Coyotes do not usually roam in packs, but single-sex groups have been observed. These groups are usually related, and are not as tightly bound as a wolf pack. Coyote packs tend to break up and regroup readily.
Mating season is between January and February. The female chooses her partner, and once chosen, there is little opposition from other male coyotes.
The number of female coyotes breeding and litter size in any year is mostly dependent on food supply. When food resources are plentiful, the number of breeding females and litter size increase.
Coyotes use scent marks to communicate. Urine is used as the primary marker.
Coyote urine contains such information as the gender, dominance status, and breeding status of the coyote.
All coyotes within a pack use scent marks.
However, the dominant male marks more frequently than the rest of the pack.
Scent marks are used to define the borders of a pack's territory, but they do not prevent other packs from entering the area.
However, an intruding pack enters a resident pack's territory with caution, and they do so only when the temptation is too great to pass.
Lone coyotes do not scent mark.
Loners do not want to attract the attention of resident pairs or packs.
Juvenile coyotes who have been temporarily separated from their pack will scent-mark as though they were still traveling with the pack.
|
Attractants and Lures can be broken down into four main categories.
- Food attractants and lures which appeal to the animals hunger and include ingredients in their diet, and indicate to the animal that there is food here.
- Curiosity attractants and lures which are scents that appeal to an animals curiosity.
- Matrix attractants and lures which have scents and musk from female animals that are in heat that appeal to a specific animals nature.
They tend to make the animal not so suspicious, because they think one of their own kind was in the area.
- Gland attractants and lures, usually made from the glands of animals, which also have the effect of making an amimal think that another of his kind is on his turf.
Gland attractants and lures will also plays on the territorial nature of most furbearing animals.
Most furbearing animals establish a home range which they protect from invaders.
The smell of an animal that is not a member of their group will usually cause an investigation.
This also works both ways, because a trespassing animal will also investigate the smell to determine what other animals are in this range and which ones to avoid.
In theory, attractants and lures will provide a smell that an animal will find attractive.
This being the case, some trappers and hunters believe that an attractant or lure will have an overwhelming and mesmerizing effect on the animal, causing it to cover great distances to investigate the area of the scent location.
In practice, lure is most effective when used at sets made very close to the animal's natural line of travel.
An animal is much more likely to investigate a smell that is close by than one that is far off.
Attractants and Lures are not a substitute for reading animal sign or knowing animal habits.
For an animal to be attracted by an attractant or lure, first it must smell the scent of the atrractant or lure.
That seems like a simple statement, but this is one thing that many trappers and hunters fail to consider when making scent dispenser locations.
The smell of the attractant or lure travels on air currents.
If there is a steady air current or a prevailing wind, an animal traveling on the upwind side of a scent dispenser will not smell the attractant or lure.
Attract and lure quantity and scents also need to be adjusted for temperature conditions.
As temperature lowers, attractants and lures give off less smell, and attractant and lure quantity should generally be increased as temperatures go down.
|
|
