I haven't heard or seen any more about how it is doing and if all is going well with it ? Should be grown by now.

Last I seen it was good size and carried a lot of sticks!

Katie is doing good. She just turned 1. She loves sticks and loves to carry things around. I think a lot of the chewed up plastic trash and golf balls in woods was probably distributed by coyotes. She is very affectionate, much more so than I ever thought she would be. She is very kissy and flogs us with her tail when we pet her. She is more affectionate than any of our dogs and they are pretty affectionate. We have not had any aggression issues with her. Her teeth are very sharp and the dry dog food sticks to the outside of her molars, when she is eating. Her molars are made more for cutting than grinding. Every couple of minutes, when Katie is eating, she will put her head in my lap and turn her head one way and then the other, so that I can push the dog food off of her molars. She is very smart. She gets along fine with our dogs and house cats and tolerates the outside cats, that are supposed to be here. Other outside cats, not so much.

I have a 9 month old Anatolian/English shepherd puppy, named Althea. Althea has close to 50 pounds on Katie now and they will play and wrestle for hours if we let them, until they tire out and nap together. Katie is around 30 pounds. Katie is incredibly fast and nimble and can easily illude Althea when they place chase. Neither has ever gotten mad at or hurt the other.

The main difference between Katie and a dog is that novel people and experiences weird her out more. If something scares her outside, she runs to the house and scratches at the door until we let her into the house. She then runs straight into her crate and turns around and faces out.

If we rub Katie's belly, she will stand on 2 legs, on one side of her body and roll into us, so that we can reach it better.

Katie loves to eat nightcrawlers, grubs and flying insects.

Katie has been a good pet for us, but I would not recommend a coyote for anyone with young children.









I still very much support trapping and hunting coyotes. There is a huge difference between a coyote living in the wild and a housebroken coyote, born into captivity that has interacted with humans for thousands of hours.

Keith

Keith, did you get her before her eyes were open? I know from experience that makes quite a difference in most wild critters. Also the females are usually more accomidating in the taming department! Wondered if you concur! I had a friend years ago that had two male yotes, but got pretty wild by the time they were a year old! It amazes me that she will leave your cats that belong there alone, but will take out trespassers!

Thank you Keith. I have been thinking about how things are progressing for you and her. Lots of experiences you will have with her that will reveal interesting habits and characteristics of her behavior. They are very intelligent and observant. Good time to test some lures and odors for her reaction. They have an extremely keen perception of odor detection and reactions. Much different then what some would think. In time she will start to hoard and cache various items of interest in her selected favorite places.

Lee, I bought Katie from a breeder in Antwerp, Ohio when she was 28 days old. She was pulled from her mother at 9 days of age and bottle fed. The breeder put each coyote pup by themselves, at 9 days, in plywood boxes. Depending on when her eyes opened, Katie has probably never seen another coyote.

You're welcome Bob. Most new smells actually make Katie nervous and even some smells she has been around, make her uneasy. When Diane is wearing her goat milking clothes, Katie will not come out of her crate for Diane. Usually Katie comes straight out and gives a few licks, while rapidly wagging her tail. If Katie sees Diane when she is out, she will come running up, wagging her tail, but if Diane has been milking, Katie will shy away as soon as she smells goat. If Diane wears perfume, which she rarely does, Katie will hesitate to come out of her crate.

I think Katie recognizes us, our cats and our dogs, in large part by smell. She likes to push her nose into the cats fur and sniff heavily.

It would be interesting to put out a whole lot of different lures and to walk Katie by, to see her reaction. I think Katie would initially avoid many lures.

Katie also shows a lot of new object avoidance. If on leash, Katie will slow down and watch items like our riding mower, air compressor, a 5 gallon bucket or our wheelbarrow, as we approach, if they are in a novel place. She will speed up, while looking back, once she is past the object. On her own she will observe a new object and bobble her head before approaching.

Surprisingly loud noises do not appear to bother Katie, for the most part, at all. It could be because she is used to hearing loud TV and music.

Keith

Avoidance by coyotes in the wild probably occurs much more then we realize. In time they may accept something that has been there for a while and they lose their concern for it. Some are more spooky and cautious then others. Like I said they are very perceptive and survive due to their instincts and skeptical nature. Competition with other animals changes their behavior and actually can cause them to make a move they may not otherwise do.

