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Author
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Topic: Howling question
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Rich Higgins
unknown comic
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posted June 23, 2005 02:37 PM
Why do coyotes howl in response to sirens?
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The Outdoor Tripp
Knows what it's all about
Member # 619
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posted June 23, 2005 02:52 PM
Beats the heck out of me, but I know they do. A few years back I had a cassette tape of a blaring siren. Lit the coyotes up like a light switch.
My lease was/is a couple miles from a train track. When trains travel through, they lay on the whistle as they are starting up a grade. Every coyote in the neighborhood howls in repsonse.
Odd thing is it only works at night.
Day trains galore, whistles out the wazzoo -- no howling.
What gives?
[ June 23, 2005, 02:54 PM: Message edited by: The Outdoor Tripp ]
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The Outdoor Tripp
www.theoutdoortripp.com
"All great truths begin as blasphemies."
Posts: 805 | From: Texas | Registered: Mar 2005
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onecoyote
Knows what it's all about
Member # 129
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posted June 23, 2005 02:52 PM
I always thought it hurts there ears?
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Posts: 893 | From: Walker Lake Nevada. | Registered: Feb 2003
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Rob
Knows what it's all about
Member # 75
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posted June 23, 2005 02:53 PM
Sounds like another coyote howlin.
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"Where did all these #$%^&* Indians come from?" Gen. George Armstrong Custer
Posts: 224 | From: Clancy Montana | Registered: Feb 2003
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Jay Nistetter
Legalize Weed, Free the Dixie Chicks
Member # 140
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posted June 23, 2005 03:04 PM
Because they can't sing.
Why do coyotes howl period?
Because they don't know the words.
What'd I win?
How do you get a coyote to stop whining?
Give him your cat.
Where's a snare drum when you need it?
[ June 23, 2005, 03:09 PM: Message edited by: Jay Nistetter ]
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Understanding the coyote is not as important as knowing where they are.
I usually let the fur prime up before I leave 'em lay.
Posts: 1006 | From: Arizona | Registered: Feb 2003
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The Outdoor Tripp
Knows what it's all about
Member # 619
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posted June 23, 2005 03:09 PM
Jay,
A laminated Huntmasters Certificate.
Please contact Leonard.
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The Outdoor Tripp
www.theoutdoortripp.com
"All great truths begin as blasphemies."
Posts: 805 | From: Texas | Registered: Mar 2005
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Jay Nistetter
Legalize Weed, Free the Dixie Chicks
Member # 140
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posted June 23, 2005 03:25 PM
Rich.
You had to know it would happen.
I can hear you chuckling clear over on my side of town.
Why did the Coyote cross the road?
(Chicken's day off.)
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Understanding the coyote is not as important as knowing where they are.
I usually let the fur prime up before I leave 'em lay.
Posts: 1006 | From: Arizona | Registered: Feb 2003
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2dogs
Knows what it's all about
Member # 649
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posted June 23, 2005 03:26 PM
Circa 1964.
My Dad & two of his friends went out to Creighten Nebraska vicinity, to hunt coyotes.With their sight-hounds
They came across two coyote hunting groups.
1st-group used sight-hounds.
2nd group used open top 4X4's & ball bats.
Both groups, attested to locating coyotes 1st by useing "Roller Sirens"{hand-cranked}
I believe coyotes, think it's another canine.
[ June 23, 2005, 03:27 PM: Message edited by: 2dogs ]
Posts: 1034 | From: central Iowa | Registered: Apr 2005
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Melvin
Knows what it's all about
Member # 634
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posted June 23, 2005 03:59 PM
I have also heard pet house dogs howl to sirens and trains...Would be interesting to know why..
Posts: 661 | From: PA. | Registered: Apr 2005
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Cdog911
"There are some ideas so absurd only an intellectual could believe them."--George Orwell.
Member # 7
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posted June 23, 2005 04:32 PM
Jay,
I was driving the family out for fast food the other night, going down the main drag in the middle of town when cars start slamming their brakes on. A damned chicken, old grey hen, was strutting across five lanes of traffic. A lot of us were wondering what the hell she was doing at the moment.
