Coyote control - let’s talk about a system for controlling predators

[alldaysit]

I am overrun with coyotes on one of my properties. How do I put a system in place for controlling them? I have zero experience trapping or hunting them.


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[sagittarius]

On the positive side, lots of coyotes means no wolves! In Wisconsin, If you own the property, you can trap coyotes year round. Take the DNR trapping course, you will learn alot. Start trapping.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

I just started snaring last winter and caught 19 of them. It was easy but try not to walk on the trails that you will be hanging on. Go out 2-3 days after a fresh snow and find some trails that walk within 18" of some smaller diameter trees. Hang a snare on the tree and your good to go. It might catch one the same night or a month later but they will run the same trail again eventually.

With that said you arent going to have that much luck unless you blanket the area. You're going to want to have a good 2 dozen sets at all times so you may as well order 4 dozen to start. Once you catch one they are junk. You can re use the parts if you want to make your own or have a buddy that will but you'll need new cable.

I have more pictures of twin fawns this year than I've ever had and even a group of triplets. Not sure if it was from removing some yotes or not but it sure didn't hurt.

 

[Catscratch]

I would probably order control by effectiveness in this order:
Poison
Trapping
Hunting

Laws and regulations will dictate which methods you can or do use. I've never poisoned them personally but I have trapped and hunted yotes. They are smart critters and trapping isn't real easy but I think it's a lot easier than hunting on a regular basis (ie - trapping all winter will probably result in more kills than hunting them all winter).

 

[Red Picqua]

dirt hole set..

pretty good video here. it's simple and effective. fresh dirt is a sign of an animal hiding something.. lures all kinds of predators.

 

[yoderjac]

I am overrun with coyotes on one of my properties. How do I put a system in place for controlling them? I have zero experience trapping or hunting them.


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You don't. First, coyotes can easily travel 100 miles in a day. So, unless you have a huge tract of land and a program, you won't be successful. If you land is good habitat for coyotes, as you kill them, more will come. I was talking to a biologist from USDA a while back who told me she worked on a study that show eliminating certain males from the local population cause the females to have more pups.

Short of the kind of wide spread shooting, trapping, and poisoning programs that pretty much eliminated them from many areas of the country, I think we are going to have to learn to live with them. That doesn't mean I object to shooting them when I see them, just that I'm not deluding myself into thinking I can control them.

I'm looking more toward considering coyotes in habitat management. There was one study that showed there was better fawn recruitment in a poor fawning habit area than there was in and area of poor habitat with long narrow strips of good fawning habitat (creek bottoms, powerlines, etc.) What was happening was that in these areas, does were all preprogramed to seek out those narrow strips of good habitat to fawn. These long narrow strips were easy for coyotes to hunt and they had higher predation rates than in areas with all poor fawning habitat. Here, fawns had less cover, but they were more distributed and more survived.

While coyotes will kill turkey and predate nests, some studies show they have an overall beneficial impact on turkey populations as they predate more other nest predators helping turkey recruitment more than they predate turkey.

So, like most things in nature, there are complex interrelationships. My approach is simply to accept that coyotes will be a factor in predation and learn more about them as studies continue and factor what I learn into habitat management decisions.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[yoderjac]

On the positive side, lots of coyotes means no wolves! In Wisconsin, If you own the property, you can trap coyotes year round. Take the DNR trapping course, you will learn alot. Start trapping.

I don't know about Wisconsin, but wolf DNA is headed our way: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/coywolves-are-taking-over-eastern-north-america-180957141/

 

[swat1018]

You don't. First, coyotes can easily travel 100 miles in a day. So, unless you have a huge tract of land and a program, you won't be successful. If you land is good habitat for coyotes, as you kill them, more will come. I was talking to a biologist from USDA a while back who told me she worked on a study that show eliminating certain males from the local population cause the females to have more pups.

Short of the kind of wide spread shooting, trapping, and poisoning programs that pretty much eliminated them from many areas of the country, I think we are going to have to learn to live with them. That doesn't mean I object to shooting them when I see them, just that I'm not deluding myself into thinking I can control them.

I'm looking more toward considering coyotes in habitat management. There was one study that showed there was better fawn recruitment in a poor fawning habit area than there was in and area of poor habitat with long narrow strips of good fawning habitat (creek bottoms, powerlines, etc.) What was happening was that in these areas, does were all preprogramed to seek out those narrow strips of good habitat to fawn. These long narrow strips were easy for coyotes to hunt and they had higher predation rates than in areas with all poor fawning habitat. Here, fawns had less cover, but they were more distributed and more survived.