If your animal is cautious in a human environment imagine how one would be in the wild with more tuned instincts. Gives us a look at how each animal can behave differently depending upon their learned experiences along the way and how their behavior and perception can be altered due to daily influences. Retreating to a safe place or towards such an area is key to understanding some animals when they are nervous.

This speaks volumes about the importance of arranging sets and pre-baiting well before the season. Just my thought.

Sometimes we forget that we are dealing with the most paranoid dog on the planet, I believe. The right conditions and before the ground freezes solid, sometimes they come too easy! I've caught a bunch of yotes out of an area before, and have people on snowmobiles come in and kill a bunch more. Now I realize that they filter in, but there are some out there that just won't play by the rules! I've caught them down and get a snow, where did those spooks come from! I guess the bottom line is.....we will never catch them all! lol

I suspect that a lot of objects used for backing or scent posts, like cattle skulls, bone piles, a large rock, rock piles or even a pile of hay initially alarm most coyotes, when they first see them in their environment. Putting out those objects early should definitely be to a trappers advantage.

Initial fear of the new, gives a definite survival advantage to a predator small enough to be preyed on by larger more dangerous predators.

Keith

It would be interesting to make a plain dirt hole with no lure on her home turf and c if shes cautious of it. I found a den Saturday with pups in it. I could see them moving in the back but couldn't see how big they were. I could see they were already coming out of the den, I could see there tracks. Was tempted to catch one as the den didn't seem to deep but I didnt.

JMO..A domesticated animal with the benefit of security by the handler acts much different than a wild animal without those amenities.

Keith, You could probably do demo's with your pet and put out different scenarios for her to encounter. Better yet a video on her home turf with just one person there filming so you could better record reactions without distractions. Probably sell a bunch with coyote prices the way they are at the moment. I'd buy one.

Does she run loose or do you have her penned and leashed.

ttt

Katie is loose in the house, when we are in the house and can watch her. Otherwise she is crated in the house. We mostly keep her on a leash outside and chain her to a pole to potty. We used to take her to potty on a leash, but if she got distracted, it took a long time for her to go.

We let her play frisbee or fetch with a long check cord. Sometimes she wants to play with the check cord more than with what we are throwing.

She has never tried to get out of her crate or took off on us. It's funny, but if it's raining hard, she's more hesitant to go out then our dogs and she wants to go in quicker. She greatly prefers being in the house to being outside.

I feed Katie twice a day, usually pretty close to 12:30pm and at 4:00pm. If I am off more than a few minutes, she will scratch the front of her crate to remind me. I always feed her in the house, by my couch, on a leash. I keep her on a leash because she's an easily distracted eater. She wants attention before eating and will take breaks for me to push the food off her molars and for more affection, every few minutes or less. She likes routine.

Keith

Having people she did not know at a demo, would likely make Katie nervous. My friend Pete had a coyote, that would ride in the front or back of his truck, that would heel him at swaps and pony pulls, with hundreds of people at them. Katie is not that confident. I don't know if she would have been more confident if we exposed her to a lot of different people, right after we got her, or not.

I animal wrangle for commercials sometimes and have thought about telling the ad companies I work with, that I have a coyote available. I have hesitated doing it because there are huge numbers of people working on even a small commercial,

Filming Katie working various sets and lures would be neat. I am out of memory on my phone and my tablet takes fairly poor videos, but if someone had better equipment and wanted to try it, I would definitely consider it.

Keith

I am sure Katie acts much differently than a wild coyote. I am sure wild coyotes in different areas act differently to, depending on the prey and predators in their environment, the terrain and experiences.

I still have learned a lot about coyotes from her and suspect she has plenty more to teach me.

Keith

Why cant you turn her loose outside?

I do turn Katie loose outside, with a check cord on. It's probably unnecessary, she has never tried to escape, but if something spooked her and she ran off, without the check cord, to step on, I would have a hard time catching her, before she was off of my 10 acres. She is very fast and agile.

If she was a dog, I would not worry as much, Katie would very likely come back, but since she is a coyote, she is likely to get shot. Many people in my area shoot coyotes on sight. I usually do too.

