Coyote
The coyote’s best known trait is its yipping and howling, most often at dusk or night. Though coyotes have been observed to travel in large groups, they primarily hunt in pairs. Typical packs consist of six closely related adults, yearlings and young. Coyote packs are generally smaller than wolf packs and associations between individuals are less stable. Despite being extensively hunted, the coyote is one of the few medium-to-large-sized animals that has enlarged its range since human encroachment began.
Reproductive: Beaver will have 1 litter a year/Average 6 pups.
Food: Small mammals, such as groundhogs, hares, rabbits, ground squirrels, mice and other rodents; birds; snakes; deer; large insects and other large invertebrates. Coyotes will consume large amounts of carrion and vegetation when available.
Distribution: All Provinces and Territories of Canada except the northernmost portions of Canada. Unlike the wolf, the coyote's range has expanded in the wake of human civilization, and coyotes readily reproduce in metropolitan areas.
Average life span: 4 to 8 years
Management Issues: Coyotes are clever predators that often prey on livestock, poultry and pets. Attacks on humans are uncommon. Coydog hybrids are a more serious threat because they have the coyote’s predatory nature and the dog’s lack of timidity toward humans. Coyotes carry transmittable diseases and parasites.
Control of Problem Coyotes: Coyotes may be hunted (but not trapped), without a licence, at all times of the year throughout the province(a. by a resident who has right of access to hunt on lands that are not public lands within the Green Area; b. by the owner or occupant of privately owned land, on the privately owned land; c. by a person maintaining livestock on public land, on that public land; or; d. on lands described in c) that are in the Green Area, by a resident who is authorized in writing by the person described in provided that these pelts must be salvaged.
Fur most prime: Mid November to Early January
Average pelt price (2008/9): $39.29 (18,965 pelts total)
Beaver
The beaver is a primarily nocturnal, large, semi-aquatic rodent. In fact, they are the second-largest rodent in the world (after the capybara). Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges(homes). Their dams to provide still, deep water to protect against predators, and to float food and building material.
Reproductive: Beaver will have one litter of 1 - 6 kits per year. The availability of food appears to affect the size of the litter.
Food: Bark of trembling aspen tree (white poplar), willows, birch and black poplar, roots, pond lilies and other aquatic plants.
Distribution: All Provinces and Territories of Canada
Average life span: 4 to 5 years
Management Issues: Beaver dams can cause dangerous flooding damage to roads, railways, homes, and agricultural lands. Overabundant populations increase the risk of water-borne diseases such as Giardia. Beavers can both create and destroy habitat important for certain species at risk.
Control of Problem Beavers: Beavers may be hunted and trapped, without a licence and during all seasons, on privately owned land by the owner or occupant of the land, or by a resident with written permission from the owner or occupant of the land.
Fur most prime: Late November to End of January
Average pelt price (2008/9): $12.90 (12,179 pelts total)
Bobcat
Bobcats are North America's most common wildcat. Like most cats, the bobcat is territorial and largely solitary, although there is some overlap in home ranges. It gets its name from its stubby, “bobbed,” tail. Bobcats are the smallest species of lynx but are not found as farnorth because they don’t have the large, snowshoe-like footpads, which give the lynx mobility in deep snow.Although Bobcats have been hunted extensively by humans, both for sport and fur, their population has proven resilient.
Reproductive: 1 litter a year with a n average of 2 to 4 kits
Food: Hares, rabbits, squirrels, rodents, mink, skunks, foxes, muskrats, birds and their eggs, snakes, fish, crustaceans and insects. Bobcats will also prey on deer and antelope.
Distribution: All of southern Canada
Average life span: 6 to 8 years
Management Issues: Bobcats sometimes prey on chickens, pigs, sheep, calves and pets.
Control of Problem Bobcats: Bobcats may be hunted (but not trapped) by a resident on land which the resident has the right of access for hunting in WMUs 102, 104, 106, 108, 112, 116, 118 and 119 and that part of WMU 110 east of Highway No. 2 and south of Highway No. 3 from November 1 to February 28.
Fur most prime: Mid December to Late February
Average pelt price (2008/9): $281.35 (8 pelts total)
Wolf
Studies reaffirm that the gray wolf shares a common ancestry with the domestic dog. Though once abundant, the gray wolf inhabits a very small portion of its former range because of widespread destruction of its territory, human encroachment, and the resulting human-wolf encountersoo. In areas where wolves are trapped, their numbers are strong and require population control to ensure the local health and wellbeing of them and the animals the prey on in these areas.