Following the Farmer on Coyotes...

[Steve Gappa]

Following the Farmer…the Key to Coyote success....
By Steve Gappa


If you live in farm country…REAL farm country that is with corn and beans and hay and cows and tractors- then you soon find out that your coyote trapping opportunities and successes are in a large part out of your hands- and in the hands of the farmer. What he does and when he does it, dictates when, how and where to set out your traps. You can either fight the harvest or learn how to take full advantage of the harvesting of the crops and the land use patterns. We all are aware of how much an impact picking crops and plowing has on our farmland trapping- but how about the rest of the year? Are coyotes as tied to the crops and the seasonal rotations during the spring and summer as during the fall? In my opinion, they are- and by knowing how coyotes utilize the fields during the off season only increases your knowledge of your coyotes- and the more knowledge you have, the easier they are to catch.
Lets start out by looking at our trapping areas during the late winter and early spring. In most farm areas in the northern fur belt- the crops will have been harvested, fields plowed, pastures empty. In normal years the fields are snow covered and windswept- leaving very little for coyotes to hunt and live in. This is the time for you to be out and to be looking- cause what you see now- is most likely permanent or at least semi permanent landscape and will be the one constant you have as a farmland trapper. These areas- set asides, draws and ravines, rocky areas, rivers and creeks- will be the last refuge of your local coyotes. Their permanent base. Whatever coyotes are left after the fall/winter, will be in these areas for two simple reasons- food and shelter. Note these areas and how they relate to each other. If your area is typical farmland, these areas will be somewhat isolated, but can (and will be) connected up by the coyotes later in the year. Consider it your starting point.
Many of these areas will be used for denning. Coyotes often like to have their pups in the most inaccessible out of the way locations as one could imagine. But not always. Our collared coyotes showed an interesting thing- the females either had their pups and raised them in the fore mentioned isolated areas….or we found quite a few did the exact opposite- had their dens and raised their pups in the middle of nowhere. That is- right smack in the middle of a corn field or bare hay field. Whether these females simply are forced out of the better areas or whether they instinctively know such a place is “safe” I don‘t know. It makes sense, in that they can see danger coming from quite a distance when set up in the middle of a bare field. But in any case, here we already have coyotes that not only live in the fields at a later age- but are actually whelped and reared in the same fields.
So you have coyotes born in the fields and you also have coyotes being raised on the edges of these fields. This is important to remember- so let me emphasize it even more. Cultivated fields, in farmland country, provide a MAJORITY of the available habitat. Once the crops reach the height of a few feet high, coyotes become orientated to them and spend a great deal of time in and around these fields. When you think about it, it shouldn’t be a surprise- these corn fields are perfect habitat places, providing shelter from predators and weather and food. Lots of food. Either in the fields themselves or in the little habitat strips around the fields- fencerows, field changes, waterways. It’s a short journey out of the fields to run the waterways and roads- and if confronted…easy to slip back into the corn. Consider the cornfields a secret little world if you will… an unseen world, with a full range of inhabitants. Based on radio studies to a degree and my own observations, I believe that coyotes spend most of their time in and about the corn fields- and feel they utilize them in many ways. In many areas including mine, the milk stage corn itself is an important food source, and many times coyote droppings contain as much corn as any raccoons. I cannot make this point enough- as the corn matures- your coyotes, no matter where whelped- will be in it. And they will be in it until forced to move. And when they do start moving, it will be reluctantly- that is, they WANT to be there and they will stay in the general area as long as there still is some corn and cover. And what happens to the prey that was in the fields you might ask? Good question- most of the critters able to run or fly away- do. The mice, rabbits, etc simply move into the adjoining cover. This makes them easy prey for coyotes hunting the picked field areas for a night or two. Many small critters are killed during the harvest, and the opportunistic coyote takes advantage of this bounty also. But this doesn’t last too long. Almost as soon as the corn is gone- the stalks are round baled, taken off and the field is plowed. Your once prime habitat environment is now a plowed, empty field.

