How do I know if this is true??

B

bswiv

New member
Over the last 4 months we've seen 5 coyotes during the day and a lot of tracks/scat on the roads.

We spend a lot of time in the woods so this is not to say we see one every time we go......even though we see tracks and scat every time.

But this is NE Florida, the woods are thick and unless the coyote is in a road or out in a chop he's not visible. And due to his coleration he's not all that visible in the chops.

So what I've read is that if you are seeing them in the day there are a lot of them......and that if you have a lot of them they are eating a lot of fawns in the spring. Not to mention hammering young turkeys.

In fact I read where South Carolina has reported a decrease in its deer herd of about 20% over the last 10 years which they ascribe most of to coyotes.

On the other hand it strikes me that in Texas and some other places they have always had coyotes and they don't have deer/turkey problems.

Or do they?

I guess the end question is how important is it to put some effort into shooting these things? Certianly we will shoot them when they screw up while we are hunting something else but is it important to make a seperate effort to kill them?
 
In central MO at least, I think we could all sit in the woods for a week and shoot every coyote we see, without significantly decreasing their numbers.
 
In this area coyotes kill about one-half of all fawns born. If you value a healthy deer population kill every coyote you see.
 
The Yotes have started to roam the streets of Chicago! :eek:

Wild dogs and feral cats were bad enough before we saw "Super Rats" back in the late 70's! There are so few hunters in IL. that I feel one day we may see a Yote run for Mayor of Chi-Town! It would be an improvement! :D
 
IIRC, this is also the whelping season for yote bitches.

That could account for some sightings but in general... If I see yotes moving around in daylight with the lack of scent block or silent sneakin', I have to reckon they are terribly hungry or over populated (terribly hungry).

I also feel strongly that the yotes take a big chunk of the fawn, bunny and turkey poult offspring.

IMO, I wouldn't hesitate to drop every yote, feral dog and feral cat I see on a piece of land I am solely or partially responsible for managing...

And as you can see in my invasive predator thread...
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=445654
I say what I mean and mean what I say regarding the subject...

I ain't afraid to call a spade a shovel!:D
Brent
 
I guess the end question is how important is it to put some effort into shooting these things? Certianly we will shoot them when they screw up while we are hunting something else but is it important to make a seperate effort to kill them?
Click to expand...

It might be fun to try and call some in.
 
When I moved in here(in the middle of the woods) some 13 yrs ago, the deer and turkey pop. was just incredible. One late,late spring/early summer the wife and I counted 40 some turkey hens with poults in the yard. We saw deer cutting through the yard/woods every day. Never saw a yote.

The last three yrs., there has been a steady decline of both deer ,turkey,rabbits etc and a steady increase in yotes. Killed three in the yard last summer and cleaned a den of 4 out of the head of a ravine. Around Oct./Sept the last two years, the yotes have kept us up at night. Also, you can step out on the deck almost any night and hear them communicating from ridgetop to ridgetop. Especially if one of the neighbors cows are calving.

I first blamed the lack of deer on poaching as I know alot of that goes on here. But I also know the yotes are having a field day.

Problem here in the state of Ohio, there's just no bounty on them and therefore no trapping going on. I talked to ODNR and two officers told me 'off record' that since the deer population has not been brought down to where ODNR wants it to be by the hunters, there will more than likely not be a bounty put on the yotes unless the yotes start roaming more into housing developments. In other words, ODNR is using the yotes as an aid in deer control. Problem is its really hurting the turkey/rabbit pop. in this area.

I'm currently in the process of getting as many hunters in this area together to start hunting them. I know I probably can't put a dent in them myself.

I just came from the woods scouting for turkeys. I heard/saw nothing but did see plenty of yote sign,ie scat etc.

As hogdogs said, i shoot every yote I see but am convinced the yote problem in this area won't be stopped till hunters really declare war on them and actually go out and hunt them. Picking one off every now-n-again just isn't going to do it.
 
I have witnessed coyotes chasing full-grown deer. I have no doubt at all they they take their toll on both young deer and turkeys.
 
Everytime I shoot either a deer or hog and get it cleaned, we take the carcase to a drain in the feild and drop it off. Go back about an hour later and if there not in there they are definatly on the way. Never fails. We kill a bunch each year in middle Ga doing this. Still dont think we have put a dent in them. I try to shoot everyone I see.
 
Northern Virginia

I haven't seen any in a long time (5 or 6) years, but I know some friends that have seen them southwest (about 60 miles) from my farm. I see them, they're dead.
 
If you're seein' lots of 'yotes, there must be lots of food for them in the area. Many areas that never had 'yotes have them now because of the increase in deer and turkey populations. Do 'yotes have an impact on local game populations? Of course they do. At some point tho, populations of both prey and predator even out. Problem is, that level of prey is not what we as hunters like to see. Only way to increase prey animals is to shoot less, provide more volume and/or more nutritional food sources and eliminate non-human forms of predation. Will shooting one or two dogs a year in your local hunting area make a difference? Yep, sure will. Shooting three or four makes a bigger impact. Finding a den in the spring can take care of the whole litter of the year.
 
