Coyote calls tend to come after a loss. A lamb, a goat kid, a run of chickens, or a cat that did not come back. By then the animal has a route, a schedule and a reason to return.
Coyote is one of the hardest animals in Maine to take deliberately. They learn quickly, they avoid pressure, and an animal that has been shot at once is a different animal afterward. General pest control work does not build that skill set – predator hunting and trapping does.
We run both approaches depending on the property and the season: calling where the terrain and access support it, and trapping where it does not. On a working farm the answer is usually a combination, along with a frank look at what on the property is drawing them in.
The Maine Animal Damage Control listing describes our coverage as beaver plus mice to coyote, and in practice the predator work includes fox, fisher, weasel and mink around coops and small stock. Fisher and weasel losses in particular get blamed on coyote constantly, and the fix is completely different.
Removal without any change on the property buys you a season. We will tell you where the attractants are – feed storage, carcass disposal, an open compost pile, a gap in fencing, a coop that is secure against raccoon but not against fox. Most farms already know one or two of these. Fixing them makes everything else last longer.
Anthony Thibodeau is listed on the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Animal Damage Control agent directory for Kennebec and Somerset counties, covering Oakland, Belgrade, Rome, Smithfield, Fairfield, Waterville, Sidney, Augusta and Winslow.
Tell us what you are seeing and where, and we will let you know what the job involves. Nuisance wildlife is the one service we run year round.
Call (207) 313-1372Describe the problem
Licensed Animal Damage Control agent · Registered Maine Guides · based in Oakland, Maine
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To poultry, sheep, goats and small pets, yes, and more so around denning season and through late winter when food is scarce. To people, very rarely. Most calls we take are from smallholders who have lost birds or are seeing coyotes working a field edge at dusk.
Coyote work is governed by season and method, and what is permitted changes through the year. Tell us what you are seeing and when, and we will tell you what is possible now rather than what you would like to hear.
Not usually. Coyotes are territorial, and an empty territory on good ground gets filled. Lasting results come from a combination of removal and changing what makes the ground attractive – securing feed, fencing properly, and moving carcasses and scraps.
A great deal, and most of it is unglamorous. Secure feed, shut birds in at night, keep a clean yard, and do not leave pet food out. Prevention does more over a year than any single removal.
