Coyote moving in

[Jeff]

So, I had kind of a shocker last night.

Hemi and I were out walking in the trails right at the end of my street. Now I live in the woods, but I am still in the City limits of Grand Rapids. Where I am at there is an old farm, they still farm it right in the city. Then I live on a little dead end street, that butts up to a small nature preserve. So I kind of have the best of both worlds. I live in the woods, yet I an literally 5 minutes from 7 grocery stores. 10 From Lowe's, 15 minutes from 2 different Home Depots. 10 From the mall. All of my neighbors including me have several acres of land on the street and it is all wooded and really kind of a nice place to live. I get deer, Turkey, and a lot of wildlife too out in the yard quite often.

So Hemi and I went for a walk through the park at the end of the street, like we do quite often. It has really nice paved trails through the woods and the trails go in a circle, and one lap is a mile. So we normally go back and first mile Hemi has to be on leash, if no one is back there, which usually they aren't then the rest of the laps are off leash. We do two or three miles miles. Well last night on the first lap, I came around the corner and standing right on the trail looking at us was a dog. I was like hmm that a big stray dog, same size as Hemi just a leaner build, almost looks like a fox but way too big, no collar, what a beautiful coat, its a little odd shaped I wonder what breed it is...... then it registers as I take in the pointed ears and the way the hind legs are built, the watching alert stare, that's a coyote. I have been in my house for 8 years, I asked my neighbor he has been in the neighborhood for 40 years, no one ever seen a coyote in our neighborhood. We continued walking forward towards him and he ducked into the woods. I kept an eye out for him. I didn't see him so relaxed, but I kept Hemi on leash. I get around to another side just starting the second lap and now I see two of them. I was able to snap a quick pic, bummer it is kind of bad. They really are pretty creatures. I mentioned it to my one neighbor who lets their cats out to run around and they have an elderly dog, just to be careful. I always go out with Hemi but I know to be a little more vigilant. Hemi didn't seem to care about the coyote at all. He seen it, he wasn't afraid, didn't act like he wanted to play like a normal dog was just totally indifferent to it. Even when we crossed it's path he sniffed the ground a little bit more there but then was like ok moving on there are better smells.

Anyway I called the DNR just to report it. There are 4 schools within a couple miles and an elementary school a half mile away. They told me that the coyote population in Michigan has almost quadrupled in the last few years. They have reports of coyote even in downtown areas of Grand Rapids and I am in the suburbs. Most people don't see them as they tend to hide and stay out of site, or they just brush them off as a stray dog. So anyway I just found it odd. They don't worry me. At least not yet, we will see how hungry they are come winter.

Pic, unfortunately was at a distance.


Zoomed in on the pic this is the Coyote. Only pic I got of him that wasn't blurry

[MightyThor]

Wow, cool! Never noticed your location before - I was born in Grand Rapids! Moved to Traverse City when I was little so I did most of my growing up there.

One thing that I hear of out here in the west is that coyotes will use their pack to attack domestic dogs, so that's the only warning I would have. They'll use a female in heat to lure dogs and then attack. I don't know anyone who has personally seen this, but there are enough stories that there might be some credibility in it.

[Snowshoe]

We have coyotes too, hear them singing across the road. It's lovely to hear. From the size you describe I wonder if yours is part dog? A coydog? The dog part gives size and unfortunately seems to remove a lot of natural caution. The mix also seems to give rise to behaviours more often seen in feral dogs, such as very bold and downright aggressive. Be careful.

[Bamps]

We have coyotes over here a lot too. These are big here. They are supposed to be reintroducing mexican gray wolves soon here too. Believe it or not, we see them RIGHT in front of the truck crossing the road and we stop to look or to shoot them, (camera) and they're GONE. once in a great while you see it standing really still but they normally camo into the desert.

[SunDance]

I see one or two every year (the first one back in 1996)....mostly in the park but there was a pack on the lawn next door a few years ago. And neighbors at the top of our street had to call Animal Control to get one out of their backyard (it got over the fence to enter but then seemingly couldn't get back out).

I saw a red one a couple of years ago....that was a really gorgeous animal....I hadn't even known they came in red. At first (before Googling) I thought perhaps a fox and a coyote had gotten together (that wouldn't work).

Sunnie is really excited and rarin' to give chase whenever she detects coyote.....Dan gets really subdued and doesn't want to follow the scent.

[Bamps]

Here's a coyote close and personal. Yes I took the picture, no it was not in the wild.

[POPTOP]

That can be a little scary. One coyote will lure a dog with play and lead it to the pack and the poor dog is attacked. Think you might want to use a leash for a little while for the entire walk.

Coyotes are so adaptable, they are even spotted in town in Chicago. There are reports of many pets being attacked.

[kelsyg]

Wow! Cool pictures.
Our downtown has a rooster problem and the surrounding area has some wild boars. Definately prefer roosters over coyotes, but wild boars vs. coyotes.......

[Snowshoe]

Wow! Cool pictures.
Our downtown has a rooster problem and the surrounding area has some wild boars. Definately prefer roosters over coyotes, but wild boars vs. coyotes.......

Roosters? Cock-a-doodle-do roosters? But not hens? Sounds like something a few coyotes would soon clear up.

[POPTOP]

Wow! Cool pictures.
Our downtown has a rooster problem and the surrounding area has some wild boars. Definately prefer roosters over coyotes, but wild boars vs. coyotes.......

Wasn't it Mike Rowe on Dirty Jobs who did a story on this? It was crazy, they were chasing chickens all over the place.