Predator proofing a property

[GMan5465]

I have coyotes, bears, bobcats, and wolves on my property. Obviously, hunting and trapping is one means to reduce some predators.

What are your top “habitat” tactics to tilt the odds in the deers favor against predators?

I’m concerned about doing what I think are improvements that may take the odds out of a deers favor. For instance, I have some large areas that were pasture that aren’t grown up yet. I am planting switchgrass as a screening and considered stacking tree tops in lines to reduce sight lines. Does that help or hurt the deer?

Creating cover in the woods is always good, or is it…does it provide better ambush opportunities?

The previous land owner would plow roads in the woods for deer to move around easier in the winter, doesn’t that help predators.

Interested in your thoughts and suggestions.

 

[b116757]

Short of eliminating the predators which I am not advocating I don’t really see anything other than improving deer nutrition being of any real value. Having enough high quality browse to keep the deer herd healthy is probably the best approach if they get run down badly enough the predators can more easily have their way with them. In very high snow area’s plowing trails or running sleds around in the timber that packs the snow and freezes hard. The deer can walk on them saving valuable calories not struggling in deep snow. Anything shy of nutrition is probably going to benefit both predators and pray equally.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

Deer also like to bed on south facing slopes in the cold months, they also like to bed towards the tops so they can view danger coming towards them, so maybe set up some areas on south slopes for them, with easy escape routes? Cant give details, each areas are unique.


and as b116757 said keep them with some nutrition, so they dont get worn down, especially late winters.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

I was of the impression that deep snow was advantageous to wolves rather than deer so I could see having some nice packed or plowed stuff helpful. Always such a damn catch 22.. You make a spot with lots of good thermal cover and winter food in wolf country, wolves are prone to focus on the concentrated deer. Seems like the only deterrent is frequent human presence which isn't typical in most of wolf country.

 

[GMan5465]

I was of the impression that deep snow was advantageous to wolves rather than deer so I could see having some nice packed or plowed stuff helpful. Always such a damn catch 22.. You make a spot with lots of good thermal cover and winter food in wolf country, wolves are prone to focus on the concentrated deer. Seems like the only deterrent is frequent human presence which isn't typical in most of wolf country.

Regarding the human presence, the spot with most of the predator activity is located right in the almost dead center equidistant from my cabin and my neighbors. I've been trying to make more commotion down there since our rifle season is over. Once again, helping or hurting, who knows. Cutting poplars and thinning the canopy. Will be great cover in a few years but in the meantime, I've put the deer buffet table in a bad spot. Double edged sword!

 

[Greta&Gus]

I have the same predators you have. Seeing them is always a concern and yes, the wolves love to run our roads. I don’t like seeing them but in all honesty they haven’t negatively impacted our hunting as much as I would have thought.

I agree with the statement about nutrition as well. I would plant more food, do logging, binge cut, and do everything everyone else is doing for their deer.

2 years ago we had a pack of 6 wolves make a den on our property. What was weird is that two of our biggest bucks lived in the same area as the wolves. Why? It was the farthest distance from humans and we don’t intrude in that area.

The does and fawns however were nowhere to be seen when the wolves were around. The does on that part of the property later in the season also had fewer fawns than on our other side.

You can only control what you can do. More native browse and food plots.

 

[Native Hunter]

I think having a good trapper is 10X more effective than anything else we can do. But I agree with what others have said about the health of the herd being important.

 

[Turkey Creek]

Yea trapping and hunting is your best bet, especially just prior to fawning season. Or I suppose if you live in an area of deep snow then those months as well. Large blocks of cover typically result in less success by predators as well. A coyote can work a narrow patch of cover with its nose alone, resulting in it finding prey on a regular basis.

 

[Garrett S]

I love trapping and don’t do enough with neat vermin but try to hit coyotes hard. Here are a few points -

It’s a lot of work and a pia. Especially with winter weather and other obligations/ interests.

It’s hard but rewarding.

When you fail at trapping you educate but displace coyotes. Sort of a win either way. When you trap them- more move in.

If you can trap them when they’re young and when they’re pursuing young (fawns, poults, etc) you’re making the biggest difference.

The DNR will never be on your side to understand your problems or solutions. Living in NY the bullet above renders our trapping season the same as a long pee outdoors on a windy day.

