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In reality the coyote is just a medium sized predator trying to make a living! It is among the most flexible animals, opportunistic, adaptable, and is extremely intelligent. Coyotes can run at speeds of up to 35-40 mph, are strong swimmers, have an excellent sense of smell, hearing, and eyesight, all of which they use to locate prey. They can be found in every type of habitat, including urban settings, hunting rodents, eating garbage, etc. They are by nature diurnal but adapt to being around humans by becoming active early and late in the day.

Coyotes, who are in the dog family, date back a very long time. They are not native to Connecticut but rather are recent newcomers filling a niche of other species exterminated, such as wolves. They were first found here in the 1950’s. They have a lifespan of 5-7 years and the population is now growing every year. It is estimated that there are 4-6,000 currently in the state.  The coyotes in Connecticut are a subspecies known as the Eastern Coyote. At 48-60” long and 30-50 lbs, the Eastern Coyote is larger than the Western Coyote due to some interbreeding with wolves, as well as adapting to the available prey, notably deer.

They typically have a grayish coat but there is lots of variation.

Coyotes are very protective of their dens and young and will present and exert territoriality to protect them. Remember that if you are out hiking during April to mid-May and encounter a coyote on the path, it is just protecting its young. Try to get coyote to move off the path by throwing pebbles or rocks. Put dogs on a leash – and if it won’t move, just go around it!

They are extremely social animals that mate for life. They are not pack animals so the groups are usually just the nuclear family. Even thought their howling sounds like a large pack, it is just the 5-7 member nuclear family communicating. When a parent is out hunting, the family will howl when they reunite. They will howl when there is an intruder in their area or will use it to locate one another if the youngsters become separated from their family. In addition, the young will howl to exercise their vocal chords, something that is necessary to develop a good howl.

Coyote tracks are prominent, with four toes and a larger triangular heel pad and will always print claws. Bobcat tracks are similar but do not show the claws.

Coyotes range from 2-10 square miles depending upon the quality/quantity of the food supply. They are opportunistic omnivores whose favorite food is anything they can chew, including berries. Coyotes help spread native nuts and berries.  They are very adaptable and can adjust their eating habits according to the availability of food sources.  Acorns are important to their diets.  They will eat mice, rabbits, chipmunks, and woodchucks as well as larger animals, such as deer, beaver, and roadkill carrion.  They can take down a larger animal only if it weakened, e.g., deer being chased.  They will also take small pets, and livestock such as fowl.  Birdfeeders may draw them to your home and put you on the food map… Be careful of garbage and use ammonia to dissipate smell. Keep cats in at night (should be in at all times!) and be very watchful of smaller dogs (25 pounds or less). We can all work to adjust our behaviors to avoid conflict with this wild animal who is just doing its job of providing for its family!

Fencing can be helpful at keeping coyotes honest but if you do install fencing, make sure it is six feet high and several feet underground with rotating PVC or horizontal fencing on top to prevent coyotes from scaling the fence and going in over the top.

Coyotes live in dens, or in an abandoned woodchuck or fox burrow or under trees, etc.

Breeding season is in late winter and they give birth to 1-12 pups in April – mid-May. They are helpless at birth and nurse for the first 6-8 weeks at which point they are weaned and the young are out hunting with their parents at 3-4 months. They grow rapidly and are nearly full grown by their 9th month. They disperse in fall or early winter and a male coyote may go 50 miles or so to find new territory, which is usually an exclusive territory. They won’t tolerate foxes and see them as competitors. They do co-exist with bobcats and bears.

DEEP has a detailed coyote management plan to preserve the species and minimize conflict between humans and coyotes.  Populations are managed through hunting and trapping. The goal is to cull about 10% annually, or about 400 per year.