While coyotes will kill turkey and predate nests, some studies show they have an overall beneficial impact on turkey populations as they predate more other nest predators helping turkey recruitment more than they predate turkey.

So, like most things in nature, there are complex interrelationships. My approach is simply to accept that coyotes will be a factor in predation and learn more about them as studies continue and factor what I learn into habitat management decisions.

Thanks,

Jack

In one paragraph you say you can't control them. In the next you say unless you eliminate them like has been done in parts of the Country??

Trap them. It is not difficult after getting set up properly. I trap a 12-16 sq mile area around my home. That sounds like a lot, but I may only have a few traps in some of those mile sections. Others, I may have 20. You can make a difference, I'm confident in that, but, you must continue to pursue them. Studies have shown that some coyotes are less transient and more territorial, while others are more transient. The average coyote doesn't travel a hundred miles a day, I assure you that. I had a coyote break a snare as I was preparing to kill it. Two days later, I caught it in a leg hold about 300 yards from where she broke the snare, still wearing the snare. I average around 40-50 a year and we are seeing more fawns.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

The best thing you can do, is come over to my place, trap a half dozen wolves and bring them back to your place. You wont have coyote problems any more!
...and according to the DNR, they wont effect your deer numbers by much. Win Win!

 

[Boll Weevil]

In addition to what's been mentioned above enlist a trusted yote hunter after deer season...the good ones can flat put a hurtin' on the population.

 

[yoderjac]

In one paragraph you say you can't control them. In the next you say unless you eliminate them like has been done in parts of the Country??

Trap them. It is not difficult after getting set up properly. I trap a 12-16 sq mile area around my home. That sounds like a lot, but I may only have a few traps in some of those mile sections. Others, I may have 20. You can make a difference, I'm confident in that, but, you must continue to pursue them. Studies have shown that some coyotes are less transient and more territorial, while others are more transient. The average coyote doesn't travel a hundred miles a day, I assure you that. I had a coyote break a snare as I was preparing to kill it. Two days later, I caught it in a leg hold about 300 yards from where she broke the snare, still wearing the snare. I average around 40-50 a year and we are seeing more fawns.

I'm saying that an individual property owner can not control the population on his land. Back when this country was being established and substance farming was the norm, there was a concerted effort to kill coyotes that included government bounties, trapping, shooting, and poisoning. It was likely that the poisoning was the most effective. This was done on a large scale across entire regions of the country. I'm saying short of a large regional concerted effort as occurred back then, an individual property owner will have little success controlling them. Most predators we control (raccoons, foxes, ...) don't regularly move long distances. With coyote populations on the increase they are spreading to new areas. If you have hospitable habitat, even if you were able to totally eliminate every coyote within a 1,000 acre property, more will quickly move in.

I'm not saying we should not trap or hunt or shoot coyotes. I'm saying that once they move in, they will have an impact on fawn recruitment and we will need to accept that there will be some losses to coyote predation. I'm also saying there is some indication that having large blocks of good fawning habitat has more of an impact on recruitment than harvesting coyotes.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Catscratch]

I believe that Yoder is right in that yotes will repopulate territories very quickly. I also believe that the yotes that fill in the void are usually more aggressive young males who are likely to hunt more and more effectively than say an established older female. It's been proven that yotes nightly howls are a sort of role call and when the population is sparse litter size increases.

If wanting to increase fawn recruitment I would recommend trapping in the spring or early summer when pups are very young and fawns are just starting to drop. They are timed to coincide (predator/prey relationship). Yotes are very killable during this period and if you can deplete their population long enough to get some age on the fawns you should see an increase in deer.

 

[alldaysit]

The best thing you can do, is come over to my place, trap a half dozen wolves and bring them back to your place. You wont have coyote problems any more!
...and according to the DNR, they wont effect your deer numbers by much. Win Win!

I do have these bad boys in the neighborhood also. The coyotes are on camera everyday and often times up to 4 per picture...


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[alldaysit]

It's been proven that yotes nightly howls are a sort of role call and when the population is sparse litter size increases.

I pulled onto the property at 2:00pm yesterday too check cameras and heard them howling. I was like WTF... it’s broad daylight and there howling half a mile off.


