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January 26, 2009

Considering the significant increase in coyote activity in the valley due to mating season (which happens mid-winter), I assume this scat below is from a coyote, not a fox. Fellow poop-ologists agree? If so, it was deposited about 30 feet from our front door, right on the edge of our gravel driveway.

*** sorry *** Photo removed. It was creeping people out.

That means, we’d better start scanning for wild dogs on the property before letting the dogs out for a while. I saw a wildlife expert on local TV recently talking about how coyotes are more territorial, more aggressive during mating season.

I could swear I wrote about this way back, but I can’t find it using my blog search function, so I’ll share it quickly here.

Lilly tangled with a coyote in spring 2005 right here on our land. We did not see it happen, but we knew something was up because both dogs were going nuts, barking and running around. I went outside to check on them and based on their behavior, I assumed they’d chased a rabbit or something.

Then,
a neighbor, who lives on the mountain and looks down on our spot,
called about an hour later to say he saw a coyote come out of the creek
bed with Lilly squarely on his back — like a jockey.

Ginko took up the chase
too, apparently, which is why the coyote didn’t turn to fight after
Lilly fell off his back. It just jumped our fence and kept running.

We were SO lucky:

a) That he didn’t turn into them and fight

and

b) They didn’t follow him over the fence … because that’s a well-known
hunting strategy around here. One coyote goes in to lure a dog out into
the open, then the others (who are hiding nearby) come in for a group
kill.

What’s interesting to me is that they knew this wasn’t a
“dog.” We’ve had actual dogs jump our fence to come play, and clearly
Lilly and Ginko know the difference.


About the Author Roxanne Hawn

Trained as a traditional journalist and based in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, USA, I'm a full-time freelance writer for magazines, websites, and private clients. My areas of specialty include everything in the lifestyles arena, including health and home, personal finance and other consumer interests, relationships and trends, people and business profiles ... and, of course, all things pet related.

I don't just love dogs. I need them in my life. Seriously.

  1. Thanks for confirming my scat ID.

    It was crazy scary, and Lilly was only about 9-12 months when it happened. Good instincts, but still.

    Our fence back then was just traditional cattle fencing, so 4-5 feet high. It was droopy after many years, so we’ve replaced most of it … either with fresh posts and cattle fencing or a post and flat rail fence lined with mesh in other areas. On a portion of the west side, it’s much higher, more like 6 feet, as a wind break/snow fence.

  2. I liked the picture 🙂 Interesting and yes, I agree…looked like coyote scat to me.

    Crazy story about Lilly and the coyote…how tall is your fence? How lucky no one jumped out to follow them! I actually saw a pack of coyotes ambush my neighbor’s dog in our front meadow a few years ago…I yelled just in time to get the dog to turn back-it was very stressful to watch. Poor Lilly-talk about scary!! Glad she was okay!

  3. Darn, I missed the scat before you removed it. I’m definitely a ‘scatologist’ at heart.

    Your story of Lilly on the coyote’s back is hair-raising. Whew, a very close call.

    The coyotes have been giving us middle-of-the-night howling concerts regularly recently. I swear it sounds like they’re right outside our window but I never can drag myself out of bed to check. Maybe their howling is related to mating season?

    Interestingly (to me), the gestation period for a coyote is exactly the same as for a dog (63 days). That means that they’d be born in mid-to-late March… which seems a little early for my mountain location given the huge storms that we typically get around then. But, I guess it’s possible given that the pups don’t leave the den for a while.

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