Coyote Fur
The coat of hair on a coyote is dark in the summer and light during the winter. I came across clumps of a coyote’s fur under a pine tree on the 5th of June in 2008 not far from my yard. It’s exactly the same color of the one I saw at 4:15 pm two days later at the end of my driveway. Today I finally took a photo to show and tell about it.
The odd thing about the coyote I saw on that day was its behavior. As I was approaching the top of my hill to turn right into my driveway, there was a brown coyote trotting in the middle of my side of the road. He (or she?) was not concerned in the least about having the front grill of a F-350 one-ton diesel pick-up truck less than only three feet behind his tail. I had to slow down for him or else I would have hit him.
Two days later after I saw the brown coyote, my neighbor told me he observed a grey one trotting away from my house out onto the road where the brown one traveled. That was also at the same time of the day.
The smell and texture of the coyote fur I saved fascinates me. I didn’t expect it to be as soft as it is. What’s even more interesting is its scent. My first impression was how much it reminded me of the sweet and pleasant odor horses have. My dog and cats were impressed too. It still stimulates their curiosity.
Some say that coyote fur smells like cinnamon. Others have said it has no odor, even when wet. One thing all agree on is that it doesn’t have the same smell that dogs naturally emit.
Close-up images of coyote fur seem scarce to find online. I did find one good photo revealing a sample of hair a coyote left behind on a fence. Eastern coyotes are becoming coywolves. Some in my area are reported to weigh as much as 90 pounds. I know the one I saw was at least as large as a male German Shepherd.
The coyote photo in my Middle of the Night Snack? post shows the smaller type (without wolf DNA) found in the Western portion of the US. That’s also the post where I briefly mention walking my German Shepherd and seeing at least a dozen pairs of coyote eyes scattered around a field I was approaching — all standing and staring — while Shadow and I did an about face and ran back home as fast as our legs could carry us.
