Poor Coyote Dental Health and Geese

RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
5,064
3,342
Pestletown, N.J.
Today my son and I were doing a two part goose and coyote hunt deep in the pines.
Not a very logical combination of target species but we mangaged to score both, sort of.
It was a very crappy weather day but any day spent in the big woods is a good day in my book.

We returned to an area where I shot a coyote a few weeks ago and after a vehicle trashing 4 mile jaunt through broken ice slabs in every mudhole, we made it back to where we wanted to be.
Actually, we went a little beyond my favorite spot and we loaded with some BBB steel to look for few honkers first.
While walking the edge of the water I almost tripped over a beautiful but dead blonde phase coyote.

Here he is as we found him.

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We poked and prodded and did our best forensics on available tracks and we concluded that he was killed elsewhere and dumped.
His tracks were nowhere to be found and only a few faint, old boot tracks were in the general vicinity.
My opinion on his cause of death was based on the position of the head as we found him. It was completely twisted backwards in an unnatural position.
Of all the animals I have found dead in the woods, either shot or found dead from other causes such as starvation and freeezing, have either had their head laid naturally out in front, if shot, or curled into their body if they died from freezing.

We examined the canine closely and could not find a bullet hole or any other wounds and there was no blood in the snow around or under him. We theorized that he was a pretty old dog based on his tooth wear and losses.
Currently in this coyote/fox permit season, you can shoot a coyote with up to T size fine shot or a muzzleloading rifle during daylight hours and shotgun only at night.

His gums looked diseased and he was missing one upper canine and one lower canine. The incisors were in very poor condition and most were missing. The existing canines were broken and one looked badly diseased.
I have read that their lifespan in the wild can be up to 15 years and I think he might have been getting close based on his dental records.

Here are the pics:

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I am going to try and skin him tomorrow and salvage the hide. It is still partiallly frozen and I am hoping that the fur stays intact. I am a life long hunter and a novice trapper and it bothers me to see an animal tossed aside like this with absolutely no part being used.

On the way out we stopped at a an area where I had been hearing geese during muzzleloader season and with a little team work, we managed two Canadas.
We had to go back home and get Hank and Murphy to make the retrieves because they didn't fall as planned.
Hank did the brain work and Murph hung on for the ride.

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We just had the geese for dinner, sliced thin in a brown mushroom gravy, fresh Aversa rolls and my homemade pickled long hots.

It was indeed a good day in the woods.
 

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,693
4,864
Pines; Bamber area
We just had the geese for dinner, sliced thin in a brown mushroom gravy, fresh Aversa rolls and my homemade pickled long hots.

Cool story and photos Scott.

PS: Don't go out in the woods tomorrow. The PBX crew knows how you can get after an evening of long hots.
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,984
8,737
Do you think they just killed it to kill it, or once they killed it they were not happy with the age?

Guy
 

RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
5,064
3,342
Pestletown, N.J.
Do you think they just killed it to kill it, or once they killed it they were not happy with the age?

Guy

It's hard to say Guy.
There is no law that requires you to make use of your kill when it comes to furbearers.
There used to be a section of the NJ game code that prohibited "wanton waste" of game species but I can't find it in the full body of the current law. (Title 7 Chapter 25 of NJAC)

Unfortunately, if you let some people purchase a permit to shoot something, they're going to shoot something.
The excessive deer kills in the brown and down zones really bother me. I know of guys that just want to shoot deer and don't want the meat.

Proper handling of furbearers after a catch or kill is an unbelieveable amount of work and a lot of people don't want to be bothered with skinning, fleshing and stretching. There is no real money in trapping but everything is still marketable locally. (T. Zander in West Deptford) A well handled coyote would probably only bring about $18.00

I am an amatuer trapper and my first successful snare of a prime coat red fox is being full body mounted.
The coyote I shot a few weeks ago is getting shoulder mounted.
Anything else that I am successful with this year will be skinned, fleshed and dried and given to friends.
I can't fully explain what I like about trapping but it stirs something very primal in me and brings out an awareness of animal presence and movement down to an almost microscopic level.
 

Hewey

Piney
Mar 10, 2005
1,042
110
Pinewald, NJ
That is a real pretty color phase on that coyote. He sure has some banged up teeth. Thats a great picture of Hank and Murph.

