ghilliehunter
5 year old buck +
Watched a hen in the clover this morning. She spooked and this was why. 
Hate coyotes!
Hate coyotes!
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Fawn and poult killer down
- Thread starter ghilliehunter
- Start date
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
Fawn killer...for sure. Poult killer but also yes, but also a poult saver! Research is now showing they may have a slight positive impact on turkey populations. Other research shows indiscriminate killing can actually increase populations of coyotes.
Science is still emerging on coyote impact and management.
Thanks,
Jack
Science is still emerging on coyote impact and management.
Thanks,
Jack
ghilliehunter
5 year old buck +
Jack, I had read a couple articles stating the same. It is interesting. In order of importance to us, deer, turkey, fish. We trap coons and possums. My sons have snared a couple coyotes, but mostly we kill coyotes when the opportunity comes.
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
Same here. We don't make a concerted effort to kill them but we do shoot them when the opportunity arises. We are lucky to kill one or two a year. I don't worry about them much since the can travel 100 miles in a day or so. One would have to cover a very large area. If you have bountiful prey species, new yotes will move in to fill the void. I focus more on specific habitat management techniques to reduce their impact of fawns.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
A lot of research being put out these days is obviously stupid, created for drawing attention to themselves, grandstanding and/or created with a leftist agenda. I'm a researcher myself and have been doing my own coyote research. Based on my findings, your actions were appropriate for both deer and turkey management. Nice job.
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yoderjac
5 year old buck +
Absolutely, but shooting certain coyotes in the social structure can cause female coyotes to become more productive and produce more female offspring. I certainly agree with Native hunter that some research is agenda driven. I'm certainly not opposed to shooting them which we do, but the population dynamics and best management techniques are still pretty cloudy.
Some things that are clear include the fact that healthy habitat and good levels of small game keep fawns from being the primary focus, and large blocks of fawning cover verses long narrow strips make it harder coyotes to hunt fawns.
Thanks,
Jack
One must be careful to not assume that coyotes interact with other species in the same way all across the country. I have read studies that indicate coyote pup production MIGHT increase due to removal of adult animals - but their lack of hunting skill does not make up for the increased number of animals in the population. That was in the SE - where it seems coyotes have a greater negative affect on game populations. I tend to find the greatest effect in removing coyotes from the spring time population - when they are less likely to expand home range size or location due to tending the pups. I kill coyotes when I see them. I trap for them in spring. Not that it is a big worry, but I would not want them all gone - they can be an effective feral hog predator on very young pigs.
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
I agree. Much like all wildlife, we can draw general conclusions but there will be regional variations. Coyote populations were decimated across much of the country with bounties, poison, trapping across a very large area in the early days of settling the country. As farming changed and coyotes became less impactful on our way of life, their range is reestablishing and expanding and populations exploding. In fact the coyote of today is a different creature in many places. Wolf genetics are changing them. Even as we do research and study them, we are looking at a moving target. Behaviors are changing with the genetic changes. Relationships with other animals can be different in areas where they are well established versus areas where they establishing.
Nature itself is dynamic and that is the beauty of it. Things were very different when my dad was young than they were when I was young, they are today, and they will be in the future.
Thanks,
Jack
4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
On my hunting land, I like to hear/see Coyotes around. It means that the wolves arent in the area. I would much rather have coyotes, then wolves. But if I had the choice, I would prefer neither.
SWIFFY
5 year old buck +
I agree. As a kid I used to see Red Fox on every fence line. Now I havent seen a fox in over a decade! In the last 2 years ive killed over 40 coyotes off a 5 acre pond on my property.... and guess whos back??? RED FOX! I have nothing against coyotes. But i dont like bullies... and I know the abundance of coyotes have changed things here. I love hunting and trapping them. I sell their furs. And I know its made a difference. Aside from the fox starting to coming back I do "feel" I see I higher abundance of fawns lasting into the fall. One thing I dont see is more turkeys and I think the explosive coon population may be a reason for that?
Its good to see a balance of critters, even the predators, but sometimes I don't think it hurts giving Mother Nature a hand with the balancing.
Last week, I set one of my cameras on video to see if the coons I was trying to catch in the dog proof trap were starting to avoid them because my catch rate really fell off, but I was still getting a few coon pics. This is why game populations have declined in my area. We have no rabbits, no turkeys, no quail, very few cotton rats. We do have squirrels. Our fawn recruitment numbers are under .5 per doe. All these predators appeared on camera in just a few days. There were multiple pictures of coons, possums, cats, coyotes, crows, and hawks. There was one deer picture during the same time period. No other birds, squirrels, rabbits, rats - or anything else. And this isn't all the predators in the area - I did not get any alligator, fox, snake, or owl pictures. I did get an armadillo picture, but neglected to save it. And yes, most of the animals avoid a dog proof trap like the plague. I kill every legal predator that I can. There is no worry that they will go extinct. We tried to catch them all back in the 70's and 80's when fur prices were high - but we couldn't even do it back then.
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
It probably just means you will end up with Coywolf's. Not sure if that is better or worse.
While approaching a 50-year post publication date, this article in the NYT is an interesting read.
https://www.nytimes.com/1974/02/24/...our-back-door-coydog-coywolf-or-werewolf.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1974/02/24/...our-back-door-coydog-coywolf-or-werewolf.html
ACCMan
5 year old buck +
I found 2 turkey nests broken up and eggs eaten on my property about 5 weeks ago. I had numerous pics of coon, possum, fox, and coyote in the area of the nests and in my food plot.
I went on a tear, set multiple DP's and coilsprings for the yote. In 9 nights I removed 14 coons, 3 possums, one grey fox, one big male yote and an otter in my food plot. The otter got a free pass, as I released him and if you haven't removed a pissed off otter from a coilspring you just haven't lived. Truthfully, the otter is probably as bad a predator or worse than the other catches but I just couldn't bring myself to dispatch him.
Next year, in Feb I will hit them hard again to hopefully eliminate more early nest predation. I was reading an article today on turkey nest predation, and the two worst predators are supposed to be the crow and coon. I guess next year I will thin out some crows also which will help the turkeys and keep those robbers from pulling up my corn.
I went on a tear, set multiple DP's and coilsprings for the yote. In 9 nights I removed 14 coons, 3 possums, one grey fox, one big male yote and an otter in my food plot. The otter got a free pass, as I released him and if you haven't removed a pissed off otter from a coilspring you just haven't lived. Truthfully, the otter is probably as bad a predator or worse than the other catches but I just couldn't bring myself to dispatch him.
Next year, in Feb I will hit them hard again to hopefully eliminate more early nest predation. I was reading an article today on turkey nest predation, and the two worst predators are supposed to be the crow and coon. I guess next year I will thin out some crows also which will help the turkeys and keep those robbers from pulling up my corn.
Telemark
5 year old buck +
Can they choose the gender?
H20fwler
5 year old buck +
Racoons are like some kind of Hydra, kill one and ten come to its funeral! I kill them year round but it doesn't seem to slow them down...my wife likes seeing the little ones so they get a pass when she is with me. I really hate it when those fat little bastards break limbs on young fruit trees.
I also kill every yote I can mostly opportunity hunter shooting them while hunting or doing something else, youngest boy calls for them and we trap a few.
I still would rather have coon/yotes than trespassers any day...at least they are part of nature and I'm allowed to shoot them.
I also kill every yote I can mostly opportunity hunter shooting them while hunting or doing something else, youngest boy calls for them and we trap a few.
I still would rather have coon/yotes than trespassers any day...at least they are part of nature and I'm allowed to shoot them.
