Dens may be found in a canyon, wash-out, or coulee, on a bank or hillside ([fig. 1, B]), in a rock bluff, or even in level ground, as in a wheatfield, stubblefield, or plowed field. They have been discovered under deserted homestead shacks in the desert, under grain bins, in a drainage pipe, under a railroad, in a hollow log, in a thicket, and under a clump of thistles that had blown into a canyon.
As a rule, instead of digging all new dens, coyotes will enlarge abandoned badger or rabbit holes or use deserted porcupine dens in rocky promontories or canyon walls. Usually they start cleaning out the holes several weeks prior to whelping. They generally claw out the dirt in one direction from the mouth of the den, where it piles up into a mound, although some dens have no such mound ([fig. 2, A]).
B34748; B30757
Figure 2.—A, Entrance to a coyote den in a dry creek bank, Morrow County, Oreg.; B, a former Biological Survey predator-control leader at the mouth of the coyote den dug out near Cokeville, Wyo. (Remains of three lambs in foreground, including two skulls out of which the brains had been lapped by coyotes.)
The female continues digging and cleaning out den holes, sometimes a dozen or more, until the young are born. Then, if one den is disturbed the family moves to another. Sometimes the animals move only a few hundred yards, apparently just to have a cleaner home, leaving many fleas behind. Occasionally a female that has lost her whelps will clean out several holes before becoming reconciled to her loss. Barren females sometimes clean out holes, but they are not found traveling with a mate. Male coyotes also work at many holes in spring but generally to dig out dead rabbits. The tracks of the male will usually be seen at these freshly dug holes, which have a different appearance from those cleaned out for dens, and dried-up rabbit carcasses will generally be found nearby.
When entering the den, the coyotes almost always go around, not over, the mound, if one is present. Dens may have one or several entrances in use, and several passages may branch from the main one. After the pups are born, small balls of rolled fur and hair from the mother’s belly may be found in the dry dirt in the mouth of the den.
Parent coyotes have no set time for being at home and may be found near the den at any hour. Although they do most of their killing early in the morning, they sometimes visit the den only at night. They are clean about their dens; so there is little refuse or odor.