Chris
 

46er

Piney
Mar 24, 2004
8,837
2,144
Coastal NJ
Looks like a very fresh carcass as the gums are still moist and have good color, have the mottled appearance of a domestic dog. No entry/exit spots? Perhaps a road kill, but why dump it there. Had rigor set in yet? Perhaps when you skin it you'll find the cause. Beautiful animal.
 

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,693
4,864
Pines; Bamber area
Like Timber Rattlers, they seem to have a light and dark phase. That is the color of the one I saw trotting alongside Lacey Road about 10 years ago.
 

RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
5,064
3,342
Pestletown, N.J.
The autopsy results are in !
He was shot, with fine lead shot, probably 4's.
A few pellets in the neck appeared to be the fatal wounds. Very few penetrated past the hide in the chest area.
Me and my son case skinned him and the hide is in good condition I brushed out the fur and it is looking prime. It is a very large pelt as you will see in the picture.
I will probably have it tanned. I am glad to see the fur recovered from such a beautiful animal.

img_0811.jpg
 

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,693
4,864
Pines; Bamber area
Get down off that chair...you'll break your neck!

Nice pelt. You know, I haven't seen a fox in years. I wonder if coyote eat them.
 

woodjin

Piney
Nov 8, 2004
4,358
340
Near Mt. Misery
What a great day, Scott. It is a shame people are shooting and leaving the carcass out there. It is good to know you are harvesting it with the pelt, and it looks like a real nice one.

Jeff
 

Sue Gremlin

Piney
Sep 13, 2005
1,288
245
61
Vicksburg, Michigan
Here he i

His gums looked diseased and he was missing one upper canine and one lower canine. The incisors were in very poor condition and most were missing. The existing canines were broken and one looked badly diseased.
I have read that their lifespan in the wild can be up to 15 years and I think he might have been getting close based on his dental records.

Here are the pics:

img_0807.jpg


img_0808.jpg


img_0804.jpg
What makes you say the coyote has gum disease? His teeth are not perfect (he sure could use some braces!) but his gums actually look remarkably good. There is little to no tartar on the teeth and there is no redness or exudate from the gums around the teeth.

Despite some being missing, his teeth actually look remarkably healthy to me. I agree that these are the teeth of an old dog.
Did you notice the body condition of this animal? Was he in good flesh?
 

Furball1

Explorer
Dec 11, 2005
378
1
Florida
Yes

Hi Sue---yeah, there's no tartar and the gingiva does look healthy. I'm in the dental industry (humans) and this is definitely not "trash mouth", just a little endentulous--which I guess can eventually lead to a wild animals demise. Here in Florida it is "open season" for Coyotes. A friend of mine shoots them when deer hunting and she says they "stink to high heaven of skunk smell". There's so much road kill, too, I'm sure a Coyote can survive fine on that...the animal does not appear to be starving.
 

RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
5,064
3,342
Pestletown, N.J.
What makes you say the coyote has gum disease? His teeth are not perfect (he sure could use some braces!) but his gums actually look remarkably good. There is little to no tartar on the teeth and there is no redness or exudate from the gums around the teeth.

Despite some being missing, his teeth actually look remarkably healthy to me. I agree that these are the teeth of an old dog.
Did you notice the body condition of this animal? Was he in good flesh?

I guess I was focused on the mottling of the upper gum area.
After just giving my springer a once over I see that his gums are similarly mottled. In fact, our springer has a black and red mottled roof to his mouth.
The coyote was pretty healthy and we observed some subcutaneous tallow around the hind quarters as we skinned him. Nothing along the backstraps as we are used to seeing on a healthy deer. With deer being an ungulate, maybe they have different fat storage mechanisms ???

I am sending out the hide next week for tanning.
 

Sue Gremlin

Piney
Sep 13, 2005
1,288
245
61
Vicksburg, Michigan
I guess I was focused on the mottling of the upper gum area.
After just giving my springer a once over I see that his gums are similarly mottled. In fact, our springer has a black and red mottled roof to his mouth.
The coyote was pretty healthy and we observed some subcutaneous tallow around the hind quarters as we skinned him. Nothing along the backstraps as we are used to seeing on a healthy deer. With deer being an ungulate, maybe they have different fat storage mechanisms ???

I am sending out the hide next week for tanning.
They do store fat differently, in a dog in good flesh, they'll have fat on their butt, behind the elbows and in the abdomen. If he was in generally good flesh without noticeable skinniness in the ribs, it may very well have been trauma. His head turned back like that makes me think he was hit by a car, not very likely out there, eh?
That mottling is normal pigmentation, like you saw on your dawgs.
 
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