COYOTE EXPERTS ADVISE

I have permission to deer hunt a ranch that has a lot of coyotes. Howver, the rancher believes in a "holistic" approach to wildlife management where the predators and prey cycles ebb and flow and is not to keen on letting us put a big dent in the coyote population which we believe would help the deer herd. I have seen coyotes hunting in packs and harassing deer on many occassions on this ranch. This is what he wrote me;

"We have plenty of coyotes, pruning a few isn't a problem. The question is how to do it intelligently? If we shoot the dumb/easy-to-see individuals, we are selecting for the smart and sneaky ones. Studies have found that coyotes' litter size responds to available feed and habitat, remove a few dumb ones, and the smart ones' offspring fill the niche. Obviously, coyotes addicted to chicken or calves or fawns or that hunt in packs aren't good to have around, but the ones that eat ground squirrels and muskrats provide a good service. Have any thoughts on how to achieve that?"

Can any of you coyote experts provide a way to respond to this? Appreciate any feedback...

Thanks,

Horniac

Tell him you'll only shoot coyotes runnin deer or his cattle. Shoot every coyote u see and tell him they were runnin deer or his cattle or came to a fawn/calf call.

Tell him if you can assume that I am only able to kill the dumb ones and therefore genetically we are selecting smarter individuals then we can also assume that the coyotes are only killing the dumb deer and therefore selecting smarter stronger deer for the herd also. So therefore you are improving the deer herd by killing the dumb dogs. It is also safe to assume that human hunters will get smarter and smarter and keep selectively killing the lowest mental grade of dog until finally these bitches become geniuses and learn "DON'T EAT THE DEER IF YOU WANT TO LIVE!"

Sorry but the assumptive logic around the little bit people know about Natural Selection always brings out my sarcastic side.

Good luck. The land owner knows everything because he read a magazine article. You won't talk him out of his bent logic.

LAST EDITED ON Dec-19-14 AT 08:20AM (MST)[p]WOW the logic of some people !! I don't see any way for you to win this battle with the land owner. He apparently doesn't know that a yote will eat any thing & every thing they can catch from a mouse to an elk . I would approach him with this suggestion.. tell him you will shoot only what you observe as being an Adult yote or any that are chasing the deer. & like the other post on this SHOOT everyone you can !!! there is NO such thing as a smart yote & a dumb yote they are all gonna kill every chance they get

There isn't a more opportunistic animal on earth like a coyote. Like tristate said. You won't sway this guys thinking.
I've never heard of a coyote that sticks to a rodent only diet. His way of thinking is that coyotes are eating/not eating to help manage wildlife and the ecosystem. Lmfao


Traditional >>>------->

This guy has been greatly misinformed like Horse creek stated they are opportunistic like every predator. The anti's like to peddle the philosophy the more you kill the more they populate which is total BS. I have yet to see a dead one reproduce. What I've personally witnessed hunting these animals the last 20 years is their populations eb and flow with all variables in play. If an area gets trapped and called heavily populations drop but usually come back in 3-5 years given there is sustainable prey bases and the pressure of hunting/trapping or aerial gunning is light. However I've seen some places trapped/called heavily year after year and now there are low populations of coyotes the populations are not even close to what I originally saw in one of many certain areas. Good luck to ya I hope he let's ya smoke a few.

Thanks for all the responses guys - much appreciated!

I found this article which seems to pull from all the various studies including the increased litter size the rancher was referring to;

http://agrilife.org/texnatwildlife/...ents/effects-of-coyote-control-on-their-prey/

Can't seem to find any good ammo from the scientific community...

Horniac

Wow thats a tough one to respond to. Let us know how it turns out

Tell him you are trying to get the young ones before the SMART ones teach them all the SMART tricks, so in the long run you wouldn't have any SMART ones to deal with. The best times to cut into the numbers is if you can find and take them during the time they have litters those females are always hungry trying to feed the new litter. ONE female down will take out a litter.

"I have found if you go the extra mile it's Never crowded".
>[Font][Font color = "green"]Life member of
>the MM green signature club.[font/]

He sounds like a guy who wants to approach wildlife management logically and scientifically. Even though we would say his logic and science are flawed, you can't really change that. Given this reality, the best way to approach him is in the areas of science and logic. I would talk to him about the balance in harvest, if you are harvesting prey and never predators, you are unintentionally creating extra pressure on the prey. You can also talk about the accumulation of minor impacts. For example, how do fences impact deer? Positive, negative, neutral? Slightly negative. How do fences impact coyotes? Neutral to even positive (creates predictability in deer movements) How does a 4 wheeler trail impact deer vs coyotes. Slightly negative for deer, neutral for coyotes if they are never shot at (it would be also slightly negative for them if they were ever shot at) How does a field of say, corn impact? Slightly positive for deer in the fall, negative for the rest of the year (loss of cover, creates ambush hazard), positive for coyotes all year long (ambush possibilities for deer, and adds birds and rodents the rest of the year) Hunting? Negative for deer, positive for coyotes (if they are never shot at) with gut piles and deer being forced to move quickly into places they haven't checked for hazards (such as coyotes) So as you look at these examples and others, it really seems that the deer have many negative or slightly negative impacts but many of those have neutral or positive impacts for coyotes (if there is no coyote hunting). You have then created an unfair advantage for coyotes. The solution? Make the impacts even on both predator and prey. A fence with a snare becomes a hazard for coyotes not just an advantage, a field is now dangerous if they could get shot in it, if coyotes can be shot, suddenly a hunter doesn't just mean a gut pile is coming, it could mean death, same with a 4 wheeler trail, before a deer had to run when it heard an atv and a coyote could ignore it, with hunting, now a coyote must run too.
Use logic since that is what he is wanting and see if you can get him to agree that for every deer taken, there should be 1-2 coyotes taken as well to keep the balance. If he agrees, be wise with the coyotes you take, take the coyotes from areas that you have seen them harassing deer, use deer and fawn in distress calls so that you are more likely to get the 'yotes that target deer, hunt the biggest ones or the ones in groups, etc. And be scientific about it, report what you see, how many coyotes you see and how many you take, deer moralities that seem to be from coyotes, etc. He wants logic and science, give it to him and I think you will have some success, good luck!

Sounds like solid logic and rationale for the property owner and his preferences Bonepicker.

>>>---->
For the love of the game