I haven't actively tried to kill a coyote in quite a few years now. Most of the coyotes I've see/seen out hunting. I leave or left them alone. Sometimes I took pictures of some of them. I wanted to learn their behaviors.
When I was a young coyote hunter. I tried to kill everyone I seen & had permission to hunt that land. Since those days. I just observed them from a distance. Watching a lone coyote on the hunt, traveling amongst the rolling hills. Or observing a pair or a family group interacting with each other.
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I thought this might come in handy(as a general rule of thumb in the field). For a young coyote hunter. Preparing to shoot a coyote.
One male coyote I killed. I weighed him. He weighed right at 40 lbs even. I decided to measure his body. In an anatomical position. As if he were standing up right. So I laid him out on the tailgate of my truck. Then took some measurements, If I recall correctly?(as it's been many years). He stood 24" at the shoulder. His body from his chest to his rump was right at 36". Depth of his chest, from the top of his shoulder, to the bottom of his chest was 9" The reasoning for measuring him. Was so I could use his body measurements(as a general rule of thumb in the field). For bullet drop & lead at varying distances. Wind speed, wind direction, ect. Can my measurements of the above coyote vary? Of course they can.
That is excellent info! You actually measured a coyote rather than estimating. BRAVO! Most hunters do not realize the actual size of the kill zone on a coyote (or on most critters we shoot at!)
At 40 lbs. that is a BIG coyote for much of the country. Back in the late 60's some coyote hunting acquaintances of mine in southern California weighed all of their kills at a local club contest nearly every week. I was surprised that the average coyote in that country weighed between 18 and 22 lbs. and the biggest they ever weighed went 42 lbs. I'd surmise that a good percentage of their kills were young of the year, as is the case for a lot of called coyotes. If so, that would make the average weight of all coyotes in that region somewhat heavier than that.
In south central British Columbia the coyotes averaged bigger in size and weight than the ones in Southern California, but I think my biggest was an old male with worn out teeth, and he went 42 lb. without any fat on him.
A pro wolfer friend of mine in B.C. froze skinned carcases, sawed them in half lengthwise and measured them. Measuring from inside the sternum and ribs to the top of the backbone (in the low between vertebrae) he told me that few coyotes in that area measured
more than 3 1/2 inches. He measured basically the inside of the rib cage plus narrowest width of spinal bone. A bullet outside of that might cut skin and graze bone but was not a sure kill. A bullet inside that area measured was virtually a sure kill with modern bullets.
Take off the hair of a winter coat, take off the skin and muscle down to spinal bone on top and remove the sternum floor of the chest cavity--- and their ain't much left to shoot at! :huh:
Seems like I posted some of this before, and if so forgive my repetion.
SNAFU, measure some foxes and a bobcat for us if you get the chance. I'll bet foxes have a really small vital zone!
Most people do not actually know me. I prefer they don't because I'm not into being a well known predator hunter. I could care less about being "famous" as some have accused me of. On a few other predator sites. I just love predator hunting in general. Like a fare amount of other hunters/trappers ect. Some guys will never understand. Why I have passed on most of the coyotes I've seen. That is because I'd rather observe & learn their behaviors vs just kill them. They intrigue more than most could imagine. When I was a young hunter. I got right to killing them. NOT caring about learning their behaviors.
I have a saying; "A dead coyote never taught me a thing". Point being, it is the live coyote that are good teachers on things coyote.
The state I live in. Bobcat pop has not reached hunting/trapping legality in the tier counties I hunt. So no Bobcat info. I have seen 1 live Bobcat in the wild & 1 dead one. I've found a fair amount of Bobcat tracks over the many yrs. 1 track was 2.5" wide. Which I thought was huge. As most Bobcat tracks I've found were 2" to 2.1/4" wide. I'm talking paw (toe & heel pad) dimensions. Not total paw size.
I haven't killed a Red Fox in probably 40+ years. Most Reds I've killed or seen killed by hounds. Were in the low teens up to 18lbs. An average for a male I would say is around 15 lbs.
