German Shepherds Forum banner

Coyote Issues?

9K views 74 replies 31 participants last post by  Lexie’s mom 
#1 · (Edited)
Anyone have coyote issues in their area? What are your thoughts on what a coyote will go after? I have heard so many things. Most say they won't mess with a large dog or anything bigger than them or close to it. I also have heard when they are hungry they just might and that they do this by sending out a bait coyote to get it's prey to chase them and lead them to a pack where they kill it collectively.

I live and have lived in somewhat urban areas, my last house had 1.5 acres and 3/4 of it were woods. My last two dogs came face to face with one in the middle of the day and the coyote seemed not phased and just sat there while they barked at it. Of course I called them in. I really didn't worry too much back then but I am worried a bit now.

My new house is in a very densely populated area and the coyotes live nearby in a park or a leaf and grass town dump. I can hear the babies at night. There is one that cuts though my yard and it looks to be about 80lbs. Looks very much like a dog. I have installed motion lights everywhere because I read they don't like lights and they scare them off. This morning while making my coffee at 4AM I noticed my shed spot light in the way back was on. I didn't see what triggered it, but immediately looked out front and it was walking down the sidewalk in front of the house. I have a tough layout to completely fence in the yard, but I am thinking about it. It's 50% fenced in now. It's cold here and when he needs to go out for the last poop of the night, I stand on the deck and watch him Of course he likes to poop in the way back were this coyote cuts through. My yard is lit up like Fenway Park when I let him out. He does his business and I call him right back in.

Just wondering what your thoughts are on coyotes and GSD's. Any experiences with confrontation? Attacks? Face to face? I have thought about taking measures into my own hands (and it wouldn't be hard) but I think it is illegal and I also have a problem with it.

Thoughts?
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Frisco you are in new england? These are most likely coywolves you are seeing.

I don't think they would hunt or deliberately take on a dog the size of a GSD but if your dog chased it that could be a problem. If I were you I'd probably go with your dog and do last toilet on a leash.

Also it's hunting season here, don't know about you. I saw some guys unloading a dead one they'd shot about the size of my smaller shepherd. Right now I'm way more scared of the guys with guns than the animals themselves
 
#3 ·
Thanks, yes I am in NE. I think you are right about the coywolve, it certainly looks more like a wolf than a coyote. I'll try and post a picture. Unfortunately, I can't be shooting up the neighborhood, hunting season or not.
 
#4 ·
An 80 lb coyote!?Usually they are half that size.There are coyotes here where I live and I've read the same kinds of stories.In my experience they will go after cats,small dogs,chickens.They give our property a wide berth and don't tangle with large dogs.I see their tracks in the snow and they never set foot(paw) across the property line where the dogs have it thoroughly marked on all four sides.If we spot one when we're out in the woods they take off in the opposite direction.
Right now during deer season a lot of folks that butcher their own deer will toss the leftover parts out on a corner of their property to attract coyotes so they can shoot them.And then complain about coyotes,foxes,raccoons,opposums,even an occasional bear that they are deliberately attracting.Makes no sense to me:headbang:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Benjaminb
#7 ·
Well, Im in urban NENJ and we are having issues. We have had like 5 confirmed bites this year on people, and quite a few dog attacks. Most medium/smaller dogs, however there was a confirmed attack on a Doberman and a few larger breeds.


Popular local little mountain. It's not surprising there were coyotes there, it is surprising they attacked.
https://www.nj.com/bergen/2019/10/2...cks-reported-in-nj-park-over-the-weekend.html

This one was stunning. If you knew the park, the mere fact there was a coyote in the bushes is very odd. It's a small urban surrounded by brick and mortar town. Was trying to rip the 4 year old child out of the stroller. THAT is bold. Cops shot it with an M4.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/14/us/coyote-attack-new-jersey-trnd/index.html

And then this lady:
https://www.northjersey.com/story/n...mahwah-nj-woman-fought-off-animal/1917142001/

These are just a few of the stories. Yes it is becoming an issue here in NJ.
 
#9 ·
I live in the DFW area in Texas and we had some incidents in Frisco, TX where people will go run through a certain area and got attacked, biting peoples legs. I have not heard of any incidents recent.

