I live about 15 miles north of the official middle of nowhere. I have one neighbor, and then there’s nothing for miles. I’m immersed in peace and quiet. Thousands of acres of range land. A radio phone that works sporadically. Deer and elk in the front yard. And horses. The neighbor raises thoroughbreds that pretty much run wild on the surrounding 500 acres or so. This is my idea of heaven, with one exception. Well, two, but I’m dealing with the rattlesnakes pretty well. The only blight on my little piece of paradise comes in the form of a burgeoning coyote population. They must go. I really don’t want to debate whether or not I should be getting rid of them, I just want to get rid of them. The problem is, they’ve encountered my kind before. They’re educated. They only show up at night, and head for the hills at the first sign of movement. I’m working three jobs and have very little free time, so I can’t just hang around waiting for a good shot all evening. I’ve had a few ideas involving beef-as-bait, but I can’t get around the daylight issue. They only come after dark, and I can’t shoot in the dark. All my other ideas seem impractical. Laser sights? Too expensive. Traps? I dunno nuthin’ about 'em, and I don’t want to wound an animal and have it suffer for any length of time. Poisoned bait has been suggested, but my neighbors dogs stay out all the time and are just as likely to find something like that.
I would greatly appreciate any ideas, tips, hints, suggestions, personal experiences, or recipes you might be willing to share. Ok, no recipes, but help! I’m really at the end of my rope.
I also live in the country, but not as remote as what you are talking about. Believe it or not we have a bad problem with coyotes here in Mississippi. The farmers in this area have started using donkeys to protect their herds. Seems a donkey can defend himself and soon learns to hate coyotes. Since I am not a country boy this is just an observation and I suggest you get someone else to confirm this fact.
Here is a link to the Fish and Wildlife section of the Montana Cade. I can’t tell for sure, but it looks to me like you might not need a license to kill coyotes, which are classified as “predatory animals” under the definitions of section 87-2-101. Section 87-2-103, the licensing provision, does not appear to include predatory animals, except for a restriction on non-residents trapping them.
I agree with Minty Green that it looks like you don’t need a hunting license to hunt coyote, at least during the day. I coulnd’t find any information about night hunting in Montana, but I know that here in Maine, night hunting of coyotes is permitted from Jan. 1-Apr. 30. It requires a special permit ($2) in addition to a regular hunting license. Contact your state agency to see if they have a similar program.
I’m not debating your right to shoot them but I am curious, since you’re not raising livestock how exactly are they bothering you other than their mere existence?
Astro, I’m not personally raising any livestock, but my neighbor is. He has personally offered to pay me for any coyotes I can eliminate. He raises thoroughbreds and has lost several foals to coyotes. The land above the house is tribal range land (I live on an indian reservation) and they cause problems with the cattle, too. Pets and children are also considerations. Lastly, I know this will sound awful, but I’d be willing to kill them just for a good night’s sleep. Every night I am awakened by yapping and howling. From dusk until dawn it’s a free-for-all. There’s nothing quite like waking up at two in the morning to three hundred bawling cattle being pursued down my driveway by a coyote. Or at three in the morning by a coyote fight right outside my bedroom window. Maybe I just need earplugs. If I go outside, they flee, only to return as soon as I fall asleep again.
Anyway, I just want them gone. I’m within my legal rights to get rid of them, I just need advice as to the best way to go about it. I feel utterly defeated. At least the rattlesnakes are quiet.
Be careful. Some Coyotes are SUPER-GENIUSes. The best technique I’ve found is to wait for them to try and make some kind of explosive in a shack, then get a tractor and pull the shack with them in it across some railroad tracks where a train just happens to be coming around the corner.
Naw, I tried that last week,but the tractor stalled on the tracks, and they got away. I think the next episode is going to have to involve a painted tunnel and big big package from Acme marked “Top Secret”.
We’ve used animal in distress tapes before and they’ve worked quite well. There are regular calls trying to imitate animals in distress but the tapes don’t take any practice and seem to work quite well. Try doing it at dusk and at dawn. Around here, upstate NY, they seem to be most active just prior to dawn. There is a regular season around here that permits the use of dogs. One group of locals uses radio collared dogs to chase them down but that probably wouldn’t work in your neck of the woods, you need easy access to surround your prey and get ahead of them for a good shot.
Neenah, I have some friends in the big town south of you who would probably relish the chance to kill coyotes. They would ask you to pay for their tribal permit (if needed) to shoot coyotes. I know that the tribe wants permits to ski/float on the res, so they will likely want a permit to shoot coyotes. The permit per hunter would be under $20.
Of course they won’t be available until the game season is over, unless they already have their elk. I will email them and ask if they are interested. I will reply to you off SDMB either way.
Coyotes are a non-game species in Montana and are considered a “pest”. Coyotes can be hunted day or night, in any time of year.
that Neenah’s next question will be;
“How do I get rid of all these freakin’ rodents?”
If you just want to keep them away from your house, get a big ol’ dog, and train him/her to dislike coyotes. I grew up around coyotes, and didn’t find them to be much of a problem. Their noises were background music to me. Of course, I wasn’t a rancher.
Peace,
mangeorge
Look [http://www.huntchat.com/][here/]
These guys can tell you how.
Can you can hunt with a spotlight in your state?
Coyotes are mighty tricky. Don’t think you can just go out and get rid of them. It ain’t like shooting squirrels.
The guy that said “Clever like a fox” didn’t know about coyotes.
Mangeorge is right. They get rid of vermin.Something has to get rid of the rats and mice.
Personally speaking I love to hear them howl. It is really truly a wild sound that raises thoughts of ancient hunting parties and all sorts of wild things.
At my neighbors urging I brought out the old traps and caught a coyote the other day. He wanted to get rid of the coons that were tearing apart his silage bags.The coyote was a bonus.It was caught about 30 feet from his front door.
Coyotes really are intelligent and paranoid of humans. Every time I’ve seen one it spotted me soon after and acted really nervous. I think the dog idea would be a good one.
I wouldn’t use poison on them because most predators including raptors will scavenge and you’ll kill a lot more than coyotes.
Don’t try pushing them over a cliff. They’ll just fold up like accordians when they hit bottom and walk around making accordian noises the rest of the night.
If you get a coyote-hating dog, make sure it’s big and mean; better yet get a couple. There are coyotes in my city and I’ve found fair sized pet dog bones and other remains in fields that the coyotes have killed and eaten. When my parents lived out in the sticks, they kept their dogs chained to their dog houses at night… the coyotes would try to lure them out away from the yard, and unless they were Rambo-dog, they’d end up dead being outnumbered. I seen on the news here just recently that except for special permit, people can’t use dogs to kill coyotes in my area anymore. I don’t know if this is what the earlier posts were talking about, but there are dogs trained not just to chase coyotes, but to run them down and kill them too (they actually showed the mauling on TV).
We have coyote hunters around here. They use dogs to run the coyotes while they sit in their pickup trucks until they hear that a coyote is coming their way,CB radio, and get out with their highpowered rifle and try to shoot the yote.(wow what a sentence)
Those coyotes will run for miles. It takes several dogs. Some are used for holding the coyote at bay,usually hounds. Some are used in the long distance running,I don’t know what breed is used for running. Some are used for sprints,Greyhounds.
FWIW I don’t agree with this kind of hunting.
My neighbor has two coyote-hating dogs, but they are sorely lacking in the big-and-mean department. They just yap a lot, which is not helping much. I’m going to try a combination of bait and animal-in-distress calls. If I can’t accomplish anything in the next few weeks, I’ll get in touch with whistlepig’s friends.
I will email them and ask if they are interested. I will reply to you off SDMB either way.