always go around, not over, the mound, if one is present. Dens may have one or several entrances in use, and several passages may branch from the main one. After the pups are born, small balls of rolled fur and hair from the mother’s belly may be found in the dry dirt in the mouth of the den.

Parent coyotes have no set time for being at home and may be found near the den at any hour. Although they do most of their killing early in the morning, they sometimes visit the den only at night. They are clean about their dens; so there is little refuse or odor.

Methods of Den Hunting

The proper time for hunting coyote dens is from April 5 to June 15. If one starts too early, before some of the coyotes have whelped, the territory will have to be covered again. Where signs indicate a late den, however, it should be sought in a follow-up visit.

The coyote den is usually made in rougher surroundings than are dens of small burrowing rodents and is normally within reach of water. Contrary to general supposition, however, coyotes do not always have their dens near water. In hilly areas they usually do, but on the large deserts of eastern Oregon the dens are often found as far as 6 miles from water. Coyotes do not go to water regularly unless the weather is warm, and pups do not need water until they are several months old.

Den hunting should be systematic and thorough. Where the soil is sandy the movements of coyotes can be readily ascertained by means of tracks and other signs characteristic of the whelping season. The general location of a den may occasionally be learned by hearing the howling of the coyotes, but other means must be employed to actually find it. It may be located by tracking, by watching the movements of old coyotes, or by riding the range looking for holes, but systematic tracking insures the best results.

A good time to hunt dens by tracking is just after a rain. Another good time is the day after a severe windstorm, as storms restrict the activity of the coyotes.

Water holes and springs in the desert are excellent places from which to start in locating dens. It is best to circle the water hole, noting the direction of the tracks and giving special attention to those of pairs and to their relative freshness, for when fresh tracks of a pair are noted they are generally close to the den. When sign is found, it should be back-tracked to a point where there are tracks going both ways; the tracks begin to form a trail within a quarter of a mile from the dens. Near the den, unless the ground is too hard, many tracks will be found going and coming in every direction. Finding the den is then an easy matter. Sometimes, however, tracks lead to a den from only one direction.

Loose hairs and distinctive tracks are often to be found in the mouth of a used coyote den. The coyote track is elongated, and not nearly so rounded as a dog track, and the coyote side-toe track is longer than that of a dog of the same size. The tracks of young coyotes, barren females, and those that have lost their pups can be distinguished from those of denning pairs, as the latter generally travel by a direct route, the tracks of the female usually being smaller and more pointed than those of the male.

When the female leaves the den for water she almost always travels on a direct line, probably not deviating over a hundred yards from it in a distance of several miles. Coyotes do not always water at the same place each time, however, nor return to their den direct from the watering place unless the den is a long distance from water. Sometimes the male will remain near the den while the female is away, but more often the two travel together, the female holding a little more to a true course than the male. The tracks often indicate that they travel side by side for some distance, the male then wandering away several hundred yards but later returning to his mate.

Coyotes with dens have