It’s been so hot lately that long walks can only be accomplished in the early evening.
So Miley and I went out yesterday evening at 7:30.
It didn’t get us out of the heat at all– just the worst part of it.
As we entered the woods, I could tell something had caught Miley’s nose.
She began sniffing the ground and quartering about as virtually all golden retrievers do when they smell something of interest.
As we walked, I noticed that her tail went straight up.
It was then that I knew what she was smelling.
She was smelling where another dog or a coyote had just been.
Because we were pretty far from other houses, I deduced that she had caught the scent of a coyote.
So I began to walk a little slower. Where Miley sniffed, I checked the somewhat muddy ground for tracks.
And as we moved along, we came across these tracks:
They were small for coyote tracks, but they were the wrong shape for those of a gray fox, which have almost cat-like feet.
I walked on about 20 yards. Miley was quartering about 10 feet ahead of me.
And then she stopped and began sniffing the air.
I scanned around on both sides of the well-tending road we were on, and suddenly, a sandy-colored form began to move on the brush to my left.
My eyes registered upon the form, and it wasn’t long before I knew I was looking at something very much like an unusually-colored German shepherd puppy.
There was no question that I had come across a coyote pup.
Its big, pointed ears were protruding out of the brush, and they were the last things I saw as it trotted out into the tall grass in the middle of the road.
Now I couldn’t see it, even though it was directly in front of me, but it as this time that Miley’s sense of smell began to reveal the pup’s presence to her.
After about twenty seconds after it disappeared into the tall grass before me, Miley let loose one of those terrifying golden retriever growls and charged.
The coyote pup bolted from the grass with the big yellow dog running close behind.
I saw the pup look back as it ran. I could see the terror in its yellowish eyes as checked to see how closely the big blond wolf was following.
It then veered right into the tall timber, and Miley slowed her advance, stopped, turned around, and came back to me.
She gave me a look that said “I sure scared him off good!” And we continued our walk.
Now, I like to make fun of the wolfaboo subculture that has sort of developed in North America.
These are people who have made a sort of sacred deity of the wolf, and they refuse to have any kind of rational discourse about what wolves actually are.
I have to say that after seeing that coyote pup, I can see where they are coming from.
For about an hour afterward, I was a full-blown coyote-boo.
I was just so amazed that I had been able to have this brief encounter with a such a young wild dog.
I was a bit surprised with how large he was. I could tell from his sandy coloration and not entirely bushy tail that he was a juvenile.
And coyote pups are born in late April, which would make him a little over two months old.
It would not be entirely unusual for some enterprising coyote pup of that age to wander away from his parents. Some pups are just that bold and curious.
But I was also a bit surprised with how big he was for being only two-and-half months old.
He was about the size of a golden retriever puppy of the same age.
Now, I am aware that coyotes do have longer legs in proportion to their body size than domestic dogs do, so I bet he didn’t weigh as much as golden retriever pup.
However, he was still pretty big.
There is quite a bit of variance in coyote size in this area. Some of the smallest bitches are only 25-30 pounds in weight, but the dogs can be in the 50-55 pound range. A really big one can be almost 60 pounds.
My guess is this coyote pup, if he manages to survive this summer, will be about that size when he matures, and then if he can pack up with some confederates, he might become a deer hunter.
He learned an important lesson yesterday evening that might improve his chances of survival: Humans and dogs are dangerous.
Now, Miley probably wouldn’t have known what to do had she caught him. The chances are pretty high that she wouldn’t have hurt him, but there are plenty of dogs around here that would love to kill a coyote if they had the chance.
So maybe Miley’s little charge might have been that lesson that will keep this little coyote alive.
I sure hope he makes it.
I envy you your amazing encounter! I agree, our Eastern coyotes are surprisingly large. Most of the adult coyotes that I see here are about the general size of an average-sized shepherd (but much more lightly built).
notice the two outer-toes are b-i-g-g-e-r
than the 2 inside-toes on those tracks?
Dogs are the opposite: inside toes are larger & more developed,
outer toes are smaller & less developed.
That’s how you tell them apart.
