
Winter to Winter Movements 
To clarify the amount of return and the amcunt of permanent 
drift resulting from the down-country movements in the fall and winter, 
it was necessary to mark and release some coyotes during those seasons 
at the lower altitudes. Obviously it was impossible to attempt tagging 
at the many distant points to which Park coyotes had drifted with the 
expectation that any significant number would ever find their way back 
to the Park and be recovered there. The only solution was to confine 
Winter tagging to nearby areas. The area chosen was a 20 mile section —- 
5 miles inside the Park and 15 miles outside ~ astride the main migration 
route down the valley of the Yellowstone River. Sixty-nine coyotes, 
including 35 classed as pups and 34 as adults, were marked and released 
there in the fall and winter. It was at times difficult to distinguish 
between large pups and yearlings this late in the season, but it is be- 
lieved that mistakes, if any, were few in number, 
Twenty-two of the 69 coyotes tagged in the fall and winter were 
killed during those seasons, mostly a few months after tagging. As 
shown in Figure 5, 11 adults and 5 pups were taken nearby, 3 pups and 1 
adult had gone farther down=country, and 2 adults had turned back into 
the Park. The area of fall and winter tagging was an especially dangerous 
one for tagged coyotes, and the fact that twice as many adults as pups 
were killed near the tagging points suggests that fewer of the younger 
animals had remained long in that. vicinity. Their chances for survival 
increased as they traveled away from the Park because of the intense 
hunting pressure along the boundary during big-game season. However, 
this lease on life may have terminated abruptly if migrating coyotes 
journeyed 0 airline miles to an area in which the Montana Predator 
Control district annually placed winter 1080 stations for coyote controle 
If killed in that manner there would be little chance for tag recoverye 
Thirteen of the 69 coyotes (Figure 6) tagged in the fall and 
winter were recovered in the spring and summer. Five (3 adults and 2 
pups) were taken nearby. Three animals had contimed on beyond the 
Park boundary - 1 pup 34 airline miles to the east, another 50 miles to 
the north, and a third (a young female of uncertain age at the time of 
tagging but called a pup when killed because it had not yet bred) 8 
airline miles to the northwest. Five coyotes had traveled 9 to 29 aire 
line miles to higher elevations back into the Park ~ 3 were older adults, 
1 probably a yearling, and the fifth a pup. 
