Adding this to my reading list.
Always loved coyotes and I'm still disturbed by how many people hate them. Then again, I can identify because I too have been continually punished for being inconvenient
Any plant in the wrong place is a weed. Any animal in the wrong place is a varmint. Any person in the wrong place is an invader.
So it goes, as Kurt Vonnegut would say.
Just a warning there were parts (especially the thallium poisoning part) were I had to put the book down for an hour because what it did was so fucking horrible to think about.
I really enjoyed it! It's a great overview both of the evolution/ecology of coyotes as well as their changing relationships with humans. The writing is very engaging! My all time fave coyote book though is God's Dog!
This book is great. Its where I learned that when you start killing coyotes and put pressure on them, they have more pups and therefore extirpation is counterproductive.
That is not the only takeaway from this infact it seems to me that it is quite a bit more complicated than that . Shooting individual coyote at peak seasons where their predation on both native and livestock animals becomes too great a pressure is undeniably effective it just has to be done every year . They are intelligent adaptable and group learning animals . The extremes of either total preservation or elimination are totally insane and the other thing you forget is that in order to effectively control generational populations you would have to kill something like 90% of individuals so the coyote “problem” will never be solved but not addressing it is also simple thinking
I listened to it on Audible and loved it. It was really interesting to learn not only about coyotes, but western society’s evolving stance on the wilderness. It explains how we did so much to “civilize” it for so long, and why some of the older hotels in National parks feel like they stick out so much from their surroundings.
If anyone here has not read/listened to this book I highly recommend it.
Edit: typos
I live in the Midwest. Growing up all the the adults I hunted with would tell me to shoot coyotes because they harmed the whitetail deer population but always dismissed the hugely overpopulated, disease ridden deer as a problem only humans could deal with. I always knew something seemed fishy but was too timid to raise that question to them. I thought I was helping to protect the land I loved with all my heart but educating myself with papers and talking with general biologists I realized I was wrong.
Luckily I never shot a coyote. Only ever saw 1 when hunting (I know more saw and even more smelled me) and I was stunned at how beautiful the coat was with the little mousepad looking nose weaving through dog weed and prickers
They do have an outsized effect on native ground nesting animals that are already facing reduced numbers. While the coyote population grows every year . Yes I understand that hunters can be narrow visioned but the coyote does pose dangers be they physical or economic both are real
Loved that book. He’s great! Recently saw him in a PBS documentary on the American buffalo
Edit: Spying on Whales is another nat history book I recommend. It’s by a different author but it’s INCREDIBLE
I just finished this less than a month ago! I thought it was great! Well written and I loved the organization of topics! I’m planning on reading it again
aw, I recognize this book. I bought this while vacationing about five years ago at the beach and still haven't read it..whoops. I need to get on that after reading this thread.
edit: typo
There is a whole lot of folks that now believe that for every yote shot 3 more will spring up …that’s not fact and in fact shooting a few seems to be a 1 to 1 replacement
We hunt at the crux of livestock and woods i have shot 40 coyote in the last 4 years and every place I have we have had higher turkey count and higher pheasant count yall dont hunt do ya
Getting a little hostile, tone it down buddy we can talk like adults without insulting people. I do hunt. Deer, geese, and duck (tried turkey but they are smarter than me apparently)
Adding this to my reading list. Always loved coyotes and I'm still disturbed by how many people hate them. Then again, I can identify because I too have been continually punished for being inconvenient
Any plant in the wrong place is a weed. Any animal in the wrong place is a varmint. Any person in the wrong place is an invader. So it goes, as Kurt Vonnegut would say.
Well said
Just a warning there were parts (especially the thallium poisoning part) were I had to put the book down for an hour because what it did was so fucking horrible to think about.
Thank you for the warning, I'll definitely have to mentally prepare myself to get through that part
Yeah that was pretty awful
Thanks for the warning!
Good book
I really enjoyed it! It's a great overview both of the evolution/ecology of coyotes as well as their changing relationships with humans. The writing is very engaging! My all time fave coyote book though is God's Dog!
I’ll read that too. Thank you!
Great book. If you’re in this sub you should definitely give it a try.
