CanÌƒon City record. [volume] (CanÌƒon City, Colo.) 1883-192?, 1905-11-30
RADIANCE or COYOTES
Results of Agricultural Depart
ment's Tests In Oklahoma.
STUDY MADE OF THEIR HABITS

to Find Means to Exterminate the
Pest Keep the Beasts Out of
Fields, Hns Devised a Coyote Proof
Woven Wire Fence to Protect Do
nestle Animals.
Professor David E. Lantz, assistant
in the biological survey of the United
States department of agriculture, has
returned to Washington after finishing
more than years work in southwest
ern Oklahoma studying the habits of
coyotes and devising means for their
destruction by farmers and ranchmen,
says Chattanooga (Okla) dispatch TO
the Kansas City Star. He has been
ascertaining If a fence of reasonable
cost can be built for the protection of
live stock and poultry from depreda-
tions of these marauders of the west
ern prairies. Improbable though 1t
may seem, coyotes have increased In
numbers in Oklahoma since the coun-
try was settled. This condition pre-
walls in other western states where
wild land has been reclaimed by set
tement
'The state of Kansas" says Profess
or LantZ, where settlements are com
paratively old and where mans vel
fare against the coyote has been long
continued, affords an excellent illus
tration of the animals ability to main
tain its numbers under seemingly ad-
verse circumstances. Most of the coun-
nj ha faf fa for hox
paid bounties for killing coyotes, and
conditions have been reached where
there is little fiuctuation in the total
amount paid from year to year. The
returns of the animals killed for the
fiscal twelve months from July 1, 1903.
to June 80, 1904, shows that nearly 90
900 coyote scalps were presented for
bounty. The bounty was 81 for each
scalp"
The prey of coyotes is mostly pigs,
sheep, young calves and poultry. Coy
otes have little courage, although they
will raid barnyard in daylight. Their
seeming boldness Is due more to ia
miliarity with their surroundings than
to native fearlessness. They are too
suspicious to be easily trapped or poi
where the natives for years have prac-
ticed systematic poisoning. the coyote
Is becoming rare. Coyotes breed once
year. Their mating season is late
in January or early in February. The
young range in number from four to
dozen. The coyote eats both animal
and vegetable food. They are great
pilferers of watermelons in Oklahoma.
always choosing ripe melon.
Practically the only benefit derived
from coyotes by the farmer in Okla
homa is their destruction Of rabbits,
which they pursue and devour when
carrion is scarce or food more easily
obtained cannot be found The big
Jack rabbit for a short distance Is
swifter than coyote. but lacks endur-
ance. Professor Lantz says that while
a single coyote would not be able to
run down a jack rabbit. but hunting
together, taking advantage of the tend
ency of the hare to run in a circle.
they are able to capture it. Eyewit-
nesses to such a performance state
that they fight over the division of the
rabbits carcass, but that all obtain n
share.
Professor Lantz was especially in
terested in providing at reasonable
cost coyote proof woven wire fence
for the protection Of domestic animals
While at Chattanooga he conducted n
number of experiments in the big pas
ture," where President Roosevelt hunt
ed last spring to test the ability of
coyotes to Escape fTem Enclosures. He
had particularly in view the protection
Of sheep, having been told that In the
sheep country in the southwest the nm
nual losses from wild animals amount
ed to 20 per cent of the flock In the
more thickly settled western states the
loss is about 8 per cent
A long lane was first built, with
sides seven feet high. made with poul.
try netting of a small mesh. Fourteen
Cross fences Of heights from thirty to
sixty-six inches and Of various designs
were built at intervals along the lane,
They were arranged SO that the coy