Keeping Coyotes at Bay

redduck

redduck

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My daughter was walking her two little dogs last night. She heard a growling noise, looked around and saw a very healthy-looking coyote staring a the three of them. The coyote trotted away. The question is, what is a good coyote deterrent? (She sold her gun before she left Wisconsin).
 
Pepper spray? That should deter them if your daughter does not want to re-arm.

Around here the coyotes are small and thin, maybe 40-50 lbs max. They are mostly heard, rarely seen. I am sure they might be potentially responsible for some missing cats around.

My dogs are all bigger than the coyotes, so I think they stay clear of my house area. Plus most neighbors have bigger dogs, since I live in country area and not suburbs or urban city.
 
Coyote sightings have increased significantly this summer in my city, Albuquerque, near the river as reported on the Nextdoor website. This weekend one was seen about 3 blocks from my home during an early morning walk and a half eaten cat was found a few blocks away. I'm 1/2-1 mile from the river and there have been many sightings in other neighborhoods up to 2 miles in. Sometimes a pack of 3-4 coyotes. These are older established neighborhoods bordering downtown. I've lived in my neighborhood since 1990 and occasionally there has been an unconfirmed coyote sighting reported but nothing like this.
 
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We had 4 coyote pups under our back deck 2 yrs ago.
Used a radio to encourage them to leave by having it on constantly.
The pups were extremely cute, like little kittens, but the parents were not so cute :eek:
 
Check with your conservation department. I'm sure they'll suggest a non-lethal defense such as bear spray but hey they deal with it in her area. They'd have any recent population reports.

Healthy coyotes seldom attack people but little dogs are snack size(we have two:)). Look around the area, are there places where there's less cover for them? Maybe change where she walks? Make more noise? Obviously if she sees any erratic behavior the conservation department is the place to call.

I found this article. The author has some practical tips for dealing with the problem.

http://slimdoggy.com/protecting-yourself-and-your-dog-from-coyotes/
 
Probably the most effective strategy is hazing. Whenever you see them you shout, make noise, throw rocks and stones, etc. Anything you can do to enhance their natural wariness and fear of humans helps them and helps you.

Beyond that, keep potential food sources (garbage cans, etc.) out of easy access. As for warding them off up close and personal, pepper spray and maybe a stick or staff. A handgun would work, but you may or may not wish to carry one and in a heavily populated area the risks likely outweigh the benefits. Depending on where you are, coyotes vary considerably in size. Where we live, they rarely get much over 30 to 35 pounds and are still true coyotes. In other areas they are heavily intermixed with dogs and wolves. These things can get to 75 pounds and look like a german shepherd. The locals I would not hesitate to kick the crap out of if they tangled with my dogs. If I were dealing with big coydogs, I would probably depend on hazing and pepper spray if the area were too populated to safely "ventilate" the ones that did not get the message from hazing attempts.
 
+1 on hazing. Carry an empty soda can with coins in it and jangle it at them. The idea is to make humans seem scary to them.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum
 
Sunset said:
Bear spray.
It's legal, don't need a permit, much wider pattern and will literally stop a bear.
Click to expand...
Except when it doesn't, from yesterday:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...surviving-two-run-ins-with-same-grizzly-bear/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...2b6a0e-898b-11e6-8cdc-4fbb1973b506_story.html

But bear spray is a great idea. Although, I don't see how one can use bear spray effectively while controlling two little dogs. Two hand operation is best.

We have coyotes where we live, but there are enough things to eat that they don't seem interested in interactions with humans.
 
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Bamaman said:
When I want to get rid of any critter or bug, I go to Bugspray.com. They actually sell timber wolf urine and mountain lion urine that'll run'em off. They also don't like noise.

See: coyote control, Coyote Control, COYOTE CONTROL, coyot control, Coyot Control, COYOT CONTROL, coyotte control, Coyotte Control, COYOTTE CONTROL, coyote problem, Coyote Problem, COYOTE PROBLEM, coyote infestation, Coyote Infestation, COYOTE INFESTATION
Click to expand...

Good to see that others keep trying different spellings of words till they decide something looks right.
 
I live near a suburban "nature preserve", and bike there often. Have spotted two coyotes in the past few months; one crossed the bike trail in front of me, the other was hightailing it into the brush just as I rounded a curve. There is an abundance of rabbits and squirrels around, and a powerline right-of-way, a pretty good-sized creek, and a couple of small lakes to provide corridors for travel. With the ghastly rapid expansion of "civilization" around the area, I expect more human-coyote interactions in the future. Haven't seen one in the 'hood, but I'd bet they're here. My back yard is well fenced, and with no domestic critters, or food sources, I don't expect them to hang around here much.
 
I live on a canyon and see coyotes a few times a year. Also the occasional bobcat. I agree 100% with hazing/noise/shouting/banging things.

