The photo below, provided by the Ontario Sheep Marketing Agency, tells an increasing familiar story about coyote predation on Ontario farms. The Ontario Federation of Agriculture says the situation is out of control. Several opinions about what to do have been put forward, including putting a bounty on the animals, such as the one announced earlier this month in Saskatchewan. I write about the problem in today’s Urban Cowboy column in the Guelph Mercury.
Mr. Roberts:
Thanks for the column on a very real problem. I am a landowner with an orchard, southeast of Guelph and have observed, firsthand, this problem for the last several years. All of the neighbouring farms have suffered losses from these predators. Sheep are killed and left in the fields, domestic fowl are carried away, calves are killed. ( sometimes while being delivered by the cow, if she is in the field, giving birth )( visualize that one !). Coyotes are becoming increasingly bold and I’ve noticed an apparent increase in their numbers over the last several years. They range in colour from pure blond to almost black. The animals I am seeing ( and shooting ) are now very large and healthy looking. This was not the case a few years ago, when many of them suffered from ‘mange’. It is not uncommon for farmers to find them actually inside their barns and buildings. More than once I have been called to assist with this. At the request of a local landowner, last year I shot an adult deer, who was in the process of being devoured alive, from back to front. Deep snow conditions had made it impossible for the deer to escape, while the coyotes could run along the surface crust. The deer managet to make it up against their house, where the coyotes would not go and was left to die, slowly. While reporting this to the M.N.R., I was reprimanded and reminded to let nature take it’s course. It seems that wasn’t exactly happening. I have attended car accidents, caused by the driver swerving to miss a coyote. There are lots of examples of their impact on life around my place. It would seem that as natural habitat is lost to development, interactions with all remaining wildlife can only increase. People just don’t interact well with most wildlife and a small pet makes a fine snack. All of this is with five miles of my home and I can only imagine that it happens everywhere. Although unfortunate, the news articles of coyote attacks does not indicate to me a trend.
These are very adaptable, cunning and fast predators, who mostly vanish at the sight of a human ( personal experience ). Many nights I’m awoken by their howling, right behind my house, followed by our dogs barking. I have witnessed them surrounding my dog at a distance and barking like one, I think to entice him to them. There are many examples of their behaviour around here.
I have just returned from an early morning coyote hunt. Many hours of my time are spent calling and hunting over baits in remote rural locations, watching for coyotes. Where I live there is a year round season ( no Sunday hunting ), with just a small game license, for coyotes. I have an open invitation from all surrounding landowners to hunt them and certain friends who sometimes come along. I doubt that I’m even making a difference to the local coyote population, but it’s better than sitting on the couch and complaining about the problem. Perhaps an increased bounty would make it worth the while of people to actively hunt them, but right now I do the work of burial, out of respect. It’s not personal until they take something of yours, and that has not happened to me, as of yet. On the upside, we don’t have a problem with groundhogs, skunks, rabbits ot cats.
Thanks for your time,
Rob Stark
Moffat, On.
Thanks, Rob, for this fascinating inside look at the coyote problem. The sheep marketing agency provided me with some photos that I was tempted to use on this blog, but in the end I decided they were too graphic. Reading your account of the coyotes’ zeal to kill, I’m rethinking my position. People need to know the reality of this problem.
My e-mail is cleybourne@homelifeguelph.com. I have a handwritten response which I would like to send you. I am not a typist.Would you kindly send me your e-mail address so I can forward it to you. Carl
hi . Ive been a hunter for 30 plus years . i live in morriston , and never had a ploblem with coyotes up till now . most of my hunting is with a bow ,although i do have some firearms. ive also noticed a great many number of coyotes while on stand , and thats close to guelph. but just this passed year ive seem them walking down my street at night .one even followed my wife down the driveway after picking up the blue box . she was so frightened she locked herself in the garage and called me on her cell phone.And a few weeks later my nieghbour , who is a law inforcement officer had a party ,and one of his guest s had to stair one down as he was moving away to safety. Now that the snow is on the ground my back yard looks like a party zone for them , All the deer are gone , and so are the rabbits. Now since the middle of january ive shot and killed three with my 22. and the third one was in the middle of the day .i have a seven year old son , and his fort is in the back yard . this makes me very uncomfterble.The odd thing about this situation ,is i dont even look for them. My wife seems to spot them.Is it getting that bad. thx
Thanks for your message, Gino. You describe a pretty scary situation, and it sounds like it’s time for yet another column on this topic…although I don’t think any new measures have been taken by the province since I last wrote about it.
Do you have any suggestions about what the province should do?
Some reasons why coyotes are overpopulating the areas around here is becuase of 1. the fact that there are no wolves here anymore. why are there no wolves here anymore? because humans are the stupidest creatures alive, we killed all the wolves and forced them up north. then theres the fact that 2. coyotes are some of the smartest creatures alive and will be alive long after the earth kills all the humans off of this planet. coyotes can adapt to any environment and have actually learned how to cross the road by looking both ways. 3. you might think that coyotes are are overpopulating our area, but in reality we’re overpopulating there’s, just look at kitchener and waterloo, they used to be 2 seperate cities now they’re known as kitchener-waterloo becuase they connect. same with cambridge, it used to be 3 seperate cities, galt, preston and hespeler. i bet in a number of years guelph and cambridge will connect, and then we’ll be complaining that coyotes are in OUR suburbs but the coyotes were there first, so techniquely we’re in THERE fields and forests.the only way that we can have a happy medium of coyotes is if we stop expanding the cities as much as we do, and get the wolves back into the southern areas of ontario. wolves are the coyotes natural enemy and will kill off 1/4 of the coyote popultion easily within maybe 3 months. ive hunted coyotes and have killed a number of them, but stopped hunting them when i realized that it doesnt matter how many i kill, im not even denting the coyote population. i hunted with a compact bow for a main weapon but for the tricky shots used my rifle. – in case anyone wanted to know my methods of hunting them.
