I just got a call from one of my local cattle ranchers. He told me he has lost 3 calves to coyotes in the past week. Now, I've talked to a lot of farmers and ranchers over the years and the vast majority of them do not believe coyotes bother cows/calves. What do y'all think? Either way, I am headed out in the morning to thin his yote population. Just wondering how many of you guys get this call. BTW, I pretty much hung up my traps this last season because of prices and I usually take 10-20 yotes off this guys ground every year. Maybe I was making a difference because until this spring he hasn't had a problem since I started trapping his ground..LOL

Just when you think they don't bother calves they go to bothering calves. They usually just eat the afterbirth but sometimes its the killing that they like. Look for chew marks on the calfs nose. If no bite marks on the throat or nose then the calf was probably dead from something else before they fed on it. Not always but usually.

Go getm. If you can get the ones that are the leaders so to speek you can stop it with just a few coyotes. Dont always think it is a big older pair. Sometime this time of year it can be several yearlings(2 to 10 )that have bunched up and can kill anything they want.I HAVE HAD TO REALLY KILL ALOT OF THEM TO STOP THE KILLING. So go getm

Look at the botton of there feet if the hoof is not scared and is smooth then they didnt try to get up. Born dead

Something interesting was that all three were part of a set of twins. I guess mama can only protect one at a time. I don't think we have coyote numbers here that will require the removal of more than a few, but I will keep at them until I get the culprits and the killing stops or the calves get big enough to fend for themselves.

We lost the cow and calf this week the first in many years. Now here is the kicker there was both hog and coyote tracks. With the coyote tracks over the hog tracks. What ever killed the cow pulled the hide back and the rumen was broken and contents eaton. Now that has to be the hogs for coyotes don't eat the contents of the rumen. I killed the female coyote on the cow and then the next morning right before daylight the male coyote came back. I popped him with NV equipped rifle. I have heard the ole timers talk about hogs eating calves and sometimes a downed cow. But this is the first time I have had it happen.

I have seen lots of cows killed when down having a calf. Coyotes eating the calf as it is born and just keep eating and kill the cow from loss of blood

No doubt about it Wayne. They kill elk calves the same way. And big calves too. Just this past fall our buddy BP Wolfer and I was scouting and watched a cow elk trying to fight off a big pair of coyotes that was putting it on its calf. Tuff deal to watch. We pounded those coyotes in that draw a few weeks later.

Have a neighbor who used to say the same thing, in that coyotes don't bother cows with calves. He doesn't say it anymore!

had to brothers that were real good cowboys call me said that coyotes had killed and eatn a 359# calf. they had seen the calf sucking at sundown the day before and a little after sunup is when it was found. Some fokes say it dont happen but some of us know better

The coyotes usually get them while they are being born around here. If they make it long enough for the calf and cow to get on their feet, they usually make it OK. But even so, lots of cattle folks here run donkeys or mules in the pasture with their cows.

Just went to the head to drain off some iced tea, and heard a bunch of coyotes 'yipping' North of the house. The very first thing that came to mind was, I hope they aren't getting into the neighbor's baby calves.





Charlie

It'll be interesting trapping yotes in thawed ground. I can't remember the last time I was able to push a pogo stake in the ground. I usually have to drive a pilot hole and hammer the driver/cable stake in the ground with a 3# sledge or resort to rebar. I just hope there are some fringe areas I can set up that the cows won't bother.

Firm believer in preventative maintenance.

Nice job Andy!

You mentioned twins it's been my experience that a cow after she gives birth to the second will walk off with the stronger one following and forget she had a 2nd one. Seems as long as she has one beside her she won't be concerned with the other at least for the 1st week or 2.

Interesting thread here, haven't seen a pair of twins born here in years, but have had a cow get down calving and lose both to yotes.

Give no quarter.

A lot of times only one twin is alive to begin with and more often than not like said above all the cow will leave with the one that follows her. There are lots of things come into play in this situation. Not saying coyotes aren't the problem but maybe someone should be checking them more? I say go have fun and catch some coyotes in thawed ground and enjoy it!

When you start Nailing them... take some good pictures TrapperKeck

I seen in the past when I did some ADC .What I found around here the biggest problem was farm dogs pack up and take down livestock and the coyotes was blame for it until they see the dogs do it,I am not saying that coyotes will not do it ,but around here it was mainly dogs.Also sometimes it was the cow that kill the calf from trying to fend off the coyote and actcidently kill the calf. But like was stated that normally the coyotes go after the after birth. If there is a pack of coyotes that dose not give any problems let them there ,they will keep out the others. But after that pack is taken out then you do not know if there is going to be any problems with the new ones.I know in the past I know some people raise some sheep and there was coyotes around them and did not bother them.They left the pack alone and did not have any problems.

