Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting First time coyote hunting, but should have been crow hunting

Well, I may very well start "blazing away" at crows, but maybe not here, or maybe here, who knows. But I'm more interested in the second part of your statement. What is it about these tracks that suggest to you they are a dog, or more curiously, a rabbit?


Here's a close up.





Coyotes also have outer toes that are more rearward of the inner toes. Dog outer toes are farther forward.






And nothing I posted really looks like these.




As many years as I have hunted this state forest. I have never seen a dog here outside of deer season, much less a stray. I suppose it's possible, but the nearest house is well over a mile away, and its pretty much alone. This is a rather remote area. Likewise, I haven't seen a coyote on this particular forest tract, but locals I've spoken to around here have. And I have seen plenty of hair and bone infused coyote poops laying on the trails (BTW, they are significantly bigger than fox turds.) And I've seen plenty of coyotes a little further south of here.



Not a dog poop.




So I appreciate your insight, but would respectfully like to know just what it is about these pics that make you believe its a dog or a rabbit. BTW, all the tracks in my original post above are from the same animal. It was a trail of tracks that originated after the animal stepped from hard ground into wet sandy soil. The tracks led a ways then turned left into a clear cut area that nearly inpenetrable and is overgrown with small pine, devils walking stick, and every manner of thorn bush. An area where I have flushed turkeys in the past. Not an area where I would expect a stray dog to go, but would expect a coyote to go.

But I will say, if I see a stray dog here, it's going down. I won't shoot a lost hunting dog. But a feral dog or feral cat is gonna get shot. I turkey hunted in Caroline County with a friend who had a very large parcel of land. The night before the hunt, you could hear the feral dogs chasing deer. He told me he had found several obliterated fawns and does on his property that had been torn apart by feral dogs. We called turkeys the next morning and several dogs of different breeds show up across the field. They sat there and just watched. At noon when it was time to hang up the turkey hunting, we took the shot guns back to the trailer and got a rilfe and went back out, called, and got a couple of those mangy animals. I love dogs as much as the next guy, but stray feral dog is as much a threat to a turkey as a coyote is.