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[Catscratch]

I pulled onto the property at 2:00pm yesterday too check cameras and heard them howling. I was like WTF... it’s broad daylight and there howling half a mile off.
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Yep, I hear them at all times of the day. It seems that if one starts they all get going.

 

[Baker]

I have as many coyotes as a population can support as well as a robust population of mountain lions.Plenty of bobcats as well...Heck the ranch name is El Gato. Not unusual to see 10-15 yotes everyday or more. See lions every season. I make no effort at control of any sort. Haven't for years. Rather I work on the habitat to ensure adequate fawning cover with grasses and cover. I have as healthy a deer herd as there is in North America. Plenty of fawn recruitment.

Don't have a philosophical or ethical issue. Don't care what others do about predators. I've just learned to manage habitat where all of nature flourishes. I love a diverse healthy ecosystem with lots of critters.

 

[SwampCat]

A lot of different dynamics influencing your overall population and fawn recruitment. If you have a lot of deer and not much hunting pressure, fawn recruitment isnt that importment because there will not be much mortality to replace. If you have a lot of hunting in your area and a resulting greater mortality from hunters - one of your best options may be to try to increase fawn recruitment on your land. That is where I am on my own land. We dont shoot does - which helps improve numbers of older does which produce more fawns. We supply all the high quality deer habitat - which attracts more deer and theoretically improves fawn survival. And I trap coyotes and other predators - but, the predators need to be removed in the month or two prior to fawn drop. As most folks will tell you, coyotes will repopulate an area where they have been removed - but they dont do it overnight. They are especially slow to move into new ground in the spring because the females have young pups and not as likely to pick up and move to new ground. Also be aware that as you improve your habitat - it becomes more attractive for rabbits, cotton rats, various birds, and other wildlife - and may well attract more predators. That is what I saw on my place when I started improving the habitat on my own place. I have found that removing coyotes in May will result in a void for two to three months - which is enough time for the fawns to become much more adept at escaping predators. Personally, I believe I get more bang for my buck with coyote removal as opposed to habitat improvement - but I do both - on my home ground. I have another piece of property eight miles away with very poor fawn recruitment - but also not a lot of hunting pressure - and predator removal is not necessary there. You are not going to remove all the predators. It might or might not be necessary to remove predators every year. Maybe a year or two improves the fawn recruitment enough to boost your doe population enough were future fawn success overcomes predation to your satisfaction. Interesting article my Mr Kilgo - the authority on coyotes and the SOUTHERN deer herd. Remember, things vary greatly from region to region.

 

[yoderjac]

I have as many coyotes as a population can support as well as a robust population of mountain lions.Plenty of bobcats as well...Heck the ranch name is El Gato. Not unusual to see 10-15 yotes everyday or more. See lions every season. I make no effort at control of any sort. Haven't for years. Rather I work on the habitat to ensure adequate fawning cover with grasses and cover. I have as healthy a deer herd as there is in North America. Plenty of fawn recruitment.

Don't have a philosophical or ethical issue. Don't care what others do about predators. I've just learned to manage habitat where all of nature flourishes. I love a diverse healthy ecosystem with lots of critters.

And another thing for folks to consider is that depending on your location, a level of fawn predation may be a good thing. For years, QDM has focused on harvesting does and letting young bucks walk in many areas to rebalance populations. Our state establishes increase, decrease, stabilize, targets on a count basis, but much of the state has been targeted for population reduction for the last 20 years. As the department has been liberalizing female harvests over the years, our hunter numbers have been declining.

It is hard to shoot mature bucks when you are harvesting does to try to manage populations. If coyote predation helps bring populations in check in some areas, it does reduce recreational doe harvest for some hunters, but it allows for more focus on mature bucks.

I certainly realize that in other regions where deer populations are well below the BCC, coyote predation can be much more problematic for hunters. Based on the science we have available today, I think you are on the right track focusing on habitat improvement. It seems to have the best chance for long-term success.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[SwampCat]

Another thing to consider - and I dont know how big your property is where you are overrun with coyotes, but if you only have 100 or even 200 acres - habitat improvement may not make much of a difference in fawn recruitment.but, Habitat improvement can help to draw a lot of deer to your place on 200 acres. Your neighbors could all be row croppers or cattle ranchers and your habitat improvements will not improve any habitat on their land. Removing predators on your land CAN affect what happens on your neighbor’s land. Coyotes and bobcats have a large home range. They are not just killing fawns on your land - they are killing them on your neighbor’s land, also. You could trap coyotes on your land and be reducing the coyote population on your neighbor’s land and his neighbor’s land - potentially improving fawn recruitment across a much larger area than your own land. When I bought my land fifteen years ago - it had been part of a cattle ranch. As I implemented various habitat improvement actions, I started getting more predator pictures because my land was also more attractive to prey species - which in turn attracted the predators. Studies have shown that in some areas, excellent habitat in areas with high predator populations may not be enough to insure an increase of the desired species.

