Ohio’s 1,660 coyote records trace a state of field edges and green corridors. The heaviest reporting sits in the glaciated northeast, Summit and Cuyahoga counties and Cuyahoga Valley National Park, with records reaching west across the farm plains and south into the wooded hills around Wayne National Forest.
An edge animal in a farm state
Coyotes expanded into Ohio during the 1900s and now live anywhere open ground meets cover: hunting mice, voles, and rabbits in pasture and stubble, denning in brushy fencerows and wooded slopes, and scavenging carrion when it offers. Records span 86 of Ohio’s 88 counties, which says how little of the state fails to suit them.
Loudest at the turn of the year
Counts crest in December and January, when pairs court and howl ahead of the late-winter breeding season and snow and bare ground make their sign easier to read. Midsummer runs lowest, while family groups with growing pups keep to cover. Direct sightings stay uncommon in any season; most Ohioans know the local coyotes by voice alone.
Status in Ohio
NatureServe lists the coyote as SNR, Unranked, in Ohio, so no formal state security rank has been assigned, but the species is established statewide and USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous.
Full species profile