What did you hear about prices to make you quit trapping coyote?

Coydog2- It must be different in Iowa. From what I've learned after being around coyotes in MT/WY, a lot of the time when you have depredation going on, it isn't the 'local' resident coyotes doing it. Coyotes will travel to the neighbors, right through newborn calves or lambs close to where they are denned sometimes. When you see that happen, you realize the whole 'territorial' mumbo jumbo stuff is out the window. Coyotes are opportunists. There is no doubt the smells and sounds of lambs/calves brings in coyotes from afar. Not to mention the vocal network of coyotes. Anyway, never trapped in Iowa, not sure how it works there. But out here, I've seen coyotes come 9 miles one way to kill lambs every other night.

They ALL come for miles when there is afterbirth to be had. Calf killing starts when a cow or more often a heifer calves and has trouble. They are predators designed to kill and when the heifer is lying there unattended, ( no one to pull the calf) they just start eating.

We have had hundreds of Angus calves, the twins I have seen have always both been live.

Had a calf get chewed up last spring, I was in the field feeding, spotted coyote in the act. Had to run him off as he had no interest in leaving. That's not second hand guess work, but first hand eye witness. I try to keep the cows and calves bunched up as much as possible.

The truth of the matter is, I didn't have the time to run for yotes this season. Our yote population isn't all that high and only about 1 in 7 is going to be a good yote ($70+ in this market). To make it work, I have to catch a good number of coon at a decent price to make it pay. Coon market was in the tank, so I had to take the winter off from trapping for the most part. I did run a few snares and caught a few yotes, but nothing like a "normal year" with decent prices. I do carpentry work, so I would normally take off my mornings and run traps if it is a viable season, but I could not get it to pencil out this last season, so I did not run my normal line.

BTW, this guy happens to be my second cousin and is calving 400 head or so. I'm quite certain he is out there as much as he possibly can, but you can't be everywhere at once. Well fellas, I'm going to load some steel, lure and pee and get going. Hope you all have a great weekend. I'll post some results if it's not too embarrassing...LOL

Otis, try stop feeding the spotted coyote may help.

I'm not an ADC registered guy, but sit here shaking my head yes to most of this.

A lot of farmers over here calve in winter, so I see tracks.
Not wide open, but fenced pastures.
When it is groups of k9s it can be trouble.
When it is a single, just going for the after birth, it can still stress the herd.
Tracks, and the "mood" of the cows do not lie.

Great topic, finally lol. Hope it continues.
Good luck Keck.

I know of 3 successful pairs born this year, and even two sets triplets but of the triples, just one survived out of both. Coyotes eat calves and downed cows fairly frequently here, and have for as long as I can remember.

One of my farms is next to a sheep farm, sheep and lambs are easy pickin's compared to cattle. Not many sheep farms left any more, but unless they are vigilant they will be having losses.

They will kill calves and once they start they keep on.

My father lost one of two twins this year in the same situation you speak of. They have been just born as the calf was still steaming when he got there this was in February. You could see in the snow where the mother had fought pretty hard, but could only keep them off one of two calves at a time. He ran them off before the calf was completely eaten.

We've had them in years past circles calves that were just born. The mother's usually are able to fend them off. We've pulled up on 1-2 coyotes circling in the past. This twin was the first calf he'd lost in three years to coyotes.

Well, I buried 10 traps on about 400 acres. Past experience tells me I tend to stink the place up when I set, so I'm really not expecting much until Monday, but they are in the ground. I set 3 scent posts, 3 flat sets and 4 dirtholes. One 80 acre pasture just north of the cow yard had a lot of digging going on and tracks all over the place. Everything was fresh and damp and the wind has been blowing like a freakin' hurricane here for a week, so I know it's from last night. Wish me luck. Oh, and I would like to mention how nice it is to be working with thawed, dry ground! Sure speeds things up. 10 sets in two hours and I had to change all of my double swivels to POGOS as I set them.

Checked my yote traps this morning. Caught a coon at a flat set with a deer skull for an attractant and fox pee for lure. Turned it loose without incident. Not sure what was in that coon's head, but he is smarter now. Checked a few more and pulled up on a crater of dirt. Crap! Badger. Well, badgers are not in season, so I grab the catch pole to let it go. After a lot of digging, I finally got it out of the hole and engaged in our little dilemma. Anyone ever tried handling a badger with a catch pole? I'd say it's akin to a paraplegic trying to catch a snake in a swimming pool full of vegetable oil. Anyway, I finally got the loop around it's neck, bud didn't trust my better half with being able to handle the thing while I got the trap off (front foot). Sooo, I found a chunk of plywood in the back of the pickup and proceeded to wedge it between the critter and the trap. Finally succeeded in getting the trap off. I grab the catch pole and tell the lady to get in the truck. I hop in the back of the truck with the critter at the end of the pole, just in case. I turned it loose and it just stared up at me like I was going to burn in hades for this and then turned tail and trotted off. That was it for the day, and it was plenty! Turned a 30 minute check into a two hour marathon!

