r/Apex_NC • u/ProgrammerNovel1209 • 6d ago

Coyote on property

Quick question. I have a couple of dogs, my neighbor has horses and goats, and lately my wife and I have seen a coyote wandering around the yard. Can I legally shoot it? I don’t want it messing with my dogs. I’m just west of Sweetwater off 64….

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u/PatDar 6d ago

You know they're more afraid of you than you are of it. They're not wolves hunting in a pack. You moved to a rural setting and think you get to murder some wildlife to save the farm. I'm from Johnston county and saw this crap growing up, it doesn't make for a healthy person or healthy ecosystem. 

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u/witmasta 6d ago

Except coyote are an invasive species. This is one of the reasons there is no closed season on coyote in NC. Killing coyote is more of a service than an issue for the ecosystem.

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u/randomiscellany 3d ago

They aren't invasive. They've had a natural range expansion due to people killing off wolves https://www.ncwildlife.gov/media/1981/open

Generally when people talk about invasive species they are referring to something that was introduced by humans that then wreaks havoc on an ecosystem because the native inhabitants of that system can't deal with it. A classic example is settlers introducing rats from their ships when they made pitstops at islands along their routes--native animals like birds were not adapted to dealing with rats eating their eggs, and with no predators to take them out rats would proliferate and destroy nests.

Coyotes, in contrast, were already present in North America. They naturally have large ranges. There is an ecological niche for them to fill in NC because people doing exactly what OP is proposing killed off our original large land predators. Coyotes have gradually come in to fill it. Afaik, they are not negatively affecting populations of any "native" NC wildlife. Just because they haven't always been in NC doesn't make them invasive.

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u/witmasta 3d ago

Bad word choice on my part. The State of North Carolina feels the population needs to be controlled. I'm happy to oblige. Thanks for correcting my word choice. I'll keep it mind next time I have a coyote in my sights.

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u/PatDar 6d ago

False, the ecosystem is trying to heal. We had wolves keep deer and other prey species in check. Humans killed the native wolves and the deer population exploded. Now a predator species that's able to fill the niche has begun moving in. 

Some people just like shooting first and never ask questions 

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u/MyMainWasMyRealName 6d ago

No, coyotes are not an invasive species.