We all know that the coyote has been in the west for many,many years.Also in insolated areas like the UP area of michigan and the northeast for many years also.But in the ohio valley,central states and the south east.......they've been steadly moving in there over the last 25 years or so.In my area in Missouri,coyotes first started making an apperance about the late 60's and got going full bore by the late 70's.

Now......what's caused this invasion ?? My thoughts are is that when a lot of the pressure started letting up in terms of predator control in the west,that's when the coyote started the west to east march.

Thoughts ???

caught the first one in this area 1976. Had never heard of or saw one before that. That was bout the time the deer herd was startin to boom. Just figured they followed the food.

This whole thread could get real colorful before it is over with. lol

My personal theory---and it is only a guess at the best, is that the real extreme cold in the late 60's and again even colder period of the late 70's froze many large streams, that normally do not freeze over, and that included the Mississippi river too. That gave coyotes that were already expanding their ranges because of population increases due to less predator control activities, a bridge to expand across.

Insurance companies, deer claims and pressure on the DNR

Well, at least that's what I hear alot around here...lol

Yep..here too...throw in tree farmers/nurseries and landscapers bringing them in to eat mice rabbits and deer.

So once they move in, will the fox ever rebound?

I doubt it coonhangman.......they never have here in over 35 years.Small pockets here and there,but in general...very very few foxes here.

I sure hope so!! Miss stalking and trapping them.

if the mange sets in on the yotes up there like it has down here your yote numbers will decline. you cant catch a yote down here that has much hair. i hope it keeps working on them. the fox and cat numbers based on sign is very good. IMO. less yote sign also in the same area.

I myself have never seen a decrease in the fox population due to coyotes here where I live. They all live in peace and harmony. Just my observation in my 30 years of trapping. There are MANY people who will say the opposite thing and so be it ...I'm not one to usally get in a pee match over such things.

"Now......what's caused this invasion ??"

Their like illegal aliens....they move because its the land of opportunity.

I caught my first one here back in 1988, Eastern Ohio.I think it would a combination of things on the invasion. Lack of trapping and hunting pressure and a abundant of food. It seemed like when they arrived here they were everywhere.Now it seems they are in pockets, but one thing for sure you don't see the rabbits like you used too and I can't remember the last time I seen a pheasant.

Mr. Frank i will have to agree with you on your assessment. i think what i see or have seen in regards to catches is i will normally pick up the yotes first in an area. once that particular bunch has been removed or diminished i start seeing a lot more fox and cat sign. i can only surmise this is due to the absence of the yote in the pecking order at that particular time and location. i have seen a decrease in the overall yote sign and catch as compared to about ten years ago. just my observation.

ROFLMAO That thar is funny, don't care who you are.

Will still both have AIDS?

Well here in my part of Texas they REALY started to move when compond 1080 was outlawed. I donot rember what year that was but every one in west Tx. kept it out. All it did then was keep them in check.

You wouldn't mean a certain Indiana trapper/ tree farmer would you.

Ut Oh Nelly!

In Central Texas, we never had coyotes until the late 1950's and early 1960's and I think it all started with the "Soil Bank" set aside program. The land began to come out of that program in the mid-1960's and that is when we started seeing coyotes. I had never seen one until 1964 and then they began to trinkle in. We had a lot of grey foxes back then and now the only place you see a fox is in town and rarely then. It seems to me that the foxes had to go into the towns to escape the coyotes.

LOL