Gummer coyote

Caught an old female yote today that was as bad a gummer as I've had in many years. Still fat and healthy, those suckers are survivors!

Very strange!

Dang Lee that girl needs dentures. Makes you wonder what they eat. I caught one that had been shot in the mouth. Don’t see how it could eat but it was very fat.

Old girl.

No worries about rabies if she can’t break the skin. LOL

Wow

Didn't have to worry about biting her tounge either. She was DOA in a snare, so she didn't try to bite me!

Ever wonder if she had ever spent a winter or two digging and marking someone's sets back in the day?

Looks like she was a coffee drinker as well

Lee how old would you guess her to be?

That is a good question, Ozark! About forty years ago, KSU had a man working in extension wildlife, and he went around the state teaching farmers and ranchers how to trap and call coyotes, so they could take care of their problems. He came to me, wanting me to collect lower jaws off the coyotes that I caught. He came back by and picked these up after season. He came back in the fall and asked if I'd do it again, and I said sure. He had a number of others around the state doing the same. He then dropped a bombshell on me, said I had one in my batch that was 26 years old! I said WHAT! He told me again, and said that it floored him when they told him that. Well yeah! So we did it again the next year, he came back and said there was another old coyote in another fellas sample. I asked how old, he said 27! Now since then, I have talked to the fella that had that job after the one I just described, and ask him if he could find the papers on that study, when I told him the story. He said he would look, and was astounded at what Bob had told me. The sad part is, he has now retired and he never contacted me, to say he had found it! I so much wish that I had gotten a copy of that study, as they age the yote by counting the growth rings in the lower fangs, affter cutting lengthwise, much like you can age a tree! I always thought an old coyote would be ten to fourteen , but that deal made my head pop!

Lee I remember 20 plus years ago shooting on a spread north west of Circle. Had a novice along and first thing I called a big pretty one into our laps. He shot and it just nicked and turned the dog. It ran out and crossed in front of a bank 90 yards out. I had the bead and trigger half pulled when it dropped dead!
Mouth looked like yours, an old male, zero damage but a scratch. I think it was a heart attack. Made a pretty rug.
I would really like to know a field way to age these.

Osky

Cool story, Osky! I also wish there was a way, that tooth wear handout that most of us have seen, I don't feel is anymore than a guess. If it's like humans, it would depend entirely on what they have ate most of their lives. I can see a coyote eating on a carcass in the sandhills of Ne or Ks having much more wear on their teeth than coyotes in my neck of the woods, where the ground is clay, and not as abrasive, just for an example.

I totally agree. Where fruits and plants are a diet staple in season do the acidic acids help or hurt? In blown sand country what do they eat that isn’t covered in sand after being carried off, including dirt road car kills.

Osky

Thanks Lee cool info. Think I read some where about a tagged coyote living 12-14 years during the boom years in montana I was thinking diet also.

That coyote still had enough teeth to do the job. But It sure looks bad.

Lee, you may want to on the look out for methlabs in the area that yote came from.

Even had a hair lip! lol

Lee when it barked ya reckon she went, “ narf, narf, narf”

Good job lee, it's a gummer for sure lol

she's either old enough to vote or has been eating 1x19's for breakfast. Lol

Ol dad

Cool thread!

Ha ha, I read through some of the comments on here, and had a good belly laugh!

Andy, the cops busted the only meth lab around here that I know of, about five years ago! Local dummy!

Larry, yours was the one that cracked me up the most, narf, narf!

Coyotes are some of the most resilent animals and some coon I have caught.. Caught a few bobcats in Arkansas years ago that were so old and fat but their teeth were so worn that all they had was a pressure bite. They made it work for them.

No bite and tear teeth left. Will never forget the one cat in particular. Didnt weigh it but would guess its weight was the high 30 's easy. Was big enough to put on a large coon board.

This was a fat male missing one front foot.

I didn't think about it until Bob mentioned coon. Lee, was there any silage around? I caught a bunch of coon off of a silage pit years ago and all of them seemed to have few to no teeth left.

Bob, I caught a big old bcat in Wy once by an speed goat carcass that was like that. In my experience, When most critters get like that, they gravitate towards eating on carcasses as much as they can. This yote came off of a set up by a bait pile. It would have to be frustrating for a critter that was tough all it's life, to foraging on stuff you can't even chew, or tear apart!

Andy, the closest silage is in bags, about three quarters of a mile away.

Butch, you got a lot of old critters up there! Need help trapping up there? lol. Was that Maine or Pa?

Maine