Some background on coyote habits may help people understand these encounters and solve any problems that occur. To minimize conflicts, it is important that suburban residents do their part to maintain the natural fear that coyotes have of people. A coyote's diet depends on one thing - what is easiest to find or catch and kill. During the summer, coyotes will feed heavily upon berries, insects, and rodents. During early fall they rely on abundant grasshoppers.
Small mammals become the prey of choice during late fall and winter.
As winter becomes harder and small mammal populations decline, coyotes turn toward their largest prey - whitetail deer. Lacking any carrion, coyotes can, will, and do kill healthy adult deer. Coyotes in the spring time can have an impact on fawn survival in localized areas. After hearing a family group of coyotes howl, it is easy to get the impression that the woods must be overflowing with coyotes. In reality there were probably five or six.