..0ctober..Bl00dy..Reflections...

Infidel 762

Infidel 762

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Hunting deer is slow, just sit and sit. A lot of time for self reflection, while taking in the outside. Taking in the October warmth that limits wildlife movement to dusk, night and dawn. We need a good freeze to kill off native food sources and break their late summer patterns. I could use a break from the calm time I've spent sitting in a stand.

Switch gears, second stand and POP-THUMP!! More reflections;



A short time later and I am trying to call other coyote out of a creek bed. I have 3 deer come out of the timber and into an open alfalfa field. They keep looking back at the tree line, so I orientate my rifle to that sector. A short time and coyote comes through the fence, a few feet into the open field. I ended the stand around the 25 minute mark. As I walk down the fence line to gather the first coyote, his mate appears on the edge of the field looking towards us. I suspect she was looking for her mate.

They were both adults and both wet from crossing the creek. Looking at their teeth I would guess them to be at least six years old.



I remember as a kid catching sparrows with a flashlight, as they roosted around this old barn.



Today the old house sits vacant and the yard is overgrown. Holidays pass in silence as nature continues to reclaim this homestead. Time and the elements break things down a little at a time. I could feel something was still there as I passed thru, whatever it was continues to radiate.


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Taking out the oldsters leaves a void. How long before it is filled or claimed?
A farmer once asked if I thought his mouse problem was in part because he didn't have enough coyotes. I replied the problem might be too much wheat. We're still friends and he reminds me of it each year.
 
Originally Posted By: tripod3Taking out the oldsters leaves a void. How long before it is filled or claimed?


I don’t think it takes that long at all for other coyotes to know that an alpha pair is gone. I’m sure they pick up on the absence of their vocals in just a day or two, sent markings next. Now whether or not it gets filled by subordinate pack members, transient or alpha pair looking for better ground, I cannot say for sure, they never seem to hang around long enough for me to ask them.
 
Even if all the coyotes are gone take a look at the number of hawks and owls we have in E. WA Every power pole has one on it.
 
Originally Posted By: ballance1Even if all the coyotes are gone take a look at the number of hawks and owls we have in E. WA Every power pole has one on it.
Don't forget the eagles,just saw two bald's yesterday. Last winter 13 eagles consumed my coyotes.
 
Nice write up and photo's.

Snowing here now and the grasses are getting knocked down by the weight of the snow. I will be out soon enough to slay some Coyotes myself!


Congrats!
 
The old barn picture brings back some fond memories of many summers spent on my aunt and uncle's farm. Fascinating what a youngster can do with all the old junk which accumulates behind the old outbuildings, isn't it, Jeremy?
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Regards,
Clarence
 
Originally Posted By: tripod3Originally Posted By: ballance1Even if all the coyotes are gone take a look at the number of hawks and owls we have in E. WA Every power pole has one on it.
Don't forget the eagles,just saw two bald's yesterday. Last winter 13 eagles consumed my coyotes.

 
Originally Posted By: Mr. PoppadopalisNice write up and photo's.

Snowing here now and the grasses are getting knocked down by the weight of the snow. I will be out soon enough to slay some Coyotes myself!


Congrats!

Snowing? I thought you was in Ireland on a Jameson whisky trip;)


Originally Posted By: hm1996The old barn picture brings back some fond memories of many summers spent on my aunt and uncle's farm. Fascinating what a youngster can do with all the old junk which accumulates behind the old outbuildings, isn't it, Jeremy?
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Regards,
Clarence

I remember the stacks of square hay bails, we would built little forts with rooms using them kinda like legos. I remember when I was real small hearing coyotes, back then they sounded like women screaming and they seemed so close. Back then we did not have all the mobile devices and games that consume so much of this generations time. My son plays games with his friends online, technology is making us lazy. As a kid I went out after dark with a flashlight, dipnet and pellet gun, I always had jars with tadpoles, lizards, crawdads, redear slider turtles... I had a pet raccoon and pigeons... now everything is so different...
 
