Minds Change When Fluffy is Yote's Dinner

I'd rather have a yote around than a stinkin feral cat. I've let a big male run my place, he cleans up remains and eats my neighbors barn cats that come looking for quail and rabbits.

Coyotes are opportunist: they'll certainly eat quail and rabbits if that is whats easiest.... but gutpiles, carcasses, mice and voles are often much easier to catch. Rabbits are a reasonable portion of the coyotes diet: but the vast majority of their intake is small rodents, bugs, berries, ect.

I have a Belgian Malenois (Drifter) that I've been training to defend my property from people and animals alike. At the age of 22 weeks I witnessed his first altercation with a coyote. He has had several conflicts with juveniles (his size) and one ugly altercation with a large 3-4 year old male.... that I ended.



4 weeks ago Drifter broke his tibia while playing frisbee with the wife. He was immediately taken out of the yard and brought inside my house... the drugs, the cast, and the pain would certainly make him vulnerable outdoors at night. The 3rd night he spent indoors- a coyote came into our yard and crapped in Drifter's toilet. (He's trained to crap in a 6' radius).

Within 1 week of Drifter being indoors, the coyotes were scent marking regularly around my property. After 3 weeks of keeping Drifter inside, the Alpha male coyote of my area walked up onto my concrete carport and crapped in the center of it (30' from my pillow). His droppings were located inches from a dabble of blood left from Drifter's open sore left by the rubbing cast.

The wife saw the coyote that morning, standing between my house and shop (50 yards). She wanted it killed... but I was hoping to leave these particular coyotes alone so I could study their behavior over the summer months and document the dispersal behavior of their pups later in the fall. (I should've mentioned that I've been studying/filming/calling this male and his mate for several months)

I convinced her that the coyote would do no harm once Drifter was rehabilitated- so we shouldn't shoot it. This weekend we took Drifter off his sedatives and he began putting weight on his bad leg again. We spent quite a bit of time working in the landscaping, so he was able to stretch out and even chase a cat. He appeared to be back around 80% of his old-self so I opted to leave him in the outdoor 10x20 pen last night which also has access to the 20x40 building. This would allow him to move around more freely than his bed in the house... and might speed up his recovery to 100%.

Last night was his first night with limited access to the outdoors (and coyotes) in 4 weeks. When the wife got up at 6 am to feed him, she found a coyote snapping and gnashing at the chain link fence- Drifter was on the other side doing the same! The coyote reluctantly scurried away as the wife kicked on more lights. Drifter had snapped off one of his K9's while ripping at the fence, his gums were bloodied and the scabs on his legs were opened up and bleeding again.

So, I suppose this coyote's days are numbered... he may never see the sun rise again. Despite my experience with dogs and knowledge of coyotes, I cannot get around this territorial conflict. It's ironic really, that I'd find myself in this situation, as most anti-hunters and pro-coyote activist will tell you that coyote conflicts are simply misunderstandings and are avoidable.

Within a year Drifter will be able to hold his own... and god help the coyote that gets in HIS yard!

Great story and pics...JRB. Sounds like Drifter is doing a fine job at protecting the homestead, as he has been taught.....But, on the other hand, with the injury to his leg....Please dont let the yote provoke him to further cause injury to the leg, by defending his domain. That could be very costly down the road with Vet. bills.

Like you said...I'm sure the coyotes days are numbered and should get a personal invite to a .25 WSSM.....YD

I've seen it first hand.

Interesting account jrb.

I'm sure you could surf around the internet and find a dozen accounts of "packs" attacking but I believe many coyotes are misunderstood in this way.

The "pack mentality" and group hunting efforts is more commonly associated further to the northeast like PA/MA/NY/CT... where game animals are larger, winters are brutal and coyotes face competition with wolves. It's interesting reading, if you ever have the chance, to look at studies done on NorthEastern coyotes. Once wolves move into their area, puppies are born 20% larger and fewer juveniles disperse away from their family unit. This results in a winter family group (pack) that's 10-20% larger in body size than their cousins just 50 miles down the road. Very interesting stuff!

Either way, it would be extremely rare to see more than 3 coyotes attacking anything in Indiana. Mating pairs obviously do a LOT of hunting and territorial activities together throughout the year... and occasionally a pup (usually female) will not disperse in the fall and she'll stick around to help with the next litter of offspring. Even in those cases, where 3 remain together, I think it would be rare to see all 3 get confrontational toward a target.

I ran some drills with Drifter last night and he is coming back around VERY well. His bad leg lacks stamina at this point... but is very strong on short dashes and push/pull situations. I got busy meeting folks wanting to buy guns last night and didn't get out there to call my resident coyote. I'll get around to it sooner than later... might video it for you guys!

Gunnin, there are some behaviors you just can't train. You can only find a breed that has those instincts and promote them through conditioning.

Drifter came to me from our county police department; I used to work with their breeding pair of narcotic & hit dogs: so after several years of waiting I finally obtained a pup. These dogs are not great pets in most cases, because of their constant energy and drive. I’m fortunate that I can provide Drifter with enough room to stretch his legs, and enough “intruders” to keep him occupied all day and night.

I am currently working with Drifter on daily routines, in hopes he can become my fulltime hunting partner for nighttime coyotes. He travels well in the truck, stays close while I navigate terrain in the dark, and is a great set of eyes & ears to have along. The downside is that aggression: as he is very defensive of the truck and myself. My fear is, a conservation officer or landowner will come up behind me unannounced and get the surprise of his life.

He is a great friend to me, but he’s a real handful to folks he doesn’t like.