There not as bad as they act. The first one is sure an education. Maybe a coyoye tomorrow

I get these calls every year. I have went out with my best friend to ck on his cows during calving season at night and we would always see coyote. I trapped it during regular fur season and would always take anywhere from 8 to as many as 22 off his place. But in the spring the coyote would come from everywhere for calving time. So I started using the old tire set and the step down dirt hole set on them. He hasn't lost a calf in years. Side note he put donkeys with the cows to stop the coyote. It don't work. Cold steel or hot lead are the only 2 options here.

I know what you mean John.I know the coyotes will act different for the part of the country they are in.When I was liven in MA,it was more dogs then coyotes that was a problem.I know alot of farmers let there dogs run to free range and that is one of the problems out here.Like when I was trapping coyotes in MA and they are some good size and the ones out here in the NE of Iowa are not as big, but put up more of a fight then the ones in MA.

Here's something to consider as well. A government trapper told me that studies have shown that even having coyotes around pregnant cows increases loss even if they aren't killing. It increases stress on the animals therefore there are more miss carriages and still born calves. He did say the percentage is a small increase but if you run a large heard or consider the amount of cattle in your county you start to see the amount of loss add up.

Also, I trap for a local rancher who has never lost a cow or calf to a coyote killing that he knows of, but said he has lost calves because of coyotes when cows are birthing. He said, when cows are down birthing if the coyote comes through it agitates or stresses the momma causing her to roll on partially exposed calf resulting in a loss because of the coyotes. Says he has witnessed this first hand. So he welcomes me to trap.

Keck i hope you gang set that badgers crater they are incredibly deadly because of all that eye appeal. Sounds like you are having fun though

MT

Very interesting stuff!

Doing control work in western states I saw it often in free range birthing. I know they get to the calves as they are being born but it generally looked to me that if more than one was involved they would very quickly tear the udders open as well. I always thought maybe the milk smell had them zero in on that tho there was still plenty of calf to chew on.
I shot one of a pair one time from directly under a cow, tearing at her. She was walking dead anyway.. Jumped in the truck swung wide out a couple pastures and back into the juncture of where the end of the drainage this all started in, dumped in to a bigger nastier drainage. The second coyote did not let me down and loped into site a few minutes later.
I think it was the most gratifying kill I ever had on a coyote.
Osky

It was gratifying to read.

I now have 3 traps within 20 yards of the hole and set another pee post near another set that was worked last night. I can't believe he didn't step on the trap. I had to dig up the trap to see what happened. Tracks everywhere but on the pan. I thought maybe there was a rock stuck under the pan, but no dice. One lucky yotie dog there. Hope he makes a return appearance tonight! Had a couple more coon plugging traps today and a couple of flipped traps. Not quite sure what's up with that. I, generally, don't have those kinds of problems. Bedded them a bit more carefully today and added a couple of small stones to keep them from stepping on the jaws, so we'll see what happens tomorrow.

I hate it when that happens but it happens to everyone if thay admit it or not

I've dug up more than a couple to make sure they still worked !

Had one this morning that worked the set wrong. wind was from the wrong way.. Missed him by 2 inchs. Iput a book there for him to read so he would know where to step

I sometimes see this in snow. It's like they sense a hollow spot right there.
Guys that don't admit it, say we are over thinking it haha.

Plenty of times coon get blamed for messing things up.
I believe that and try to steer away from them. Many locations they are unavoidable. I think that is what adc men mean when they say catch the dog far away from the scene. Not always doable with limited permission.

Ya have us on the edge of our seats now.

Hope it wasn't "how to be a smart redneck." I read that and it didn't work.

It was a little deep for me John

Hmmmm. Heck, sometimes the funnies in the paper confuse me. Lol.

[quote=andy weiser]Just when you think they don't bother calves they go to bothering calves. They usually just eat the afterbirth but sometimes its the killing that they like. Look for chew marks on the calfs nose. If no bite marks on the throat or nose then the calf was probably dead from something else before they fed on it. Not always but usually. [/quot


X2 bite marks on the hind legs are more than likely from a dog

Not necessarily, if calf is new or sick or weak.

It might of been better to put a sticky pad note that says "Step Here ---->" • Hope you get your book back. That would really suck if he keeps it.

She read the book and came back and steped in the right spot last night. She looked real good with a #3 N.H on her finger or wrist as it was

Can I burrow that book this next season? These coyotes over here are to stupid to know wherethey are supposed to step. LoL!!!

