Part 1

Transcriber's Note

Text emphasis displayed as Italic Text.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

BIOLOGICAL SURVEY--BULLETIN No. 20

C. HART MERRIAM, Chief

COYOTES IN THEIR ECONOMIC RELATIONS

DAVID E. LANTZ

Assistant, Biological Survey

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

1905

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

U. S. Department of Agriculture, Biological Survey, Washington, D. C., March 23, 1905.

Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith for publication as Bulletin No. 20 of the Biological Survey a report on Coyotes in their Economic Relations, prepared by David E. Lantz, assistant. The subject is of immediate importance to the sheep industry of the West, where the wasteful method of sheep herding prevails. If in the range country sheep can be fenced with coyote-proof fencing at moderate cost, as seems probable, herding may be done away with and the sustaining capacity of the lands thereby greatly increased.

Respectfully,

C. Hart Merriam, Chief, Biological Survey,

Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture.

CONTENTS.

Page.

Introduction 7

Abundance of coyotes 8 Coyotes in Kansas 9

General habits of coyotes 10

Food habits of coyotes 11 Beneficial habits 12 Injurious habits 13 Game destroyed by coyotes 14 Depredations on farm animals 14 The coyote's relation to the sheep industry 16

Means of destruction 18 Poisoning 18 Trapping 19 Hunting 20 Bounties 22

Protection against coyotes 23

Investigations concerning coyote-proof fencing 24

COYOTES IN THEIR ECONOMIC RELATIONS

INTRODUCTION.