hunting coyotes with dogs

You have to have a permit now in Alberta to hunt coyotes with dogs. My former neighbor got into kaw kaw with the Mounties when the school bus driver saw him hunting coyotes with dogs without said permit. This permit thing came into being about 5 or 6 yrs ago.
 
I grew up hunting coyotes with my Grandpa and his Greyhounds. As mentioned you now need special permits in Alberta. I actually saw a hunt occur in Sask this winter as I was driving by.

Grandpa had a dog box rigged up with a string to open the doors. I seen him run up to 4 hounds, but generally if we had 4 we ran two pairs.

We drive around till we spot a coyote where we had permission, then turned them loose. We didn't have any special kill dogs, all the grey hounds we had were quite capable of killing coyotes, occasionally even 1 on 1. I remember once releasing the three hounds we had, and getting 2 coyotes, two dog's took one, and the other dog got the second one.

With greyhounds it was generally a very short chase, well under a mile, usually under a half mile, if the coyote had enough head start to get farther then that Grandpa wouldn't let the hounds go. There was the occasional exception when a coyote led them through the bush a ways, or was exceptionally fast.

The best watching I ever saw was when we turned em loose on a fox on a warm day in early March, about half the snow was gone on a summer fallow field so there was about an inch or so of mud. Every time the hounds got close, their would be a ball of mud and snow, and the fox would be 20 yards to the side running hard. Seems a fox can corner much better then a grey hound. The fox ended up getting away unscathed, but it was still well worth the price of admission.

Oh, and to those who were talking about mean dogs, I don't think that would have been greyhounds, all the greyhounds we had were very friendly, and not just to us, they were generally good natured dogs. In all the years Grandpa had dogs, I only ever heard of once he had one that bit. It bit my dad and Grandpa didn't believe it, till it bit him, and that was the end of the dog. However that was once in probably 40 years of running dogs, I never did see a mean one in my 15 of being with him.
 
A long time ago guys around here used rescued greyhounds to chase and a pit bull etc to finish. My experience with these guys was not positive. They had no respect for the landowner. They would drive through or cut fences, would allow their dogs to hunt around cattle. Many of the ranchers around here thought the coyote hunters were a bigger problem than the coyote.
 
I also grew up hunting with dogs. We had up to 14 hounds of mixed breeding. We usually only took about 5 with us. Two were greyhounds and our best was a shepherd mix who could outrun the greys. Most would go for the neck or the tail of the coyote. One dog we had stood 31" and could grab a coyote, lift him up and kill him with a quick shake. We allowed him free range during the nights and actually saw him play with coyotes a few times at dawn out in the field. We caught 25 to 100 in a year. Then came snowmobiles and then just long range shooting. We gave up when price dropped to $5 per pelt. Dogs were all friendly to people. We also fed them with milled oats and once a week scraps from a local rendering/ butcher shop.
 
Out around the Central Butte area, there was a Vet that fed his greyhound pack on the money he made on coyote pelts. I last was at his place in the late 1990's.

He had a beater Lada Niva, that was rigged to pop the rear hatch when he pulled a cord. His dogs rode in the back. Drive along the grid road beside the coyote. Slow down, pop the hatch for the dogs, and game on.

Said he had only lost two dogs, both due to the coyote running into a draw, and the greyhounds following antelope out the other side, and pretty much running themselves to death trying to keep up.

Dunno if the South Saskatchewan Sighthound Assn. is still running, but there were a fair few of the members that were hunters with their dogs.

Cheers
Trev
 
altagunguy said:
My experience with these guys was not positive. They had no respect for the landowner. They would drive through or cut fences, would allow their dogs to hunt around cattle. Many of the ranchers around here thought the coyote hunters were a bigger problem than the coyote.
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Much like in southern ontario. If you're going to hunt with hounds you MUST have care and control of your dogs at all times. The law recognizes hounds crossing private property the same as if you do it yourself.
 
grinrgrn said:
From what I understand of it,it's more common in the midwest and west where the terrain and gridwork of roads is more suited to that type of hunting.It involves getting ahead of the chase(by way of vehicles) and intercepting the coyote as he crosses roads from one block to the next,a tactic that likely wouldn't work very well in most of the forest lands of the maritimes.As for breeds,I beleive your typical "coonhound" breeds are most commonly used,Walkers,Blueticks,B&Ts,Currs and the like?
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Yup, that's how it was done around here in central AB when i was a kid. Every sunday the group would meet amnd then fan out looking for fresh tracks crossing the grid roads. When they were found the dogs were let loose., and you wait until you hear the dogs howling then try to figure out what direction tjhe yote was moving and try to get a head of him for a shot. harder than it sounds and the coyotes had better than a 50/50 chance of getting away clean. It was pretty exciting stuff for an 8 year old.
 
Here in Southern Ontario, the more professional yote hunters use the larger running dogs, but the dogs do the killing.

For the average guy who has a dog and wants to push some bush for coyote, any properly introduced hunting dog will do.

Permission from land owners is always a good way to play smart.

Put a bell on his collar and go into the bush with him to drive the coyote out. 99% of coyote will vacate the bush youre in, almost as soon as you enter it, or realize a human with dog is disturbing their nap time, in the smaller bush lots.

Hopefully you have a few well placed men with rifles to shoot the coyote at the locations they are most likely to run to.. shotguns will also work well, but you have to be a bit more precise in where you "know" will run to.

Anyone whose done this, knows what Im talking about. Its a fun way to spend a Saturday morning, and youre doing nature a big favour.:D
 
traderal said:
I also grew up hunting with dogs. We had up to 14 hounds of mixed breeding. We usually only took about 5 with us. Two were greyhounds and our best was a shepherd mix who could outrun the greys. Most would go for the neck or the tail of the coyote. One dog we had stood 31" and could grab a coyote, lift him up and kill him with a quick shake. We allowed him free range during the nights and actually saw him play with coyotes a few times at dawn out in the field. We caught 25 to 100 in a year. Then came snowmobiles and then just long range shooting. We gave up when price dropped to $5 per pelt. Dogs were all friendly to people. We also fed them with milled oats and once a week scraps from a local rendering/ butcher shop.
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Neighbors of ours used to do the same. I remember a few trips

It was quite a thing to see dogs work together to chase, "tip" and hold. And the "killer" in action. Most of his dogs were mixed greyhound,borzoi, afghan and Irish wolfhounds.

He used to buy a brand new pickup, pull the box and mount a dog box with 3 sets of hounds. He paid cash for the truck with the proceeds of coyote hides and it supported his farming habit for many years.

I remember them feeding "chop" as well as pig starter and other scraps. They scared the shi-ite out of me as a kid, and we never were allowed to be anywhere near them.
 
i have went with hunters from our area and they had walker hounds running coyotes. the coyotes can be very smart running in circles and backtracking to lose the dogs . rifles are used on most hunts but there are some fellas who never kill a coyote as they enjoy the thrill of the chase and hearing and seeing their dogs on the trail. there is a lot of good natured kidding about the dogs amongst the owners.the dogs are collared with tracking devices so they can be found at the end of a run.
 
The Old Man tells stories about a friend of his years ago (say the 40s or 50s) that used greyhounds and hunted on horseback. He had a pack that chased and bayed the coyote and one "killer" dog that went in and killed the coyote.

That would be a hell of a ride I would imagine.
 
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