Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Dog vs Coyote ?

Coyotes will troll a dog off a distance and then attack them. The attack can be either singly, or, as a pair or group. The mating season is just beginning for coyotes, they're pairing up and searching out mates right now in most of the country. As they pair and begin looking for denning sites and through out the pup rearing stages, they will not tolerate another canine in their territory. Basically from March through September a pair of coyotes will be very territorial and protect dens and young from other canines.

Hmm, much the same way that wolves do it...something to be wary of if I were out stirring up rabbits with my dog. He's a blue heeler, so he's more than capable of taking care of himself, but I know that bad things can happen. For those that hunt coyotes with dogs, what do they do to prevent the hunt from turning unfavorable for their dogs?

SN, suspect your Heeler will be able to handle himself, one on one. The danger for a dog, is as was mentioned on the tolling. If your Heeler accepts you as pack alpha, then more than likely he will return to you when threatened. The thing is too make sure he does not (the Heeler) gets tolled to the point where two or more can do damage to your dog, before you can protect him. Hopefully killing one or more 'yotes. Not necessary to kill the '
yote to protect, but lots of people in vicinity, (and dogs), will condition a behavorial trait that exists in those particular 'yotes, that is negative for them.

Coyotes toll dogs, much like tolling dogs toll the 'yote to the gun, as a decoy.

remseven, he definitely sees my wife and I as pack alpha...he's your typical heeler, very submissive to #1, very affectionate; and a HUGE desire to please, even if he's not sure exactly what it takes to do that. I know he'd make a beeline back if he had any trouble, it's just a concern I had since I'd never been in that spot before.

Man, but those rat terriers are great deer dogs. Excellent trackers.

I had a Heeler/Husky mix years ago that regularly killed yotes around the house. He weighed 55-60# and was a true "kill' dog. All the dogs in our area ran loose, as our nearest neighbor was over 1/4 mile away and that was my uncle. That dog killed 7 of the neighbors dogs in a week one time when there was a neighbors female beagle in heat. There was never much of a fight, just a couple of blurry bites and then a dead dog, ususlly from a spine or throat bite. He got hit by three different cars before one finally killed him. Funny, he only ever growled at one human, and that was my mom's younger brother...

Wow.....pics?

SqNu,
We have had a couple of heelers on the farm over the last 35 years. One was able to handle a single coyote but he got the crap chewed out of him when he was lured into a multiple 'yote situation. The vet put over 150 stitches into his neck and shoulder afterwards. A neightbor had his beagleXheeler killed by a pair right in front of his house.

Johnny $

Not trying to hijack this thread but my question does relate to the content so far.

My wife and I have been having a little debate regarding Coyote vs. Canine. I have a 120# Great Dane bitch who has one of the worst temperments towards other dogs that I have seen. Believe me I am not proud of this but she was not socialized properly in the first year or so of her life that she was not in my possession. We can across a Coyote the other night (while driving)on our way to let my Dane run in an enclosed field (baseball diamoned). This open a caldren of debate regarding who would be the victor in a one on one battle. I propose that although the coyote is wild and maybe therefore having more killer instinct that my Dane's size and strenght would still overcome these factors. My wife thinks that I give the Dane too much credit and she would indeed those the battle.

Any help or opinions are welcome.

Ain't but one way to find out......

Eastern 'yote, or western?

'Twould likely be one helluva fight, though.

I am located in Southern California

So.Cal?

I'd put my bet on a real b!tch of a 120 lbs. dane over a small, So.Cal. 'yote.

Now, if that dog-fight were in the 'dacks, or Maine.... the bet's off.

I have witnessed several of these battles. The most efficient coyote killer was a dog that would go into the fight head on and knock yote off his feet and go for the throat immediately, no azz biters allowed. GAME OVER. Dog would get ate up a little, but not as bad as Ol' Wiley.

CK

I've got a Russian-bred German Shepherd Dog that weighs about 85lbs in fightin' trim that has killed quite a few coyotes. He looks like a German Shepherd on steroids: very strongly built, back-end doesn't slope down, very nimble with strong pasterns, stands up on his paws, and fast as greased lightning. Doesn't look much like the American-bred AKC-style shepherds at all.

The first time I saw him kill a couple of coyotes, it scared me half to death. I was out in the yard the morning of Feb 25, 2001, cleaning up damage from the killer tornado that hit Pontotoc and Baldwyn, Mississippi on the night of the 24th. I lived NE of Baldwyn then and the tornado had missed me by less than a 1/4 mile. My shepherd, Bo, was laying up on what was left of my back deck.

I heard a coyote start challenge barking across the creek, north of my house. I looked and saw four coyotes at the edge of the woods looking towards us. Without hesitation, Bo piled off the deck and charged at the coyotes and I started yelling at him to stop, WHOA!!! and other such stuff, but he never broke stride and flew at them like a guided missile.

I broke and ran to my truck to retrieve my Glock 23, and as I reached the truck, Bo reached the coyotes. I saw it clearly. He zeroed in on the one doing the barking and hit him with his chest, still going almost full throttle. This sent the coyote rolling and Bo pounced on him in a flash and grabbed the 'yote by the neck and chomped and shook, and in a few short seconds, that one was history. The other coyotes started to jump on him and Bo whirled around and met the first one head on, bowled him over, lunged for the 'yote's neck, chomp, shake...scratch coyote #2. Two down in less than 30 seconds.

In the meantime, the other two had gotten in behind Bo and one had sunk his fangs into Bo's right hindquarter, and the other was trying to bite into his neck, shoulder and spine area from the left. The fight was fast and furious and moved in behind some brush and trees and I could no longer see what was happening.

