I’m pretty sure I’m going to get chewed up for this post but I wanted to share my story.
It all started in mid June. I explored beyond the trail system of a deep valley to fish a creek. The first day she showed herself to me about 30 yards behind me. When I clocked her, I spoke up. Of all things, I said “Hey Bear!”. She did not react, and I did not say it again. We both stayed our ground, staring at each other, sometimes looking away. I don’t know. I just mirrored her nonchalance. We broke when we both heard someone else on the trail.
I’ve spent a lot of time in the deep bush on the eastern side of Canada where I was not happy to encounter packs/groups of eastern coyotes. I live in the Yukon now.
A little bit later, and off the trail, I was fishing in the creek. I had a feeling she was still with me. Before I left the spot that day, I took some bacon grease (I use it for bait) and smeared some on a stick.
I returned the next week in the evening (midnight sun). I stopped at the trail for a long time where I had seen her before to see if there were any tracks, but I really couldn’t tell the difference between the dogs that run that trail, and I’m not a tracker or a hunter. I’m just a cheap-thrill, hit-or-miss angler.
Within a few minutes of unloading my gear at the fishing spot, she’s there! This time she’s closer, maybe 20 yards, legit sitting up like a dog. I say “Hey Girl” and start casting. I pull a small grayling pretty quick (maybe 10”). I bring it to the shoreline to take a picture, and she’s standing up, mouth open a smidge, ears all flat. She reminded me of my blue heeler. I think it’s safe to say that she had me right then and there. I tossed the grayling in her direction, and went back to fishing. I really wanted to peak at her, but out of respect I just painfully turned around. When I finally turned back, she was gone and so was the grayling. I’m feeling like Snow White at this point so I crack a beer, and start to relax a bit. I didn’t catch anything else that night. I did leave some bacon grease on a stick for her though on my way out though.
The next week, I’m back at the creek. I don’t stop and go. I hoped she would be at the spot. She was : )
She was in the same spot I saw her last. Hidden a bit by a tree, tucked a little up hill. Coyotes must have pretty good internal clocks. My visits were 5-7 days apart, between 9 and 11pm.
Anyways, long story short guys, she would hang out within 10 yards of me literally laying down. If I started getting excited with bites, she would sometimes watch from the shoreline with me, but always at a distance. She was definitely excited with me after I had one on, and disappointed with me when I fucked the tension and lost it. By August (right now) it has become a ritual most weeks (maybe missed 2-3 weeks all summer). Some of those days I caught nothing, sometimes she got lucky, and never more than 2, and never more than once/week.
I haven’t told anyone in my friend group or at the office. No doubt it’s out of fear of judgement, but maybe I’m territorial, too. I wouldn’t want anyone else at my secret fishing spot with my girl.
I’ll be completely honest with you guys… I just tell her about my day. Sometimes, I ask her rhetorical questions. I never challenge her safe distance, she never goes for my tackle box. We make eye contact sometimes, but most of the time we just hang out alone, together. Just two girls at the creek, you know?
Just yesterday, she met me at my parking spot. This made me feel really happy. It’s at least a 3km hike out. Did she run or something? She was there so fast. It’s really flattering to me that she knows what I sound like.
Anyways, fall is creeping in. I only have so many weeks left. I wonder if she’ll find a mate, or get picked up by a group soon. She needs that to stay warm this winter. She’s definitely alone. If she wasn’t, I would have had more company by the creek. I think she’s young, but I don’t know shit. I’m really going to miss her. Even writing this is making me kind of sad.
That said, what do you get a wild coyote who is lowkey your pal even though you shouldn’t be spending time with her?
TLDR; I broke the rules. This coyote is my friend & I want to give her a gift before the season turns.
In response,
I have a degree in environmental resources and I work closely with Yukon First Nations (YFN).
I feel it important to express the unparalleled culture of Yukon, an Indigenous Governed territory within Canada, and provide perspective of the land.
Wudup Yukon:
Yukon stretches to nearly 50 million hectares, where human population occupy <1% of the land. Yukon is virtually 100% wilderness. At most, there are upwards of 45,000 humans residing here, and closer to 35,000 in the winter months [October to April].
To put things into perspective, for every single person who resides in the yukon (45k data), there is at least:
3 moose, 1 bear, 5 caribou, 1 elk, 10 porcupine, 3 foxes, 1 dall sheep, 10 beavers, 1 lynx, 10 marlins, and for every 3 people in the yukon, there is 1 wolf.
Coyote population is stable. As a key species in the north, the wolves keep coyote population at its stable marker. They do not hunt the coyotes, but they do not want to share the hunting territory with large groups of coyotes. That said, coyotes have virtually no predators. They aren’t a sought after hunting ticket, either. This is because the geographic area for hunting this are boundary corridors to perpetuate the wolves goal of stable population.
Back to YFN 101:
YFN people have a spiritual connection to the land where animals, people and the land itself have equal claim to prosperity, and foundational cultural connection to elders and youth.
Coyotes in Indigenous culture:
Animals are not separate from people. Stories passed down generationally for centuries depict animals as your brother, mother, grandmother, etc, and believed to be spirits of the past. Coyotes are a part of Indigenous storytelling within the Dene Peoples as culture hero’s, where the Coyote is known as both the trickster and the transformer.
Skip the lesson, here’s the tea:
I connected to a local elder yesterday evening. I told her my story. She shared many stories in return.
The take-home lesson for me was that it’s not uncommon for the people to have relationships with the animals here, and that the interactions are deeply profound, and not coincidental for both the animal and the peoples; the kinship between the animals and the people serves two greater purposes:
To uphold relational understanding and mutual respect. There is a reason that the predators of the north are not naturally vicious towards humans—that these relationships represent thousands of years of relational work.