As for the 40 lb coyote I killed then measured. I'm quite anal about all things coyotes, coyote hybrids, wolf/dog hybrids, wolf/coyote hybrids & Red Fox. So that coyote I took those measurements of. Were for a few reasons. Out of curiosity for one. The other reason is. I mostly hunt open rolling foot hills. I'm a long time, old school spot stalker. And numerous times on crusty loud snow I had to take many long shots. So the measurements gave me a good rule of thumb to use in the field, on the fly. For bullet drop, wind drift, kill zone, bullet lead ect.
I have called & killed a little over a doz coyotes. 14? or somewhere around that. But because of hunting open ground. The coyotes in my hunt areas. Are very reluctant to come to a call let alone be called in the 1st place(I do not night hunt with thermal scopes). Closest I called one in was around 50' or less(hilly timbered area). I howled that one in using a Crit'r Call Pee-Wee. Which imo is the best little open reed hand call.
Most coyotes I've seen or killed. Were run of the mill coyotes upper 20's/females. To upper 30's for males. However, I have killed 1 male that weighed 50 lbs even. Another male larger than the 50, but I didn't weigh him. If I had to guess? He was maybe 55? lbs. Or close to it anyway. I killed a female that was 2-3yrs old. She weighed around 21-22? lbs? if I recall. I called her out of a timbered draw. She had the Sun at her Back. She was so small. I thought she was a Red Fox. Because she looked very small & darkish. Due to the Sun being at her backside. But she was in fact a mousy grey.
The past 5 Winters or so. Were the worst ever that I can recall. For a continual snow cover & tracking.
Speaking of coyotes. On another predator site. I mentioned very large coyotes. One pelt being orangish/red like a Red Fox. It was the size of a smaller size wolf(like a female wolf). I don't recall now how long the pelt was from nose to hind foot. But that canine ran out of a willow patch & a farmer coyote houndsman, daughter killed it. I can not speculate accurately about what that coyote was crossbred with? But the farmer told us, it weighed 75 lbs. It looked exactly like a Red Fox as for it's color, ears, fur & tail.
I also know of 3 black colored coyotes. All 3 had a white crest on their chest. One of which weighed 65 lbs. The two other wild black ones were seen running together. Coyote hunter friends of my Dad. killed one of them. Our Dad said it was extremely large. He thought it may have weighed around 60lbs or so. As he looked at it then lifted it up. To gauge how heavy it was.
Many coyote hunters do not believe the coydog exists in the wild. They are ignorant, because they do. Although very rare IMHO, they exist.
In my state for a few decades that I'm aware of. My state had numerous forced breeders. Who sold hybrid canines on the open market for pets. Those canines were; wolf/dog & coyote/dog hybrid pups.
I believe most (wild)canine hybrids. That exist in my state. Were from "forced breeders". However, I also believe to a much lesser degree. Some coyote hybrids occur naturally in the wild. I know of two old coyote hunter houndsmen. Who seen 2x. A dog running with a small group of coyotes. 1 of those sightings occurred in Iowa. The other sighting occurred in Nebraska. One of the dogs seen running with some coyotes was, a German Shepherd. The other dog seen running with coyotes was a Black Lab.
I thought more on those Bobcat track sizes. They ranged from 2-1/8" to 2-1/4". With the largest one being 2.5" wide. Many years have passed since I seen those tracks & measured them. Same goes for that 40-lb coyote. However, if my measurements were off a tad on the coyote. Those measurements will still put you in the general ball park. I'm elderly what can I say. lol!
Because I can not edit my posts(I have no idea why?). I thought more on the 40-lb coyote's measurements. It's been 20 yrs or so ago & I have had a mild stroke since then. So some of my memory is fragmented or lost. Not to mention I'm in my 70's. You know how that goes.
As for the measurements. I posted those measurements to the best of my recall. Shoulder height & depth of chest. I do remember, so they are accurate. As for the body length in a standing position. For some reason 36" sticks in my head. But thinking more on that since my post. 36" I believe is a tad long. So that 40 lb coyote, most likely was a little shorter by a few inches, from it's chest to it's rump.