After catching and releasing what seems like a truckload of coons this past week, one of which I have caught 3 times, I finally whacked my first yote around the calving yard. Caught at a dirthole with Mark June's Songdog Supreme and a small chunk of cow bone in the hole as an attractant. #3 Sleepy Creek 2-coil stock trap anchored with a 16" POGO. I have a crappy pic from my dumb phone, but I'm too dumb to convert it to the proper image type to upload on here. I tried...LOL

Got a call yesterday morning from fella with about 20 head, said the neighbor seen a coyote yesterday morning harassing a calf. And said some of the cows haven't had thier calves yet, but now thinks maybe they did but lost them to coyotes. Set it yesterday nothing yet but happy to have the work and do some coyote catching

Brother of mine is calving out 140 head of first calf heifers, (apparently he likes punishment and no sleep) anyways, with them being on the less than smart momma side of things, he's had a few of the calves gotten at by yotes. Most of the ones he lost were born dead but a couple were alive by the marks in the dirt. Theses heifers came out of a feedlot and he's calving them out for someone else so he's all about minimizing death loss. In six days we took 12 yotes from within 1/2 mile of his calving yards. It's weird this winter there wasn't a yote track within a mile of his place. keep at it keck gotta keep them farmers happy.

Good work Keck. Glad you got him.

x2

way to go man. Good job

I went thru a similar experience with a land owner down here. He was afraid to let me put out traps and snares because his dogs roamed all over the entire ranch. After the third calf was mauled, I got a call to do "whatever it takes". So he penned up his mutts, and I went to work. Three weeks later after setting out ten snares and eight steel traps my final tally was ten coons, three coyotes, five possums, two skunks, two hogs, one mutt looking dog (released) and one javelina. It was a lot of work, but I did gain hunting rights for dove, quail, hogs etc.

Well, it's been awhile since I posted here. Latest update is 5 yotes down. I think I may have taken out the killer. This one was large for a coyote around here and it was very aggressive. Most are pretty timid when you walk up to them, they might bark a bit and hit the end of the chain farthest from you then turn around and look at you. This one was lunging towards me and growling like a rabid Cujo. I made sure he was deep in the trap before I approached really close. Made me a little nervous. I will probably keep them running another week and he will be done calving. Anyway, no more calves killed since I started, so it was a win.

good deal

Great work!

Osky

Best set was?

Osky

Sweet. Thanks for the update.

Way to go. Feels good when you getm dont it

Best set was a flat set with a hunk of bone on the corner of a cedar belt adjoining the cow yard. I set the trap right in a cow trail where it came around the end of the belt at a corner post. Took two yotes there and multiple coons. I only used fox urine at this set, no lure of any kind.

Thank you sir. It does make a fella feel like he is making a positive difference.

In a way, that flat set was a blind set. The yotes were following that cow trail, so I had a 50/50 chance of getting them with the attractant or just following the trail. But no, I did not set any blind sets. I considered some snares, but there was too much deer activity and too many calves not staying within there confines, so I ruled that option out,

Staked with POGOs.

All traps are stock #3 Sleepy Creek coils (stock 2 coil) with 3 swivels. Total chain length is right at 14", shortened a bit by driving part of the chain in the ground with the POGO. Every yote was caught deep, above the pad. I gave no thought to pan tension. Some were around 2-3# and some would free-fall. The yotes didn't care. LOL

Good on you.
Trapping among the cows is interesting to this Easterner, where the cows live behind fences.

Years ago LT showed me how to get out of the Vehicle and Holler "Hey" real loud and sharp at those aggressive ones... they cower down like a submissive dog. He said you become the Alpha male in the Coyotes eyes. So far its worked every time.

40 grain bullets will make them submissive too. LOL

Ttt

I had trap a farm that the owner had problems with coyotes and said he seen one that was hang around the house and could not get it. So I had him open the edge of the corn field and the next day i set snares where they go under the fence and got it the next day.It was not a old one and it had a broken foot that heal and had a scare of where it was kick on one hind side and the other side was show not long before I got it. it was a female and after that that person did not had anymore problems I did trap others. now for the farms I trap I get one that show it been kick. That framer before I trap it ad some get close his house and it was more then one. I took them out for him that season with foot holds along the fence line in the road way. Now since i show up every season he dose not have any more show up near his house is where he have his beef cattle to calf.So when you take the problems ones try to keep on there to control them .

I have a heck of a time in my area convincing farmers that coyotes are problematic for cattle herds. The other day I caught wind that a local farmer was losing calves to coyotes, I got his cell number, called, left a message, aint heard nothing in 2 weeks. Frustrating. I just wanna help