Hunt Smart, Fish Hard: Coyote Surprise

It’s been a while since I checked my game camera. After looking at the deer pictures the next line of photos got my attention — there were no deer pictures. To my surprise there were other wildlife pictures. Not of deer but coyotes!!! Yep, I got coyotes in my back yard. When you’re hunting deer with dogs, sometime the dogs are running coyotes. To me there is a difference between coyotes in the woods and coyotes in your back yard. I went to the DGIF website to see what they had to say.

The males are generally larger than the females (8-20kg vs. 7-18kg), with a body length of 1.0-1.35 meters. The coat color and texture shows geographic variation, but generally the coat color is a grey mixed with a reddish tint. The belly and throat are generally paler. This species is usually smaller than the gray wolf. The track (70mm by 60mm) is more elongated than the domestic dog but shorter than either the gray or red wolf. The stride (414mm) is less than the gray or red wolf.

This species breeds in January and February, with a litter of 5-7 pups being born during April and May. The litter size is affected by population density and food supply. The home range size of the males is 20-42 km, and for females 8-10 km. Favorable den sites include brush covered slopes, steep banks, thickets, hollow logs and rock ledges. Dens may be shared and used for more than one year. The young emerge from the den in 2-3 weeks, and may disperse 6-9 months. Coyotes use visual, auditory, olfactory and tactile signals for communications.

There’s more to this in the current issue of the Times Virginian newspaper. Support local journalism by purchasing the issue at a local newsstand or subscribing at www.timesvirginian.com/subscriber_services to receive the print edition or view the full article in the e-edition version.