The following conclusions were drawn from the experiments:
1. Prairie coyotes will not willingly jump over a fence above 30 inches in height.
2. They will readily climb over fences built of horizontal rails or crossbars, especially in order to escape from captivity.
3. Barbed wires do not deter them from crawling through a fence to escape. Whether they would go through a closely built barbed wire fence to attack sheep or poultry is still an open question.
4. Woven wire fences should have meshes, when rectangular, less than 6 by 6 inches to keep out coyotes. For such fences triangular meshes are much better than square ones.
5. In fencing against coyotes with woven fences care must be used to see that there are no openings at the ground through which the animals can force themselves, since they are more likely to crawl under a fence than jump over it.
In the experiments the animals, under some excitement, were attempting to escape from confinement. In the judgment of the writer, the experiments are insufficient to determine what a coyote would do if the conditions were reversed and, impelled only by the stimulus of hunger, he were attempting to enter an inclosure built of these fences. The barriers would surely be far more formidable. Experiments with certain types of fence, with sheep inclosed within them, and in a country with wolves as plentiful as they are at Chattanooga, would be far more conclusive in establishing a safe basis for practical recommendations to farmers.
The writer interviewed a number of farmers in Kansas who have had experience with poultry and farm animals in coyote-infested country. Several of them had for some years been using for corrals and small pastures woven wire fences, and had found those from 57 to 60 inches high entirely coyote-proof. These fences have triangular meshes and are of sufficient weight to be suitable for all kinds of stock. Such a fence, if set with the lower edge on the ground and anchored down where necessary, can safely be recommended as coyote-proof. Their cost, however, is possibly too great to bring them into general use for sheep pastures. Where land is valuable and pastures of the best, they will prove economical, for they have the merit of being both dog-proof and coyote-proof. Dogs, both large and small, that by chance get inside the inclosures are unable to get out, and have to be let out by the gate.
Between these rather expensive fences and the cheapest form that may be found efficient many grades may exist. In experiments to determine the efficiency of any form it is necessary to consider the familiarity of the animals with fences in general. In a new country a very simple fence might be ample at first to keep out wolves, but ultimately would prove insufficient.
Mr. T. T. Hoole, of Cape Colony, Africa, in the paper already quoted, gives the following experience in determining upon a jackal-proof fence: