Coyotes in southern NJ?

[Sterling]

It's not the norm here...but with construction and development, I would not doubt it. But I don't know if I am in fact hearing a coyote. I've heard wolves and coyotes in the wild while camping etc..... But for them to be so close to home and the farm is unsettling. What I'm hearing usually wakes me up at like 2:00 in the morning. It's been going on for a couple of months. Last night it woke me up totally. Sounded like a few critters in the pack and there is this high jubilent yipping sound...a real ruckus if you ask me, but they sound so happy! Then it sounds as if it's getting farther away and stops completely. I've got the chickens enclosed pretty good, but my concern is my horses. I like to let them out in the corrals most times, and not lock them in the barn at night unless I have to. But if what I'm hearing is coyotes and not fox then that may have to change.

I've listened to fox noises online and they sound more screechy...whereas the noise of a coyote can sound high pitched and more like what I'm hearing. I called the PD this morning and they are going to report it to Animal Control and let me know if others have reported sightings or noises as well. For those of you that have experience with this type of noise do you think it is a pack of coyotes, wild dogs(can they make the same noises?), fox (altho I'm not sure because the screechy part that I've heard on line does not sound like what I'm hearing.....) I can;t think of any other animal that would sound like this. They aren't barking or howling.....it's high pitched happy yipping sounds.

 

[Minimor]

From your description I would say coyotes. Not foxes, we have foxes here and never have I heard them screaming en masse--usually there is a single fox, and it will scream once in awhile, sometimes quite regularly, but it would never sound like there is a group of foxes all together. If they are very plentiful we might hear one scream close by, and another somewhere further away, in a different direction--they give just a single scream that is sometimes a screech, sometimes a hoarse screech, sometimes almost a cat-like noise. Coyotes have a great range of voices. Sometimes they howl, sometimes they yip, sometimes it is a joyful sound, sometimes mournful, sometimes they have a real quaver to the howl, sometimes it's more like a warbling sound! Sometimes when they are chasing down a fawn there will be some real excited yips and squeals. We have commented more than once on various unusual cries that we hear from the coyotes.

I don't worry too much about the horses when coyotes are around, at least not the mature Minis, especially since most of mine are the bigger B size ones. Foals are more of a concern, and if the coyotes are being a problem otherwise (like the year they were coming in here & hunting our cats, right in our yard just feet from our front deck--and they would sit in the corral and watch us do chores) then I start to be more worried about the Minis, particularly the smaller ones. Here coyotes do kill calves, and those aren't just new born calves, some are a good size, bigger than quite a few Minis--so when they can & do take down those larger calves, they could certainly get a Mini if the situation were right--one little horse by itself, or one that is in with the herd but may be injured or lame--anything that the coyotes may see as a weakness to make that one horse easy prey.

I do not take coyotes for granted and do NOT want them around. They are a threat to the cats, and can be dangerous to dogs--they do often try and lure a dog away from the yard, and once they have it out away from home they attack and kill it. I know someone that had that happen just recently--they didn't actually kill the dog, but they sure tore it up. The owners heard the fight & went out in time to break it up & save their dog.

If any start coming in here again I will call a hunter to dispatch them--the nice thing about coyotes is that they are generally easy to call in, so you don't have to wait night after night for them to come in--you can just call them in & dispose of them. Last time we had a problem with them the hunter that came out called them & got 2--it must have been the problem 2 because after that we didn't have any coming in here.

 

[Sterling]

Thanks for your reply Minimor. Thats what I thought about the fox...that they don't run around in packs like Coyotes do, after some research online. I am definitely going to keep an eye out and keep my antennas up. I appreciate your information and will keep my smaller critters enclosed. It's a neat sound the coyotes make, and I respect them in the wild, just don't want them any closer and coming to "visit" my farm.

 

[Reble]

My husband seen two coyotes just outside our pasture our female Bernese would not stop running out and coming in barking, so hubby investigated and seen them just over our electric fence drinking in our stream.

Called a couple of hunters but it was when it was so hot, so he thought it was too hot for the hounds to track in such warm temps.

Just kept the minis in for about a week and they only go out during the day.

Night they are locked in from the pasture.