A while back ago I was walking my other two dogs, small and medium size at like 7AM and there was this HUGE coyote walking towards us. My dogs were barking like crazy but it did not phase it. I did yelled at it and made a lot of noise too. At first I thought it was a stray dog, with long legs and really tall, def over 50 lbs. I live in an apartment so luckily I was close to our building where i quickly ran upstairs and it did not follow us...It was a really scary moment.
 
#47 ·
I live in the DFW area in Texas and we had some incidents in Frisco, TX where people will go run through a certain area and got attacked, biting peoples legs. I have not heard of any incidents recent.

A while back ago I was walking my other two dogs, small and medium size at like 7AM and there was this HUGE coyote walking towards us. My dogs were barking like crazy but it did not ph
ase it. I did yelled at it and made a lot of noise too. At first I thought it was a stray dog, with long legs and really tall, def over 50 lbs. I live in an apartment so luckily I was close to our building where i quickly ran upstairs and it did not follow us...It was a really scary moment.
About two years ago when part of my shift included working on the weekends I saw 2 bobcats in Frisco - https://www.facebook.com/jarl.jackson.9/videos/10214301608075936/
 

Attachments

#17 ·
Wow! Right there in the middle of a dense neighborhood during day. The coyotes I dealt with in Texas were basically as shy as a fox. I only ever saw them slinking away though I did hear reports of attacks. I know they are here in Michigan but I haven’t seen one near my property.

Regular coyotes, I would think wouldn’t be a problem for a GSD but that creature looks large and bold. Beautiful too. I would be concerned about that beast in my yard at night. Motion sensor lights sound like a good idea for coyotes but that beauty doesn’t seem concerned with light. I like the bear spray idea and stepping out with Frisco at night.
 
#13 · (Edited)
Hey! Since I'm a wildlife biologist I feel like I can actually contribute something here!

Not many people know that coyotes are not native to the eastern United States---that area was the habitat of the eastern timberwolf (north) and the red wolf (south). Both tend to be smaller than the western gray wolf. When European settlers trapped and poisoned and shot out all the wolves, coyotes slowly spread east to take over the niche. And now you have relict or reintroduced populations of eastern wolves and red wolves, and the invading coyotes are hybridizing with them. It's the main conservation threat to endangered red wolves and also the reason coyotes in the NE are huge and wolfy.

Honestly, if I were you, I'd carry bear spray. In Montana canids of all types aren't usually a problem because hunting has put the fear of God into them; out east, sounds like they're becoming pretty comfortable living around humans and preying on pets. Bear spray isn't terribly expensive ($30/canister) and if it's effective on grizzly bears (which it is), it's probably effective on coyotes/coywolves.
 
#14 ·
I'm south of you (DC) with lots of wooded areas throughout the city. Lots of wildlife too (e.g., deer, raccoons, rabbits, raptors, etc). Every 6 months or so, someone hysterically posts to the neighborhood listserv about the latest coyote sighting in their backyard. I've seen several myself, usually in the early AM hours when somebody has insisted that they need a bio break. Never seen them during the day.

I don't know if they're coydogs or coywolves that I've seen, but they're bigger than the coyote that I'd regularly see in Northern California. Also, they are NOT shy. They'll hang around and watch us in the yard until we go back inside -- which coincides with what hysterical neighbors also have said. It's a little unnerving. For lots of reasons, I don't let the dogs outside unless I'm going out with them. If it's late or really early, I'll take some wasp spray with me just in case. If we're going on walkies after dark, I take the spray and I don't go to the large fields nearby. They're not lit, so I can't see. No attacks that I've heard of locally, but I stay wary.

Shrugs. We're invading their habitat and they've adapted. Best to take precautions.
 
#15 · (Edited)
Well the "myth" of Coydogs is rampant around here. Fish and game maintains they have not crossbred though they have failed to show any documented DNAs on any of them, but we have packs of wild dogs in the meadowlands and in the large cemeteries in Newark, and coyotes in the same habitat (if you can call a burned out cemetery a habitat) so I am not so sure they have truly looked into it. Typical animal behavior in a typical habitat is one thing. But animals thrust together in an atypical environment will break typical habit.

The dogs that use to chase us in the swaps while we rode dirtbikes- they all looked like cartoon junkyard dogs. These are genuine poacks of feral dogs. They den and everything. There are also a lot of coyotes in those same meadowlands.