I found that once I stopped killing does, and started removing predators, the number of does present increased to the point where the shear number of does giving birth overwhelmed the predators. My predator population never increased along with my deer population. My theory on that is fawns only supply a very short duration of readily available coyote food - not enough to trigger an increase in coyote reproductive rates - like a population explosion of rabbits or cotton rats that would provide an increased food supply for months - or even all year. I am convinced a reduction of predators contributed to fawn recruitment at my place, but this was also over a five year period. However, I am not convinced that is the sole reason fawn recruitment increased at my place. I have another property eight miles away, with lower fawn recruitment numbers than on my home ground - but there are still plenty of deer, far more than there used to be on my home ground. Bu that property has a different set of dynamics and predator removal is not warranted - even with lower fawn recruitment number.

All that to say this - your land is your land. It most likely has a different set of dynamics affecting it than most of us who responded. Because predator removal is warranted or not warranted on our lands, does not mean it is or isnt on your land.

Try it and see - trapping is a good way to learn a lot more about your land and the wildlife using it. Predator removal will most likely get you out at times of the year when you might not have normally been out there. It can be fun and very rewarding - and is a great activity to include your kids.

 

[yoderjac]

Another thing to consider - and I dont know how big your property is where you are overrun with coyotes, but if you only have 100 or even 200 acres - habitat improvement may not make much of a difference in fawn recruitment.but, Habitat improvement can help to draw a lot of deer to your place on 200 acres. Your neighbors could all be row croppers or cattle ranchers and your habitat improvements will not improve any habitat on their land. Removing predators on your land CAN affect what happens on your neighbor’s land. Coyotes and bobcats have a large home range. They are not just killing fawns on your land - they are killing them on your neighbor’s land, also. You could trap coyotes on your land and be reducing the coyote population on your neighbor’s land and his neighbor’s land - potentially improving fawn recruitment across a much larger area than your own land. When I bought my land fifteen years ago - it had been part of a cattle ranch. As I implemented various habitat improvement actions, I started getting more predator pictures because my land was also more attractive to prey species - which in turn attracted the predators. Studies have shown that in some areas, excellent habitat in areas with high predator populations may not be enough to insure an increase of the desired species.

I found that once I stopped killing does, and started removing predators, the number of does present increased to the point where the shear number of does giving birth overwhelmed the predators. My predator population never increased along with my deer population. My theory on that is fawns only supply a very short duration of readily available coyote food - not enough to trigger an increase in coyote reproductive rates - like a population explosion of rabbits or cotton rats that would provide an increased food supply for months - or even all year. I am convinced a reduction of predators contributed to fawn recruitment at my place, but this was also over a five year period. However, I am not convinced that is the sole reason fawn recruitment increased at my place. I have another property eight miles away, with lower fawn recruitment numbers than on my home ground - but there are still plenty of deer, far more than there used to be on my home ground. Bu that property has a different set of dynamics and predator removal is not warranted - even with lower fawn recruitment number.

All that to say this - your land is your land. It most likely has a different set of dynamics affecting it than most of us who responded. Because predator removal is warranted or not warranted on our lands, does not mean it is or isnt on your land.

Try it and see - trapping is a good way to learn a lot more about your land and the wildlife using it. Predator removal will most likely get you out at times of the year when you might not have normally been out there. It can be fun and very rewarding - and is a great activity to include your kids.

Scale is a factor with many things. If you are not operating on scale, the best you can do is improve hunting. You are going to have a measureable impact on the herd with any management technique. The only way folks on a small scale can have as significant impact is in a consortium with adjoining land owners.

You may be able to control raccoon populations on 100 acres. To impact a deer herd you need to be operating on a scale of 1,000 or more acres. To control coyotes, we are talking about hundreds of square miles.

Thanks,

Jack