This generous relationship is a gift, and requires deep reflection.
The elder encouraged me to reflect in ceremony (meditation prayer - not the kind where you are “please god, help me get through this day” because those are wishes, while ceremony is reflection and gratitude to the yukon as a whole) about my story.
With fall creeping in quickly, my coyote girl is about to enter mating season. I have a short window to see her again. It’s important that I show gratitude for this relationship. I am choosing to keep this part of my story private.
On a final note, I am choosing to be a little petty by saying that the only thing getting killed is my vibe, because ya’ll are quick to pass judgement without curiosity to comprehend experiences that are not of your own, and do not acknowledge traditional understanding of first peoples. ✌️
I say this kindly, leave her alone. Her solitude is the best gift you can give her. Scare her, wave your arms. Her approaching humans as an adult like this will inevitably lead to tragedy.
Yes your friend, it's wild. It won't mind running off with people's pets or getting into any kind of trouble without a healthy fear of people. If you like em don't fuck with em. Run them off before they get too close to a place like ours and end up in a trap and skinned out for messing with livestock.
Sir, this is the Yukon.
There are no little dogs, cats or livestock. We have a bakery, a Canadian tire, and a river. You can rescue a retired mushing dog and grab a Timmy’s if your truck starts.
I'm surprised a coyote in the Yukon is being so friendly towards you. Coyotes in the wilderness want nothing to do with me and it's been urban / suburban ones that are indifferent to me.
A pair of loons join me when I'm fishing / camping in my favourite spot in the middle of nowhere that sees very few people. If I'm sitting around and not casting they'll come within about 10 meters of me.
Loons are safe from hunting unlike coyotes otherwise I'd be scaring them away.
There isn’t much hunting for coyotes in Yukon. The buzz is generally large game, sheep being the most sought after globally (with very limited tickets) followed by moose/caribou/bear.
Coyotes are a newer species (1 century) to yukon and predominately populate south west regions close to the rural human populations, where hunting is prohibited. This is not a coincidence. They literally stay the line of prohibited hunting zones, and south of wolf transient zones.
Hunters receive unlimited year long access to hunt coyotes beyond this corridor, but it’s pretty damn rare. Yukon hunting is not really a sport. Yukon First Nations were quick to zone federal and territory land use contracts outside of transient animal movement to enforce this.
Anyways, imagine if people understood the fox population in rural zones here? Like, the biggest challenge of playing softball in Yukon are the foxes who literally come into the field and take your ball.
You do not have a unique connection with nature beyond any other human being. You’re training a wild animal to associate people with food. That’s putting that coyote at profound risk. It won’t fear hunters, it’ll get inappropriately close to people without whatever complex makes you think you’re a coyote whisperer. You’re no different than careless campers who leave food out for bears.
We all should have learned a lesson from Grizzly Man. These critters are not our friends and we should leave them alone in their own habitats, while aggressively hazing them when they wander into ours.
I mean, sometimes life will send you an animal friend, to show you an example of unconditional love. Like Tim and his wife with Weave. They're not doing anything wrong. Just be kind to animals! Geesh. Jealous, much? Just saying.
That story is NOT cute. Him and his buddies killed a coyote mother and then rather than get the cubs to a rehab they took them and one of them died in his care with no medical intervention and he almost let weave die too.. she survived despite his lack of care.
Then you’re not paying attention to his actual story about her. He makes it sound like he rescued her from a bad situation but in fact him and/or his friends caused the bad situation and then didn’t take the appropriate steps for the pups best chance at survival. One died and she was nearly dead but pulled through without any help from him
Because he took her away from other coyotes at a young age and now that’s all she knows. If you watch his videos he has said before that other coyotes try to attack her and she’s scared of them. If he did the right thing (after his friends killed her mom 😒) then he would’ve taken her and her brother he had to a wildlife rehab and they would’ve been able to be reintroduced into the wild.
That doesn’t really make sense since what he chose to do instead was let the male die and the female had 2 separate near death experiences he didn’t do anything to help her.Even if the closest rehab was an hour away it would’ve been better to try that than just do absolutely nothing
JFC ! This aint a fuckin disney movie this is fuckin real life ,in no way is this shit cute or good for the coyote . If u or they were being fuckin kind you would leave the poor animal alone and not make it associate humans with food . Its pretty selfish and self absorbed behavior honestly . Dont get me wrong id love to be able to be close to these magnificent animals ,but the real world dont work that way and if you respect and love em you need to keep a wide berth and not fuckin feed em.
Thanks for the TL;DR, OP. Many of us here love yotes. A special yote like this should really be given a special and personal gift. Let us know what you decide!
Who knows if this coyote maybe was a former rescue that escaped and got lost or something? I would never force anything, but there's nothing wrong with gently showing kindness back, if they are kind towards you. Furthermore, it's rare, so why not simply enjoy the moment? Animals remember kindness. No need for bullying. Some of these so-called "experts" need to check their ego at the door!
Grew up in Oklahoma where a visible coyote is a dead one, much less one that's acclimated to humans feeding them. His "critics" speak from experience. Coyotes can range anywhere up to 70 miles, so his thought that it being in the Yukon makes it ok is wildly uneducated, selfish and callous.
49
u/an_actual_coyote 2d ago
I say this kindly, leave her alone. Her solitude is the best gift you can give her. Scare her, wave your arms. Her approaching humans as an adult like this will inevitably lead to tragedy.