Keith

My wife would give my "pet" coyote stuffed animals to play with. it carried them around and tore them up. Got loose one night. Next morning my yard was full of kids toys. I live in a small town and it had gathered every toy from every yard and brought it home. Including one of those big wheeled tricycles. We never did find out who all of them belonged to. It was 8 when it bit my wife so bad she needed medical care and coyote had to be put down.

Like I said Danny they love to hoard things and bring them back to their home or a special place they frequent a lot.

Keith is she spayed or still able to come in heat when she matures ? That is a new chapter when the time comes if she comes in season .

Bob, Katie is intact. She had sort of a weak heat last Winter. I would like to breed her to a Grand Champion or higher ranked mountain feist, if I can find someone who has one at stud, who would not mind doing it. I think that breeding may make a very good squirrel and other small game dog.

Keith

I would think you may want to condition her to a muzzle slowly to prepare her for the feel of it on her head. If you are going to breed her it may be a good idea to help protect the sire dog. If she isn't receptive she can put a hurt on it pretty quick.Being her first time.

That's a good idea Bob, thanks.

Keith

Except for the end that story made me laugh out loud... I would've loved to have seen your face when you saw all those toys in the yard.

Mike

I reread this whole thread, and have thought about the things you have told us about Katie. I've been around coyotes all my life, and while most I have experienced have been in a trap, one thing you can take to the bank, they are all different. Just like people! The personalitys are from, cower and pee down their leg to want to take your head off, when you approach them. The one thing certain that I have defined is, young yotes are not very brave. The older they get, the more sure of themselves. I believe Keith, as Katie ages, she will be more bold, and that some of the things thatbother her now prolly won't when she ages. I hope you keep us in the loop and report her progress in her life among humans!

[quote=KeithC]Lee, I bought Katie from a breeder in Antwerp, Ohio when she was 28 days old. She was pulled from her mother at 9 days of age and bottle fed. The breeder put each coyote pup by themselves, at 9 days, in plywood boxes. Depending on when her eyes opened, Katie has probably never seen another coyote.

You're welcome Bob. Most new smells actually make Katie nervous and even some smells she has been around, make her uneasy. When Diane is wearing her goat milking clothes, Katie will not come out of her crate for Diane. Usually Katie comes straight out and gives a few licks, while rapidly wagging her tail. If Katie sees Diane when she is out, she will come running up, wagging her tail, but if Diane has been milking, Katie will shy away as soon as she smells goat. If Diane wears perfume, which she rarely does, Katie will hesitate to come out of her crate.

I think Katie recognizes us, our cats and our dogs, in large part by smell. She likes to push her nose into the cats fur and sniff heavily.

It would be interesting to put out a whole lot of different lures and to walk Katie by, to see her reaction. I think Katie would initially avoid many lures.

Katie also shows a lot of new object avoidance. If on leash, Katie will slow down and watch items like our riding mower, air compressor, a 5 gallon bucket or our wheelbarrow, as we approach, if they are in a novel place. She will speed up, while looking back, once she is past the object. On her own she will observe a new object and bobble her head before approaching.

Surprisingly loud noises do not appear to bother Katie, for the most part, at all. It could be because she is used to hearing loud TV and music.

Keith
When we get a snow that lasts more than a week (rare anymore) I've observed yote tracks in two track farm lanes that would change sides when they approached a new object I'd introduced (urine post, vertebrae, etc.) for 5 or 6 days until they committed. This was always in late season after dispersal. Sometimes if farmer doesn't run an ATV on his place it may take a couple of days until they start showing up in snares and footholds. Again this mainly happens after dispersal when I'm mostly dealing with home range yotes.

This has been a very cool thread/discussion. I’ll stick to trapping them. But still very neat to watch.

Thanks for sharing.

Lee, I think you are probably right that Katie will get more confident with age. As a young pup, Katie was close to fearless. I worried that she could be deaf, when we first got her, because not even sudden loud noises would startle her. She would climb up on our couch just a few days after we got her, to be with me and would go straight up to anything moving, larger than herself, like us, the dogs and cats. I think she was imprinting.

She started showing new object avoidance at around 5 months. Katie does not act really scared of objects in new places. She does not flee. It's more like she is just very observant of novel objects and that she prefers to stay a safe distance. I think there are very few animals that can move as agilely as a coyote and with a 10 foot head start, a coyote would be hard to catch for the larger predators. Katie's ability to change directions, to avoid Althea, while playing, is amazing.

