Predators ???? To kill or not to kill

[BADAZZTRITON]

I was just wondering what everyone's thoughts are on predators on your hunting property. I'm seeing alot of coyote's and bobcats and was wondering if i need to start controlling their numbers, so they dont possibly diminish my lacking deer herd. I've seen 10 bobcats so far and about 15 coyotes and dont know if i should start slingin' lead ??

[Luke]

id start takin them out...the yotes are the hardest on the deer really...think i read an article not to long ago that said that yotes were recorded in some states as being the cause of 70% of the fawn deaths..thats a lot...the bobcats arent as bad on the deer they are more into small anmials and birds really.

[E_TN_MIKE]

Take em out.

[DIXIEDOG]

I'd shoot them, the thing is though even after you shoot a bunch more predators will just move in. You need to develop a plan on eradicating predators from your lease, you may want to recruit some help one person isn't likely to make much of a dent in the predator population in that area.

[ol man river]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Luke &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">id start takin them out...the yotes are the hardest on the deer really...think i read an article not to long ago that said that yotes were recorded in some states as being the cause of 70% of the fawn deaths..thats a lot...the bobcats arent as bad on the deer they are more into small anmials and birds really.</TD></TR></TABLE>

+1

yotes are hard to get rid of...theyre everywhere

[H2O_Fowl]

Let them yotes live if they are eating deer. Every deer ate is one less I will run over with my truck up here.

[BADAZZTRITON]

I'll trade you my coyotes for your deer, EVEN SWAP !!!!

[Capw]

Hunt them, you may really like it. If you like the idea of outsmarting the smartest animal in the woods, hunt them nonstop. Shoot them even when deer hunting, it wont bother the deer.

[moto]

if you're actually seeing those numbers of yotes, it's time to start thinning them out a bit, not eradicating. you may find that you like the challenge of hunting them, it's quite different than deer hunting. contrary to what everyone else say's, you do need a balance of prey/predator. for years back home, you wouldn't find a yote or a fox but here and there because everyone and their mother was shooting them. for instance, skunks and oppossums do more harm to turkey populations (nesting) than yote's, but they get most of the blame. the deer did alright, but nothing to write home about. however, we also had one of the largest outbreaks of rabies, distemper etc because nothing was out there to control populations other than hunters, disease and starvation. yote numbers are up within reason now and managable, but overall our woods are the healthiest they been in quite some time.....jmo

[Besmith]

Take them out.

[buzzzzbait88]

shoot em all. Not a big fan of shooting foxes, but every coyote that walks by me close enough to kill is going to be killed. Here in Iowa, the coyote population is so high that a new born fawn has a 20% chance or less to live until its 9 months old.

[tomcat]

I'd thin them out once our deer seasons are done here in IL I start in on coyotes I'll also pop one if he's close enough during our deer seasons

[Stompy]

No on the bobcats and some of the song dogs, Yotes help some with our deer numbers, which is a good thing. If you take the predators out of the mix we would have way to many deer. We kill a few of the yotes here on the ranch but not many , but every year I still have to kill a bunch of does. And we have a ton of yotes. Here in Texas, the state did a study, and Bobcats only account for 5% of fawn deaths.

[adchunts]

I smoke every coyote I can. Don't think I have put a dent in the population yet. Still see a lot of them. Mostly let the bobcats walk.

[dondon123]

shoot em all

[BP in ME]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DIXIEDOG &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'd shoot them, the thing is though even after you shoot a bunch more predators will just move in. You need to develop a plan on eradicating predators from your lease, you may want to recruit some help one person isn't likely to make much of a dent in the predator population in that area.</TD></TR></TABLE>

+1 It's fun though. It's more like turkey hunting than deer hunting. I don't have test results in front of me but I figure Wiley's eyes are as good as turkey's, hearing is better than a turkey's, his nose is better than a deer's and he's the smartest critter in the woods.

[TRCM]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BP in ME &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

+1 It's fun though. It's more like turkey hunting than deer hunting. I don't have test results in front of me but I figure Wiley's eyes are as good as turkey's, hearing is better than a turkey's, his nose is better than a deer's and he's the smartest critter in the woods.</TD></TR></TABLE>

We must have the dumb ones out here. Had one walk up on me in my stand this year...and I was smoking a cig at the time. Had I not let my sling hit the stand arm rest as I drew he wouldn't have known I was there. But that little bit of noise was enough to get him skeedaddling out of there in ultra high gear, and as a result, he got away.

[ezmuny13]

better get rid of them

[BigHarry]

Hunt them because it's fun! Studies have shown that areas experiencing lower coyote densities result in coyotes breeding younger, more often and having larger litters.

[BP in ME]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BigHarry &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hunt them because it's fun! Studies have shown that areas experiencing lower coyote densities result in coyotes breeding younger, more often and having larger litters.</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's one of the problems with trying to control coyotes (at least Easterns anyway). Like most predators, they are very territorial and typically don't do much breeding until they have their own area which is similar to a pride of lions. So every time you create a vacancy, a young one can move in and set up shop. And if you remove enough predators, in theory, the number of prey animals increases. But that just results not only in the bich having larger litters but also an increased survival rate of the pups.

In the end, it's very difficult to do much localized control if the surrounding areas have a healthy population. That's why the the State (ME) has traditionally focused on killing coyotes at the winter deer yards. Or at least they did until the animal rights groups used the endangered species status of the lynx to pretty well get that stopped.