p.s dont be afraid of coyotes, they wont do anything to you unless you feed them, if you feed the coyotes they will see humans as a source of food and eventually attack and kill a human. just dont feed them and this wont happen. ive chased coyotes away from my brothers livestock many times without my dog or a weapon. the trick to chase a coyote away is to be the aggresoor and show it that your not afriad to fight (which ive actually had to do on an occasion, but luckily a had my dog so he took care of most of the work). always show that your the dominate one between you and the coyote and start runnung at em as fast as you can, if they sart coming towards you, give em the scriest sounds you can make come out of your mouth,and they shouold leave.
coyotes are a problem. anyone who says humans are the enemy isn’t helping. rather than insults, come up with solutions. i’m not for the province handing out cash to every idiot with a gun, they’ll be out trespassing and poaching to earn a buck. this also puts the general public in danger because nobody knows who’s hunting where. every farmer has the OBLIGATION to protect his/her livestock. grab a gun, shoot em when you see em. leave the carcasses there for a few days, they’ll get the idea. in packs, they can take down anything on our farms. i’m somewhat looking for properties to hunt them. they’re not a good thing although they are part of the ecosystem. i don’t think they should be shot just because we’re seeing them though. it’ll happen, we are moving in on “their” land. jamierstokes@hotmail.com
Owen, I’ve read the above commentaries with great interest. Here are a couple of my views on the subject.
Eastern Coyotes, sometimes called ‘brush wolves’ by rural landowners, are not/not actually pure coyotes. They are a cross between wolves and true (western) coyotes, and tend to be about 30-40% larger than their western relatives (dependent on sex of course). They are, in many ways, an ultimate predator. If they don’t have meat, they’ll eat apples, or mice etc.. Naturally, if they can get an easy meal via a domesticated animal, then they’ll do so.
Herein lay the problem.
Past studies I’ve read about this problem (eg. Nova Scotia), have found that bounty hunting isn’t an effective long-term strategy, nor is poisoning. Trapping is dodgy too, as they are very crafty and can detect human scent extremely well! That leaves either fencing (expensive) or donkeys/lama’s. These have been shown to be fairly effective. That said, if you know anyone needing (short-term) assistance in Eastern Ontario, please feel free to pass along my name and e-mail to them. I’m a predator hunter.
Regards,
Rob O’Gorman
In my last, I neglected to mention that when an adult coyote makes a kill of a lamb and feeds it to its pups, it actually develops a preference for the taste of it which, in turn, is passed on genetically. This obviously exacerbates the problem, and then the whole coyote family has to be exterminated. Not a very nice thought, but… that’s reality.
Good Hunting!
Rob O’Gorman
predatorhunter@storm.ca
I reside in Schomberg Ont, and anavid deer hunter. I have seen the coyote population skyrocket to huge numbers in the past few years. I have been hunting coyotes for the past couple of years with great success, but have not noticed a decline. Deer numbers have become scarce in these neck of the woods, and rabbits from my observations are non existent. As an avid deer hunter I want to see the coyote population trimmed right down, i feel the MNR are not doing enough or rather nothing for the cause. I have witnessed coyotes take down a mature doe from stand and there was nothing i could have done. Prices for tags have increased multible tags are still being sold and would like to know where the money is actually going to protect our resources. At this point my efforts in hunting coyotes has not made a differnce, and believe me when I say I have been out there at least twice a week. what else are we to do. the MNR must take action and do something about it. any suggestion?
I live in the north end of the York Region near Keswick, and have seen a huge increase in coyote population. They live in any stand of bush out there including those that border neighbourhoods. I hear them yip at night to the pet dogs. i see them early morning when i take my garbage out. I see them when I drive on country roads in fields. Thats why I’ve switched from hunting turkey and deer twice a year to coyotes year round. Very difficult but very rewarding. I have permission from several farmers, and insured through OFAH. If anyone wants some predator pressure put on at their farm or country home, I’m happy to help out!
sorry my email address is mattgladwin@me.com
My friend Hans and I are happy to help any southern Ontario farmers with any varmint pests or predators either imminently OR currently harassing their crop or livestock. We are experienced, respectful, understanding, in tune and grateful for any opportunities that allow our passion to help out. We absolutely do not scoff at hunting raccoons or coyotes and infact prefer Varmint and are NOT interested in hunting trophy game on your land in any form. if there are larger time sensitive predators such as bear we are equipped and will be happy to be your appointed agents for removal, it takes a simple phone call to MNR if you are a farmer. we are both licensed and insured, I come from a background of ballistics R&D and personally assure you that the safety of your property in the process of hunting these critters for you will always be given utmost precedence and respect. no sign of us will be left once we leave aside from the tire tracks in the driveway.
I can be contacted at:
over9000pontiacs@gmail.com
-Riddick
Hello
I hope this message isnt wasting your time, im not contacting you in regards to purchasing your land.
Im new to hunting and like many hunters dont have property, while crown land is an option its usually crowded and tends to be a less enjoyable time.
I hunt goose and deer, and would like to ask permission to hunt your property. Also am willing to remove pests including coyotes.
I am fully insured and am respectful and responsible. Please contact me back as i am eager to get out in the field!
Would be willing to give you some of my harvest.
Thanks
Dan
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