Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

I've lived on a farm all of my life and have never seen a coyote kill a calf and was wondering if it does actually happen. I've heard neighbors claim that coyotes have killed their calves, but I'd say what really happened was they don't check them very often and had one die naturally and coyotes did what was natural for a scavenger and ate it. I've heard of them killing sheep and that seems like it could easily happen, but a cow just isn't going to let a coyote near its calf.

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

I actually have a experience that hopefully will answer that question. Back several months ago when I was at my girlfriend's house (now ex), for a few nights - She lived pretty close to a farm where there were several cows and calves. The owners weren't there for several days at a time so not sure whom was suppose to watch. There was one particular calve that my then-gf liked. I woke up in middle of night to sounds of cows freaking out. I didn't think much of it so went back to sleep. I took her kids to school so she could sleep in and noticed what was left of the calf in middle of the field; I was curious on to what happened to it and I noticed drag marks as well as several coyote tracks (appeared to be anyway).

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

If the cow stays with the calf there usually isn't a problem ,but occasionallycoyoteswill kill newborn calves when they are left alone . Cattle have a habit of hiding their young calves out when they are first born .

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

it happens here in idiana alot but tha calf has to be left alone

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

Certainly not ALL coyotes are calf killers, BUT it seems that those that learn to do it, keep doing it until they pay the ultimate price for it.
I know a farmer in KS. that would never let coyote hunters on his property until he had an incident where he caught the coyotes in the act of killing a calf. It happened at night, and he heard the cow raising cain out in his pasture, so he went to check on it and found that the coyotes hadn't killed the calf yet, but had already started on it, stripped its tail and had bite marks on the hind quarters, and the cow was so worked up that she wouldn't hardly let the farmer near the calf. BUT the farmer took the calf to the house to doctor it and keep it in the house over night and planned on taking the calf back to the cow in the morning. Well, when he went out the next morning, he found the cow dead and partially eaten.
Not one coyote does such a thing, but a pack of them can handle full grown cows, deer, etc. He called my cousin that very day and when we hunted his home section and three adjoining sectionswe caught 7 coyotes with the grey hounds. Didn't catch all that we saw, BUT he never lost another calf that winter and we get to hunt his land every winter now.

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

Coyotes kill a lot of calves as they are being born.The cow is helpless during birth, the coyote knows this and starts eatingon the calf's head.

Kill those coyotes.

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

I figured that they could and you guys have given me proof of that. I'm not against killing coyotes I just wondered if the bad image they have gotten was true. That story of one killing a cow really shocked me, but I'd say she gave birth that night and was probably really drained from it? I'm going to have to work on my coyote calling I think I may have lost a dog to them.

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

Yotes will work on domestic dogs real fast! They will play with them and lure a single dog away from home then gang up on them...enless you have some good working pairs of hounds.My brother had two Blue heelers that would play along with a coyote,one would hang back then sneak up at the right time and they were some fighting suckers,if no yotes to mess with they would sit around and fight one another for fun!

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

they only kill our dairy calves if the cow leaves them for an extended period of time. other than that they just eat the afterbirth

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

RLoving1 thats what my dog was. Another odd thing is our other dog that never ran and was excellent with cattle disapeared a couple of months later. The first dog was only a year and a half old and was already good, but I wonder if he wasn't stolen by mistake. The two dogs were almost impossible to tell apart even for me. I've got two new pups in training right now. I hate the thought of replacing them, but our farm just can't opperate without a good dog.

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

I know it definately happens, but I don't know how often.

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

I got the best example!A few miles away from where I live a guy lost a FULL GROWN BULL to a pack of yotes. He heard the commotion and went to check it out and they just kept biting and circling wearing it down. He got his gun and got 4. I dont remember if it was dead or dying, if it was alive he had to shoot it as it was injured so bad. They had eventually got it on the ground and were going to town when he got there. Now he leads an army of guys on a yote slaughter. They tresspass like no other but I cant say I blame him. Last year theyshot around 70!

