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Post by NHGriff on Aug 15, 2010 12:11:18 GMT
This morning my pup woke me up to some barking outside. I took him for a walk near where we had heard it and all was quiet. But as I'm sitting on my deck drinking coffee about 7 a.m. It starts back up again! I was thinking it was a dog because it would bark more than howl and only a little howl at the end of a long bark. It went on for a while so I put my shoes on and slipped into the woods behind the house. The Contoocook is about 400 yards away and it sounded like the dog was on my side of the river. There is an old railroad bed thats now a walking trail between my house and the river. As I'm walking towards it I was beginning to think it was a family pet because of all the barking. I mean this thing was going off like your neighbors dog when it wants to come in. Since I thought it was a dog I whistled at it thinking it was a lost dog. It finally heard me and I see something slinking away and get a quick look as it crossed the bike path. Didn't see it's head but it looked like a nice size coyote. What was weird is that I thought it was gone so I went back home. I wasn't home more than 5 minutes when it started back up again down river. I'm not sure if it was guarding a kill or if it was caught on the wrong side of the river. Any thoughts? Someone want to come on over and take this guy out?
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Post by okanagan on Aug 16, 2010 2:31:32 GMT
NHGriff, it sounds like a coyote alright, and though it is not an everyday thing to have one bark at or near houses, it is something one of them does once in awhile. I don't know why, but have a guess or two. I have observed similar behavior in Southern CA and also in central British Columbia, Canada, and have heard such barking several times in other places.
The coyote in CA would sit on the end of a finger ridge that extended into a flat valley covered with residential houses and stores, and bark about sunrise. All the dogs in the neighborhood, 150 feet below below him and within a half mile circle, would light up a firestorm of barking. The coyote would sit on his haunches, tilt his head and listen. When the dog frenzy slowed to a stop, he would bark again and set them off again. He appeared to be doing it for fun.
In BC, I watched a coyote go from house to rural house, across open fields so I could see a mile in places. He would approach each house and bark at the resident dog. When it replied, he would trot on to the next house. I have observed a lone coyote barking and enticing a dog to chase it away from a house into woods. I don't know what happened to that dog but several reliable observers tell me that in similar circumstances, other coyotes waiting in the woods have attacked and killed the dog that chased one coyote.
I'd guess that your coyote either felt like hassling the neighborhood with barking for some reason, maybe for play, or that he wanted a local dog to chase him perhaps into a trap. Observing animal behavior leaves me speculating "why" the animal does what it does, even when I can use that behavior against it in some cases. They also follow and bark at people in the woods sometimes. I have no idea why except that they are remarkably intelligent, curious and playful... as well as cruel by human standards.
You had an interesting experience, no matter what motivated the coyote! Good field observation on your part. We all learn from that. Thank you.
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