Pawbracelets7, as you observed, coyotes must have a pretty impressive spatial map of their home territories. We keep some buckets we use to carry feed, under our carport. If we place the buckets just a few feet out of place, Katie will turn her head and focus on them as we go past.

Coyotes are very smart, which makes them one of the most challenging and rewarding animals to trap.

Keith

Wife rearranged the living furniture. Our coyote would not go in there for several days. Had to take it out the back door. When it finally did it was at a dead run into a bedroom. This lasted several more days. I put it in my pickup to go check some muskrat traps on an adc job. It was fine till we met an oncoming vehicle then it would panic bouncing around the cab and then hiding under the dash where my feet and the pedals were. Had to give up taking it anyplace except in a covered crate in the bed. Then it was very nervous of the new location. Hyper alert kind of crouched down,. Didn't dare take it off the leash. Field trips ended.

Althea, our 9 month old, AnatolIan Shepherd/English Shepherd pup, also notices items like the riding mower, a bucket, the grill, the wheelbarrow, an animal, or air compressor in new locations. Our German Shepherd, Annie, did too. Canines must be highly aware of where things should be. They both reacted very differently than Katie does to objects in a new place. Althea charges and Annie charged towards the objects, barking aggressively and shying off from a few feet away if the object does not move, before approaching and sniffing the object with their heads down.

If the object was an animal, like a rabbit, coon, cat or opossum, Annie gave chase and did her best to kill it, if I did not call her off. Althea gives chase but with not quite as much drive. She has not caught anything larger than a carpenter bee yet. Althea barks and lunges at carpenter bees, which is pretty entertaining up to a point. I used to enjoy putting objects in the yard to watch Annie "defend us" from them. If Diane was out, Annie would act especially aggressive and keep herself between the object and Diane, until she sniffed it. I miss her.

Keith

At exactly 12:30pm Katie started scratching at her crates door to let me know she wanted fed. I was sitting in the room for over 30 minutes before. Katie obviously has a good internal clock, but I can't think of any obvious reason a coyote would need one, unless certain types of prey species are active and more vulnerable at specific times.

Keith

Here's some pictures of Katie from about 20 minutes ago.








Katie still mostly acts like a dog. She still avoids novel items. She prefers staying in the house, more than my house dogs do, which I find a little strange. She definitely does not like going out in bad weather. When it's time to go in, she pulls to the house hard. We still have not had any aggression problems with her. She loves wrestling my Anatolian Shepherd/English Shepherd year old pup, Althea. Neither have ever gotten mad at each other. They switch off who chases and catches who. Katie prefers affection over food. When eating, she likes to take breaks to be rubbed on.

I think she has given me a lot better understanding on how to trap coyotes. I think setting any large backing preseason would give coyotes time to adjust to a novel object in their environment. Katie likes to dig grubs and for fun. The dirt holes she creates are long and narrow. She is most attracted to holes that look like the ones she digs. She is attracted to and enjoys playing with plastic trash, bones, sticks, feathers and big weeds. I suspect that unless they are hungry, coyotes seek some sort of thick cover, in bad weather. Katie very much likes routine. I suspect wild coyotes likewise have a pattern of activity that they consistently follow.

Keith

Thank you for sharing your observations and pictures.

x2 Good stuff!

Getting bigger for sure.Nice pics.

X3, that's pretty cool Keith!

This is a great thread, Keith. Thank you!

And thanks to Bob for starting it!

Good read. Thanks. Good luck with her Keith

You're all welcome and thank you all too.

Keith

Keith
How about a pic or two of the holes she digs and more attracted to with something near for size and shape reference?

That's a good idea. I'll take some pictures of Katie's dirt holes tomorrow.

I posted this on here before, but some months ago, Katie dug a hole and was holding this Native American scraper or knife in her mouth, when I went out to bring her in.



Keith

Really cool thread Keith!

Very interesting post.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for sharing. Good stuff.

That is too cool!

Thanks a bunch for sharing your experiences and observations.. Your very blessed to have these first hand observations to learn from.

Here are 4 dirt holes Katie made in my backyard. The holes are all at least a few weeks old, have weathered some and have been dug on multiple times.










