Are coyotes getting into packs now?

pasturepup

New member
The last couple of weeks I have been told that the coyotes are starting to run in packs now. All that I have seen are singles. Do they just bunch up at night to hunt or are they single in the daytime because they are looking for mates?
 
They should for the most part still be in the same family groups that they were raised in. The Fall dispersal is a little ways ahead of us now, and even then not all YOY will be leaving the Family group.

Possibly your just seeing the YOY out-and-about and being less secluded and more bold.

New Mate selection/pairing up wont start really kicking in until late December-January for those that leave the family group...
 
Robb is corect,
Those PACKS that folks are reporting are actually just a local family of coyotes, out for a little game of chase the bunny or something.
 
From KANSAS WILDLIFE:

--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=
Coyotes are thought to be territorial and
apparently maintain their territories by scentmarkingand (rarely) by actual fighting.

Radio tracking studies have given us information on
coyote territoriality that was never obtainable
before. Our knowledge in this area remains
scanty, however, the ongoing studies should
provide us with even more information.

Beginning about November many of the
young coyotes disperse, seeking territories of
their own. This dispersal movement may be in
any direction and the young coyote may end up
as much as 100 miles or more from the den
where it was born. The average distance moved
is from 10 to 25 miles, but movements of 40 to
50 miles are not uncommon. Once dispersal
has taken place, the coyote establishes a home
range where it will probably remain for the rest
of its life. Dispersal apparently takes place
primarily among young coyotes in their first
year of life.


Coyotes are basically solitary animals and
are usually found either alone or in pairs.
Although groups of coyotes are sometimes
seen, they are not true packs like those of
wolves. Wolf packs are characterized by a high
degree of social structure, organization and
cooperation, particularly in hunting activities.
Groups of coyotes may be found together in a
variety of circumstances, but there is not the
same degree of organization or cooperation.
 
thanks robb to add to my question how many of the pups in a family would you say stay around with the family for years in a more pack like situation, because i have had an area that didn't have coyotes for years and is getting more each year so they are either sticking together or dispersing two to five miles. I see them in groups all year long (three to four)?
 
Probably some regional/environmental/social interdependant variables in determining "how Many".

From NM Wildlife
=-=--=-==-=-=

Coyote pairs are monogamous and
devoted, living in unions that usually
last a lifetime. A coyote pack is
typically 3-8 animals. The nucleus
of the pack is the mated pair, also
known as the alpha pair.

Less than half of all litter-mates live
to complete their first year. In fall,
the social organization of the pack
undergoes an internal shuffle. Some
of the pups disperse to become
nomads, some stay on to become
helpers (betas) for next spring's
pups, and previous betas may disperse
to form packs of their own
elsewhere.


While the alpha
female cares for her pups, the other
members of the pack care for her.

They bring her food, babysit the
young so she may go off on her own,
and help move the pups from one den
to another. A core area will frequently
have several den sites, and
pups may be moved several times a
week. This is for safety's sake,
should the den be discovered by a
potential enemy, as well as to avoid
parasites that often infest dens.
Pups are weaned between 5-7 weeks
but begin sampling solid food
somewhat earlier. Mother and father
coyote will regurgitate partially
digested food for their growing
family. Before long, pups accompany
their parents and older siblings
nant animals of the pack. Only the
alpha pair may breed. Mating takes
place in early February.

There are usually two or more beta
coyotes in the pack, young adults
whose main role is to defend the
pack's territory and help look after
the nursing mother and new pups.

Betas are older siblings from the
previous year who did not leave the
pack when they reached young
adulthood.

Other siblings dispersed
to become nomads (some permanently)
or meet up with other dispersed
coyotes of the opposite sex to
eventually form new packs.

Again for KANSAS WILDLIFE:
=-=-=-=-=-=-
Groups of coyotes may be found together in a
variety of circumstances....

