HOW TO GET RID OF COYOTES

 

Damage and Damage Identification
Coyotes can cause damage to a variety of resources, including livestock, poultry, and crops such as watermelons. They sometimes prey on pets and are a threat to public health and safety when they frequent airport runways and residential areas, and act as carriers of rabies. Usually, the primary concern regarding coyotes is predation on livestock, mainly sheep and lambs. Predation will be the focus of the following discussion. Accurately determining whether or not predation occurred and, if so, by what species, requires a considerable amount of knowledge and experience.

 

Legal Status
The status of coyotes varies depending on state and local laws. In some states, including most western states, coyotes are classified as predators and can be taken throughout the year whether or not they are causing damage to livestock. In other states, coyotes may be taken only during specific seasons and often only by specific methods, such as trapping. Night shooting with a spotlight is usually illegal. Some state laws allow only state or federal agents to use certain methods (such as snares) to take coyotes. Some states have a provision for allowing the taking of protected coyotes (usually by special permit) when it has been documented that they are preying on livestock. In some instances producers can apply control methods, and in others, control must be managed by a federal or state agent. Some eastern states consider the coyote a game animal, a furbearer, or a protected species.

Federal statutes that pertain to wildlife damage control include the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), which deals with using toxicants, and the Airborne Hunting Act, which regulates aerial hunting.

Laws regulating coyote control are not necessarily uniform among states or even among counties within a state, and they may change frequently. A 1989 Supreme Court action established that it was not legal to circumvent the laws relative to killing predators, even to protect personal property (livestock) from predation.

 

 

Damage Prevention and Control Methods
Exclusion
Produce livestock in confinement. Herd livestock into pens at night. Exclusion fences (net-wire and/or electric), properly constructed and maintained, can aid significantly in reducing predation.

 

Habitat Modification
Select pastures that have a lower incidence of predation to reduce exposure of livestock to predation. Herding of livestock generally reduces predation due to human presence during the herding period. Change lambing, kidding, and calving seasons. Shed lambing, kidding, and calving usually reduce coyote predation. Remove carrion to help limit coyote populations.

 

Frightening
Guarding dogs: Some dogs have significantly reduced coyote predation. Donkeys and llamas: Some are aggressive toward canines and have reduced coyote predation.

 

Repellents
Sonic and visual repellents: Strobe lights, sirens, propane cannons, and others have reduced predation on both sheep and calves. Chemical odor and taste repellents: None have shown sufficient effectiveness to be registered for use.

 

Toxicants
M-44 ejector devices for use with sodium cyanide-loaded plastic capsules. They are most effective during cold weather (fall to spring). Livestock protection collars (LPC) containing Compound 1080 (sodium monofluoroacetate ) are registered for use only in certain states.

 

Fumigants
Gas cartridges are registered as a burrow (den) fumigant.

 

Trapping
Leghold traps (Nos. 3 and 4) are effective and are the most versatile control tool. Snares are effective where coyotes pass through or under net-wire fences and in trail sets.

 

Shooting
Shooting from the ground is effective. Use rabbit distress calls or mimic howling or other coyote sounds to bring coyotes within shooting distance. Aerial hunting is effective in removing coyotes where terrain, ground cover, vegetation, regulations, and landownership conditions permit. Hunting with dogs is effective for trailing coyotes from kill sites, locating dens, running coyotes, and assisting with aerial hunting or calling.

 

Other Methods
Denning: Remove adult coyotes and/ or their young from dens.

 

 

For help getting rid of coyotes, contact your local Critter Control office.  To find a Critter Control office near you, check out our Office Finder.