The holes Katie digs are much narrower, when she first digs them. They probably average about 1 1/2 times her paw width. She mostly digs grubs and large thick roots. She mostly digs when the ground is fairly wet. Right now the ground is dry and brick hard. I'll add pictures of any new holes she makes. If I can find a good meadow vole area to take her to, I'll take some pictures of how she digs for voles too.

Keith

maybe make a video of her digging? make some dirthole sets and see how she approaches them and works them?

Thanks Keith, Kate must be a hoot. And obviously a genuine dirthole master.

Because of their tendency to catch water, I am not a fan of stepdown sets. After seeing the first 4 Katie dirt hole pictures, maybe I will reconsider.

Keith, and Bob, thanks for this thread.

Very cool post and very much appreciated. I'd always thought I'd like to have a coyote but reading that you feel you need to have it locked in a cage when you're not home, and on a leash when you are kinda burst that bubble, lol. I think I'll skip owning a canine that needs to be locked up all the time, but am totally loving your insight from a trapping perspective!!!

Very interesting! I enjoy when you share your learnings.

Thanks for the trench set tutorial Katie.. good girl.. Question does Katie obey commands like domestic dogs?

Yes, Katie knows sit, come, eat, water, food, drink, let it go, no, the names of our house dogs, the names our house cats, my name, Diane's name, kisses, to the pole, go home, go in, get it, quiet, stop that, the names of a bunch of toys, go up and probably some more commands I can't remember. I taught her to fetch and play frisbee, but we have not done it for a while. Katie is at least as smart as most dogs. She recognizes the outside cats and leaves them alone. She will actually touch noses with the outside cats she is used to. She will go after strange cats.

Where she differs most is fear of new objects or out of place objects, extreme dislike of dogs she does not know, fear of some, but not all people she hasn't seen before and submissive posturing. Katie loves our house dogs and when she greets them, she lowers her body, turns her head to the side and leaves her jaws loosely open, while vigorously wagging her tail.

I believe with selective breeding, over generations, coyotes could be developed into a very useful animal for man. They are very intelligent, have few health problems, have fairly long life spans and great senses of smell.

Keith

I really like what you are doing with the Coyote, you seem to have a good and realistic handle on the whole situation. I hope Coyotes never gain acceptance as pets though, it will be the end of hunting and trapping them if the public perceives them more as dogs than they already do.

Keith:

Thanks for the info. These are great insights. Really makes me think that several real subtle sets at a distance backing up one obvious set, may be the ticket to quick catches. I think over time, most coyotes will approach an odor or object they originally objected to at first, but if you're trying to catch the coyote quickly, it seems that subtlety would be the key. Its amazing to see coyotes on trail cameras come to a little dab of lure that is a month old, after rain, heat and wind, and still do that nervous head bob, advance-retreat-advance-retreat thing. Very thought provoking. Thanks again.

Thanks Keith, I would have thought she wouldn't obey being wild. I read somewhere that the one difference between wild and domestic is wild doesn't obey NO. But guess that ain't so.

Subtle sets with small toys work well. If ya get to big and bold not so much. Especially the adults! My daughter has a Korgy that acts the same, we move the furniture in the living room and she freaked out. Took her a week to get used to it. My lab could care less.


Great thread, Thanks

Keith, thanks for the insights with Katie.

Question: Have you noticed when a new object Katie was leary of, was then removed, that Katie is curious to investigate the spot that object had been. I remember reading a study about coyotes fear of new objects (neophobia) in their home area (I believe it was small traffic cones painted different colors). Though the research coyotes appeared very curious about the new objects it took quite a few days before they would come near and investigate those objects. But as soon as the object was removed, the coyotes quickly investigated the spot where they had been.

Lazarus, I think you are onto something with a showy set with a visual attractor causing them to stall and get into your other subtle sets. The internal struggle caused by fear of the new thing coupled with curiosity about it must make them anxious. Like the crusty old wolfer says "make em pee". But then what about those objects disappearing? Does that flip their red or orange light to green?

Here is my first ever attempt to post a video on YouTube. It's not very interesting, but I wanted something short to play around with.



