Coyote Monitoring Techniques

mgcolley

mgcolley

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Hi all,

I am doing a school project where I need to monitor coyote populations in a small area, now since I am a hunter and trapper everyone was excited to have me in their group but to be honest I am not experienced in the ways of coyote, so what are some non lethal ways we can track these guys, any cool ideas?

My ideas so far, simple but...

-Trail cameras with bait stations
-Sand piles mimicking turtle habitat, this way we can clearly see their footprints
-Possible early morning or late stake outs in a blind or all camoed up with some predator calls, just to observe them

Even though I am a licensed trapper I do not think I can live trap them for scientific or educational reasons..
 
He he... good luck..... hard as hell to get a bead on these guys... your best idea is the whole footprint thing.... they learn to get weary of trail cams ... I would combine the bait / footprint idea.... you can call them in but they will get educated to that really quickly also....
 
What ever you do, Don`t TRY and think what a coyote will do.......They will surprise you every time!!! I`ve seen areas that you would think: Naw, never....and thats where the best hunting is!
 
Maybe use a bear DNA method.....place bait piles with properly placed barbed wire around the bait that forces the coyote to crawl under the wire thus leaving hair. Determine the number of coyotes in a given area by DNA....
 
GunnerySgtJackson said:
Maybe use a bear DNA method.....place bait piles with properly placed barbed wire around the bait that forces the coyote to crawl under the wire thus leaving hair. Determine the number of coyotes in a given area by DNA....
Click to expand...

Ah yes! I was curious about that, I was very interested in some sort of hair method, just could not remember it, thanks for that, probably will not have access to DNA analysis, but seeing as there are no bears, wolves or large cats where I am, it may be easy to distinguish coyote hair, or at least give a best guess
 
mgcolley said:
Ah yes! I was curious about that, I was very interested in some sort of hair method, just could not remember it, thanks for that, probably will not have access to DNA analysis, but seeing as there are no bears, wolves or large cats where I am, it may be easy to distinguish coyote hair, or at least give a best guess
Click to expand...

So how are you planning to differentiate how many yotes are coming if you have no dna access.... one yote could be hitting the pile 10 times a day
 
mgcolley said:
Ah yes! I was curious about that, I was very interested in some sort of hair method, just could not remember it, thanks for that, probably will not have access to DNA analysis, but seeing as there are no bears, wolves or large cats where I am, it may be easy to distinguish coyote hair, or at least give a best guess
Click to expand...

Ask your local Provincial Wildlife office if they could help out. Coyotes are territorial so the number in an area would be limited to that pack/group, maybe the local wildlife biologist would be interested in your numbers to help out and to assist a school project.....Ask your teacher if it is possible for the school to fork out some money at a private DNA clinic.....
Good luck with the project!
 
Superbrad said:
So how are you planning to differentiate how many yotes are coming if you have no dna access.... one yote could be hitting the pile 10 times a day
Click to expand...

Well, the main goal is to prove that coyotes are physically present in the area, numbers would be nice, but not as important, we are probably only looking for a rough estimate on numbers, or hopefully the preliminary results will trigger a larger study with funding on definite numbers
 
mgcolley said:
Well, the main goal is to prove that coyotes are physically present in the area, numbers would be nice, but not as important, we are probably only looking for a rough estimate on numbers, or hopefully the preliminary results will trigger a larger study with funding on definite numbers
Click to expand...

Put up a bait pile... a good one... turn the f;ash off on trail cam.... you will get yotes...
 
If you scout around and can find den sites you can get good data. However they won't be around the den long.

The hair collection procedure is good. It depends on what exactly you are doing. Home range, densities, gender, diet, etc.

Cameras work well especially with bait. This time of year 1st comes raptors, then crows, racoons and finally coyotes. It may take 1-2 wks before coyotes start hitting the bait.

Look on the web for previous studies, I know Long Island, NY, Mississippi,
Texas, Nevada and Arizona are a few.

Big undertaking and quite a challenge for you.
I wish you well.
 
I don't have any advice or suggestions. However, I'm sure a few people on this site would be interested to read your report and find out what you have discovered.

Best of luck with the project. (Get your group members to pull their weight, too!) ;)
 
Sorry I should have specified, I know you can buy commercial coyote mouth calls, but I was more thinking calling without a call, just howling with your own mouth like people do for wolves in algonquin, just to hear them call back, is this possible?
 
mgcolley said:
Sorry I should have specified, I know you can buy commercial coyote mouth calls, but I was more thinking calling without a call, just howling with your own mouth like people do for wolves in algonquin, just to hear them call back, is this possible?
Click to expand...

Yes it is possible. You can actually buy a coyote locating siren. Pretty cheap to buy. very loud.
 
Go out in the early evening and listen for them for a few nights.
If they are there and howl it will provide you with their general location.

Buy a howler call and practice with it enough so you are capable of producing a reasonable howl, doesn’t have to be perfect by any means.

Look at an air photo/Google sat image of the area and try and find a location where you can quietly walk to in the early evening from downwind of their general location.

Bring a decent tape recorder and your howler and let loose.
By ear and reviewing the recorded tape later, try and pick out the different vocalizations produced by different dogs, yearlings, female, dominant male, pups later, whatever.

If you’re not hearing any howling initially while scouting the area, howl yourself, they will answer. Do not over do the howling, couple howls, wait a while and listen, you may get an answer from far off, move a bit, give another howl.

This time of year they are paired up and will be quite territorial.
Have two different howlers, higher pitched to mimic a female, lower pitch for an older male.

Have fun, trust me, there are no rules to this :D

Check out varmint Al’s site for example howls to practice mimicking.
http://www.varmintal.com/coy5-20.htm
 
You need to get off the net and consult primary sources to determine what methodolgy will accomplish your goals.

Your 'school' should have access to a search engine which will allow you to search academic journals.

Reading your question makes me think you and your 'group' need to forget about 'field' work until you understand what your goals are.
 
Not sure on your area but around here this time of the year after the winter hunt you will not find a good population of yotes. You will find yotes near the out lying area where no hunting trapping is allowed near the city. You should contact the road maintence people in charge of area highway for road kills to get you samples numbers. We had lot of yotes during winter going to farms that put chicken in manure piles or spread them on fields or rural dumps this kept them nearby. Since you are a trapper contact other trappers for your info that trap yotes.
 
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