This is topic Behavior question. in forum Predator forum at The New Huntmastersbbs!.
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Posted by Aaron Rhoades (Member # 4234) on November 04, 2012, 10:45 PM:
A little introductory post from me with a question. November 3rd was our first day of the calling season for us. Weather is still fairly warm for the time of year hear and the coyotes just were not interested in prey distress, nevertheless, we had a good day. Had good calling at first light, called a double and my partner grazed one. Had a few blanks and then called in a single that my partner hit but never recovered. Some very dark clouds rolled in and wrecked the calling, coyotes weren't talking anymore or coming in. So, a little dejected, we were headed out. The weather cleared up a good bit and we decided to stop at the ranchers house and try one last stand. Had one up front of us and 3 to our right. I decided to work on the closest one and we got her into range. My partner shot and she started squealing, he started to get up and I said hold up a bit. No sooner did I say that, one of the ones from our right came screaming in and started biting the shot one. So I shot the second one and then the first one started taking off so I finished that one. So my question is, why do the coyotes come in and attack a wounded coyote? After we were done I gathered them up and was looking them over, the first one shot was a older female and the one attacking her was a younger male. The one in the back is the female. 
[ November 04, 2012, 10:47 PM: Message edited by: Aaron Rhoades ]
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on November 04, 2012, 11:16 PM:
Good question. I can't say that I have seen that before? And, I have a lot of "time in grade".
Good hunting. Lima Bravo
Posted by Kokopelli (Member # 633) on November 05, 2012, 01:36 AM:
A triple that I killed a few years ago in Oregon involved behaviour pretty much like Aaron described. Squealing coyote attacked by another coyote. Third one stood around confused. A hot barreled Mini-14 killed all three. I may have fired a couple more shots than I needed to but hey, I don't get triples every day.
Why would a coyote attack a squealing coyote??
One (or more) of three reasons.
(1) Subordinate coyote sees an opportunity to move up in the hierarchy when the dominate coyote is in distress.
(2) Canine behaviour 101; If a dog can't eat it or hump it, it'll chew on it.
(3) It's the nature of the beast.
Maybe Scott will chime in here. He knows this kind of stuff way better than I do.
Posted by Aznative (Member # 506) on November 12, 2012, 10:13 AM:
Maybe they were from two different competing packs.
Posted by Aaron Rhoades (Member # 4234) on June 15, 2013, 03:15 AM:
What do you think Scott, ever seen this before?
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on June 15, 2013, 07:13 AM:
Generally, when you shoot one coyote and there are others around, almost invariably, they run away. If they are not physically within view when the first one goes down, they might approach the dead coyote and look at it. They don't usually go all the way, they seem to know the other one is dead. This does not necessarily set off danger signals, but they usually decide to leave instead of continuing to approach the source of the distress sound.
So, what I am saying is, I have never seen another coyote actually attack a dead coyote. Not saying it couldn't happen, but I have not seen it? It could be because I have not allowed it to happen, by stopping and shooting the second animal before it did such a thing? Can't say?
One thing, as far as the suggestion about a different pack, that seems to me to be such a remote possibility approaching zero, that I can even consider. No offense, but I just can't see it happening, rival groups, etc.
I think you were just lucky, akin to being struck by lightning and it will never happen again. At least, to you. Somebody else might report something similar. There are people that may chime in with "oh yeah, I saw the same thing" but if you ask me, you can take that with a grain of salt. You hear that sort of response over at PM, but most of those guys lack credibility. Newbees routinely see rare things, sometimes three or four, back to back. ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
So, let's hear it, anybody out there ever see what this guy describes? If this (HM) group never heard of it, it probably is exceedingly rare.
Good hunting. El Bee
Posted by KaBloomR (Member # 4252) on June 15, 2013, 08:01 AM:
Oh yeah, I've seen this happen a million times..... LOL
Never seen it happen, and I have a buddy that is really good at shooting coyotes in the ass. He's had a few scream bloody murder. The only response from others in the vicinity (that I have witnessed) is a quick stop and look, or a balls-out veer and look. However, I wonder if the attack has something to do with some sort of "pack mentality" as I have seen domestic dogs gang up in a fight when the victim is getting whooped?
Edit to add: No, my buddy isn't Tony Tebbe. My friend's misplaced shots are not on purpose....
[ June 15, 2013, 08:32 AM: Message edited by: KaBloomR ]
Posted by Aaron Rhoades (Member # 4234) on June 15, 2013, 11:19 AM:
I wish I could have got a recording of the sound, seemed to be very effective!
[ June 15, 2013, 11:19 AM: Message edited by: Aaron Rhoades ]
Posted by TA17Rem (Member # 794) on June 15, 2013, 11:22 AM:
Excitement causing the other coyote to become agitated or alienated or just the opposite and wanting to try and help the other coyote some how from what ever was making it scream...
[ June 15, 2013, 11:23 AM: Message edited by: TA17Rem ]
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on June 15, 2013, 11:37 AM:
Maybe I misunderstood what was going on? The second coyote attacked a "wounded" coyote? Still, have not seen that behavior. I have seen a coyote called back by distress screams, but then again, maybe I always messed it up by shooting the checked up second coyote?
In any case, what exactly do you want to know, Aaron? If anybody has seen this happen before, or what to do if it should happen again?