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

It comes and goes in spurts around here. Since we switched to a largely beefmaster and beefmaster influenced herd, we haven't had many problems to speak of. Coyotes have eaten on a few calves, but most were stillborn or had some type of severe physical defect and died before the coyotes ever found them. I have watched coyotes watch our herds, especially heifers about to have their first calves, but haven't seen them do much other than watch and wait for something to have trouble calving. Most of our cows stay pretty close to the herd, and for additional protection, we pen heifers at the house when they are about to calve.

When I was growing up, we ran a lot of herefords. That was also before I did much coyote hunting. They weren't real good at staying in the herd, and we lost several calves and a few cows each year.

I have seen coyotes do the following:
[ul][*]Work in pairs running the cow back and forth across the calf,until the cow accidentally knocked the calf over and trampled it.[*]Cow calved near a fence. When about half of the calf was sticking out, about four coyotes grabbed it by the legs and pulled it out and under the fence.[*]Just simply attack the calf by overwhelming the cow with their numbers.[*]Grab a cow by the throat and kill her when she took a little long calving.[*]Take on grown cattle that were injured by stepping in a hole.[/ul]
I've also interrupted several attempts while out checking pastures.

The coyotes involved in some of the events described above were obviously very skilled and experienced hunters. If through hunting, you cantake out the experienced hunters, you takeout the knowledge and experience those coyotes gained to do some of the things mentioned above. Then the pack has to start over from square one to redevelop those skills. Keep killing the skilled hunters, and the coyote population never maintains enough experience under its belt to pose a serious problem.

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

yes i have lot of calves killed buy yotes here in nevada an ive seen them get alot of young antilope

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

Can and will...

But unless there is more than one coyote they are mostly just looking for the calves protein rich crap-piles. Coyotes love that.

I have a buddy who sat down and started calling and had the whole herd of cattle come in to investigate. He just kept sitting there and sure enough a coyote started jogging right through the middle of the herd. The cows knew he was there and not a single one seemed worried. He watched it walk around in front of grazing cows and waited till he had a clean shot and bang-flop! Now that made the cattle a little more worried. :D

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

i live on a farm here in PA and i had a blue heeler that was probably 10 years old that got into a fight with a coyote a whipped its rear end! I was very suprised, although she had a 3 inch gash on her head from the coyote. took 35 stitches or something like that to patch the hole up.

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

Its usually where thereis a relatively large pack ofcoyotes that they do this but they do. If they are hungry enough or there target is an easy one they will take it. Like someone mentioned they are not tough enough to do this to an animal that size alone.

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

I dont think that they neccesarily are bad animals, i love hunting them but its nature, they are looking for food when they are attacking calves and fawns, theyre doing what they have to so they can survive, i think they get a bad rap

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

Like stillhunter said, they are real trouble when in packs. Even two can get the job done pretty quick. For them, it's just fast food without the box!

No, their not bad animals but if they would hit your wallet for $1000's each year, I bet it would piss you off to.

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

"Packs of Coyotes". I have been around coyote's and cattle for 48 years. I have never seen more than 3 adult coyote's together in my life. We have never lost a calf to a coyote. Will they eat a dead animal? Yes. Are they oportunistic? Yes. Do they kill cattle? Maybe if the cattle are sick or injured, but I believe it is a rare occurence when one kills a healthy cow.

I have been reading about, hunting, and talking to coyote hunter's all my life. I have never heard the first hunter tell me he ran into a pack of adult coyote's. Tom.

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

Well, last I looked a cow and calf are not the same size. Not sure though, let me go look out my back door............yep they are! I thought we were talking calves not cows. So much for 48 years.[&:] Most people in my area call three and four coyotes together a pack and yes, in some areas it happens alot. Were not talking 6,8,10 animals here. I have never seen more then four together.

"We have never lost a calf to a coyote." - May I ask how many head you run? How many acres? What's your brand? What state you are in? If this is true, then you either are a farmer that just has a few head on the side or the God of ranchers!

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

I tried to use the generic term "cattle"-and yes I did say cow. Sorry for my mistake. We are small time farmer's-I will admit that. We only have 38 head. We run Black Angus only. We are in northern WV, and have 255 acres. We also take care of an additional 200 acres(all hunting land). I do not consider myself the G_D of Rancher's. But I have substantial hunting credentials, and I was only stating my experience.

I have never seen four adult coyote's together before. I have never personally met anyone who has. If you say you have-then I believe you, but it is my experience that coyote's are loner's??

