Coyotes (Canis latrans) are not legally classified as furbearers in Kansas, but in many ways, they are monitored and managed as if they were. Coyotes are actually considered nongame, as a result of historic attitudes and the potential for conflict with the livestock industry. They are not afforded the protection of a harvest season like our furbearers, but their cunning and adaptability are legendary, and it is difficult to conceive a more resilient animal. After surviving decades of cyanide guns, strychnine-laced carcasses, widespread trapping and shooting, bounties, and the all-out ire of mankind, the coyote has responded by expanding its range eastward into parts of the United States where it had not previously existed. In recent times, coyotes have become increasingly adapted to urban life, and have been implicated for attacking pets and even people in a few states where trapping bans have outlawed the most effective harvest technique.

The coyote ranges throughout Kansas from woodlots in the east, through the grasslands of the Flinthills, to the intensively-managed agricultural landscape in the west. It is easily distinguishable from other wild members of the canid family in Kansas by its larger size (usually 25-35 pounds) and coloration. In captivity, the coyote’s lifespan is not unlike that of a domestic dog, but it rarely lives past six or eight years in the wild. Mortality is probably mainly due to hunting, trapping, and roadkill, but coyotes are also susceptible to various diseases and parasites including sarcoptic mange, canine distemper, and heartworm.

Most coyotes occupy and defend a distinct territory, often with a mate, but some are wide-ranging transients that persist on the fringe of the home ranges of more territorial coyotes. Home range sizes vary by food availability, pack size, and coyote density, but probably average 8-15 square miles in Kansas. Coyotes communicate by scent marking and various vocalizations. Their widely-recognized howl has long been a symbol of the lonesome prairie and adds greatly to the mystique that surrounds the species in Western and Southwestern folklore.

Coyotes usually mate in February or March, and pups are usually born in a den or hollow in April or May. Four to seven pups are common, but as many as 17 may be born when food is especially abundant. The coyote has a very diverse and seasonal diet. Though diet consists primarily of mice, voles, and rabbits, coyotes feed heavily on plums, sunflower seeds, pears, watermelons, and other fruits, berries, nuts, seeds, and invertebrates when they are available in the summer and fall. In the winter, carrion including livestock and deer often becomes an important dietary component. Coyotes also sometimes prey on domestic poultry and livestock in Kansas, though often they are blamed for the depredations of free-ranging domestic dogs.

Coyotes have usually ranked second or third annually in total value of pelts harvested in Kansas. In recent times, about 15,000 have been harvested each year by licensed furharvesters, with perhaps another 60,000 to 70,000 taken by hunting license holders. Even though the cunning nature of the coyote makes it one of the most difficult species to trap, foothold trapping is usually the most effective harvest technique. Coyotes are also the most common quarry of predator callers.

The red fox ( Vulpes vulpes) is the most widely distributed carnivore in the world. Although native red foxes existed in the boreal regions of northern North America at the time of European settlement, the red foxes in the United States today are probably descendants of European foxes released along the U.S. Coasts for sport hunting in the 1700s and 1800s. Woodlots interspersed with cropland are typically thought of as prime red fox habitat, but the majority of red foxes in Kansas inhabit the suburban fringes of towns and cities, which offer refuge from coyotes. Red foxes occur statewide, but are most common in eastern Kansas, where urban areas and woodlots are most abundant.

The red fox is identified by its long, bushy tail and characteristic color - orange to red upper parts, black ears and legs, and white underparts and tip of tail. Weighing 10-15 pounds, red foxes are seldom twice the size of a house cat, but their long fur makes them appear larger.

Red fox reproductive rates are highly variable, increasing with the level of exploitation or mortality of the population. In Kansas, the vixen, or female fox, gives birth to an average of five pups usually in April. The male initially provides food for the vixen and the pups, and the family group stays together until the pups disperse in the fall. There is typically little overlap between the home ranges of these family units, but one male will sometimes tend to several females.

The diverse diet of the red fox is similar to that of the coyote, consisting primarily of mice, voles, and cottontail rabbits. Red foxes will also prey on other small to medium sized mammals and ground- nesting birds, or scavenge deer and livestock. Seasonal food items primarily include fruits, vegetables, insects, and eggs. Most notorious for their depredations of domestic poultry, non-native red foxes, also pose a significant threat to native wildlife populations, which evolved without the presence of a similar predator. Red fox depredations have also been implicated for significantly reducing waterfowl survival and nesting success in the prairie pothole region of the Dakotas.

Given the red fox's dietary overlap with larger coyotes, it is no surprise that coyotes may competitively displace or even kill their smaller cousins. Roadkill may also be an important mortality factor for red foxes prevalent in urban areas, as is disease. Sarcoptic mange probably has the most significant impact on Kansas populations, but it is the red fox's susceptibility to the furious form of rabies that has led to their status as a pest in many parts of the world. However, red foxes have not been an important rabies vector in Kansas.

Because of the red fox's limited abundance in Kansas compared to other furbearers, foxes have little importance to our fur trade. About 500 red foxes have been harvested annually over the past few seasons, though double this were harvested several years in the mid-1990s. Like coyotes, red foxes are too wary to enter cage traps, and are most often captured in foothold traps - though they are considered one of the more difficult species to trap. Hunters account for less than one-third of the annual harvest.