Although I'm way more casual about hunting coyotes now, I hunted them HARD for a lot of years. Not in an attempt to decrease the population, but just because it was something I loved to do.

And nothing I did made any difference in the overall population. SE Az is well known for the coyote hunting it offers, and it's hit hard by a lot of hunters every year. There's still plenty of coyotes, and I still see coyotes, coyote tracks, and scat every time I meander out into the desert.

An interesting note is that these same areas that hold lots of coyotes also hold lots of quail. Folks regulary come to SE Arizona in pursuit of quail, and the quality of hunting them there is also well known.

Shoot all the coyotes you want, and enjoy them for what they are. They're there to stay, as are the turkeys and deer.

Daryl
 
I have lived in coyote country all my life and have shot them as control for farmers and rancher. It is very difficult to get an actual count of coyote damage to a specific species. I have heard the statics for years yet wonder how they know. Were there witnesses to every fawn killing? I have watched on 2 different occasions, a coyote stalking young mule deer. On both occasions the deer chased the coyote off. I witnessed at close range a doe antelope almost kill a coyote and literally near ran him to death. So with these experences I would draw the conclusion that the very small antelope and small mule deer are too large of prey for coyotes. Then I saw a very large cow elk with an injured front leg get pursued by 3 coyotes to the point she was getting weak. One rancher I know says they will kill a new born calf while another rancher living just 2 miles apart says he has never had a coyote harm a calf. The one thing I do know for certain, the coyote is the smartest wild animal in North America.
 
Everytime I shoot either a deer or hog and get it cleaned, we take the carcase to a drain in the feild and drop it off. Go back about an hour later and if there not in there they are definatly on the way. Never fails. We kill a bunch each year in middle Ga doing this. Still dont think we have put a dent in them. I try to shoot everyone I see.
Click to expand...

i often set up on gutpiles after removing the hog or deer from the kill site. Get a lot of coyotes that way.
 
Coyote do kill lots of faun and other young animals.

Not sure how to judge populations short of calling the good folks at fish and wildlife. But it's a good bet that killing Wiley will increase your Bambi crop.
 
I was really hoping you guys were going to tell me that they were not the problem they are made out to be.

We already bought, and tried 3 times now with no success, a Foxpro caller. Though that maybe the fact that nothing showed meant that there were not as many as the sign lead us to believe.

But what I am seeing here is that you are all saying that we need to find a way to kill some of these things if we want the deer & turkey to continue to thrive.

I know it's a excuse to hunt.......but the fact that it NEEDS to be done kind of remindes me of back when I fished commercially.....it was fishing but not the same as when it was puerly for fun.
 
Killing predators as a control for population numbers is work, not just play.

In net-fence country, the sheep/goat ranchers use the braided-wire snares where coyotes have dug under the fence. Aside from government trappers, many band together to hire professional hunter/trapper folks.

#4 leg-hold traps set below hanging bait can be effective. Four or five feet of drag chain with a double-hook of about two-inch radius to snag on brush is one type of setup. Might be able to use #2s, tied to brush with 1/8" braided wire. Gotta do all that scent-covering, etc. There are trapping websites.

Setting out bait and sitting in a stand can be productive, but it's a lot of just sitting and waiting.

Calling works, but it also has a learning curve...
 
I never really messed with coyotes ( they started to increase here after I quit trapping ) but I was really hard on fox. I pretty much trapped the same areas every year and usually caught a large percentage of fox that were not kits (pups) from that year. I am assuming that coyotes are a lot like fox in habits and they just kind of spill over into areas that you clean out. You would have to stay at it constantly to keep the population down.
 
There's been reference's in this thread as to hunting coyotes over gut-piles and carcass's.

Do these gut-piles/carcass's have to be fresh or will the yotes feed off old carcass's/gut-piles???
If in winter when temps. are below say, 32degree's will yotes feed off the carcass as long as the meat isn't spoiled??

bswiv, apologies, not trying to steal thread.

What I've found is most beneficial in trying to control yote population is finding/hunting dens and killing mom and pups early. Before pups get old enough to breed. That usually takes alot of time as well as hunters. I'm finding what Art said to be correct. It's becoming work, not play. Especially if you have many acres your trying to control.
 
Sense I first posted this I've spoken to one of the members who says that he may have access some dogs that will run the coyotes. If as you say they are in the dens now that may be a good paln.

But then in Fl. you can not let the dogs cross lines without all kinds of precautions & potential negative repercussions. And we have few roads to use as cut off points and state land on one side so this could well be a BAD idea for us.

Still, if we could use the dogs to find the dens and clean them out that would be a big help.

And you are right........I'm worried that this could become "work"...............

We've thought about the "bait" but there are so many bears out there.......that could cause a whole set of other problems.
 
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