Long term study about coyote effects on deer populations

[oldguy]

I've killed a black coyote here in Northwest Georgia, and 3 more besides mine have been taken on the same land in the last 3 years.
A Thermal Imaging Scope doesn't care one little bit about what color they are in the cow pasture at night. The black ones get the same 62gr. Lehigh Defense Controlled Chaos Bullet that the gray ones do... usually, they're absolutely D.R.T., just like a bank safe was dropped on their head when that little screamin' pill hits them...

"Little screaming pill" I like that! I call my arrows the whisper stick.

 

[bigblocktransam]

I have also noticed that the folks who have the most troubles with coyotes eating all their deer are the ones who never shoot a young buck, but kill a few does for the freezer every year, along with the other folks on their club.

Can’t hit the like button but one time ?‍

 

[bigblocktransam]

I think bears do a lot more damage to the deer population around here than yotes do. We are infested with bears.

Cars also kill a lot of deer.

I still say the predator that makes the biggest impact on deer populations is the hunter who only shoots two does a year for the freezer. So do all the other members on his hunting club, and the neighboring properties. By the end of the season, 3/4 or more of the 12-15 does in that square mile are in the freezers of a dozen different hunters, while the forkhorn bucks that will never have a fawn are still walking around. Then, the coyotes ate all their deer. Now, at this stage, it really matters when the coyotes eat a deer, when it wouldn't at a normal population level.

My property and my friend's property in SC are infested with coyotes. The deer population dropped sharply. We quit killing does for about five years and started shooting young bucks for meat, and now we have plenty of deer (including nice bucks,) even with still having plenty of coyotes. I kill coyotes sometimes, but I think not killing does to eat makes a lot more difference than killing coyotes for deer populations. You are not going to get rid of the "coyotes." They are here. And they aren't going anywhere, regardless of how many of them you kill. The main thing we can do to help is to change our predatory habits to compensate.

Folks will never get it. Never. The easiest thing to do is blame the coyote and not the man in the mirror. Folks just can’t seem to justify going through a deer season and not filling a freezer. I hear it so much, don’t shoot small bucks, shoot does for meat. Then it gets worse.. shoot the big mature does... oh you mean the ones who know how to raise fawns? ?