Are Coyotes Negatively Impacting Our Deer Herds?

[Boss Hoss]

Don't worry a lot about the coyotes around here because we see so few but these are a big problem. I see one I kill it!

 

[szeitner]

Alot of elk seem to making a migration east, away from the mountains because of the wolf impact, and the wolves are following them. I am about 500 miles east of where the wolves were planted, and there have been several killed in this area. We've also seen a large increase in mountain lions around here, a friend of mine just shot one two days ago, a 148lb tom, while he was feeing his cattle.

 

[dogdinger]

Very well said in all posts Sbruce. The part about coyotes being opportunistic is of particular truth. coyotes mostly feed on the smaller stuff , but with the populations of coyotes skyrocketing in the east it is mostly because of the availability of deer that can be easily caught by a couple coyotes, which yields a lot of food for the effort. This in turn breeds bigger and stronger dogs over the years. I lived for my first twenty yrs in AL, and never saw a coyote. You can hardly be out at night now without hearing their howls I hear.
with that said, yes coyotes AFFECT the deer herds, but not necessarily negatively. Most states in the east have way to many deer for the herd to stay healthy, but give it a few more yrs, and I am sure that in certain areas it is already affecting the herds in a negative way. We need to keep the coyote population in check by killing as many as we can. With the fur trade all but dead and gone, it is up to us hunters. AJ

 

[dogdinger]

Jamesmc2,

my comment about your comment on the oil/gas issue was not meant to start a ****ing match. what i should have said is exactly what sbruce said and i quote,
"The deer do get used to the roads and will come back into the area once the "development" kinda subsides. It's all the traffic during the develpment that seems to bother them..........speaking of oil and gas development. Once the field has the drilling finished and the gas/oil is flowing through pipelines, the traffic is reduced back to somewhat "reasonable" levels."

Once the drilling portion is done, there are a lot of benefits to the population through the removal of some of the sage brush and the growth of more edible forbes and grasses in the disturbed portions where pipelines and such have been installed. I have seen this firsthand, especially with the antelope populations.

i doubt you will ever see a study that truly addresses this issue, because studies, just like political polls are meant to slant the issue in favor of who is doing the study. IE: oil and gas exploration = bad news for wildlife......that is what the universities and DOW people want the country to think. AJ

 

[dogdinger]

What AJ Peacock was referring to was my observation of antelope here in the spring of 2009. There was a heard of 26 does that stayed here close all winter. The does usually give birth to twin fawns right around mothers day weekend. I saw lots of big bellied does that were just about to pop all during that time, but after a month there was only one fawn in the herd for the rest of the summer. The weather was not an issue, it was the coyotes.
Of course this was anecdotal evidence in just one small area , but it will take several yrs for the poulation to recover from that hit.
that is a good time for you guys to get out and help the deer population. Any time you see a doe with just one fawn, you pretty much know where the other went. AJ

 

[elimsprint]

I know we still have a lot of coyotes around here even though I kill every one I can. A doe got hit by a car a couple of weeks ago just down the road from me and a neighbor called me to put it down (broken back) at about 10PM By 7:30 the next morning it was all gone except for a fairly well knawed skeleton. I don't know how many coyotes that would take but I figure at least 20 and probably more and as there were only coyote tracks around the animal I know something bigger didn't get in on it. I don't think different packs would all be eating on the same carcass on the same night so I would guess that the local pack is quite huge and very able to kill even adult deer at will. I will continue to beat on them as much as I can so "the ladies" can breed and raise their fawns in peace.
Kim