In the fall, coyotes may be seen in loose
family groups, but these will gradually break up
as winter progresses. Often in winter, groups of
coyotes will be brought together by the presence
of a concentrated source of food
(such as
a cattle carcass) in an area where other food is
less available. Sometimes coyotes will be concentrated
in small areas of good cover.
This is
particularly true in areas where hunting
pressure is intense and suitable escape cover
is in short supply. Finally, groups of coyotes
may occasionally occur in the early spring
during breeding season. Several males may be
courting the same female simultaneously.

=-=-=-=-=-=-

Sometimes you get a combination of the above...
 
Just my 2 cents to add if that is Ok! here in Alaska we do have Coyotes that pack and just not family group as was stated due to large game as Moose and Bou. they will pack togeather to take these animals down that is what makes them a dubble threat they do very well alone or a pair on wild sheep and small game but are very able to take the large game also.

There is a new study that just started on what and how much of there diet is big game the last info that was done here was the form that was sent out by Mr. John Trout JR he asked ADF&G how many coyotes were here in Alaska and the amount was about 150,000 to 160,000 and when asked what they ate the state came back with Sheep but have found a lot of moose and Bou kills that were done by coyotes so now the study is just starting.>>>Have a great nite Coyote Slayer
 
Hey there CS. I was lucky enough to see two such packs two years ago in Jan. I beleive. One pack had 23 yotes and about 30-50 miles away from that location had 27 yates in it. This was the first time I had ever seen this so I posted the very same question. I think the response was the same that CS1 gives, and that they were packing together to take out Moose. (No bou in this area)

Todd
 
Hmmmm.

Who is John Trout? Who is doing this study at ADF&G? Who told you the results of the study? Where can I find this information? I am intrigued, as I have heard nothing of this. As far as I knew, ADF&G only gets about a dozen coyote carcasses per year, and I didn't know anyone had any coyotes collared or anything like that. Do you know where that population estimate came from--I would guess there aren't that many coyotes in the state, but I know of no data to support any population estimate in AK.

I have never seen a moose or caribou killed by coyotes, although I have seen a few scavenged. I have also never seen a coyote with injuries consistent with hunting large prey, but I have only dealt with a couple hundred Interior coyotes. That seems strange if they are hunting ungulates, as a fairly large percentage of wolves that eat moose have old injuries. Wolves that eat caribou bear fewer wounds, and healed wounds are fairly rare in wolves from SE AK.

Personally, I have seen less evidence of large groups of coyotes in AK than I have in the lower 48. I think they are better able to avoid wolves if they run singly or in pairs here, where they can just hang around together and enjoy each other's company in much of the lower 48 due to a better food base and no wolves to get killed by.

The only coyote work I have been involved with up here was to collar a pair and their pups (when they got to leaving the den), mainly to see if they were eating sheep. There were seven lambs in the area. The coyotes ate almost exclusively tundra voles, with a few red-backed voles and a hare or two (there were hares around--I think the voles were hunted preferentially). They ate one lamb, but we are almost certain it was dead when they got it. Golden eagles killed 5 other lambs, and one survived the summer.
 
Thats a lot of coyotes, i wish we had that many. 27 coyotes in a pack :eek: seems a lot but i could see it happening on a rare occasion i suppose when the prey gets bunched.

Robb i can't thank you enough for the info, exactly what i was looking for.
 
As to Mr. Trout the book was called Solving Coyote Problems his info came from data forms that he sent to all 48 states.

two pople from UAF and I need to re check the name of the BIO. who started the work early last year out of fairbanks on this topic.

I my self did work on a small pilot study in the Wrangell-St.Elias National Park and Preserve from fall of 98 till the spring of 01 I took 180 coyotes and 48 wolves in the three years of working in that part of the state we took DNA, Repro tracts all scat I could find and stomach content,along with Pic's and viedo we found coyotes with broken legs,cracked ribs and smome skull dammage as you would find with wolves after working big game all this Info is in the park service hands as we speak I will try to get you the Bio,s. name in fairbanks these animals were taken from a gides area that was getting hit hard on sheep in the white river area by coyotes and wolves there was a lot of white hollow hair in the scat as well as the stomach contents along with large amounts of meat whth parts of hide, pea vine and other small game and birds.