The small town I was raised in had a noon whistle every weekday when they fired the tornado sirens for one cycle at straight up noon. Every dog in town would howl back. Where I live now does the sdame thing for five minutes every Tuesday at noon to test tornado warning sirens. Dogs howling like crazy. From my vantage point, they seem to enjoy it as much as anything else. Sure don't look to be in pain.
We used to use sirens on our dog wagons to run coyotes out of ravines. We switched them out and put two horns - one from a Ford and one from a Dodge- under the hood. The two pitches resonate so badly with one another they just made your teeth vibrate. They also did great at standing coyotes up in the grass because I think those horns did hurt their ears.
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I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something; and, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
Posts: 5438 | From: The gun-lovin', gun-friendly wild, wild west | Registered: Jan 2003
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted June 23, 2005 04:59 PM
I know that some dogs howl in response to sirens....and some don't. Maybe it's the same with coyotes, sure, you get a response to a siren or horn and you probably think they are all lit up. Maybe they are, maybe not all of them?
Why do coyotes respond to a siren, even more reliably than they respond to a howl? Beats me, they don't even know, it's an automatic trigger.
Good hunting. LB
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Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31462 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Jay Nistetter
Legalize Weed, Free the Dixie Chicks
Member # 140
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posted June 23, 2005 05:06 PM
In Texas I know ranchers use sirens to call their cattle. Daily event. I think the coyotes get so used to the routine that they never bother to respond.
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Understanding the coyote is not as important as knowing where they are.
I usually let the fur prime up before I leave 'em lay.
Posts: 1006 | From: Arizona | Registered: Feb 2003
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Lonny
PANTS ON THE GROUND
Member # 19
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posted June 23, 2005 05:16 PM
I agree with Leonard, that something trips in the coyotes brain and makes it howl in response to a siren or other loud shrill sound even at considerable distances. They can't help themselves because its their nature to respond to something that sounds like another coyote.
Posts: 1209 | From: Lewiston, Idaho USA | Registered: Jan 2003
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keekee
Knows what it's all about
Member # 465
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posted June 23, 2005 10:22 PM
I always heard it was the pitch of the sound.
I know they howl here all the time at trains, I can hear them from the house about every night. But they wont answer a howler from my house anymore. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Brent
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Posts: 295 | From: Southern Ohio | Registered: Dec 2004
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Steve Craig
Lacks Opposable Thumbs/what's up with that?
Member # 12
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posted June 26, 2005 09:52 AM
A chemical in the brain is released and "they just cant help themselves". Major Boddicker
Steve
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Yes, we did produce a near-perfect republic. But will they keep it? Or will they, in the enjoyment of plenty, lose the memory of freedom? Material abundance without character is the path of destruction. - Thomas Jefferson
Posts: 442 | From: Cottonwood,Az, USA | Registered: Jan 2003
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varmit hunter
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Member # 37
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posted June 26, 2005 10:42 AM
Steve. I think Major has a good point about the chemical release. I believe it is like us laughing. It is involuntary response to a stimuli in the brain.
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Make them pay for the wind.
Posts: 932 | From: Orange,TX | Registered: Jan 2003
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Cal Taylor
Knows what it's all about
Member # 199
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posted June 26, 2005 11:28 AM
Tough question at best. Why? I don't know. But they do respond, but not always. And there is a difference in sirens. They respond better to some brand names than others. I suppose due to slightly different tones? And the speaker makes a difference.
Q. Why do they DO anything?
A. Becasue they're coyotes.
Q. Why do they not DO some things some of the time?
A. Because they're coyotes
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Democracy is two wolves and a lamb deciding what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
FoxPro Field Staff Member
Posts: 1069 | From: Wyoming | Registered: May 2003
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The Outdoor Tripp
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Member # 619
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posted June 26, 2005 12:44 PM
In regards to my earlier post, I'm now starting to wonder whether or not I've ever heard the coyotes on my lease go off to daytime train whistles.
