.

BTW, as for the chance to see young pups. Mid April-Mid May, are good months. Early morning & late evening are good hrs for viewing.

I don't recall any coyote or Red Fox den, not ever having atleast 1-exit hole. All tunnels will lead to a "den chamber" somewhere near the middle of where the tunnels intersect. Most often the eixt hole are abit smaller than the entrance hole. Of both canines. You can often tell an entrance hole from an exit. As it will show the most wear/usage.

Sometimes, a person will find. Dead animal remains nearby the den holes. Sometimes not.

Here is an old abandoned Red Fox den.
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Abandoned Red Fox den, used during Winter storms.
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Take some time(now, and in April/May) and get out at night about 11:00 PM and on and start with 1/2 mile grids and listen for those 'yotes to howl. It may take some time and a couple of days on each grid to find them. When they do howl? pinpoint the best you can where the sound came from. If you hear two howl? pinpoint their locations the best you can and wait for another howl or pair of howls. The location where the howls occurs more than once should be your starting point to find the den. We have often sped the process up by using a howler or female invitation on the FOXPRO. We do it to evaluate how many denning yotes are around; then calculate pup counts. Once you have an IDEA where the den is? leg work becomes mandatory looking for den trails(more than one set of yote tracks on a trail; becomes very obvious the closer to the den you get). Following those den trails in the direction they become more obvious SHOULD take you back to the den itself(reference KIRBY description for shpe and size; here, the 'yotes only have one den entrance). Know that the minute you scent up a den site?, mom coyote is going to move her family to another hole and she PROBABLY has a dozen or more to chose from.

Good luck. To much more to add here that would help even more.
 
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Originally Posted By: kirbyI don't recall any coyote or Red Fox den, not ever having atleast 1-exit hole. All tunnels will lead to a "den chamber" somewhere near the middle of where the tunnels intersect. Most often the eixt hole are abit smaller than the entrance hole. Of both canines. You can often tell an entrance hole from an exit. As it will show the most wear/usage.



That's interesting. I've never seen an exit hole for a coyote den in my part of the country. One holer dens here. Wonder why they would make em that way in Iowa.
 
Well doggin, you got me to thinking, about 1-hole coyote dens. My memory is not so good anymore. But I do remember a coyote den with only one hole. As I still have a few pics of it. These pics were taken a couple of yrs ago. Where there any exits? Well, I can't say for sure 100% fact. As after I walked up near it. I didn't happen to notice any. As I didn't bother to check around the immediate area. Have I ever seen a coyote den with 1-hole other than the one below? Maybe I have? I just don't recall.

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They'll use small caves. I found them in rock pits here in NM, where there is a crevice between the rocks. They dig in from there. Also, in this flat country, we investigate any pile of rock or dirt that just stands out. Sometimes it's just gopher mounds, sometimes in an excavated coyote den. We've found 27 dens on the ranch behind my house, like that.

I feel that most coyote dens are ones that they've taken over from badger holes, groundhog holes, and the like.

Good solid advice from Dog1whckr and Kirby.

Tony
 
Here in eastern OK. And western AR, they use Bluff faces quite often. Because of the way the mountains were formed, you get a lot of cracks and crevasses, rather than caves, and a lot of times there will be large boulders fallen from the face of the bluff, they use these areas a lot, its great cover, and they can come and go without being seen.
 
I have found 4 separate dens in cliff faces here as well. Seems like anyplace with enough room for them to get into and away from man; usually(not always) south facing, are used at some time or another, depending on availability. Here, everything has holes in, under, or around it. Just when you THINK you have patterned their denning behavior? you will find one smack dab in the middloe of a desert flat or grain field. Helps perpetuate the species. Had one that used a field drain culvert, 10 feet down in a drain, in the middle of farm land, that was dry and usable. We never thoght of looking out there until the pups started vocalizing. Go figure...................................
 
Red Fox here in central Iowa. Will sometimes move their growing pups from their Earth den. To the nearest high set dry culvert tube.

When I road hunt scanning for canines. I constantly look for [active] culverts as I slowly drive along. Coyotes will use them[the larger culverts] during blizzards around here.

Can't say I ever heard of or seen a coyote rear pups in a culvert. But I don't doubt it one bit. As the locals know where they are in their territory.
 
Back in the early ninetys My old man killed a sheep eater in Ohio and found the den with the young pups in it. She had made the den out of an old hollow log.
 
Here in Illinois I find them in abandoned buildings on old farmsteads, bulldozed brush piles where fence rows have been cleared, hollow logs and tree tops where timber has been cut, under bridges on remote rural roads where there is not a lot of traffic.

In dry years I have found them in culverts and drain tile along dredge ditches in the river bottoms. I have found dens under old farm machinery like combines, wagons, etc. Pretty much, if it is not too close to human traffic and provides a little shelter there is a chance they will use it.
 
This is a interesting thread,I've only found one den in 15 years that didn't have exit holes!!!!I've seen as many a 5 exit holes as far as 20 feet away from the main hole!! Coyotes here like to have a plan B when it's time to move!! Keep your eye on the SOUTH and SOUTHEAST side of hills!This will be the warmest side of the hill in the spring ,so the pups don't get to cold when they venture out of the den!! This side will benefit the most from the sun!!Thats good thinkin right there!!! (on the coyotes part)
 
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