Coyotes

For many of us, our first experience with a coyote usually ended poorly for the canine. Saturday morning cartoons were filled with an anvil to the head or an exploding rocket, and Wile E. Coyote walked away defeated. This depiction has left a less than an accurate picture in many of our minds. They look similar to our family pets from a distance but make no mistake; your pet could look like a tasty meal for them. Since the 1950s, populations across the country have been growing.

While the Missouri Department of Conservation does not estimate how many coyotes there are in the state, they do say the numbers are increasing. They are highly adaptable and have been reported in big cities like St Louis, where wildlife experts estimate the population has doubled from 2020 to 2021. The issue has gotten so bad that hunters and trappers can use night-vision scopes to reduce the population, and they can be hunted 365 days a year, and now 24 hours a day, except for daylight hours from April 1st to 17th, with no limits.

The species we have roaming the woods here and making their way onto our property differ from the breed commonly found out west. On the larger size, the Western coyote can grow to about 25 pounds, but males of the Eastern average nearly 50 pounds. The biggest one caught in the United States was 74 pounds. Scientists have attributed this increase in size to interbreeding with wolves. When genetically tested, the Eastern coyote shared common DNA with wolves in Eastern Canada. This hybridization has led them to survive in conditions that the Western couldn’t.

Even though they are nocturnal creatures, they do also hunt during the day. They are social animals, and hunting in packs can occur, making them even more dangerous. The mainstay of their diet is deer, but they are opportunistic hunters, and mice, rabbits, and other small mammals make a quick meal. Free-roaming livestock is also targeted when the opportunity presents itself. The chances of a person being attacked are rare, and after one was reported in the mid-1990s, the next one wasn’t reported until 2020, and that animal had rabies.