Coyotes

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They worst I've been around with Coyote's was in Yellowstone... and outside of LasVegas.
I would get a concealed carry license and get a small caliber handgun ..1 because your hiking alone. 2. Coyotes.. I Love NH. $10 per license for years. Ma use to sock it to me for one either money or paper work 11 yrs ago when I lived there.
If your not into that maybe fireworks..if they are like my dogs of past they will run.
 
I live very rurally in far western Maine, almost on the NH border. Been here for 26 years. It is a regular occurrence to hear a pack of coyotes in the evenings when windows and doors are open. We are pretty darn close to a WMNF forest boundary, I can get to it in 10 minutes on foot from my back door. We also are close to a Natural Gas pipeline, which is an animal corridor year round. Deer. Moose, Bear, and all the small critters abound.

I've also worked in Pinkham Notch for 15 years.

In all that time, I have never heard of a hiker being harassed, bothered or threatened by a coyote. I've never heard of Coyotes bothering campers, or camp sites, and there are plenty of them. I've seen .. maybe 5.. coyote in 26 years, all of them on their own mission and not in the least interested in me.

Coyotes at least in the Northern WMNF area have not become habituated to human food sources, nor to humans AS a food source. They aren't in garbage cans or dumpsters although Bear, Skunk,Raccoon and Fox certainly are widely notorious for that behavior. They don't molest chicken coops, and the sheep farmers I know in Oxford County Maine have not experienced flock predation from Coyote, but do from neighbor's domestic dogs.

As close as they are to me, I sometimes wonder why we have so many woodchucks. I did lose a cat to coyote about 15 years ago, that was a grisly discovery.

Coyotes are the LAST critter on any list to give me pause about being out and about in the woods or on trail. I've had a vixen fox den up and have her kits under my granite block front steps. She quickly moved her family when Spring came and that front door became used daily.

Coyotes are not an issue for humans in this part of the woods.
 
I've woke up to the calls of a coyote pack 100 yards away while camped above Shoal Pond in the Pemi. I suspect they were following the trail down by the pond around first light in the AM.

I was solo and it was a little unnerving only armed with a 6 inch Buck knife, never forget it.
 
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iAmKrzys said:
I watched this movie today and I started wondering if I should now install a wildlife camera in my backyard...
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we have one installed... we catch all kinds of critters..had a moose go by our back door yesterday..early am .. I got one at cabelas's..a good one with infrared. We catch Bear all the time...Bob Cat's etc. Now I know why my dog barks all the time..in the woods were we are..no neighbors..so...
 
Breeze said:
I live very rurally in far western Maine, almost on the NH border. Been here for 26 years. . . . In all that time, I have never heard of a hiker being harassed, bothered or threatened by a coyote. I've never heard of Coyotes bothering campers, or camp sites, and there are plenty of them. I've seen .. maybe 5.. coyote in 26 years, all of them on their own mission and not in the least interested in me. Coyotes at least in the Northern WMNF area have not become habituated to human food sources, nor to humans AS a food source. They aren't in garbage cans or dumpsters although Bear, Skunk,Raccoon and Fox certainly are widely notorious for that behavior. They don't molest chicken coops, and the sheep farmers I know in Oxford County Maine have not experienced flock predation from Coyote, but do from neighbor's domestic dogs. . . . Coyotes are not an issue for humans in this part of the woods.
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Very helpful information from your personal experience, thank you. After reading your post and seeing the documentary referenced previously, and taking into account the lone female hiker killed by coyotes in Nova Scotia, it seems like coyote behavior varies by region. The urban coyotes in Chicago and Toronto behave very differently from what you describe in western Maine. In Chicago, Toronto, and Maine the coyotes aren't aggressive toward humans, apparently. But the Nova Scotia incident must mean something---unusual one-time event? A sign of a trend that we need to be aware of? Learned behavior of a specific pack? (Like dogs that chase deer once and get a taste for the chase?)

There are definitely reports of coyotes stalking humans (purpose unknown) and of attacking small dogs on leashes.

I really want to believe you, Breeze. I do believe you. But it's also clear that this is an animal that is in transition in its numbers, range, behavior, and relationship to humans. Another factor is how humans interact with coyotes, in ways that change their behavior---like feeding them, as the documentary stressed. So what is true today about coyotes might be different in 10 years.
 
Flearoy said:
Very helpful information from your personal experience, thank you. After reading your post and seeing the documentary referenced previously, and taking into account the lone female hiker killed by coyotes in Nova Scotia, it seems like coyote behavior varies by region. The urban coyotes in Chicago and Toronto behave very differently from what you describe in western Maine. In Chicago, Toronto, and Maine the coyotes aren't aggressive toward humans, apparently. But the Nova Scotia incident must mean something---unusual one-time event? A sign of a trend that we need to be aware of? Learned behavior of a specific pack? (Like dogs that chase deer once and get a taste for the chase?)

There are definitely reports of coyotes stalking humans (purpose unknown) and of attacking small dogs on leashes.

I really want to believe you, Breeze. I do believe you. But it's also clear that this is an animal that is in transition in its numbers, range, behavior, and relationship to humans. Another factor is how humans interact with coyotes, in ways that change their behavior---like feeding them, as the documentary stressed. So what is true today about coyotes might be different in 10 years.
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Great post..I was thinking the same... I bet Coyotes in urban areas are used to people have food sources unlike rural one's... When I walk the dog while traveling early AM in the dark and in heavily populated Coyote areas like Yellowstone I carry a firearm just to keep things on an even field.
 
