Beer, booze and bars, man those coyotes sure can get wild. Wait, we’re not talking about Coyote Ugly Saloon? My bad.
What we are talking about is all but urban legend in Knoxville. Coyote sightings. According to this tweet from Brandon earlier in the week, coyotes have been spotted in Knoxville. Hog wash? You tell us if Fluffy the cat has gone missing in the middle of the night.
Have you seen or know someone who has seen a coyote in Knoxville? Serious as a heart attack.
Photography by wildphotons
33 Responses to “Have you seen coyotes in Knoxville?”
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Patrick Beeson
October 24th, 2008 at 8:41 am
I saw a coyote off Middlebrook Pike a few weeks ago. It was just before the turn for Old Weisgarber Road.
CP
October 24th, 2008 at 8:51 am
@Patrick Beeson: Really? I thought these were urban legend around here. Watch out for Coyotes on your motorcycle.
Gavin Baker
October 24th, 2008 at 9:16 am
I heard some the other night, however I was out in Cades Cove doing a moonlight ride. So maybe that doesn’t count, but I really just wanted to be on the same comment stream as CP and PB
CP
October 24th, 2008 at 9:19 am
@Gavin Baker: Come on in, the comment stream is warm.
Doug McCaughan
October 24th, 2008 at 9:53 am
We used to have lots of red fox around here. Sadly, I don’t see them nearly as often anymore. I wonder if people confuse the red fox with the coyote. They are both in the order Carnivora.
Now, odd things have been brought in on trucks that have passed through the Smokies. Once a black bear was hauled into the Home Depot in West Knoxville. The truck was unloading at midnight and it stirred up quite a ruckus.
bcknoxify
October 24th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Lots of great tweets on twitter today around this issue. I have heard of coyote attacks and crazy stuff in Rocky Hill, this is a real issue…not to many people talking about it. BUT I HAVE NEVER SEEN IT
Suzy
October 24th, 2008 at 11:44 am
No coyotes, but I’ve seen a suspicious number of what I believe to be groundhogs in North and West Knoxville. Never, ever seen them before in my life until this summer/fall.
R. Neal
October 24th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Saw one in our back yard in Alcoa. There used to be a family nearby judging from the pups’ evening howling sessions, which is quite eerie if you’ve ever heard it.
Have also seen them walking around Royal Oaks in Maryville where we lived for a while. There was a family somewhere nearby there, too.
Jim Lee
October 25th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
I believe there are some coyotes living in that old Waterhouse Property between Old Weisgarber, West Hills, and the KUB substation off Middlebrook Pike near Hillcrest west nursing home.
I did see one about three weeks ago while camping at campsite # 20 on the Meigs Mountain Trail behind Elkmont. We’ve also hear them at night while camping for several years now.
R. Ferguson
October 29th, 2008 at 7:10 am
I work on Midpark Road, which is off of Middlebrook Pike. We see coyotes, and their tracks, all the time here!
CP
October 29th, 2008 at 7:45 am
Wow! I really didn’t expect such a large number of responses. Seems that Knoxville has its fair share of Coyotes.
Blake Stranz
November 2nd, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Almost drove into one as it ran across my neighbors front yard and into the gulley across the street from our houses. Any tips on how to get rid of them?
Patrick Beeson
November 3rd, 2008 at 7:42 am
Looks like they caught four coyotes in a west Knoxville subdivision: http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/nov/03/coyotes-gone-parents-pet-owners-relax/
They had been killing cats!
LInda Brown
November 3rd, 2008 at 7:55 am
Jim Lee is right. That is exactly where the coyotes are living. I have had them run in front of my car going through there. The Wesley Rd. neighborhood has had them in there too. That wooded area there that he mentioned used to be a riding/boarding stable for horses, Weisgarber Stables. I am on the other side of Middlebrook Pike and we have coyotes.
bcknoxify
November 3rd, 2008 at 9:31 am
Keep ‘em coming, where else have they been seen? Glad Westwood has been cleared.
k. campbell
November 3rd, 2008 at 9:35 am
There are coyotes in Sequoyah Hils. Several cats were reported missing in July and finally at least one coyote was seen in the neighborhood shortly after that. We have them on our farm in Louisville. My barn cat was grabbed by one. My dogs have gone nose-to- nose with them-it’s usually a standoff.