I want to say no, but the more I think about it, it wouldn't make sense. Now I'm not certain either way. Guess I'll have to pay closer attention my next visit.
Does lack of daytime response make sense to any of you guys?
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The Outdoor Tripp
www.theoutdoortripp.com
"All great truths begin as blasphemies."
Posts: 805 | From: Texas | Registered: Mar 2005
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Melvin
Knows what it's all about
Member # 634
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posted June 26, 2005 01:34 PM
Here is my two cents worth on it..How often do you hear one dog bark in the day time and every dog around starts barking..Not real often i suppose..But let one leave out a Howl or bark at night and it seems every mutt for miles around will start and keep it up for hours!..I don't know if its the peak period for canine activity and it's been programed in them for thousands of years, for hunting,packing up or letting each other know where they are at..As you know,different packs or groups of coyotes will answere one another by howling at night..It also could have a little to do with a territorial thing...Who knows?I'm just giving my thoughts on the subject.
[ June 26, 2005, 01:41 PM: Message edited by: Melvin ]
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bearmanric
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Member # 223
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posted June 26, 2005 01:48 PM
Why do Turkey's shock gobble at the weirdest thing's kinda the same thing. i to have coyote's howl at my house with the train's. there's a new call. we should tape a train there's a new sound. Rick ![[Confused]](confused.gif)
Posts: 78 | From: Tenino Wash. | Registered: Jul 2003
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Kokopelli
SENIOR DISCOUNT & Dispenser of Sage Advice
Member # 633
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posted June 26, 2005 01:49 PM
A few years ago, I was sitting in the Trout Creek Hot Springs in Ore. (after dark) during a snow storm drinking wine, smoking a good cigar and playing my harmonica. I had coyotes howling all of the way back to Burns. I don't know why they howl, but I'm glad that they do. It made that hunt one to remember.
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And lo, the Light of the Trump shown upon the Darkness and the Darkness could not comprehend it.
Posts: 7580 | From: Under a wandering star | Registered: Apr 2005
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Tim Behle
Administrator MacNeal Sector
Member # 209
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posted June 26, 2005 04:36 PM
I remember trapping some beaver one day. I was a half a mile from a pretty busy set of train tracks. It seemed one went though every few minutes, and due to a local road crossing, they all hit their horns.
Each time I'd stop and listen for coyotes, as the surrounding area look to be great for holding them. I never heard a one coyote.
I finished getting my traps set and was walking back to the truck when a train must have got a stop signal, as he hit his brakes. That high pitched squealing of brakes lit up the coyotes in all directions of me. They'd been there all along, they just didn't howl to the whistle..
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Posts: 3160 | From: Five Miles East of Vic, AZ | Registered: Jun 2003
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Rich Higgins
unknown comic
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posted June 26, 2005 08:52 PM
Tim, "habituation" would explain the first events and "startle response" would explain the latter.
Both events typify the behaviors that govern coyote vocalization response.
Each of the previous posts is good for discussion by themselves. Hoping for more. NASA?
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Melvin
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Member # 634
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posted June 26, 2005 09:58 PM
If i would compare the answeres to target shooting,i would say you hit the bulls eye with a double.
Startle response,unlike turkey,could lead to a lot of questions and discussion in itself.
This is a very interesting topic,Rich
Posts: 661 | From: PA. | Registered: Apr 2005
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Greenside
seems to know what he is talking about
Member # 10
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posted June 27, 2005 06:42 AM
For sirens, I think it's just a instinctual reflex to something in the distance that could be associated with a howl.
http://www.carson-mfg.com/sc-550-stealth.asp
Scroll down the page and play the manual wav and the wail wav. Do they sound a little like a coyote howl. Probably.
Then try the yelp, phaser, air horn hilo/two tone. Do they sound sonewhat like a coyte howl. Probably not.
Dennis
[ June 27, 2005, 07:03 AM: Message edited by: Greenside ]
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