If you talk to any hunter around NC or do a quick google search it is easy to figure out that we are being encroached upon by the wily Eastern Coyote. Or perhaps we have encroached on him. In either case encounters with these wild dogs are becoming more and more common all over North Carolina, including the triangle area. I have written a very similar post in the past, but in the past few weeks at Raleigh Country Club, basically in the heart of Raleigh, there has been a fury visitor roaming the grounds. While the coyote hasn't been spotted in two weeks, for about a week before that he made several appearances during regular working hours in broad daylight. He was spotted one morning at 9:30 standing on one of the greens not 50 yards from the main clubhouse. While the NCWRC website linked above lists coyotes in this area topping out at around 44 pounds, I saw this one in person and I estimate him/her to be closer to 55 pounds.Regardless of my opinion on its size, animal control was called to set traps since you cant have a coyote mingling with golfers. To date there has been only a raccoon caught in the trap and no more sightings of the coyote.Maybe he went back where ever he came from or maybe he just got smart, who knows. The greenway for the city of Raleigh is not far at all from the golf course, perhaps he found a safe place along that trail. One thing I learned is that if you are suspicious a coyote may be roaming around your area, look for sign. Scat was seemingly easy to find, holes dug in search of moles and voles where abundant and a deer carcass dumped by hunters was found in pieces throughout the golf course. Even if I had never seen the coyote it was pretty clear that something similar was taking up residence close by. I will keep you posted on this on going story, but in the mean time, I would love to hear other stories of coyote encounters in North Carolina. Shoot me an email or just leave a comment.
I've had a number of yote encounters but thus far none when I've had an opportunity to put a hole in one. lol I've seen them and heard them around the house mostly at night. It's funny when I talk with my neighbors and many of them are unaware of the yotes presences.
ReplyDeleteAt the hunt camp we have had a situation where a hunter had to fight yotes that had laid claim to a buck he had killed. Since that day we never retrieve a game animal without weapons.
Yotes are really taking hold in NC especially the triangle.
I am in Wake Forest and each spring I see them as road kill on 98 near the trash collection center. I have not seen many hunting however, about a year ago, my sisters came to visit from Virginia. They wanted to get an early start and we were in the drive way packing up shortly before first light. I guess we heard about 4 coyotes howling. First and only time I heard them but it was confirmation of their presence in the Triangle.
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