How the "black coyote" originated?

[Teamroper]

A hunting buddy of mine up in PA and I were talking last night and the subject come up about the black color phase of coyotes that are scattered around. A friend down here (in Tn.) just got one last week and he said that there was a pair of them when he shot his. My friend in Pa. said that he showed the pic to some coyote hunters up there and they said that they never knew they existed.
So my question is this. Does anyone know how the "black coyote" originated or what causes the black color factor to come into affect?    

[HaMeR]

Since I know very little about the coyote to begin with I'll offer this link.

http://phenotypic-blog.blogspot.com/2008/12/gallery-melanism.html

HTH

[Hidehunter]

Let me start by saying that I have know idea what i'm talking about lol but melanistic is supposed to be very rare.  You tend to see and hear of alot more black yotes than you do deer or anything else for that matter.  I wonder why they carry the gene so much easier or if its melanistic at all.

[vvarmitr]

Know what God said when He made the first black coyote?

Oops, I burnt one.

:roflmao:  :roflmao:  :roflmao:

[Teamroper]

Vvarmintr that was just too good! I have walked around for the last five minutes laughing over that one. You the man. Who needs a biologist to figure that one out!


:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:

[alscalls]

 :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:

[markTNhunter]

i have killed on jet black coyote and called in another and let him get away i cant take all the cedit for the one i killed,MIKE (buckcrazy)called it in i killed it sorry mike bout forgot (LOL).BUCKCRAZY also caught one in atrap he moutnted it ill get him to post a pic.a farmer on one the farms i hunt says hes seen a black one.ive not seen it yet.there seems to be a few here i TENNESSEE.i asked a friend of mine who is a gamewarden about them and he says they think along the way the eastern coyote  crossed with timber wolves and thats why the black ones pop up every now and then because of the wolf gene some of them carry.now i dont know if thats actual studie or just an educated guess.

[buckcrazy]

i have no idea what cause some of them two be black but there is several of them in east tn. i usually mount one or two a year. caught a real nice one two years ago in a snare 43 pounds. one got one to mount this year and he came from letcher co ky.

[Silencer]

Here's one taken just over the border in NY State last week by the guys with the hounds my boy hunts with.

[pitw]

How do you guys tell if they are dog or coyote down there?  What I saw told me you make a lot of "snap" shots and that don't allow a lot of time to figure it out .

[alscalls]

You can tell......

[Jimmie in Ky]

If it's cone headed and the tail hangs straight , Kill it !! Sometimes it is hard when they come in so many colors here. Out in the counties though we are seeing more normal coat patterns this year. Jimmie

[Huntinfool]

I asked a biologist around here and he said it was just a color phase that they didn't know much about! And that he didn't know how rare it actually is whether one black shows up out every 100 yotes or out of 1000 yotes. I think it's somewhere between that number myself.

I know of three taken in WV in one year, hundreds of miles apart. My neighbor trapped a nice one, one was hit by a vehicle and the other shot by a deer hunter.

Here's the trapped one I would mount him in a minute but the guy just had him tanned. I'd love to get one in my sights!





~HF~

[alscalls]

You can tell......

After ya shoot em........

[pitw]

  I would mount him in a minute
~HF~

You guys down there mount everything .  No wonder the woman are so responsive to a foreigner .

[Huntinfool]

Yep I guess most of us try to mount the women too! 

~HF~

[CCP]

Black coyotes with the white spots on there chest are known to be mixed decedents of the red wolf.The last known wild red wolves captured were black with a white chest. It seems to me the black coyote has become more plentiful since the reintroduction of the red wolf also.

Alot of animals go through color phases but the black coyote seems to be more of a geographical location which would make someone conclude there is another factor involved other than just color phase.


Here is a small article someone on another board posted I will try and find another more detailed one. 

http://www.jstor.org/pss/3670332

[Hidehunter]

I didnt know that CCP...Good Info!!