One more point when we had wolves the coyotes would move to the high country and you could not get then to answer but as the wolves moved on, on a boundry run the coyotes would return to the low valleys and take over where the wolves left off also when I started there were no fox at all and it was thought there would be none by the time we were done there was a good number of fox back in the area also >> Coyote Slayer
 
The coyote is not a pack animal as is the wolf. Coyotes will sometimes stay together as a family unit till pups disperse, which will be happening soon. Always funny to hear a fella talk about the "pack" he heard in the evening, claiming there must have been a dozen by the sound. In most cases it's three coyotes.....which sound like a dozen to the unknowing.
 
INFIDEL,

In all honesty, the term "pack" with coyotes is used extensively in the literature, maybe they should change it to "gaggle" or something when referring to coyotes ?

....and while the coyote is not a pack animal like the Wolf is a pack animal, there are times when coyotes congregate (discussed at length in this thread /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif ).

(edit: I have been educated on coyote pack terminology since making this post originally)
 
Hmmmm...exactly what I thought I had described? Oh well. Many of the surveys and data, some of which you have posted here yourself, suggest exactly what I, and many other here have stated. Like anything else in this life, there are usually two diametricly opposed ideas about a given subject. Hell, it's not hard to pull up information in regards to the falacy of the holocaust, conspiracy regarding the trilateral commision, or data put forth by the flat earth society.....take your pick, two sides to just about anything. I maintain that coyotes are not pack animals, not in my 40 years of observation. The number of fellas who have witnessed twenty-something animals dragging down a moose, ain't very many pal. Most I know and respect, have the same observation as I, coyotes maintaining a family unit for several months,this may include 3-6 animals, then dispersing, leaving usually a pair that hunt together,or singly. Used to have a couple of the government boys who hunted coyotes for a living here, wish they could chime in and relate what the usual number of adult coyotes were at a den site. My hunch is that it was two,the bitch and the dog that had the pups down in the hole.
 
Infidel,

In order to get published in Scientific literature, papers are HEAVILY reviewed by peers and editors. As opposed to your holocaust/moonlanding example.

And like most topics...

I think well find that "the truth" lies somewhere in the middle. That there are no absolutes. Especially for the exploitive and adaptable coyote.

Just this year I personally witnessed 3, 4 and 5 coyotes together approaching a call during the denning phase when the pups would still have been quite small.
 
Anybody know who Bob Crabtree is? Like him or not he is the most well known and probably the most in the know about coyotes and wolves. Here is an excerpt from a peice done on the relationship of wolf packs to the coyote density in Yellowstone National Park.

Helping Ranchers
Ranchers, too, are benefiting from wolves, which are biting into coyote populations in the region.

"Before wolves were released, the Lamar Valley region contained at least 12 coyote packs totaling about 80 individuals," says Bob Crabtree, director of Yellowstone Ecosystem Studies. "Within a year, the wolves had reduced the number of coyotes by half, [leaving] only about 36 coyotes arranged in nine packs." Crabtree adds that the average coyote pack size fell from six to 3.8, and that each winter between 25% and 33% of the coyote population is killed by wolves.

Some wolf packs have extended their territories onto other public lands in the region. By putting a significant dent in coyote populations, wolves are saving the Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services program thousands of dollars in aerial gunning, trapping and poisoning of coyotes.

Wyoming's wolves are indeed "worth the watching."



Wyoming Outdoor Council
262 Lincoln St., Lander, Wyoming 82520
woc@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org - (307) 332-7031
Whether you like this guy or not you do have to give him credit as he is an outstanding biologist in his feild. So it would seem that coyotes are in packs in ceratin areas. I do personally believe that it would have to do with the availability of food versus territory available?????? James L.
 
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