Quebec Canada Represent

[Le Coyote]

Probably not a great idea to make my first post this long. I could just say hi but I's a talka!

Brand new to the forum. I've looked around the internet quite a bit on this topic but somehow overlooked this site until yesterday. In my opinion, no matter the subject, you can always learn something by associating with folks who do a something a whole lot better than you .

I'm from Gaspe, Quebec, Canada. For those who understandably choose to spare themselves the pain of reading all of the rambling monologue which follows I'd like to say that as a novice, I welcome all suggestions from the forum and would particularily like to know whether you feel a remote electronic call is a must have when hunting areas where line of site is usually 40 yards or less.

Here is a pic of 2 snared by a local trapper 2 years ago. We have some big'uns!!

I hunted all my life until a move to Ontario in the late 90's but haven't really had the urge to go back to chasing my old targets since returning to rural Quebec 5 years ago. I am an Atlantic Salmon guide throughout the Summer months but I have recently begun occupying my free time in the Fall with the mystifying, dumbfounding (at least to me), and in our area, pretty much unknown sport of Coyote Hunting. Now the Coyote population here is somewhat new, say 30 years since we saw the first ones, and seems to follow the deer population rather closely when it comes to numbers. This is an environment that has always favored Moose, particularly since the wide scale logging made the cuts they thrive in commonplace. That being said a few winters with light snow usually allows the deer pop to increase and the Coyotes, who use them as their primary food source in winter months, increase with them. Inevitably a winter of heavy snow comes along, the dogs decimate the deer, boom for half a year then virtually disappear and the cycle begins again. We've seen it happen a couple of times since their first appearance on the scene.

Nobody really targets these predators around here and most harvests are opportunity kills while on stand for Moose. Frankly, I had no idea anyone really 'hunted' for them in any part of the world and only became aware and interested when I first saw yhat Predator Hunter guy on TV. The dog population was on the increase here so I dusted off my long ignored rifle, ordered a 'Screamin Howler' mouth call and spent the weeks before the season listening to the instructional CD and watching this TV guy out west mow them down in droves.

Season opens, I cammo up and head early morning for a spot I had seen coyotes during the fishing season. I did just what thAT guy did, I snuck our to a hidey spot in the middle of a big field and started distress calling because this is just that easy right? Lets just say that morning was the beginning of a very steep learning curve.

I have hit the books (internet) and put in many hours both scouting and on carefully selected stands. I've tried every part of the day that is legal to hunt, varied call type, frequecy and volume in more ways than I can remember. Cover scents, different cammo, hell I even built a personalized Wild Thing decoy out of an RC toy that placed on its side would whip around a piece of rabbit skin (maybe not my shining moment). Articles about the "special" behavior of the Eastern Coy chased me from the fields and into the brush on the edges.

Over the last 3 years (pop plentiful first 2 years but didn't hunt the 3rd due to pop crash)I have had some excitement and close encounters, but really not more than 5 good shooting opportunities that were anymore than "there he is and there he goes." Fact is there just aren't enough of them in every given year to teach a total novice what tactics are consistently good and allow you to identify mistakes. I don't need to shoot 2 a day and see dozen each day in order for this to be fulfilling. The one certainty I have is that most years (my scouting says big rebound this year) the population is sufficient that hunters who have been successful in higher pop areas could apply their approach here and do much better than I have been. With that, I welcome all suggestions, from the forum and would particularly like to hear from others in the east who succeed under similar conditions.

[Le Coyote]

There is some talk by both laymen and scientists regarding Red wolf genetic component present in the Coyotes this far east. I haven't red an actual published paper with the gene sequencing and comparison (not sure if something that detailed exists) but the speculation seems to at least the aura of scientific authority. The beast on the bottom weighed a whopping 62 lbs which is 33% larger than the high side of avg. Giants exist in all species and this is certainly an anomaly even for here where Males avg mid-high 40s. The picture seems to exaggerate the "beefy" nature of his features. Those who saw him in person say he more closely resembled the one on top that the photo would imply.

[Coyotehunter]

Real quick, the red wolf was small by comparison to the grey. they were found in the southern states and in Mexico. Even if there is evedince of them breeding with coyotes. I do not think it would explain the magnum size of the north eastern coyotes.

[Prairie Ghost]

Welcome aboard. The bottom one in the picture is a gray wolf. A e caller on a remote in your situation could be a valuable tool just to get the sound away from you if the brush is that close you may have animals coming in that are circling you and winding you or seeing you before you know they are there. How prevelant is you grey wolf population? That would change the tactics for calling coyotes in the area to a degree if you have a lot of wolves in the area.

[Le Coyote]

Thanks for the reply guys.

Coyotehunter: I absolutely meant to say Grey Wolf. Don't think Red's, which if I recall correctly are some kind of Wolf/Coyote hybrids themselves, ever ranged north of the US. Thanks for the catch.

Prairie Ghost: There is no Grey Wolf population in the part of Quebec I live in. The nearest thing that could officially be called a Grey wolf would be about 300 miles to the North as the crow flies. However, since they would have to swim across the Gulf of the St.Lawerence River, the walking distance is more like 1200. I have never seen a wild Grey wolf but while living in Ontario I did see a lot of Eastern Wolves, which are officially a Grey/Coyote Hybrid that is a bit smaller than true Greys. The most studied population occurs in Algonquin Park. Based on this animals body structure you are right in saying it resembles one. This of course is where the rubber hits the road with regards to hybridization. It is said that all "Coyotes" in Quebec carry Grey wolf genetics but at what point do they stop being a wolf and start being a coyote or vice versa. As in this case, it is clear that an animal that breeds and lives with other "coyotes" can express some very wolf like features that are present in its genetics.

So in response to your question about the prevalence of the Grey Wolf population in my area; the answer is either: NONE or LOTS depending on how you classify them

END POINTS: The Trapper who caught this showed me a photo he has of him holding it face on to the camera and the Coyote features in its face are much more evident from that angle than they are in this pic. Most of our Coyotes (even the biggest ones) look pretty much like big Coyotes and for what it is worth, the biologists associated with Natural Resources Quebec classify them as Coyotes for the purposes of hunting and trapping.

[Coyotehunter]

interesting. Red wolves are just that, and are a true subspecies. Not a cross bred wolf/coyote. I am always interested in those North Eastern Coyotes. Any studies you want to share would be appreciated on this site. Be specific, we will read them.

[Le Coyote]

Right off the top of my head I would recommend a study of Algonquin park wolves google search: The total dog study Algonquin. This is where I first read about the extent of hybridization once you get away from the true grey wolf pops in the north. He goes off on some interesting but unrelated stuff about the park but read the part about the Taxonomy of these wolves and the surrounding populations. I think this might have also been where I read about the Red Wolf reintroduction projects in the USA using the biggest Wolf/Coyote hybrids they could find because once the original population declined below breeding capability it diluted with Coyotes.

I remember reading a study that had something to do with levels of hybridization and physical attributes being correlated with expansion near or through the heavily populated areas of Southern Ontario and Quebec. I'll try to find it when I have time