There is lots of information on the DEEP website (https://portal.ct.gov/DEEP/Wildlife/Fact-Sheets/Coyote) about living with coyotes, e.g., keep dogs on leashes, don’t feed coyotes, and if you do confront one, don’t turn around and run. If coyotes are hanging around your house, try to frighten them away by throwing rocks, spraying with hose, making noise, acting larger, and report any dangerous kinds of behavior to DEEP.  Spaces under porches should be blocked off to prevent animals nesting there. Coyotes are rarely dangerous to humans despite hundreds of millions of encounters. Children should be instructed to recognize coyotes and to retreat to shelter and report the sighting. They are infrequently rabid but strange behavior should be reported. There is no need to report sightings unless acting aggressively or strangely.  Be sure to educate your neighbors to keep easy food sources  such as garbage away or coyotes end up paying with their lives.

Coyotes are here to stay, and their population is expected to grow. With a few sensible accommodations, we can live harmoniously with this beautiful, intelligent wild animal in our midst.

More information is available on the DEEP Wildlife Division website on all types of wildlife and how to get involved. https://portal.ct.gov/DEEP/Wildlife/Wildlife-in-Connecticut  Consider taking out a subscription to the CT Wildlife magazine. At $8 a year it is a great deal! https://portal.ct.gov/DEEP/Wildlife/Connecticut-Wildlife-Magazine

Paul Colburn has a website with presentations and contact information. https://paulcmwcpinct.wixsite.com/website Be sure to click on the “Learn More” link.

For a brief video of coyotes in action, visit WLT’s YouTube Channel for a recommended video, Getting to Know Coyote: Into Their World.

White-Tailed Deer are native to Connecticut and today can be found across southern Canada and the United States (except California, Nevada, and Utah). They also have colonized throughout Mexico and down into South America. Yet the population was decimated by unregulated harvesting by Europeans in the 1700-1800’s and the forest cover decreasing to about 20% by the 1850’s. Laws to protect the remaining herds enabled the population to rebound in the 1900’s.

In 1975 Connecticut held its first firearm deer hunting season to help prevent crop damage, and today’s hunting license fees support wildlife restoration and outreach. The population has continued to increase as they adapt to open spaces of urban and suburban environments. So hunting helps keep the population under control, prevents crop damage, provides meat, and draws people into the outdoors. (More information on allowable deer hunting is available on the State’s website.)

They get their name from the white tail that shows like a white “flag” warning as they bound off when alarmed. The deer have distinct footprints that are narrow-heart shaped. They typically move in single file creating deer runs and then split up to browse. Creatures of habit, they can be seen coming around at the same time of the day and year. You may see signs of bedding areas where they rest for a couple of hours or scat that resembles raisins or pellets.

Deer are non-monogamous, social animals, with the family unit comprised of does with fawns and/or yearlings. Males stay together with little contact with females until mating or rutting season from late October to early January. Each Spring males grow spreading, branching, bone-like antlers for sparring that drop off after mating season.

Deer can birth up to four fawns each year in June, and twins are common. Fawns nurse very rich milk 3-4 times a day to grow rapidly from 4-5 pounds at birth to 60-70 pounds by fall (they’ll reach 110-150 pounds as adults). Females born in Spring can produce in their first Fall. They disperse just before next year’s young are born and will be forced out if they don’t leave voluntarily! Their average lifespan is approximately 8 years.

Fawns are left on their own for significant time and will sit motionless if approached. They are well camouflaged with spots on reddish brown fur and have no scent. They do not need your help, and it is illegal to remove a healthy fawn from the wild. To assist an injured fawn, call the DEEP Wildlife Division for the name of a licensed rehabilitator.

White-tailed deer spend more time feeding than any other activity. They browse grasses and flowers in Summer and fatty nuts such as acorns and fruits in Fall. In Winter they switch to hardwood twigs and conifer leaves and can lose 20-25% of their fat reserves, risking starvation. Deep snow also is an enemy, especially if it has a soft crust, as walking in it will wear them out.

