Читать книгу Wolf and Coyote Trapping: An Up-to-Date Wolf Hunter's Guide - A. R. Harding - Страница 12

Coyotes have a more regular breeding season than the timber wolves, for practically all of the young make their appearance in the months of April and May. The number of young varies from five to twelve. The young animals are of a yellowish grey color with brown ears and black tail, muzzle tawny or yellowish brown. As they become older they take on a lighter shade and the tail changes to greyish with a black tip. Both wolves and coyotes pair for the breeding season and the males stay with the females during the summer and help take care of the young. It is probable that they do not breed until two years of age. As soon as the young are strong enough, and their eyes are open they commence to play about the mouth of the den and later on the mother leads them to the nearest water and finally allows them to accompany her on hunting excursions. In late summer they start out to shift for themselves.

As before mentioned, the coyote is a wary and cunning animal, especially in the more settled portions of its range; where man is not too much in evidence, they are far less wary. Again the fact that there are several varieties may account for the difference in the nature of the animals of the various sections, anyway those of the southern part of the range are less wary than those of the North. The trappers of Texas, Arizona and New Mexico claim that the coyote is a fool and is easily caught while those of the North and Northwest find them exceedingly cunning and intelligent. Not only does the animal appear to know when you are armed but it also seems to know something of the range of the weapon and will sneak along provokingly close, but just out of reach. When one is unarmed they appear to be more bold and will loaf around in the most unconcerned manner imaginable.

In intelligence and cunning, we consider the northern coyote the equal of the eastern red fox. While the western trappers make very large catches of coyotes, we believe that if foxes were found in equal numbers the catches of those animals would be fully as large. The number of coyotes found in some parts of the West is almost incredible, and in most parts one will find a hundred coyotes to one grey wolf.