Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Breeding Season(Coyote) is on

Doing the deed with a wishful audience here in WA. They will be getting dumber in the coming weeks.

Starting to happen in southeastern Montana.

Interesting thing the other day I believe I saw a wolf/coyote cross?

Osky

we have both here but never seen a coywolf yet. Busted up another pair yesterday with a bullet.

uum, coyotes usually stick in pairs. Last couple weeks been calling them in family groups as well from 3-7. Female loses mate then she has one from litter hunting with her. Be a week or three here yet before they start.

This is kind of how it plays out over summer and fall. Adults raise the pups then around July sometime the two adults will move away from the den and the pups and hang out about 1/4 to half mile or so. Family still hangs together but what I call a loose group with pups learning to hunt on own and Takecare of themselves but adults still close keeping eye on them. Its Dec. here now and the family group still pretty much in tact with pups splitting up a little about 1/2 mile or mile and parents still in area just away from pups most of the day. they will still hunt or gather at night from time to time checking up on each other. Just because you see a pair don't mean they about to breed as family members will pair up till they old enough to breed and find own mates. Coyotes terr. here runs about five miles give or take a few depending on lay of the land with drainages and such and food supply. A litter of pups will still live along the fridges of a adult pair terr. depending on how strong the terr. line is kept, here its pretty much relaxed till time comes to have the pups again then they kind of keep others away from the den. usually there will be a 3rd coyote sticking around to help raise next litter of pups. If female not dripping blood in the snow then she not breeding yet or been bred. Edit to add. when female is also all swelled up to 4-5 times its normal size then she is in full heat.

I am fairly well versed in coyotes locally and a large rancher and I spotted two separate pair doing the deed this week. I have never observed this outside breeding season.
I have also called & killed a boatload of single coyotes, of the 11 I killed this week 3 were solo.
Did you read this from a book or did someone tell you all this.

Read it, word of mouth from State trappers and also lived it. Of 11 you killed 3 were solo, meaning what? Sure they could be breeding early, who knows unless you kill them and check them over, could just be two females dry humping for all you know. So you caught them in act describe what you saw then and for how long did it go on?

First rule for coyotes is never say never.
Second is expect to see something different each year.
First pair about 45 mins, second pair little over half that. Pretty obvious when they hump & knot.
After 5 decades pursuing coyotes, trapping 25 yrs, photography 30 yrs, hounds 2 yrs I am still not an expert.

I still see all kinds of fantasy reading, like one year guys were stating that coyotes never return to the den after leaving in summer, so I went out and took pics of it happening.
Last year about this time a calf died, later I sat on it. This coyote appeared, grabbed a few quick bites and hauled. Awhile later it comes back grabs more so i shot it. hours later I swear there was movement. Then again when I realized there were 5 pups. Way out of time but real.
I could write a book on oddities and behavior that I've witnessed, if I could just remember.

Yoy coyotes return to their old den all the time. Point I was making is just because you saw two pairs of coyotes mating early don't mean they all are mating yet, only the two pair you think you saw dry humping. You lumped them all into one not me. LOL Hump and knot? the male stay on top for 45 minutes? Since you mentioned dogs you do know that if a coyote is being chased it will run back to its place of birth?

Full of info again, who said they are all mating? season has a ways to go, and thats what I stated "season" not mating day.
Another rancher called today to tell me he saw a pair mating. I'll call him back and tell him you said, ummm it can't be cause the book says so.
What does the book say is the last day, I'll make sure to get the word out so there won't be any late pups this year either.

Shouldn't be any pups if you just didn't stand there watch them mate. LOL last day? 27th day after first sign of blood. You said they are mating at start of stupid post. If you call all winter, does it really matter when they mate?

Since I've been warned by several members about you being a perpetual Master bator trying to get me to narrate coyote mating activity for your personal enjoyment I'm not your assistant, nor do I need you infecting my threads with you fantasy filth.
Type til your paws are sore, Good Luck

just questioning your theories.

Not sure that it was, but the darn thing looked as big as an adult antelope going thru the sage. Bounding bigger than any coyote I’ve seen in 44 years of control shooting.
The breed is certainly happening here, nothing abnormal about the timing.

Osky

I was calling a couple miles from my house and could see 4 coyotes coming in. All of a sudden they started running the other way.
Then to my left I see a nice wolf trot up and sit on a small bluff. It stood and started down a cut directly to me. At 60 yds it winded me spinning 180 as I watched it above the sage for about 1200 yds. Definitely leggy and memorable
They are not real popular here for good reason.

shoot a few females lets see if they in heat or not.

The two do not Twain that’s for sure, if it can be helped. Eastern half of Montana gets wolves crossing thru from time to time, i do not hear of any that have stayed. The sightings are getting more frequent however and like the grizzly I’m sure the wolf density will force them east from the mountains.
I’ve shot wolves in Idaho, I’m not sure I want to claim the one I saw was one, but it was far bigger than any coyote I’ve shot. Another guy I shot on had a son who shot one coyote called in that was just over 48lbs on the scale, this one had that beat, and to this point that boys 48lbr was the largest coyote I’ve seen.

Osky

48 pounds? Just an old fat coyote. Coyotes in my part of country only live roughly 3 years, if they make it past that then the weight will go up. 3-year-old coyotes here reach 43 pounds.

Nothing around here yet. Of the 17 that I killed in the last two weekends, no females are even spotting blood yet and that's what I would expect. A couple more weeks that'll change.

It's amazing to me that tripod3 has seen that many coyotes locked up. I've only ever witnessed it once in all my years, and it was a stand I'll never forget. Had the pair coming to my howling and the male ran the female down and mounted her, just over 300 yards from me. They both died. Shot him first and they stayed locked up for a few seconds, and I got the female shortly after.

In eastern MT where I do a lot of shooting it’s very open. Easier than other places to get up unobserved to high spots and with a little patience catch sight of the dogs being dogs. Just plain traveling particularly early morning with sharp eyes shows a ton as well.

When calling I like to be high for maybe 15? Minutes observing. That quiet time before calling, if the view is good, can teach a guy a lot. Then I ease down lower to actually call. I Don’t do nearly as well when they are looking hi for the sound. Works for me, maybe not everyone.

On a couple ranches encompassing a river valley there are bluffs that can be driven out on and from there you can see thousands of acres of irrigated alfalfa fields. Fields with stubble and mice, gophers, turkeys geese and cattle bringing plenty of coyotes nightly. At sunrise glassing from the outfit a person can get a good look at the dogs and how they are behaving. Like doing that second only to knocking them over.

Osky

One of my buddies shot a female other night she was dripping red but that just means she is coming in to heat and that goes on for 9 days roughly before she will breed. Coyotes just like dogs during breeding cycle, nine days in , nine days on and then nine days out. fluid should be semi-clear with green tint to it when female is on. Some may cycle early or some late but you won't see enough of it to notice or make money on. LOL

I've seen two pair mate, one in wild and other in a fenced in area. Also seen many coyotes just try to mount a female and she would just push them off or nip at them and same can be said for female on female or male on male, mostly young where hormones have not balanced out yet.