And the ones in Woodland Cemetery in Newark ..well, some of them looked way funny to be just a dog. There are confirmed coyotes and stray dogs that live in that cemetery. Once a year they have "Safe Day" at that cemetery. They go in and they round up the dogs and coyotes, pick up all the left drug paraphernalia, relocate the homeless who live there..and police it well for just one day so people who relatives there can visit without getting bitten, mugged, or worse.

What the researchers and Fish and Game say and what is, is not always the same thing. I am trying to find an article of a resident that caught a mountain lion on their trail cam..after like a decade of tons of sightings being dismissed.

An article on the cemetery in case anyone is interested.
https://www.nj.com/njv_barry_carter/2010/07/self-appointed_woodland_cemete.html
 
#18 ·
Well the "myth" of Coydogs is rampant around here. Fish and game maintains they have not crossbred though they have failed to show any documented DNAs on any of them, but we have packs of wild dogs in the meadowlands and in the large cemeteries in Newark, and coyotes in the same habitat (if you can call a burned out cemetery a habitat) so I am not so sure they have truly looked into it. Typical animal behavior in a typical habitat is one thing. But animals thrust together in an atypical environment will break typical habit.

The dogs that use to chase us in the swaps while we rode dirtbikes- they all looked like cartoon junkyard dogs. These are genuine poacks of feral dogs. They den and everything. There are also a lot of coyotes in those same meadowlands.

And the ones in Woodland Cemetery in Newark ..well, some of them looked way funny to be just a dog. There are confirmed coyotes and stray dogs that live in that cemetery. Once a year they have "Safe Day" at that cemetery. They go in and they round up the dogs and coyotes, pick up all the left drug paraphernalia, relocate the homeless who live there..and police it well for just one day so people who relatives there can visit without getting bitten, mugged, or worse.

What the researchers and Fish and Game say and what is, is not always the same thing. I am trying to find an article of a resident that caught a mountain lion on their trail cam..after like a decade of tons of sightings being dismissed.
Yes that's very true, although they do have documented cases of dog DNA in some urban coyote populations and there are also some colors showing up that are pretty obviously introduced by the dogs.

In Montana with the wolf re-introduction they have places where wolves are and places where they aren't. FWP will say there aren't wolves in areas that there are most definitely wolves as it seems that unless they've seen them then they aren't there officially.
 
#16 ·
Also in general Canis genetics are like....SUPER complicated and weird, and there's still debate about the origins of North American canid species. And debate about whether the red wolf deserves to be an endangered species or is just a locally adapted subspecies of coyote.

Thus ends your pointless wildlife taxonomy lesson of the day. :) Thanks for making me feel useful!
 
#21 ·
When the dominant female is killed, the other females within the group (that normally would not breed) all disperse, go into estrus during the next season, and the population skyrockets. Instead of one local litter (dominant breeding pair), there will be three or four or more.

Every year in early winter I cross my fingers that none of our neighbors decide to off the pair that live along our property. They've long since given up trying to get into my animal pens, the indoor/outdoor cats avoid their space, and the coyotes stay the heck away from my dogs. I see them on our security cameras, their routines are predictable. Some day when this pair is broken up or gone, I expect we will see more of their young replacements for a while, until we reach respectful equilibrium again.

Statistically, one coyote gets killed every minute in the US. And their numbers are growing.... not declining.

They are fascinating animals. This book is worth a winter read.... https://www.amazon.com/Coyote-America-Natural-Supernatural-History/dp/0465052991

Fencing (real fencing), hazing, carcass/trash control, and extremely careful containment of outdoor animals (poultry, cats, etc) are the time-tested solutions. We've had a few verified attacks on small dogs in our area, and the increase in public awareness seems to be a mixed blessing/curse.

Coydogs are a whole different ball of wax.... It doesn't seem like anyone really knows where that runaway train is heading, but I guess we'll be around to watch and see.
 
#27 ·
No way to tell without a DNA test.They do get larger when they are well fed and the cubs are larger.DNR or AC might be interested in trying to live trap it?
I've read about them and have seen a documentary on YouTube about urban coyotes.They regulate their own population depending on available prey to sustain a certain number of their population.Killing them has zero effect,just leaves more food for the other ones which results in more larger healthier cubs.
 
