Bulletin 320 CONTROL OF THE COYOTE IN CALIFORNIA 



383 



Breeding dens are carefully selected by the female with a view 

 to effective concealment. The dens are thus usually difficult to locate 

 unless the female is watched or her tracks to the den are followed. 

 The location and construction of the den varies with the topography 

 of the countiy, as will be seen from the following instances. At Red- 

 rock Valley, Siskiyou County, on June 7, J. 0. Miller found a coyote 

 den with six pups about five weeks old. This den was located in the 

 base of a dead fir stub about twenty feet high and four feet in diameter 

 at the ground. The center of the stub was rotten and the nest cham- 

 ber, three and a half feet in diameter, had evidently been dug out 

 entirely by the parent coyote. The single entrance to the den was 

 through a hole about fifteen inches in diameter at the base of the 

 stub. No nest material other than the dry earth and rotten wood 

 was noted in this den. 



At Earlimart, Tulare County, May 21, George Towne found a 

 coyote den on the bare open plain. The distance from the mouth of 

 the burrow to the nest cavity was twenty-six feet. There were several 

 lateral extensions of the burrow and the greatest depth reached was 

 five and a half feet. The top of the nest cavity was less than two feet 

 below the surface of the ground. This cavity, some three feet in 

 diameter, contained five half-grown young. 



As soon as young coyotes are able to walk, the mother often moves 

 them from the old den to a new locality, and a mere visit by a person 

 to a den containing small pups will frequently cause the mother to 

 abandon that den and to carry the pups to a new location some dis- 

 tance away. The male coyote may assist some in procuring food for 

 the young, but he apparently does not share in the actual care of them 

 until the}^ are of considerable size and begin to learn to hunt for them- 

 selves. 



METHODS OF DESTRUCTION 



The four most effective methods of destroying coyotes are: (1) 

 trapping; (2) poisoning with strychnine; (3) digging out dens con- 

 taining young; (4) shooting. 



WHICH METHOD TO USE 



Trapping is a safe method, saves valuable pelts, when done at 

 the proper season, and can be used by anyone at any time. 



Poisoning with strychnine is advisable where coyotes are killing 

 stock, or in other cases where quick results at any cost must be 

 secured. The valuable pelt of the coyote as well as that of other 

 fur bearers is almost sure to be lost by this method. 