I will also admit that it has only been the last five or six years since coyote's have become plentiful in WV. But I also have lived in B.G., KY were coyote's have been plentiful for years, and my friend's with farm's or "Ranches" did not have any problems with coyotes.

If calf killing was such an ordinary occurance then why have I never seen one picture of a coyote attacking and killing a live calf or cow. Maybe they are mysterious killer's like the giant squid???

Chill out man-I was only giving my experiences! And where did I say that it did not happen?? And where did I question all the poster's who said it happened to them?? Tom.

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

"I was only stating my experience" - Me to, I'm sure you do have great hunting credentials and I never said you didn't. I took your post almost like you were saying I wasn't telling the truth. I see that's not the case, but it did kinda come across that way. Anyway it's water under the bridge, let's just call it two people getting off on the wrong foot. OK?

Noah

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

No problem.

It seems like most of the calves that get killed in our area is due to drowning. I will never understand what makes a cow want to have a calf so close to a creek. But then for that matter-why do they **** in the hay??? We keep our's in the upper pasture so the calf's will not drown. But sometimes I believe our neighbor's are just as dumb as the cow's. They still leave their cow's in their bottoms where they can drown. Tom.

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

yes they really do kill calves a person in my family cought a few coyotes trying to take down a calf

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

If you think coyotes do not run in packs go out at night.I've seen as many as a half dozen together at once.

This year,I've seen coyotes run right by a perfectly good pile of afterbirth to try and take the calf. And they kept trying to take the calf until we could get a shot off. I'm not a rancher, but I've talked to plenty that have lost calves to yotes.

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

yes coyotes do kill calves if the calve is alone. they also go for the slowest or sickest.

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

Ground Hog hunting is my favorite thing to do. I tried something different. I take tie wire and wire all four leg's and the tail of a dead ground hog to a fence post. We then go back about 20 minutes before day light the next morning. We have shot 3 coyote's this year off of the ground hog carcasses. It takes a unique set up to do this(300 to 400 yard shots), but it works.

I have also noticed a decrease in ground hog number's this year. Every one is blaming this decrease on coyote's.

We tried a little experiment this year. We have left every ground hog where we shot it, and then returning the next day to check for carcasses-they are all gone. Yes, every single one that we have went back and checked(I have shot 53 this year so far). It wasn't that way years ago before we had coyote's.

I am not positive about the calves but they sure are **** on the ground hog's, and I rarely see cat's in the ground hog fields anymore. Tom.

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

I definately know it's true because the farm I have been hunting has had 2 calves killed in two weeks. I just found the hind legs in the field the other day to one and the rest of it had been drug up into the woods. By now the fawns are getting too hard to chase down. A calve is easy pickin, especially when the hunt in a pack.

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

This is one gametha tI have never really gotten the chance to try. I went to South Dakota a couple years back. the plan was a couple days of Pheasant, a day of deer, and some 'yote hunting. Our guide had to cancel on the yote hunt so we went out and shot some Prairie Dogs instead.
Do any of you live or hunt down in the south? I live in Georgia, in the Savannah area,a though I spend quite a bit of time in TN too. If any of you might be willing to let me come out and shoot some yets with you, I'd be appreciative of it.
I won't be home from the big sandbox till april, but I can still start my homework now. If not, no biggie, thanks for all the info on here for some good tips to bring them in.

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

Ill be the first then for ya. Ive seen 14 in a line running away when I snared the alpha male.In the next 10 days I killed 20 yotes in a single back yard.Call B.S. on it if ya want but I killed 150 in 30 days. Ive seen 2 packs 15 members or more in 10 years, but then again thats what I do for a living.

RE: Do coyotes really kill calves?
 

Here in OK most of the calves takenby coyotes are probably killed as they are being born.Sometimes abunch of coyoteswill attack thecow as she is calving. Saw that happen twice.As for coyotes not running in groups, i have seen as many as nine running together at one time.

Coyotes arent very big. Coyotes are scavangers. And like with a lot of things, lazy ranchers and farmers want to blame everyone else but themselves for incompetence and laziness.