I need to figure out how to edit videos. I have no experience with it. If I can figure it out, I'll try to get some videos of Katie reacting to novel objects and digging. If some of you want me to film her reaction to any lures you made, I'll try to video that too.

The unpleasant, rattling, growly background noise is a window air conditioner.

Keith

I can't find anything to edit videos with on my Android tablet. Any suggestions?

Keith

That's definitely her toy!

That Kong knockoff had been missing most of the year. We moved a couch to make way for a huge, circa 1910, mahogany, Doten Dutton, rolltop desk I bought and found it a few days ago. I let Katie play with it the day before and she was really into it. I was planning to bounce it and film Katie pouncing on it. I sat down on the ground with it next to me. Katie came over, climbed into my lap, acted like she was going to lick me and then snagged the toy and took off like a rocket. She tricked me.

Keith

She figured that out quick LOL.. Does Katie share her toys with your dogs?

Katie will wrestle for toys with Althea, my half Anatolian Shepherd/half English Shepherd and they take turns chasing each other to get the toys back. It looks like normal dog play.

Keith

Here are some videos of Katie from today. One of the other members sent me a curiosity lure. I will be videoing Katie's reactions in the same spots shown, once the lure is placed.

In the first video, you can see how Katie reacts to a novel object, in this case some stacked firewood.



In the video, you will notice that Katie looks to me, after startling. She checks the stacked firewood again and decides to shy off and change direction. I will put the curiosity lure by the wood using it as backing.

The second video just shows how coyotes move when traveling, when not hungry. I will put a dirt hole in near the bush she stops by.



Keith

This video shows Katie reacting to stepping on not firm ground and finding a man made toy on a trail, probably left there by another animal. I thought it was a turd, when I told her not to eat it. She found lots of turds on our walk. Fresh deer poop is apparently yummy to a coyote. The video also shows how well a coyote can disappear into light cover, from even only feet away.







Katie kept the toy, until we were nearly back to the house, when 2 canvas tents we are drying, startled her.

Here's the toy. It's rubber and probably off of some sort of machine.



All the known coyote dens I have found had pieces of bone to large for a coyote to easily chew apart. The coyote dens close to houses I have found all had plastic, chewed up trash near them usually including bottles, milk jugs, golf balls, other balls, kids toys and pet toys.

I suspect that sets containing small, interesting looking and smelling plastic should work well. I think old, worn out dog toys might work great in sets

Keith

that's so dang cool keith

Here's Katie's reaction to some partially burnt wood. The wood was placed on top of wood coals that had pork chops cooked on it, immediately before, to ignite it 2 weeks ago and then spread out after we were done enjoying the fire. Its rained a lot on that wood, including almost all day last Saturday. Firepit sets obviously should attract coyotes attention, especially if meat fat or meat was burned in them.



Keith

Thanks. There is a lot to learn from a tame coyote. I know that Katie's reactions will be somewhat different from a wild coyote, that was not born in captivity, not hand fed, that does not live in a house and that is not handled by people every day. However traveling with and observing a wild coyote would be nearly impossible and getting close videos would be hard to get without catching it and mounting a camera on the wild coyote.

Keith

Thanks, very cool

Thanks Keith for posting those vids. The thing I have always known, and shows so well in your vids is just how spooky a. coyote is! They trust nothing, but trust their nose before their eyes. Same is true to a lesser extent on dogs, but that inherent spookyness has been bred out of them! Cool getting to see it in action. Keep up the good work!

Great videos Keith, look forward to seeing her reaction to the lure.

I made 2 dirt hole sets with the curiosity lure and dipped the tip of a honeysuckle branch in it, that was about 4 foot high, before bringing Katie down. I Intended to put the lure on the same bush that Katie found the toy behind yesterday, but messed up and put it around 60 feet away, on another bush, in the same fence row. Katie, while she was going down the row, went to the same place she found the toy yesterday and actually laid in there for a bit. I strongly suspect a fox or another coyote holes up in the same spot.

I used a very small amount of the lure, but at least a small amount dripped down from the honeysuckle branch. I expected Katie to stand on 2 legs to smell the branch, but all her focus stayed on the ground. To me the lure had little smell. Katie expressed lots of interest in the lure.



The maker of the lure, who is welcome to identify themself, told me that their male dogs rolled on the lure, as Katie did too.