Originally Posted By: Infidel 762Originally Posted By: tripod3Taking out the oldsters leaves a void. How long before it is filled or claimed?


I don’t think it takes that long at all for other coyotes to know that an alpha pair is gone. I’m sure they pick up on the absence of their vocals in just a day or two, sent markings next. Now whether or not it gets filled by subordinate pack members, transient or alpha pair looking for better ground, I cannot say for sure, they never seem to hang around long enough for me to ask them.

Around here, in most cases it doesn't take very long for the void to get filled. Of course that depends on time of year as well, and how good the territory is. In fall, when new pups are dispersing territory can get filled pretty quick. In early summer when they are already denned up then not so much. Prime territory fills faster too. I have a few spots that as long as I am killing everything I call up and not educating them I can keep going back and killing them time after time with just a few weeks break. Marginal country may take a while. Especially if population is down.

That is just how I see it around here. I think everywhere is going to be a little different, maybe a lot different, just depending. Kind of falls in line with DAA's thread about is a coyote a coyote, wherever he is. Well mostly yes I think, but sometimes no. Unless of course you consider that variability IS a part of being a coyote, in which case the answer is always yes.
 
Yeah it does depend on the territory..

Check out this video, the narrator says they are fighting over territory and if you look at the background they are in an urban area. I guess she asked them what they are fighting about and they told her "territory." I always thought that incursions into residential areas would be in a coyotes home range but not their defended core area. Chit for all I know these 2 coyotes are fighting over a McDonalds cheeseburger wrapper.



I have even read that only Alpha females go in estrous and breed. I don't know if that makes any sense to me, how would the reproductive system of a canine only function contingent on the social status of that animal. A good share of females I kill in early summer are barren but I don't feel confident making that assumption.
 
Even though my degree is in wildlife biology, I have never done any profession studies or seen profession research on that aspect of their behavior (as far as only alpha females coming into estrous). However, I will say this. For that to be true, and it very well could be depending on area, resources, and population density, I think it would be a hormonal driven thing. I do know that it happens in other species.

Nearly all aspects of breeding are hormonally driven. Testosterone in the males, estrogen in the females. But females also have testosterone as well, and that plays into dominance factors. With high populations and very dominant alpha females with den sites in close proximity to each other, I could easily see breeding by non-dominant females being suppressed. I don't think it is the rule, but rather the exception. Competition for food and denning sites would have to be heavy in IMO.

But I am really just guessing on all that. Like I said, I haven't seen the research or done the research to know it to be true.
 
Reproductive Biology of the Coyote, for anyone interested in reading one of the better papers on the subject. It's just one of many, many. But Gese and Carlson are two of the more reasonable and objective coyote researchers, in my opinion. They along with Knowlton and just a couple others seem able to conduct a study and write about it without going overboard on finding creative ways of interpreting data to appear original and unique. Most biologists writing this kind of stuff seem very intent on finding some way of interpreting observations to create some new "discovery" or astonishing new "facts" that are really just a take on a one off snapshot in time without any valid application to the wider world.

Anyway... I've read a bunch of these things over the years. Bunches and bunches. Thousands of pages worth. Appears to me, that reproduction, as with all things coyote, is quite variable. But "generally", both male and female are only fertile for a short time once a year. Only mature females ovulate. Hormones do play a role in female fertility, best guesses are that temporal factors play a role in hormones, and in most situations "generally", only the mated pairs with defended territory (alphas) are successful in breeding.

Generally
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- DAA
 
Thanks for the insight and for the link DAA. That is much more well stated than what I wrote. Plus based in research and not just a guess, lol. It does track with what I have observed in the field and believe to be true.

Mated dominant pairs are a different critter behaviorally than young transitional coyotes living in the edges between dominant coyotes territories. Sure they share many common behavioral traits. But there are distinct differences as well.

These are the type discussions I like. I am always looking to learn more about why coyotes do what they do.
 
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