My suggestion is that you shoot the 2nd coyote. And, if you make sure the first one is dead, a second animal is less likely to attack. I guess?
Good hunting. El Bee
Posted by Aaron Rhoades (Member # 4234) on June 15, 2013, 12:27 PM:
I was wondering if other people have seen this before, also wondering if anybody had theories on why a coyote would come in and bite one after it's wounded and the noise of a gunshot. A little more detail, my partner shot the one and apparently didn't kill it with that shot because she started screaming/coyote distres. Another comes in and latches onto her, I shoot him, original one takes off wounded, I put another one into her, we killed both.
[ June 15, 2013, 12:28 PM: Message edited by: Aaron Rhoades ]
Posted by Rich (Member # 112) on June 15, 2013, 02:08 PM:
I have never actually seen one coyote attack another coyote that is yelping in distress. I have however, heard of coyotes attacking and killing a trapped coyote. The attack upon a called coyote that cry's after being wounded by a bullet is new to me. This is the first time I ever heard of that happening. You never learn everything about coyote behavior I guess. Only the coyote knows why he did that, and the culprit ain't gonna tell us either.
Posted by Lone Howl (Member # 29) on June 15, 2013, 02:10 PM:
Ive done it. Coyotes once or twice, gray fox several times.
Mark
Edit: I didnt actually DO anything obviously, it just happened.
[ June 15, 2013, 02:17 PM: Message edited by: Lone Howl ]
Posted by trapper2 (Member # 3651) on June 15, 2013, 02:15 PM:
I have seen a dog scream when a coyote got ahold of it and sure turn another coyote around and bring him back, I always figured it was like a lot of people, see somebody taking a whippin, just jump in and whip some more. mob mentality I guess
Posted by the bearhunter (Member # 3552) on June 15, 2013, 02:48 PM:
never seen what you described but did see something similar this past winter.
DiYi and i were out and i had him drop me off at a good looking spot just before dark. right at last light, a pair came screaming in over a hill. judging by size, i took the female at about 70 yards. dumped her in her tracks.the male lit out over the hill. i hit the wounded coyote sound and a couple minutes later, here he came back fast!!. got downwind of her and made a beeline right to her. he was pawing/stopmping/nudging her when i shot. he died right on top ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
i once climbed into a treestand to bowwhunt to find out the local coons were using it for a shitter. i cleaned the stand off and sat back. a smaller coon came through the swampgrass and started up. as soon as his head cleared the platform, i kicked him hard in the face. he hit the ground and was making some god-awefull screams. can't remeber how many but guessing at least 8-10 more coons came running from all directions and started beating the shit out of the little guy. was a hell of a loud scrap!!
Posted by Lone Howl (Member # 29) on June 15, 2013, 04:03 PM:
Coons are evil.
Posted by Wily E (Member # 3649) on June 15, 2013, 04:25 PM:
Aaron,
Coyotes are far more like wolves than many realize particularly when their populations are unexploited. It's a natural instinct for canines to attack an injured animal even if it's one of their own. A healthy coyote is confused by the behavior of an injured coyote and their natural instinct is to attack.
That's my theory.
~SH~
Posted by Cdog911 (Member # 7) on June 16, 2013, 10:59 AM:
Back when I was younger and hunted coyotes with all the other men in the family, using greyhounds, we had one coyote they dropped the dogs on that was road smart and made a beeline for the highway as soon as it heard the doors drop. The first dog in the pack got clipped by a car and began spinning around yelping in pain. The other three dogs in the pack tore him to pieces right there in the median, having forgotten all about the coyote which quickly made its escape amidts all the chaos.
To me, it's the downside of the coyote's social nature, responding to their own.
Posted by Kokopelli (Member # 633) on June 17, 2013, 06:37 AM:
Been thinking on why so few people have seen the behavior described and came to a few conclusions.
(1) First you need to call in two or more coyotes close together at the same time; Doesn't happen every day, but not terribly rare to do, either.
(2) Second, from a position of concealment, a lousy hit needs to be made that results in a spinning yelping coyote; Ok, that happens more than we like, but it doesn't happen often.
(3) Now, after all of the above takes place, a wounded coyote `may` be attacked by a pack member if the hunter is still undetected. Not all that surprising that most people haven't seen it happen.
(4) And then there's the gunshot. Why most coyotes aren't bothered by gunshots is something that baffles me but I've seen it too many times to not believe it. Maybe they think it's thunder. If that's true, I would guess that coyotes from this area, where we have awesome thunder / lightening storms would be more likely to ignore gunshots.
Something about only the yippers know for sure.
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on June 17, 2013, 07:30 AM:
That's pretty good koko. I'm impressed.
Good hunting. El Bee
Posted by Kokopelli (Member # 633) on June 17, 2013, 07:50 AM:
Awwwww..........You're makin' me blush.
Posted by Aaron Rhoades (Member # 4234) on June 17, 2013, 08:24 PM:
I don't know all the history of this piece we were on but this was our first year hunting this ranch and I was told that no one had hunted it at all for something like six years. It used to be part of a hunting club and the biggest bucks in the area were taken off this ranch. Also, once again I don't know, but I think that no one has ever called it as we were told it was just deer hunting. So anyway, probably little to no pressure from other hunters. I think we hunted it three times and took 6 or 7 coyotes off it.
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