[Steve Gappa]

Part 2-

Many coyote books written about traditional coyote areas, talk about dispersal. Dispersal is simply that time when the population needs to shift in order to be able to support itself. That is- family groups that have been living together all summer enjoying the relatively easy pickings, need to break up and move on in order to make a living. This event is triggered by many things- many times it’s the cold and snow or in some areas it’s the onset of breeding season. Coyote pups often travel for miles, and sets made along traditional and known travel ways are a good avenue to successful trapping of dispersal coyotes. But I don’t believe all areas have this type of natural dispersal. Consider this. Our little study here with the collared coyotes, showed a somewhat surprising trend- the turnover rate of the local coyotes. While I imagined that coyotes lived long and healthy lives around here- I found I was wrong. While they certainly were healthy…their average life span was actually rather short. We were getting over 80% turnover in less than a 2 year period. This mortality was from many causes- cars, farmers, hunters and even trappers. But the main point was that dispersal wasn’t really needed, and even when voids were being created, young or displaced coyotes simply took over or shifted a little to get adequate range. Long distance, event triggered dispersal just was no longer needed for the coyotes in this population scenario. Even though we don’t get the traditional dispersal in farm country, we do have one ace up our sleeve. And that’s the harvest.
The harvest starts gradually here- the first beans are taken off in late September, a few corn fields are chopped for silage…something big is in the works. And if you have done your homework- that something big will be your coyote catch. When the harvest is just beginning, the coyotes will be in somewhat normal mode. They still have vast stretches of corn and the picked bean fields just are a bonus for them. The bean fields are attractive on several levels and they now have clear connecting lanes between the fields and habitat areas. Coyotes will travel these picked fields- in fact in many cases seem to prefer them. Since in my area most beans are picked before the corn, the picked bean fields act as the major travel lanes between the corn patches. You are going to have to stay off of field roads for the obvious reasons of heavy farm equipment traffic, but you usually can find a nice intersection of points away from the farm traffic towards the end of the bean patches. Farms with rotational crops and contoured fields are ideal- the square corners at the ends of the fields are ideal. Coyotes enter and leave fields at these points and my most common double location is at these points. Plowed corn fields work the same way. Make a dirt-hole or flat set in the rows to create natural walkways.
Once the harvest begins in earnest, the coyotes find themselves in a real position of flux. In a night, several hundred acres of prime habitat can simply disappear- and this is happening all over the area- on farm after farm. The coyotes utilizing the fields suddenly have nowhere to go. As the harvest starts, the coyotes simply move on to the next field. While this might put them into contact with other groups, it doesn’t seem to be much of a problem. At the start of harvest, where a field is taken here and there, but no concerted harvest is occurring- look to the travel lanes BETWEEN the picked fields and the adjoining unpicked fields. As the coyotes are forced out of one field, their first refuge is the nearby fields. They will stay in unpicked fields in the midst of harvest areas a lot longer than I used to believe. One thing to keep in mind- coyotes are actually attracted to farm operations- and its been shown to me many times that coyotes will come out and work the edges of fields as they get harvested. So these coyotes will still be in the area moving around- and it’s up to you to figure out the travel ways they are using. One key is to set on travel lanes going between habitat areas- whether natural of unpicked fields. As the habitat shrinks, be right on top of things and shift accordingly. In many areas, once the last of the corn is gone- in a day or two so are the coyotes…. remember those heavy habitat areas you marked down in late spring? Well, those are the second alternative for the coyotes to move into. As more of the fields get picked- causing expansive stretches of bare fields stretching for miles- the resident coyotes have no choice but to move back to these areas. Setting up the travel lanes from the harvested fields to these areas is your second best producing areas during the harvest. While the coyotes are drawn to these rougher areas- their “heart” if you will is still in the lanes and the fields, and as long as the weather stays nice, will continue to visit and hunt them. So this means get those field edges (travel ways) set up.
The overall pictures is that as the habitat disappears, the coyotes beginning moving- back and forth between the picked fields and the unpicked fields. Between the remaining habitat areas. And as long as the harvest continues, this state of flux will the rule. Obviously, the goal is to set up as many major lanes as possible, to give you the maximum exposure to the moving coyotes. I have some areas that I keep set up for 5-6 weeks- and they produce throughout that period pretty consistently. And that’s simply because they are the piece of the puzzle connected several major habitat areas. By setting these up- as farms are harvested miles away- and as the coyotes there are forced to move and shift….sooner or later, they are going to have to come by you and your waiting setup. Something that might aid in success, is that the Logan Research Center in Utah has done studies showing a traveling coyote is easier to trap than a local yokel- he works a set more aggressively and with less distrust. In any case, I think if you will consider the movement of coyotes during an average harvest season and work with the harvest, you‘ll be adding a few more of those travelin’, ramblin’ yotes to your bag.