Our next door neighbor has been missing a lot of cats and kittens.

Just a few miles away they have spotted a bob cat. You never know what too expect with wild life now a days, since we take over more areas for farming & housing.

 

[Miniv]

From your description it does sound like coyotes........And I wouldn't question since they are known to live in L.A.!

We have them and know where their den is but it's on someone else's property. We've only had them circle round and get ONE of our minis in all of these years. She wasn't even a foal....but she had a "handicap" from birth and limped.........

It was Mother Nature working when they went for her, but they forget that there are HUMANS in the mix. She received two major puncture wounds, which we've been nursing. The coyotes come around still, but Larry has made it clear that she's OFF LIMITS........ Interestingly they aren't at interested in the foals.

The young mare, "Chocolate Ice", is doing great. When an animal fights you to get treatment, you know things are on the right track.

 

[bevann]

From your description it does sound like coyotes........And I wouldn't question since they are known to live in L.A.!

We have them and know where their den is but it's on someone else's property. We've only had them circle round and get ONE of our minis in all of these years. She wasn't even a foal....but she had a "handicap" from birth and limped.........

It was Mother Nature working when they went for her, but they forget that there are HUMANS in the mix. She received two major puncture wounds, which we've been nursing. The coyotes come around still, but Larry has made it clear that she's OFF LIMITS........ Interestingly they aren't at interested in the foals.

The young mare, "Chocolate Ice", is doing great. When an animal fights you to get treatment, you know things are on the right track.

I would think it probably is coyotes.Seems like they are everywhere. People around here in Delaware were told for years that we had none.Then some hunters had cameras on their deer trails and saw them on the video.Several were sighted near a developement in my town last year.Natural Resources finally admitted that they are here and were introduced to help control the deer population

 

[Sterling]

Thank you for your replies ladies. The more research I do the more I know they are coyotes. As a matter of fact I found an article online where the town just 7 minutes away from us reported hunters seeing them out and about. Seems like they are migrating from up north or like Bevann mentioned, were probably dropped off to control the deer population.

 

[vickie gee]

Coyotes are plentiful in Texas! Last full moon when I would be out feeding horses around 5:00 a.m. before heading out to work they were making some noise! Even though it sounds so wicked in a way I love it! Reminds me of camping/deer hunting trips and all the excitement involved back in my younger days. As crazy young adults we even used to play the recorded injured rabbit sounds real loud out in the pasture at night and call them up. We never shot at them because when they got close in and loud we would get scared and run for the truck! On a serious note, they are very sly and will lure your dog out to join them in play and then have it for supper. My parents used to have to chain their beagle out on the patio because the coyotes were so brave they would come up in the back yard and invite Clyde to "come play." We have lots of red foxes here as well. They have made their den under a pole barn not in use. My neighbor has lost a lot of chickens to them. A couple of years ago a female that obviously had babies in the woods would step out in the trail when I would go for a walk and bark and fuss at me. She was cute but I always was thinking how painful they say rabies shots are. I was glad she and I always just kept it at a standoff.

Like others I don't think they would attack a mini other than a foal. The birthing smell attracts them. When my mare had her colt Easter morning at 4:00 a.m. I noticed my mare really listening to them yelp over in the neighbor's pasture. He has a cattle ranch. I wasn't worried because we have guard dogs. I guess the mare was though because after making sure the newborn was healthy I laid back down in my chair in my "room" out in the barn and took a two hour nap. When I woke up I went to make sure she had passed the placenta. She had buried it in the cedar chips in her stall. Hope the coyotes don't become a problem there for you but it does sound like that is what you are hearing.

 

[Sterling]

Even though it sounds so wicked in a way I love it!

I agree! I have always loved the sound of wolves and coyotes out in the plains...and when I lived in CA. Imagine my surprise when I started hearing them running in a pack at night here in the Wharton State Forest!

Thanks for sharing your experience with me. We have red fox a plenty in this area, they seem timid and don't approach real close, but my neighbor in the back of us has had his chicken house raided by fox and racoons. I need to warn him about the coyotes. Where my chicken house is closer to my house his sits off wayyyy back.