#24 ·
Then this just popped in my news feed in my area. This is not typical lol
https://www.nj.com/essex/2019/11/fo...75BVkuvSDoMrJNugFzX6ltHGhY8TccpmAkk3vTI_6CzSo

It has been a weird weather/animal year around here. I have lived here my whole life and the cycles this year are just off. Other have noticed too. I'm sure it has to do with a weird weather pattern. Wildlife encounters are way up this year. Also insect population is "off" In all my life here the sugar ants show up in may and are gone by end of June. This year? End of October. Bizarre. They went away for like 3 weeks but then came back full force August until October. That has NEVER happened. And the cicadas that come out in late july and hang around until august were also in full force through October. What the heck? Latest I have even heard them around here was maybe 2nd week of September. And it was a dwindled few still singing. This year they were in force until beginning of October and didn't dwindle until like 3 weeks in.

Also, this year..brand new types of rampant weeds in my yard, others have experienced same. They are like..vines and small trees. It's my 3rd summer that just past in the same house (but in town my whole life) and these weirdo weeds were NOT here the 1st two seasons.

And the stinkbugs didn't come this year. That has never happened either around these parts.

But yeah, beware the jabberwocky (fox lol)
 
#25 ·
And the stinkbugs didn't come this year. That has never happened either around these parts.
It's because your stinkbugs are moving HERE.... :cry: They're following our interstate corridors, spreading north and taking over.

It has absolutely been a bizarre year for insect & plant cycles. I'm kinda curious to see how everyone does during gun deer season this year... The wolf population is way up, so that has kind of overshadowed complaints about coyotes, recently.
 
#26 ·
Oh! We also are seeing a record number of "Stunned Sea Turtles" syndrome on our beaches. People are finding them every day along the NJ shore. Record year. I think the water stayed warmer than usual later than then suddenly got very cold. Instead of gradually. They basically wash up in a hibernation type shutdown because the cold catches them offguard. They can be saved if you get them to fish and game quickly enough.
 
#33 ·
We have a pack of coy-wolves that live in the woods I run my dogs daily. They leave messages (scat and urine) for my pack but for the most part stay well out of our way. I have a "pack" of intact animals, and they seem to respect that. I have seen them several times- big beautiful animals abou the size of mine- 70 lbs or so probably.

I leave them be. They've never bothered me, my dogs, or my chickens. They are incredible resilient creatures that I have deep respect for, and appreciate seeing around. Basically, wolves have moved back into New England, right into the cities, and few people realize it. The apex predator spot has to go to some critter, and coys-mixes have taken that spot up.
 
#34 ·
We have large packs of coyotes around here but hardly ever see them. That said, the few I have seen were about the size of a border collie maybe a bit taller. We live very rural so if one becomes a problem we just "take care of it". Ours tend to range a lot. Will hear them nightly for a few days then nothing for a couple of weeks and then back again for a few days etc. They're shy creatures in these parts.
 
#37 ·
I have seen one in my backyard around 12 pm by itself. It was big, bigger than ones I've seen before. I was at the Wolf Hollow in Ipswich and they said exactly what someone mentioned above. They are a wolf/coyote hybrid, I did't want my shepherd running through the woods out back and didn't want coyotes killing my yorkie poos, so I installed a fence. People post them all day long on Ring walking in neighborhoods and yards. They definitely are not afraid to be around people.
 
#43 ·
There were coyote attacks on people and dogs in my area this year around apr may june. So many stories I was afraid to walk my dog at 530am. as one attack on yorkie happened at 4am. Coyote ran off with...owner caught up at his house and dog was running around in shock. Coyote swooped in and grabbed again. His house mates ran to help..RR tracks friend sees coyote and starts throwing rocks at it. Coyote released 4lb yorkie...dog ran to friend. 1200 in vet bills.
He went around doing public service announcement tellin anyone with dogs and pets. He still has dog. It was off leash.


However there were a number of reported stories of being stalked chased etc. One couple were stalked on overpass, guy reported he could literally kick it in head was so close...this on an afternoon walk.


FF, I had to go to hospital one night as felt my back was going to spasm. 10 mins a girl comes in with her father and her friend. Bite marks to calf. Tissue hanging out, not terrible, but still.
She and friend had gone to taco bell and were crossing RR tracks (4 km approx. from other attack on yorkie)...holding food, 2 came up, 1 scared off but the other went right up to her and started sniffing. She froze. Then the bugger chomped her calf.
While doing her intake, her story to nurse, nurse replied...another coyote attack, this is the 10th one this month.
Small hospital, small town...10x in one month Wow


I had to walk home at 2am, I was terrified
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top