Theres a section of the Eastern Trail here in Biddeford that I walk that has a warning sign to small dog owners about the presence of coyotes in that area. I have never seen, or heard a coyote in this area. I've heard, and seen them in Turner, where I grew up, down on the cape in MA and in the desert outside El Paso. Their calls and yips are spine tingling when they are close by. Never been attacked by them. They tend to avoid humans, we are dangerous to them. We kill them.
 
Sunday morning, my gf and I couldnt sleep, we were both awake at 4:30 am. We decided to go for a walk in the rain. I'd been wanting to walk through the Scarborough Marsh on the Eastern Trail for awhile, so we grabbed our rain gear and headed up to the parking area on rt9. It was just starting to get light enough to almost see when we got to the section of the trail near the golf course. I looked out across the fairways and next to a tree I saw what kind of looked like a dog, but it wasn't moving. I decided it was a stump since there was absolutely no movement whatsoever. I asked my gf what she thought. She said it kinda looked like a face looking at us, but she confirmed it was probably a stump, too. We stood there looking at the stump for a few seconds longer, when it turned and loped off. The stump turned out to be a fairly big coyote. It made me wonder how many times we've walked by coyotes and never saw them because they don't move.
 
egilbe said:
The stump turned out to be a fairly big coyote. It made me wonder how many times we've walked by coyotes and never saw them because they don't move.
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Ahhhh. The pervasive stump. Like blowdowns, in dim light they often disguise themselves as bear, moose and maybe even freaky clowns. Never seen one walk away, though. Something else for the bucket list. We did once see a large colorful turtle sunning on a rock in Nesowadnehunk Stream in Baxter Park. Eventually it flew away. It was the rare merganser turtle.
 
More likely to be slapped silly by a pack of beavers than have any problems with coyote's. I have encountered them many times in western Mass at very close range and have never felt that their interest in me went beyond curiosity. On one occasion the dog I was with and a coyote hung out together for awhile in a grass hopper rich field. It was kind of a parallel play event, very cool. Aside from some domestic dogs, crazy people, moose and deer in rut, I can't think of any animal to be feared in the Northeast, assuming proper food management. Of course there is always the situation that proves the rule but the risk is truly insignificant.
 
buddy said:
More likely to be slapped silly by a pack of beavers than have any problems with coyote's. I have encountered them many times in western Mass at very close range and have never felt that their interest in me went beyond curiosity. On one occasion the dog I was with and a coyote hung out together for awhile in a grass hopper rich field. It was kind of a parallel play event, very cool. Aside from some domestic dogs, crazy people, moose and deer in rut, I can't think of any animal to be feared in the Northeast, assuming proper food management. Of course there is always the situation that proves the rule but the risk is truly insignificant.
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Seems like these days you can't pick up a paper anymore without reading about coyotes killing someone again.... :rolleyes:

Coyotes are one of those animals I feel lucky to have seen when I do. They are so quiet and quick to disappear like a shadow into the woods. Hearing their yips in the woods reminds me nature still exists and animals still roam freely.

Mosquitos and ticks are far more of a health concern I think in terms of "dangerous animals," unless of course you're a house cat out for a stroll at dusk.

The real question here I think is whether "coyote" has a silent "e" or not. Two syllables or three?
 
Raven said:
The real question here I think is whether "coyote" has a silent "e" or not. Two syllables or three?
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I think either/or. Its like potato. Different local pronunciations of the same word. In Maine, I grew up knowing them as Coy Dogs. Now, I guess it is more like Coy Wolf, but DNA sampling shows they have domesticated dog Genes, so Coy dog is probably just as accurate.
 
buddy said:
More likely to be slapped silly by a pack of beavers than have any problems with coyote's. I have encountered them many times in western Mass at very close range and have never felt that their interest in me went beyond curiosity. On one occasion the dog I was with and a coyote hung out together for awhile in a grass hopper rich field. It was kind of a parallel play event, very cool. Aside from some domestic dogs, crazy people, moose and deer in rut, I can't think of any animal to be feared in the Northeast, assuming proper food management. Of course there is always the situation that proves the rule but the risk is truly insignificant.
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That's probably comparable to the experiences most of us have had with northeastern wildlife but I think it a mistake to underestimate the danger of any animal if it feels cornered, it's young are threatened, or a food source challenged. A pack of coyotes can be unpredictable and even more dangerous than just one, no matter the size. Awareness, respect and preparation for such possibilities should not be taken lightly as with any other aspect of safety in the outdoors.

The correct pronunciation of coyote? I've wondered that myself ... maybe it has to do with what you're rhyming it with.
 
Stan said:
That's probably comparable to the experiences most of us have had with northeastern wildlife but I think it a mistake to underestimate the danger of any animal if it feels cornered, it's young are threatened, or a food source challenged. A pack of coyotes can be unpredictable and even more dangerous than just one, no matter the size. Awareness, respect and preparation for such possibilities should not be taken lightly as with any other aspect of safety in the outdoors.

The correct pronunciation of coyote? I've wondered that myself ... maybe it has to do with what you're rhyming it with.
Click to expand...
ahhh yup! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-4p9be2sR4
 
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