Predators thrive on efficiency. IE- gut piles are easy meals… gutting locations are restaurants worth adding to the circuit.

You’re more likely to have an issue with the short roamers (can’t speak on wolves- thankfully) if they’re eating there year round. Also put the effort into determining what they’re eating and the deers reason.

Ma Nature sometimes is pointing things out on habitat and carrying capacity with predator presence… balance that reality with personal interest.

Just some thoughts.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

In northern MN I don’t give much thought to anything you can legally trap or shoot (more often than once every 5 years). Coyotes and bobcats are hardly a consideration when there are a bunch of wolves and bears on the landscape.

 

[Foggy47]

I'm still getting pics of bears in MN....in December this year. I got way too many bears.....and the DNR is stingy with licenses. Not sure what they are thinking. Same with wolves....they come and go around my place. The coyotes are always around. I dont think the bobcats get many (if any) deer. Wolves are the worst.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Worked on that problem a bit today. Will hit it hard between now and turkey season.

 

[b116757]

I had a couple trash pandas come in to me last week so I plugged them they where ridiculously fat.

 

[NT179]

Last year I had 6 wolves in 1 cam pic. This year,pics of a couple now and then. Sprayed my 1 acre plot with gly, came back beautifully in clover and alfalfa. The bears moved in,1 doe Pic in 3 weeks. Plot is heavily fertilizer in bear shit. Lol. Plan is to get another couple plots cleared this year . Hope that will help

 

[bigboreblr]

Big habitat improvement, but for hunting. Buy a motion sensing floodlight, but rewire it so it illuminates a light inside you house. Put that motion sensor 100ft or more behnd camp. Put a gut pile by that sensor. Folks have gotten 40+ coyotes in one season in their backyards. Could atleast get 5 or 6 a weekend here n there at camp.

 

[Lucky_P]

We have coyotes & coons... and, I guess, bobcats.
From what I can see, none are making any sort of impact on the deer population here...
Hell, you can't kill enough of the hooved rats in the short little 2-wk modern firearms season KDFWR lets us have here in KY. I'm not a bow-hunter, don't have a smokepole anymore... so I'm limited (legally) to 16 days of hunting them. It's nothing to see anywhere from 25 to 50 in the green fields here on the farm, in sight of the house, almost any evening.
Back home in AL... modern gun season ran from Nov 19 to Feb 10... KDFWR needs to open it up!

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

We have coyotes & coons... and, I guess, bobcats.
From what I can see, none are making any sort of impact on the deer population here...
Hell, you can't kill enough of the hooved rats in the short little 2-wk modern firearms season KDFWR lets us have here in KY. I'm not a bow-hunter, don't have a smokepole anymore... so I'm limited (legally) to 16 days of hunting them. It's nothing to see anywhere from 25 to 50 in the green fields here on the farm, in sight of the house, almost any evening.
Back home in AL... modern gun season ran from Nov 19 to Feb 10... KDFWR needs to open it up!

Kdfwr is doing just fine. There’s a reason so many people from out of state hunt in ky and not ga or al or tenn or ms. Ridiculously long rifle seasons and multiple buck tags put a hurting on those buck populations. I wish kdfwr would get rid of the early ml season.

 

[yoderjac]

I have coyotes, bears, bobcats, and wolves on my property. Obviously, hunting and trapping is one means to reduce some predators.

What are your top “habitat” tactics to tilt the odds in the deers favor against predators?

I’m concerned about doing what I think are improvements that may take the odds out of a deers favor. For instance, I have some large areas that were pasture that aren’t grown up yet. I am planting switchgrass as a screening and considered stacking tree tops in lines to reduce sight lines. Does that help or hurt the deer?

Creating cover in the woods is always good, or is it…does it provide better ambush opportunities?

The previous land owner would plow roads in the woods for deer to move around easier in the winter, doesn’t that help predators.

Interested in your thoughts and suggestions.

As I recall, there was a study done with coyotes. One of the issues they found was that when you convert long narrow strips of habitat into dense cover (say like along a creek bottom in open hardwoods), a high percentage of does are attracted to this thick cover for fawning and it is easy for coyotes to hunt effectively. Recruitment numbers actually dropped with this kind of habit improvement. By contract, when larger more irregular shaped blocks were converted, fawn survival improved.

That is one consideration for habitat work and predation. I can't recall where I saw that study summary, it may have been MSU deer labs.