Patrick Beeson
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:51 am
Here are some things to consider: Are coyotes native to this area? Has the westward expansion essentially dropped homes in places where coyotes have lived for quite some time? Or have changes in their environment made it so cats are easier food than what they eat normally?
bcknoxify
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:05 am
@Patrick Beeson: Here are some things to consider also - can we hunt them, can we shoot them, and is it ok to walk down Morrel Road or through Seq. Hills with a 22 or Shotgun?
CP
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:14 am
I’ve been trying to locate hunting and trapping laws for Knox county without any luck. Anyone know where to find it in our ordinances: http://www.municode.com/Resources/gateway.asp?pid=12815&sid=42
CP
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:16 am
According to this, Coyotes are fair game year-round? http://www.state.tn.us/twra/smallgamehunt.html
Linda Brown
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:33 am
I think it is because the wooded areas are disappearing fast with too many subdivisions being built. They come out looking for food and more woods.
MDP
November 3rd, 2008 at 12:00 pm
I have seen three coyotes in the past year around Emory Rd./
I-75 along the creek. I guess it’s a combination of habitat destruction and adaptability of the animals themselves. Not only have I seen the coyotes, but a variety of species that I haven’t seen frequently or at all around my house, including wild turkeys, raccoons and deer in my back yard.
Marla Stair-Wood
November 10th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
I think we may have both red foxes and coyotes in the Lyons View Community. Our property is divided from Cherokee Country Club’s driving range by the serpentine brick wall (which is broken) and we have seen foxes in the woods behind our fence as they come and go through the break in the wall. We hear howling from a pack each time a siren goes by, day or night, or just howling because that’s what they do and it’s driving our dog crazy. We lost a cat in May just before our fence was built. Who do we call?
susan
November 22nd, 2008 at 9:02 am
I saw a large coyote yesterday at 3:30 p.m. on Ebenezer Rd.
Donna
December 5th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
I just saw a coyote today in the Meadows of Millertown neighborhood off of Millertown Pike. Roaming the neighborhood.
CWB
December 5th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Saw one last year outside my kitchen window in Farragut . I was up at 3:30 am mixing baby formula.
Jim Lee
December 9th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Note to the guy that asked about shooting coyotes.
It would be extraordinarily dangerous to shoot at any animal inside the city limits because of the population density.
I believe the City of Knoxville also has an ordinance against firing a gun in the city.
Even a .22 caliber bullet will carry almost a mile. The danger arises not from shooting, for example a coyote, but missing.
Who knows where that bullet could end up; you give up control of the bullet once you pull the trigger.
bcknoxify
December 9th, 2008 at 10:14 am
@Jim Lee: Jim Lee great safety tip!
Jenny
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:31 am
Recently saw either a fox or coyote in Karns, crossing the road in front of Karns Elementary. On the smaller side, so probably a fox.
kti5783
December 29th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
My sister-in-law saw two running down her street earlier this month. She lives in Ft. City, a couple of blocks away from Litton’s restuarant.
Connie
January 2nd, 2009 at 10:46 pm
I have a firefighter friend who was stationed all night outside of the 5th Avenue Hotel the year someone tried to burn it down. Fires flared up all night long and the fire truck just parked there putting them out over and over. He saw a coyote jog down Henley Street in the early am. They are everywhere. They have cleaned all the outside cats out of my West Knox neighborhood. I hear them howling on the wooded hillside beyond my pasture with every siren that passes, day or night. Saw a huge one standing in the grass beside the Pellissippi Pkwy exit to Dutchtown Road late one night. My knee jerk was, “that’s a tall German Shepherd, what’s it doing out beside the road? Oh wait, (wolfy head) that’s a coyote”.
Nad
January 4th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Saw one today 1-4-09, East Knoxville while traveling west bound Rte 40 at the 640 merge in the field on the right 12:20 PM.
Bob Wilson
January 5th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
My parents live in Halls (Emory Estates) and have a wooded area behind their house. They have seen a coyote a couple of times toward that area. I haven’t heard anything about it in a while though.