By this time, I had Glock in hand and was running like an Olympic sprinter with his @$$ on fire, to rescue Bo. As I was running, I glimpsed a fifth coyote running through the edge of the woods to join the fight. I slammed on the brakes, up came the Glock, and by the Grace of God, I nailed her from about 35 to 40 yds, first shot.

I could hear the fight moving away from me, just inside the treeline, and I was running and jumping over logs and through the brush like "George of the Jungle". The sound of the fight was absolutely hair-raising. I heard a dog started ki-yiing and yelping in pain and then saw a 'yote burst out of the treeline, draggin its backend. I was amazed at the speed it made, dragging itself with just its two front legs, and it was across the creek and headed across the corner of my front yard in seconds. I nailed that one too, and took off running to the fight again.

As I was running again, I started seeing blood and hair in the brush and on the ground. Just as I burst upon them, the other coyote broke away from the fight and Bo took off in pursuit. I yelled at him, and this time, he gladly stopped and came back to me. The 'yote was gone before I could get a shot off at him. I got another glimpse of something moving rapidly off through the woods in the direction the 'yote had gone, and I figured it was a sixth one that was coming to the fight.

Bo had killed two and disabled one and I had gotten one and finished the one Bo disabled, BUT, I believe they would have killed him if I hadn't been there. He was chewed up in three or four places and had to go to the vet. He was a hurtin' puppy for several days. He was just short of two years-old then, and learned not to wade into a pack like that, by himself, but he still caught and killed single coyotes.

About a year later, I got a big female Alaskan Malamute. She was definitely the Alpha Bitch whereever she went. She and Bo made a lethal pair and soon decimated a lot of the coyotes in the area around my house, and the rest packed up and moved to safer territory.

I moved to the boonies in northern Missouri in late 2002, and they cleaned out the coyotes around my place there too. I had a female German-bred Shepherd then too, and she THOUGHT she wanted to get in on the action too, and went on a chase with the other two, but she got her @$$ whipped and chewed up by a male 'yote, and decided to stay in the yard after that. Like remseven said earlier, some dogs have the ability, and some dogs don't.

And I agree that most true Plotts could kill a yote.

Bo is exceptional in his cunning and fighting abilities. Your local coyotes must have been yearling pups to stand static and let Bo knock them off their feet, one, two, three, just like that. Interesting story.

BTW, your sig line is incorrect. Askins did not author that line. Unless I'm mistaken Townsend Whelen is the correct author of that quote.

I wouldn't say he was cunning in that particular incident, but rather displayed the bravery of ignorance. Although his fighting ability did help him inititally, I believe he would have definitely been killed if I hadn't have been there. I don't believe he could have fought off the three that were left after he got the first two. They ripped him up pretty good.

And,though the first coyote stood there as Bo bore down on him, and when he finally did turn to run, it was too late and Bo quickly caught him and bowled him over, the other coyotes certainly were NOT "static". They piled on him in an instant. He was exceedingly lucky that his throat was not ripped out or his spine punctured.

I've thought about that incident MANY times, and have wondered why the first coyote let Bo catch him so easily. Only four things come to mind: 1) He didn't notice Bo coming because he was focused on me. I was yelling my head off at Bo to stop. 2) He was addled or injured due to the tornado (they were coming out of the tornado-damaged woods, although they all looked in relatively good condition when I examined them later), 3) As you said, he was young and inexperienced, or 4) He just didn't perceive Bo as that much of a threat.

However, he IS a cunning hunter. I've seen him lie in hiding, watching a groundhog den until the hog came out and then got far enough away from its den that he knew he could catch it. He does the same thing with squirrels.

But that's enough braggin on my dog. I apologize for getting off subject.

Airedale terriers are also supposed to be good coyote dogs.

As far as the sig line being incorrect, about 5 years ago, when I started using it, I posed the question as to who originated it on a couple of other hunting/shooting forums, and I received opinions attributing it to everybody from Elmer Keith to Jack O'Connor. I ALSO thought it was either Whelen or Askins. I remember reading that quote a number of times when I was a kid. The prevailing opinion, at the time, was that it was Askins. But now that we have this wonderful, august forum, I believe I'll ask the gunwriters. Thanks.

In the news here a couple days ago was a story about two black labs killed by 5 (?) coyotes last weekend in Mayville, NY. I believe the owner had them out on a hiking trail and the 'yotes attacked and killed both labs.

Northcountry here When I was much younger growing up in western
Canada there was and older Englishman lived near my granparents
that had run foxhound in England and wanted to do same in western
Canada. He soon got rid of his foxhounds after the yotes keep
tearing them up. He then proceed to develope a pack of hounds
that were primarily greyhounds with a little bit of this and that but they could all run like greyhounds but he still keep
one dog in his pack that he refered to as his "killer" dog,this dog was not as fast as the others but when he got there mr. yote was history right now. The other dogs were basicly catch and hold
dogs and did not generally do any killing.But boy were they fast
give a yote a few hundred yard lead in a half mile and they never made the woods.If they made the woods they had better than
50/50 chance of getting away . One day he seen a yote in the field and turned two dogs loose over the hill they went. He darn near lost them as there was a pack of nine(9) yotes that really tore those two hounds up, from then on he always turned
the whole pack of 11 or 12 loose anytime he ran yotes. As someone
has said coyotes are smart and they mean business just remember
they are little wolves with the same killer instinct.
Cheers NC

Bearstalker,
Your parents akita can indeed handle a coyote as they have a formidable jaw structure....A vet friend does not trust them and respects their power.....I only wish my immigrant neighbors would feed theirs and keep them home as local trappers and varmint hunters have had to do away with several....we have lost moose calves in the area to these akitas....

I have seen coyotes hunted in prairie state with greyhounds and 2-3 hounds can raise heck with a coyote.....

It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog!