How To Keep Coyotes Away From Your House
The sound of coyotes howling in the distance is enough to understandably scare any homeowner. After all, they can be vicious, and you never know if they are carrying diseases. That’s why you may understandably wonder how to keep coyotes away from your house.
You can keep coyotes away from your house if you startle them with motion-activated lights. It’s also a great idea to scatter wolf, bear, and cougar urine in your yard to scare coyotes off your property. Remove food sources like food scraps, fallen fruit, and your garbage can to keep coyotes out of your yard.
You can also pour some vinegar and ammonia in your yard to deter coyotes, as they hate the smell. Follow along as we explore how to keep coyotes away from your house.
How To Deter Coyotes
1. Startle Them With Lights
Coyotes may scare you, but you can easily scare them away from your house. Like most animals, coyotes have a fight-or-flight response when they encounter bright light flashes. You can easily set up some motion-activated lights to take advantage of this and keep coyotes off your property.
Motion-activated lights typically contain LEDs and are often battery-operated. This means you can set them up all over your property without worrying about having a nearby power source. This comes in handy for homeowners with big yards as it’s hard to deter coyotes from spacious lots.
Pay attention to where you typically spot coyotes in your yard and set the lights up in those areas. Ideally, you should set the lights up during the day, as you’re unlikely to encounter coyotes during that time. Wireless motion-activated lights are widely available, easy to set up, and often waterproof.
2. Use Household Remedies
Coyotes are like many other animals in that they have a strong sense of smell and hate some odors. There’s a good chance that you have several items in your kitchen that can offend a coyote’s sense of smell. That includes vinegar, citronella, ammonia, and even peppermint.
Spray and scatter these household remedies throughout your yard to deter coyotes. Coyotes may still approach your property, but the strong odors will hopefully make them leave. Keep in mind that the scents will fade over time due to wind and rain, among other environmental factors.
That’s why you must continue to reapply the ingredients every once in a while. However, you must be careful about which household remedies you scatter throughout your yard if you have pets. Search online to make sure the oils and chemicals won’t harm your pets.
3. Animal Urine
Coyotes are quite aware of their place on the food chain, and you can use that to your advantage. Some animals, such as bears and wolves, view coyotes as prey and attack them as needed. That’s why coyotes are quite familiar with the smell of bear, wolf, and cougar urine as it indicates they are nearby.
Luckily, you can buy such urine and scatter it throughout your yard to keep coyotes away from your house. It may seem strange, but countless hunters and farm owners frequently buy animal urine, and it’s more common than you think. That’s why animal urine is so accessible, affordable, and easy to buy.
However, you must buy the urine of a predatory animal that exists in your area, or else the coyotes won’t recognize the scent. For example, you should buy brown bear urine if you live in an area where brown bears and coyotes coexist. Be careful and wear gloves when you scatter the urine, then thoroughly wash your hands.
4. Make Your Garbage Inaccessible
Coyotes don’t visit your yard for fun but instead, in most cases, they are looking to find food and water. They aren’t picky, and that’s why many homeowners find coyotes lingering around their garbage cans. That’s especially true if your garbage can is full and easily accessible.
Today, you can find wildlife-resistant trash cans to help keep animals like coyotes and raccoons away. Otherwise, you can simply keep your garbage can in your garage until collection day. The trash may smell bad in your garage, but it’s better than having coyotes linger in your yard.
Some people even tie their trash can lids shut with bungee cords to keep coyotes out of them. Otherwise, you could scatter bear, wolf, and or cougar urine near your outdoor garbage can. That said, most people understandably don’t want the scent of animal urine in their driveways.
5. Remove Food
Many people love leaving bowls of food out on the porch for their dogs. However, coyotes have no manners and will help themselves to that food as they please. Coyotes can take advantage of any food source in your yard, such as dog food and fallen fruit.
Discard fruit as it falls into your yard if you have fruit-bearing plants. You can also inadvertently attract coyotes to your yard if you have bird feeders. You don’t necessarily have to remove your bird feeder, but you should at least install a rain cover and clean it regularly.
Rain covers make it harder for bigger pests, like coyotes, to access your bird feeder. However, it’s worth removing your bird feeder if even your best efforts won’t deter coyotes.
6. Clean Your Yard
Messy, overgrown yards attract many types of pests, such as snakes and coyotes alike. That’s because dense greenery, brush, and overgrown lawns provide safe shelter for many animals. The messier your yard is, the more likely coyotes are to take shelter in your yard.
You can help deter coyotes from your yard if you routinely mow your lawn and remove debris. Trim overgrown shrubs and remove debris from your yard to make it less appealing to coyotes. Doing so will also help deter rodents and other pests from your yard.
7. Build A Fence
Fences can help protect your house from countless pests, including coyotes. However, you must consider that a fence cannot guarantee that no coyotes will visit your house. After all, in many cases, coyotes can climb fences and trees.
That’s why you must build a fence that is at least 7 to 8 feet tall to get the best results. That is tall enough to deter many coyotes, but they may still clear the fence. It’s a great idea to build a barrier at the bottom of the fence to stop coyotes from digging. Fences may not be ironclad solutions, but they can at least make a difference.
What Time Of Day Are Coyotes Most Active?
Coyotes are most active overnight and you may hear or see them until dawn. They specifically want to avoid humans and animals that may pose a threat to their safety. That’s why it’s quite unlikely that you’ll see a coyote during the day.
However, you may see coyotes during the day in remote areas without much traffic and many people. This is especially true in rural areas where coyotes typically run more rampantly and act more brazen. Coyotes are active throughout the year, but their activities spike during their mating season.
The mating season for coyotes runs from January to March when you’re more like to see and hear coyotes. Coyote activity also peaks between October and January as the new batch of young coyotes become active.
How To Protect Your Dogs From Coyotes
The best way to protect your dogs from coyotes is to keep them inside at night. However, you shouldn’t leave your dog outside unattended at all if you live in an area with coyotes. That’s especially true in rural areas where coyotes are even active during daytime.
Ideally, you should take your dog outside on a leash if you live in coyote country. That way, your dog won’t take off running when it sees and hears coyotes. Luckily, your dog may even scare coyotes away if it barks loudly enough.
However, you should never encourage your dog to chase after coyotes. Doing so will put your dog at risk of harm and even disease.
Summing It Up
The best way to deter coyotes is to build a fence that measures 7’ to 8’ and set up motion-activated lights. Household items like vinegar and ammonia have strong scents that can also keep coyotes away from your house. Clean your yard, mow your lawn, and secure your trash can or bring it into your garage to deter coyotes.
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Nick Durante is a professional writer with a primary focus on home improvement. When he is not writing about home improvement or taking on projects around the house, he likes to read and create art. He is always looking towards the newest trends in home improvement.
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