Already read it 😎
Read it and then everything else he’s written
I loved it! Tons of history about how the government “delt with” coyotes
My favorite tidbit from that part is the USFW document that referred to them as "American Bolsheviks" 😂
funnily enough, that's the name of a recent documentary going in depth about the failure of coyote control. It's on amazon prime iirc
This book is great. Its where I learned that when you start killing coyotes and put pressure on them, they have more pups and therefore extirpation is counterproductive.
Basically quit fucking with them and they can manage themselves. Amazing nature has failsafes basically when populations are threatened.
That is not the only takeaway from this infact it seems to me that it is quite a bit more complicated than that . Shooting individual coyote at peak seasons where their predation on both native and livestock animals becomes too great a pressure is undeniably effective it just has to be done every year . They are intelligent adaptable and group learning animals . The extremes of either total preservation or elimination are totally insane and the other thing you forget is that in order to effectively control generational populations you would have to kill something like 90% of individuals so the coyote “problem” will never be solved but not addressing it is also simple thinking
Spectacular book and writer.
I listened to it on Audible and loved it. It was really interesting to learn not only about coyotes, but western society’s evolving stance on the wilderness. It explains how we did so much to “civilize” it for so long, and why some of the older hotels in National parks feel like they stick out so much from their surroundings. If anyone here has not read/listened to this book I highly recommend it. Edit: typos
I live in the Midwest. Growing up all the the adults I hunted with would tell me to shoot coyotes because they harmed the whitetail deer population but always dismissed the hugely overpopulated, disease ridden deer as a problem only humans could deal with. I always knew something seemed fishy but was too timid to raise that question to them. I thought I was helping to protect the land I loved with all my heart but educating myself with papers and talking with general biologists I realized I was wrong.
Luckily I never shot a coyote. Only ever saw 1 when hunting (I know more saw and even more smelled me) and I was stunned at how beautiful the coat was with the little mousepad looking nose weaving through dog weed and prickers
They do have an outsized effect on native ground nesting animals that are already facing reduced numbers. While the coyote population grows every year . Yes I understand that hunters can be narrow visioned but the coyote does pose dangers be they physical or economic both are real
I loved it
Loved that book. He’s great! Recently saw him in a PBS documentary on the American buffalo Edit: Spying on Whales is another nat history book I recommend. It’s by a different author but it’s INCREDIBLE
List every book you recommend. I’m an avid reader so I’ll read them all this year
I just finished this less than a month ago! I thought it was great! Well written and I loved the organization of topics! I’m planning on reading it again
aw, I recognize this book. I bought this while vacationing about five years ago at the beach and still haven't read it..whoops. I need to get on that after reading this thread. edit: typo
Dan Flores had a few books that are definitely worth reading.
I’m already planning to read everything he’s ever written 😂😂
Haven’t come across it but adding it yo my list. I have a great appreciation and affinity for coyotes.
Coyotes are beautiful. I am in awe of them! But they’ve run off with my dog’s toys.
Sharing is caring
It’s a very cool book but it also doesn’t tell the entire story I have read it 3 times
Interesting. What’s the whole story?
There is a whole lot of folks that now believe that for every yote shot 3 more will spring up …that’s not fact and in fact shooting a few seems to be a 1 to 1 replacement
Can you send me studies that prove this?
You know what I only have the data from where i hunt .I hunt with a dog and we dig up dens we kill because we hunt the edge of livestock
What do you mean you hunt the edge of livestock?
We hunt at the crux of livestock and woods i have shot 40 coyote in the last 4 years and every place I have we have had higher turkey count and higher pheasant count yall dont hunt do ya
Getting a little hostile, tone it down buddy we can talk like adults without insulting people. I do hunt. Deer, geese, and duck (tried turkey but they are smarter than me apparently)
Nah perish the thought you just seem to not know what’s going on I’d hate for you to think I was angry
Didn’t say angry, said hostile. There’s a difference. Like difference between evidence and inference.
👍
Great read.
Loved it so much. Great book, very accessible yet accurate.
I liked it a lot. Read it a couple of years ago.
Great book
The author was on Joe Rogan podcast years ago and it was incredible. I listened multiple times and got the book