 

[Hosscrazy]

Definitely sounds like coyotes - we also have plenty of them around us. Every night there are 2 coyotes that pass through the property. Not sure where they are going, but they don't stop ... they just keep going through to wherever their nightly destination is.

They don't bother the minis, but we keep our cat indoors at night.

Liz R.

 

[wingnut]

There are coyotes in Maryland I've been told. My sister used to work on Aberdeen Proving Grounds and saw them there. She thought she was going crazy the first few times she saw them (she worked the overnight shift when the coyotes would be moving about). I don't thing there a big problem here yet, but they are here.

So, I can imagine that they'd likely be a few in NJ.

 

[Sterling]

Yes they're indeed here. They say they are migrating from northern NJ which is mountainous. Thanks for all your replies. I've got my antennas up...but as many of you mentioned I don't think they'd be a threat...yet. They seem to be running around at night and having fun then, when all of my animals are up close to the house or closed in.

 

[Double T]

Yep coyotes are bad in TX! To put it mildly the reason we have NO barn cats is because of coyotes! We moved here with 5, two had kittens one had 2 and the other 3. We have NO cats left! They will eat your dogs and not jsut the little ones, they'll lure a big one out and then gang up on him, and have been known to jump 5 foot fences grab a small dog and jump back over with it. Have had two friends/fam members loose jrt's to them, one would of been carried off if not for her husband's catahoula dogs that chased the coyotes off. Ours dont' get jsut really big and I don't worry too much about the grown mini's with them, although everyone is penned up at night too, but the mares and foals are stalled at night in a secure stall, and once one foals we haul the after birth wayy off as soon as we can to not draw them up, but I've heard 'em sitting out in the brush prob 200 or so yards from the pens in the evenings and morning yipping. We are on a cattle ranch so if they are seen they are exterminated.

 

[Sterling]

I've not heard them this week like I did in the weeks past. Could be they're moving around to new territory....? Still keep my antennas up especially since now I know they are here. Have been talking to more and more people and they do tell me that there have been sightings of packs of coyotes. Hunters especially see them in this area...so they are out there. I don't have small dogs, but I do have a cat who is indoors and only goes out while in an enclosed area during the day. Chickens get locked in at night and horses are brought up close to the house.

 

[Double T]

I've not heard them this week like I did in the weeks past. Could be they're moving around to new territory....? Still keep my antennas up especially since now I know they are here. Have been talking to more and more people and they do tell me that there have been sightings of packs of coyotes. Hunters especially see them in this area...so they are out there. I don't have small dogs, but I do have a cat who is indoors and only goes out while in an enclosed area during the day. Chickens get locked in at night and horses are brought up close to the house.

They will make a circle, although not sure how big of one. And sometimes if the natural prey is scarce or they figure otu that the domestic animals are easier they'll move in too. I say that cuase we have TONS of natural prey here and it hasn't deterred them from trying to snack on my domestic animals.

 

[Sterling]

They will make a circle, although not sure how big of one. And sometimes if the natural prey is scarce or they figure otu that the domestic animals are easier they'll move in too. I say that cuase we have TONS of natural prey here and it hasn't deterred them from trying to snack on my domestic animals.

Thanks Teresa...I will definitely keep that in mind. AND keep my animals under wraps. I think you're right about coming back full circle. It's been a couple of months since I first heard them...then there was a spell where I didn't and then they started up again. Now I'm at that part where I've not heard them in a couple of weeks, but would not be surprised if/when I do hear them again.

 

[Reble]

I just got word today, 3 coyotes where captured, right near us.

Sure hope the 2 my husband seen out near our minis where 2 of them. We had them as close as the barn door one night heard them on our camera, and my minis where circling like crazy, this was early spring.

 

[Sterling]

I just got word today, 3 coyotes where captured, right near us.

Sure hope the 2 my husband seen out near our minis where 2 of them. We had them as close as the barn door one night heard them on our camera, and my minis where circling like crazy, this was early spring.

Thats good to know they were captured especially if they had gotten that close to your barn and horses. Have not had an episodes YET of them getting real close.....but am keeping tabs on it. We'll see how things go once the fall season goes on and winter arrives as wild food will be scarce for them.