When I was a kid - before the neighborhood was as developed, it was not uncommon to see coyotes loping down the street, or crossing the elementary school playground. Especially when they were putting in houses near the school, displacing the coyotes. I have canyons to the north and south of my house, and sometimes they'll cut through the houses, in between the canyons....
 
redduck said:
My daughter was walking her two little dogs last night. She heard a growling noise, looked around and saw a very healthy-looking coyote staring a the three of them. The coyote trotted away. The question is, what is a good coyote deterrent? (She sold her gun before she left Wisconsin).
Click to expand...

yelling at them works for me
 
Good to see all of the well reasoned solutions being offered (making noise, waving, perhaps pepper spray). I grew up on a farm in a 'flyover' state, and we never paid much attention to them. Fast forward 25 years and move to a suburban metro area and the local TV news latches onto every sighting as a reason to lock yourself indoors and call the police.
 
Bamaman said:
When I want to get rid of any critter or bug, I go to Bugspray.com. They actually sell timber wolf urine and mountain lion urine that'll run'em off. They also don't like noise.
Click to expand...

+1, you read my mind
 
No advise, while we have loads of song dogs, they are still wild and avoid humans. Every morning the four dogs howl at/with a local pack just before dawn. We don't allow the cats out, mostly because of rattlesnakes, golden eagles, and great-horned owls.
 
Omalley said:
Good to see all of the well reasoned solutions being offered (making noise, waving, perhaps pepper spray). I grew up on a farm in a 'flyover' state, and we never paid much attention to them. Fast forward 25 years and move to a suburban metro area and the local TV news latches onto every sighting as a reason to lock yourself indoors and call the police.
Click to expand...

My concern is for my cat and I am sure that some are concerned about their small children, grandchildren, and small dogs. One person actually saw their poodle carried away by a coyote. I have a cat door and my cat has always loved the great outdoors - I got her at 7 months and she was already used to going outside. Fortunately she is now going on 14 years and much of her outdoor time these days is lying on a patio chair surveying her back yard territory. So far I am shutting the cat door at night and not allowing her out until 8 am or so. Lack of traffic and pet safety was one reason that I selected my home 25 years ago - I did not expect to have to contend with large predators.
 
I live right in town and we have coyotes occasionally. They have pulled a leash with a small dog right out of people's hands. I don't walk my small dogs at night. They can easily jump a 6 ft fence. One jumped a fence and killed 3 small dogs while the owner was in the house in the bathroom. She left them for just a few minutes. Here we call outside cats "coyote cookies". Now I have a 80lb dog so don't think I have to worry about the little guys.
 
I don't know about the American western coyote but here in eastern Canada and in the NE US a lot is being made recently on the news about the fact that we are increasingly coming into contact with the aggressive CoyWolf hybrid.

coywolves-are-taking-over-eastern-north-america
Coywolves are Taking Over Eastern North America | Smart News | Smithsonian

They are much larger and not to be taken as lightly as foxes and small purebred coyotes. A much publicized and sad case is the death of a young woman in Cape Breton who was killed by coyotes (later said to be coywolves but I can't find that citation)

coyotes-kill-toronto-singer-in-cape-breton
Coyotes kill Toronto singer in Cape Breton - Nova Scotia - CBC News
Special Report: On Coyote Attacks and the Death of Canadian Folk Singer Taylor Mitchell | Field & Stream

Mind you, you are probably still a billion times more likely to be killed by a car on the way to the park than by any wild animal. More interesting fact than something to worry about.
 
Teacher Terry said:
I live right in town and we have coyotes occasionally. They have pulled a leash with a small dog right out of people's hands. I don't walk my small dogs at night. They can easily jump a 6 ft fence. One jumped a fence and killed 3 small dogs while the owner was in the house in the bathroom. She left them for just a few minutes. Here we call outside cats "coyote cookies". Now I have a 80lb dog so don't think I have to worry about the little guys.
Click to expand...


Yeah, one of my neighbors saw a coyote snatch their outdoor cat right off their deck. I would think an outdoor cat here has a lifespan measured in weeks.

Mostly I just enjoy the local coyotes when they howl. They are pretty darned shy and the smaller of our two dogs is 30 pounds of solid muscle. I had not heard they could vault a 30 foot fence before. If they manage to get into my yard they will be leaving it in a trash can. Happily the only real nuisance that seems to occasionally come into the yard is the raccoons and they are smart enough to do it only in the middle of the night when the Plott hound is unlikely to be handy.
 
brewer12345 said:
Mostly I just enjoy the local coyotes when they howl. They are pretty darned shy and the smaller of our two dogs is 30 pounds of solid muscle. I had not heard they could vault a 30 foot fence before.
Click to expand...
I think you have been watching too many Jurassic Park movies.
 
ABQ2015 said:
My concern is for my cat and I am sure that some are concerned about their small children, grandchildren, and small dogs. One person actually saw their poodle carried away by a coyote. I have a cat door and my cat has always loved the great outdoors - I got her at 7 months and she was already used to going outside. Fortunately she is now going on 14 years and much of her outdoor time these days is lying on a patio chair surveying her back yard territory. So far I am shutting the cat door at night and not allowing her out until 8 am or so. Lack of traffic and pet safety was one reason that I selected my home 25 years ago - I did not expect to have to contend with large predators.
Click to expand...

You are right to worry about your cat. Two of our outdoor cats disappeared and we do have LOTS of coyotes here. We had decided not to adopt any more kitties, but were talked into accepting one from a desperate friend. This one sticks close to the house, and he's been around for a year. We are keeping our fingers crossed.
 
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