I’ve always had a soft spot for our little western coyotes.
I’m a little confused…if he was born in early April, and its now early July, wouldn’t that make him three months? Whatever his age is I’m glad you got to see him. I love spotting wild animals and just watching them. Lots of opportunity for that where I live.
Typo. Fixed. They are born in late april. They are born in late April here.
there are “stories” (have no idea if they’re true) of coyote packs using a decoy to entice an unwary dog closer… Please be careful
The ones here don’t kill large dogs. They do kill cats.
Coyotes are often hunted with dogs here, and they have a very healthy respect for them.
Coyotes do form small packs to raid southern Ontario farms. Couple of coyotes would distract LGDs on the farm, while the remaining go in for the picking. The coyotes who allure LGDs have been reported to engage the latter in minor dogfights. The main female Kuvasz on Jane Dejong’s (former secretary of Kuvasz Club of Canada’) farm was seriously injured by couple of coyotes in exactly similar encounter. Both her son ‘King David’ and her were distracted by two or more coyotes.
But what I have found most interesting about coyotes is that they have different strategies and characteristics for different regions. For example, whereas coyotes in suburban areas of Louisiana howl a lot, they don’t do so in southern Ontario neighbourhoods.
I really enjoyed reading this post. We had coyotes move into our local woods fairly recently and despite all the hikes that we have gone on in other parts of the country as well, I haven’t yet come across a coyote, fox, or wolf while with my dogs. It was interesting to hear how Miley reacted. I’m not sure how my Goldens would react… anywhere from playful wrestling to a real fight if one ended up cornered is my guess.
I’m going to photograph any tracks that I find… maybe I can identify for sure what we have running around oue woods.
When I say playful wrestling… I mean with a pup. I think a tangle with an adult or older pup would include allot of teeth… I fear coming across this type of wildlife with the dogs but I think that the wildlife would generally stay away if they heard us coming.
Neat little story Scottie. I know we have coyotes around here and am sure Sam detects them on our nightly rambles, but I have yet to actually lay eyes on one.
This was the best ending ever of an article that I read:
“He learned an important lesson yesterday evening that might improve his chances of survival: Humans and dogs are dangerous.
Now, Miley probably wouldn’t have known what to do had she caught him. The chances are pretty high that she wouldn’t have hurt him, but there are plenty of dogs around here that would love to kill a coyote if they had the chance.
So maybe Miley’s little charge might have been that lesson that will keep this little coyote alive.
I sure hope he makes it.”
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I saw 2 very large coyotes the other evening, crossing the road in front of me, (I stopped and gawked silently) and because of their size, I didn’t know what to think of it. They went up to a five foot mesh fence and popped over it as if it were nothing. They were not trying to avoid me, they must have put me in the category of “does not have dog(s) out, on road, = useless.” They were heading across a pasture to a natural drainage area. I know what a coyote looks like, and have seen lots of them before, including a very big one in another state maybe 20 years ago that my dogs at the time cornered, but here was not one, but 2, both of which were obviously bigger than my mixed retriever, in the category of large retrievers I have had in the past, but smaller than the newfapyr cross (THANK GOD) and they were unusually healthy looking, nice fur, not ratty like they can get in the summer heat, with the ticks. But they were long legged and had smaller ears, not the really big ears of the type that you see more of around here. At least they were the typical coyote colors, but a little bit reddish, darker.
I thought, maybe the blog will have something on sizes, and sure enough, didn’t even have to hit the search.
I am guessing that if these were otherwise normal, they and their parents must have been eating very well. Are there any size trends going on out west, or is this likely just a variation because we have had some odd late rains the past several years, which makes more vegetation therefore more rabbit food in spring ? I was looking at some pictures on some other blogs, and now I know these were unusual. (I am neither wolfaboo nor coyodaboo, but more live and let live as long as they don’t kill anything domesticated around here-a-boo.)
The reason I am asking is, that when you had the blog about the Canadian who shot the wolf thinking it were a coyote, I thought, how the **** could anyone not tell what a …. and there I was, watching two animals that I was not certain what they were at first, so now I am not so arrogant.
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