The next video is much more interesting from a trapping standpoint. It will take about an hour to upload. I am very pleased with it.

Keith

I am still waiting for the next video to upload. I grabbed Diane's tablet and took a picture of the tool I used to dig the holes. I inherited it from my grandfather last year. It works really well to make a fast dirt hole set. Does anyone know what it's called? I am sure you can castrate a pig with it.




I used a piece of number 5 rebar and a small sledge hammer to make a deep hole to drop the lure in. I wanted to keep Katie from getting stinky from the lure. I gave up when she started rolling, as shown in the other video.

The next pictures are of the holes after Katie dug them out. She worked on the first hole shown for about 2 minutes, as the video will show.





This picture shows a honey locust pod I saw a fox squirrel eating



Keith

This video shows Katie working a small cubbie set in the same small wood pile she shied away from yesterday. I did not lead her to any of the sets. I just went along with her. I did not spill any lure on the bark. I don't know why she removed it.



You can see pretty well where to place your traps in relation to the dirt hole.

Keith

In this video, Katie has smelled the same lure 3 times in the last 15 minutes. She is now showing less interest. Using multiple lures in the same area should improve catches if the first few sets don't connect.



Keith

Keith, The tool you show is a " Flower Bulb Planter". Great videos. Thanks for sharing.



Charlie

Thanks Charlie. It would definitely be useful for planting flower bulbs too.

I plan on taking a video of how Katie reacts to a blue bucket and a white bucket. I think she will shy away from both.

If anyone else wants to send me a lure to try, I will film Katie's reaction to it too.

Is there anything else any of you would like to see Katie's reaction too?

Keith

Thanks for taking the time to post the videos .

Thanks for showing the curiosity lure I made Keith. I'm thinking scent post or cat rub set or down in a hole to get digging response maybe? It's glandy and not canine glands. Thanks again for the video.

You're welcome Eric and thanks for the Snoopy Curiousity lure.

I am glad some of you liked my videos of Katie. If there is interest, I'll make more.

Keith

Today , my friend Stan came over and we ran one of his vizslas, Willow and made a new path into his ground blind. We ran Willow past the 3 sets I filmed Katie at and she did not react to them at all. It has rained heavily and snowed lightly, since I made the sets 3 days ago. The ground is soft and muddy in some places.

After Stan left, I took Althea, my Anatolian/English Shepherd cross through the same area, she only noticed the set where Katie rolled. I was able to find some fine hairs, from the lure, on the honeysuckle stem I dipped in the lure, above the rolling spot. Both dirt holes appear to have bean dug by another canid, probably a red fox or coyote, since Katie first dug them.

I brought Katie back down. She reacted to all 3 sets again, but with much less interest.

Here's her reaction at the dirt hole by the honeysuckle bush.



Keith

Katie spent quite a bit of time checking out the burnt wood near the cubbie set before checking it out. I suspect the appearance attracted her more than any scent. Another canid has dug a significant amount of dirt since Katie last dug it.



Keith

Here's Katie's reaction today, at the same spot where she rolled 3 days ago.



I believe Katie's sense of smell and hunt drive are better than both of the dogs.

Keith

Kieth,
Just curios, is Katie's odor still like a wild coyote or does she smell more like a domestic dog?

Thanks,
Dale

Katie smells like a dog to me. She's a pretty clean animal. I have taken a few showers with her and washed her once outside, when she got really muddy.

Keith

Keith,

First of all thank you for all you have done for this thread it is very interesting especially to new yote trappers such as myself. Question for ya: how do you think Katie would react/respond to a long call skunky lure such as (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) fire or something along those lines for example? would she follow the smell from 25, 50, 100 yards away?

Interesting for those who say coyotes smell at the tip of their toes... that coyote sure was sniffing alot of smells 12-14 inches in front of its feet.

I have never tried Katie on a skunk essence based lure.

To make a long story short, Katie did have a wild, presumably male coyote, drop off a well eaten, stinky skunk for her, where she goes out to pee at, when she was in heat last Winter.

Keith

Did she mouth it, play with it, pee on it, ignore it?

Whatever SHE did, had better been very appreciative to that stone-cold
stud yote that delivered such a delicious vittle right to where she takes care of
another very satisfying business. Dinner and a pee. He played his cards right.