Coyote Issue-Georgia study

[gregg dudley]

I think this is a timely and important topic.  If it is in the wrong place, please move or delete.

Studies in Ga and reported by GON magazine idicate that aggressive doe harvests combined with current levels of coyote predation can result in a "predator pit" in which prey populations (deer) can not recover through fawn recruitment.  

This study seems to result in obvious conclusions, but until recently game managers in Georgia have been reluctant to acknowledge the impact of predation and the relatively exponential impact when combined with radical doe harvests.

I would advise anyone who hunts in Georgia to familiarize yourself with this study available online or in print from GON.

Gregg

[rastaman]

Thanks Greg!  

[snellville-dave]

This has been a problem in GA for over 10 years now even, if the Game Mgmt people don't agree. Dave

[BWD]

Originally posted by snellville-dave:
This has been a problem in GA for over 10 years now even, if the Game Mgmt people don't agree. Dave

You got that right.

[Roadkill]

I grew up in KY and never saw a yote.  Also few deer and no turkeys in zLogan County.  Now 40 years later when i go to the farm i see few groundhogs but some of the others

When did the east see the yotes?

[Ragnarok Forge]

There is another factor that will happen.  When prey populations drop eventually the predator population follows.  That may be to late for a decent deer herd recovery, or it might come before herd collapse.  I say get the rifles out in the off season and start whacking yotes!

[caleb7mm]

read it lastnight. very eye opening

[team fudd]

I have been saying the very same thing for years.  I raise and train field trial and hunting beagles and ohio used to be loaded with rabbits. Not any more.  The coyotes started slowly moving in some twenty odd years ago and now we are covered up in them.  The deer population is now suffering as well as all the ground nesting birds like grouse which are almost nonexistent in our area where we used to have huntable populations and turkeys etc.  The face of hunting has changed and I would imagine that the amount of predators will start to decline at some point as well because their food supply is dwindling.  I hate coyotes with a passion but also respect their abiility to adapt. They are very difficult to hunt,  much more so than deer and adapt to almost  any situation well.  They have made me look very stupid on a numerous occasions and I dont need any help!  No idea what the answer is but I sure dont see all that money we are spending on licenses etc being used to help address the problem!

[lpcjon2]

This is the case in Southern New Jersey also, our deer pop. is bellow half what it was 5-6 yrs ago and the yotes have quadrupled. Thats why a coyote permit is $2.00 the cheapest permit in the state.It just gets worse!

[Hoyt]

Coyotes are really doing a number on the turkey population around here. I'm in prime turkey habitat, farmland, pastures with wooded fingers running throughout and miles and miles of hardwoods on Shawnee National Forest.

Every night I hear the yipping and howling as the coyotes run through the pastures in front of my place. This yr. turkey population is way down and haven't seen the first turkey in a big agriculture field behind me where I would see them about every day last season.

Could have been the bad weather we had last spring, but I know the coyotes are keeping the population from increasing like it should.

[awbowman]

I kill every yote I see!  I HATE YOTES!  Those turkey theiving you no whats!

I wouldn't hate them so much if they didn't get out of control so easily without hunting them.  They can really populate an area fast if they hang around.

[Gen273]

thanks for the info

[Brianlocal3]

I might be the minority here , but I wouldn't go as far as saying I hate coyotes.  They are a nuisance to us as hunters and farmers, but we as humans have allowed for the perfect habitat for medium sized predator like the yote to thrive. Couple with aggressive farming tactics which leave little to nO security for the prey animal to properly take refuge , lends to a feast for the yotes and no proper home to survive.

I do respect and admire the coyote ability to survive. With that said I killed 33 last December and jan. and I plan on getting some more here soon. June , July is prime yote killing.

[lt-m-grow]

I have never understood the statement "you cannot shoot too many does", because every time you shoot a doe, you reduce the population by about two.  I get reducing the herd.  I don't get shooting every one you see - year after year - as eventually you will go over board.  By definition that is exponential reduction, and going unchecked, will get you sooner than you think.  This seems especially true to public land (maybe not on some large private tracts).

It's interesting how these comments parallel to many states including WI, especially adding wolves into the mix along with the coyotes.

[RAU]

lpcjon2, they make you pay for a coyote permit in Jersey!? Wow and I thought Pa. was out of control with license and permit fees!!

[Jake Diebolt]

I think as big of a factor is the aggressive doe harvesting. Think about it - if coyotes or wolves on their own caused the collapse of deer populations, by the time humans got on the scene the deer would be extinct.

So here we have two issues - aggressive doe harvesting and coyotes. The one we have absolute control over is doe harvesting - do what we do in ontario, and have people apply for doe permits. We've had a problem here with a lot of does getting harvested when the deer population was booming, but people thought the deer population could take it. one bad winter later, combined with overharvesting and high coyote populations, and the deer population, while still OK in my opinion, is nowhere near what it was 5 years ago.

The lesson here is this: you can shoot as many coyotes as you want, but there are always other factors than predation. Predation is often the tipping point - the straw breaking the camel's back. But it's much more difficult to deal with than permit issuing policy. Anyone ever try to keep coyotes down through culls or hunting pressure? How'd that work out? Some studies I've seen indicate that coyotes respond to mortality by having bigger litters.

The cure for coyotes? A healthy wolf population. Go anywhere where wolves used to rule and where they've been extirpated, and coyotes have moved in. Then, of course, you have wolves competing with humans for deer.

If I was game management there (I'm being an armchair biologist, I know, but I did go to school for this stuff) I'd be encouraging coyote trapping and hunting, temporarily reducing doe permits and doing some serious necropsies on any dead deer I find to determine cause of death. It's a little more complicated and less popular than trying to kill all the coyotes, but since its virtually impossible to eradicate coyotes, why try? Just take a little off the top and hope for the best.

Besides, why do we really dislike coyotes? I guess they're just too good at their jobs of hunting and killing stuff.

[59Alaskan]

I have only lived in Ohio for 3.5 years but I agree 100% with Team Fudd's assessment.  I believe there has been a noticable decline in  deer populations in the 4 seasons I have hunted here.  

Of course, OH has very liberal doe permits.  I think they are related, but I am no biologist.

Coyote are everywhere, including my driveway.  Next year I am going to see how often they can make a fool of me.

[gregg dudley]

Ga limit of does at 10 per hunter combined with .25 fawn recruitment in selected locations + recipe for disaster.  As many have stated, hunters have been reporting lower deer sightings for a number of years.  The DNR has been slow to respond.

[guk]

just walked some of my northern minnesota deer spots. more wolve droppings than deer. the strange thing is coyotes howling one night wolves the next. if the two dont mix do the yotes move off and than come back? even after the ez winter the deer sighting seem to be down over a few years ago.

[jonsimoneau]

A lot of people think that coyotes do not do much to deer populations. I disagree. I live in some of the most fertile farm ground in the world. I used to see does with triplets every year. Have not seen this in over ten years now. Add to the fact that we have had unlimited doe tags over the counter and deer numbers have suffered.