While white-tailed deer elsewhere must contend with mountain lions and wolves, locally the primary predators of fawns and vulnerable adults are coyotes, bobcats, and black bears. Deer are masters of not being seen when they don’t want to be, can rear up to use their sharp hooves, and are good swimmers. Other causes of deer mortality are cutaneous fibromas, chronic wasting disease, hemorrhagic disease spread by biting insects like midges, mange, other infections, and of course humans. For example people trying to be helpful in Winter by feeding them corn are more likely to cause starvation because they cannot digest corn properly.

So back to Paul’s question: What can we do to coexist? As beautiful as they are to watch, deer can be a problem if they are too prolific. In addition to eating our prized landscaping, they are a significant vector of Lyme disease and other tick borne diseases, can destroy forests and crops by over-browsing, and are involved in 9,000 deer-auto accidents in Connecticut. The State has a wildlife plan with hunting limits and managing habitat so we and future generations can enjoy them, but these can be difficult to implement in densely populated areas.

Paul recommended several approaches for vexed homeowners. Ornamentals (preferably native) that are unpalatable to deer should be planted in areas subject to deer damage, e.g. persimmon, lilac, boxwood, jasmine, holly, pepper tree, wax myrtle, century plant, and narcissus. Home remedies such as coyote or bobcat urine or hanging soap in orchards are used with limited success, but Bobbex works if resprayed after each rain. High-value crops should be planted away from woods, shrub rows, or other deer cover. Stake and wrap plants with fishing line as a first step to control unwanted munching. Fencing is most effective, but a woven fence needs to be 8-10 feet high with a barrier such as PVC pipe along the top to prevent climbing.

Visit the DEEP Wildlife Division website for more information on all types of wildlife, including how to subscribe to the Connecticut Wildlife Magazine and opportunities to assist with research projects. Paul Colburn’s website provides additional resources as well. And to view deer in action, visit WLT’s YouTube Channel for a recommended video, Time Shadow: Encounters with the Whitetail.

Bobcats are Connecticut’s only breeding wildcat. They’re solitary creatures except when mating or raising their young, and are seen rarely because they’re most active before dawn and just after dusk. Bobcats are serially monogamous and breed in February/March, with 1-4 kittens born in April. Helpless at birth, they’ll nurse for 69 days and stay with their mother until the next spring. If they survive to adulthood, they can live 5-7 years, sometimes as long as 12.

They punch way above their weight when it comes to hunting  and can bring down a 150-pound deer, even though the bobcat is only 2-3 times larger than a domestic cat! They’re very patient hunters and rely on a thick under-story in their preferred habitat of mixed forests with wetlands to stalk their prey. They’ve been known to go into the water after food. A bobcat can leap a 7 foot fence from a dead stop and will use its eyesight and ears more than smell when it comes to hunting. They’re carnivores and eat a broad range of species from rabbits – which make up the bulk of their diet – to squirrels, birds, muskrat, small rodents, beaver, porcupine, and mink. That headless rabbit you saw half-buried under leaves by the side of the trail was probably cached there to keep it fresh and safe from other predators, and it’s likely watching you from a safe distance! Bobcats are also known to fancy the odd domestic cat or fowl.

Once thought a threat to agricultural animals and hunted for their fur, they were slaughtered almost to extinction. Hunting was banned in 1972, and it’s estimated there now are ~1,000 in the state. They continue to flourish, although their population fluctuates with the abundance of prey. They’re believed to have a range of 8-29 square miles, and research shows they’re comfortable in urban and suburban environments as well as the rugged, more isolated terrain of their traditional habitat. They don’t have too many predators once grown, but young can be taken by Great Horned Owls, coyotes, and adult male bobcats. They can – rarely – contract rabies, so any bobcat behaving abnormally or aggressively should be reported to DEEP.

There is a lot of research going on at DEEP on bobcats, and the Farmington River Valley is a focus area. The public is encouraged to report sightings (including roadkill) so DEEP can learn more about their diet, home range, size, mortality rates, reproductive rates, and juvenile survival. For details, visit DEEP’s bobcat page. To view bobcats in action, visit WLT’s YouTube Channel for a recommended video, The Mystery and Magic of Bobcats.