Want to keep your livestock from randomly dying and Coyotes dining on the what little remains of your family's precious ranch? Maybe grow a little responsibility and start actually paying attention to your family's assets, including your lifestock.

If you can't pay a shred of attention to your precious calves, then maybe it's time you considered selling your ranch to someone who can.

This deliberate myth that coyotes somehow take calves that are closely guarded by any animal with a living herd instinct, like cattle worth raising, and not stupid cattle who can't even defend their own offspring cause they're too braindead, is merely an excuse to go running around with shotguns and jeeps hunting coyotes, wolves and foxes, but especially coyotes.

...Edited by Champlain Islander...
There's a lot of far more worthy prey to go hunting for than coyotes who are doing what nature endowed them to do, which is not let dead animals go to waste.

Dead livestock are 100% the responsibility of incompetent ranchers, and 0% the responsibility of coyotes.

If you are a rancher and you happen to own a herd of braindead cattle with not even a shred of herd instinct, maybe it's time you sold that cattle, and restocked in a smarter breed of cattle that can survive you not visiting the ranch for weeks at a time?

Alternatively, maybe you should hire some staff to attend your braindead herd, if you aren't going to be paying them any attention? No matter how you slice it, the coyote is not at fault.

[edited some minor grammar mistake.]

Well... After 10 years... What we have revealed today is someone who has either never raised cattle, or just started and thinks they have it all figured out.

I'm usually one to give benefit of the doubt to new members, but this first post out of the gate is ridiculous.

Perhaps where you live but here in the north country an adult male will go 40 pounds or more and I have personally seen one that weighed 70 pounds. And yes northern coyotes do run in hunting packs which ambush their prey and kill both deer and calves especially when they are newly born.

Another 10 year old post dug up and crap posted by a newbee. Were it me I would send a warning to the poster and delete the post.


One of the first farms we got invited to hunt for coyotes on had 6 coming into the beef cattle feel lot and eating grain out of the fed bunks. Seem they liked the grain as well as your rover does.


They even got into a fenced in lot where there were about 10 calf huts and killed a couple calves on a dairy farm we got invited to hunt.





The average weight of the coyote's we have killed since Oct 2016 is 55 pounds. Only a sick one would weigh 40 pounds or less.


:D Al

He opened it and got banned for some comments. I decided to leave it up in case others want to comment on the original question do coyotes kill calves. I have seen a pack surrounding a cow getting ready to calve. I went to the barn and the farmer was more than glad I saw it and reported it to him. He headed out with his tractor, gun and was going to safeguard the cow and calf.

Well he certainly is misinformed I'll say that. I've literally shot yotes OFF a calf! Still didn't get to the poor little fella in time but I tried! Already ripped it's throat. Typically yotes don't pack around more than 2, sometimes 4 at a time but you will see an occasional 6-8 pack in your North Eastern states and while they aren't as "together" as wolves, they do sometimes successfully work as a team somewhat to bring down larger prey such as deer and small cattle.

But man if you haven't ever watched a pack of wolves track, split an animal off from the herd, and act so in unison you would think the whole thing was choreographed, then you have not seen anything worth seeing in nature. It's amazing how well they work as a team even when a couple will split off from the pack to head the animal off or act as "stoppers" as much as a mile ahead. Makes one believe in telepathy!!

I came across the signs of a Vermont coyote ambush as shown in a new 4" snowfall. I was hunting and walking along a field edge when I came across a ripped up and completely eaten doe. The legs and head were all torn off and all the meat was completely picked clean. It was spread over an area about the size of a small house with lots of coyote scat mixed with deer hair. The snow was all flattened and covered with both coyote prints and then bird tracks. I decided to try to figure out what happened so I circled the area until I could find the deer tracks. There were 3 or 4 deer that came out of the swamp and I could see where they were moving to the north along the field pawing up the grass in the new snow. When I came to where they started to run I slowed down and found 6 or more spots where there were coyotes laying down in the high weeds on the edge of the swamp. It looked like a lone coyote came across the field and chased the deer right into the bedded pack. The doe they chose was probably a fawn based on the size which at that time of year around here would run about 60 to 80 pounds. The coyotes had quite a feast and didn't waste much. That kill was clearly done by an organized pack consisting of adults and young ones.