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<Q-Wagoner>
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Deleted at the Request of PM. I apologies if I caused any disturbances.

Thank you.

Q,

[ 03-09-2003, 08:21: Message edited by: Q-Wagoner ]
 
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Coyotes are a big problem in this part of New Mexico right now--calf depredation. Consequently, I shoot every one of them I see. A couple of ranchers are using helicopters and "door gunners" armed with semi-auto .223's. I know of a 40 section ranch near my home that has an awful coyote problem even after having killed over 110 in the last 3 months.

I understand your point regarding waste of resources---but leaving a coyote to rot is more like throwing a carp up on the bank..not a trout!
 
Posts: 6711 | Location: Oklahoma, USA | Registered: 14 March 2001Reply With Quote
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VA farmers support the "see 'em, shoot 'em" philosophy. My son-in-law says, "We've not had coyotes for long, but for long enough!" [Big Grin] They run a 1000 acre beef operation and the coyotes cause extensive losses.

[ 03-03-2003, 08:13: Message edited by: Hobie ]
 
Posts: 2324 | Location: Staunton, VA | Registered: 05 September 2002Reply With Quote
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We had a cow with a calf locked in her pelvic opening. She was down and the coyotes ate clear up inside her until we had to shoot her. I don't know how many litters of pigs my uncle lost to coyotes when I was a kid but several. I can't think of a better time to shoot a coyote than when they have little ones or are pregnant, you gwet a whole litter with one shot.
 
Posts: 890 | Registered: 27 February 2003Reply With Quote
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We think the coyote has wiped out the woodchuck population in some areas that have not changed in any other way in 40 years. There are just no chucks left. The same meadows are there and the same farmers. One of these old farmers still traps for the income and now he knows how to get them too. He told me that now he has to carry a little .22 to dispatch them. They are too dangerous to hit with a stick like all the other stuff.

Have you ever seen a coyote hit and dead on the side of the road? I never have. Are they smarter than other animals or what?

Hunting and shooting woodchucks was one of the great rifle sports and one that you could enjoy with a boy or as a boy. This is really a great loss to me.
 
Posts: 5543 | Registered: 09 December 2002Reply With Quote
<Q-Wagoner>
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Thank you for the replies guys. Excuse my redundancy but my (our) stance is that one should protect live stalk if coyotes are causing damage. That is the only thing you can do. I have never heard of excessive losses on beef before. I live in Nebraska and I hunt coyote’s full time in the winter months for fur. The deal I make with the landowners is that if they let me hunt coyotes in the winter I will help them with any depredation complaints they have when they are calving. Every year I receive some complaints but out of the 160,000 acres I hunt and dozens of landowners I have never personally seen calf killed by a coyote.

Good hunting.

Q,
 
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Q-Wagoner, Can you post a link to the other talk forum you're referencing?
 
Posts: 3931 | Location: Oregon | Registered: 27 September 2002Reply With Quote
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No problum Duh. I never thought of that. Here it is.
http://www.predatormastersforums.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=16;t=002183

Sorry for the brain fart. [Frown] I am only interested in what other sportsman think of the coyote and what statis they should have. It is interesting.

Good hunting.

Q,
 
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Hi Q. Good to hear from a fellow Nebraskan. I sent ya an e-mail.

To your question, I guess it would depend on whether you viewed the coyote as a resource or as a pest. I can see it both ways. I have family that farms/ranches near St. Paul, NE and to them the coyote is a pest. No good for anything. I share their view for the most part. If the population were to dip too low, I could see imposing season restrictions but that would have to be a pretty desperate measure.

[ 03-03-2003, 06:51: Message edited by: Nebraska ]
 
Posts: 1346 | Location: NE | Registered: 03 March 2002Reply With Quote
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Hay Nebraska. I am clear at the other end of the state. 42 miles north of Sidney. Coyotes are a weard animal and it is fasinating to me how everybody looks at them. Some show great distain for it and others think it looks to much like a dog to shoot. I have never posted the question to other groups of sportsman so it is exciting to see all of the responses.

Good hunting.

Q,
 
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We shoot coyotes on sight at any time of year as they have made a major impact on our antelope herd by preying on the newborns.Our coyote population is extremely high and is either stable or possible even increasing.
 
Posts: 3104 | Location: alberta,canada | Registered: 28 January 2002Reply With Quote
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Q,

Coyotes are a weird animal. I love to hunt 'em because I despise what they do to live stock and game animals(especially upland) but at the same time, I absolutely love to see 'em and hear 'em howl at night. One of my favorite activities is camping/shooting/hunting at the NE Nat'l Forest outside of Halsey, NE. If I couldn't hear the coyotes howlin' at night, I wouldn't have 1/2 the fun on that trip!!!!
 
Posts: 1346 | Location: NE | Registered: 03 March 2002Reply With Quote
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Savage99 I have trapped lots of yotes. I just wack them on the head then step on their chest as I pull up on the hind feet kill them dead with out lots of blood to ruin the set or mess the hide up. I have seen more then one hit my a vehicle lieing dead along the road the last one just two weeks ago. Besides that I shoot them evey chance I get prime or not.
 
Posts: 19835 | Location: wis | Registered: 21 April 2001Reply With Quote
<Q-Wagoner>
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I have hunted the “forest” too. I saw a lot of sign but no coyotes. There are a ton of coyotes in that area but I think the forest gets hit pretty hard. Privet ground is the only way to go.

Coyote howls are music to my ears as well. It is the “sound” of the wild.

Good hunting.

Q,
 
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quote:
Have you ever seen a coyote hit and dead on the side of the road? I never have. Are they smarter than other animals or what?
One of the two coyotes I've seen on our property was dead at the end of our drive(it was gone in less than a day), the other was obviously sick and mange ridden and spotted at noon or so. I live on a small(72+acres)tract of undeveloped land in the midst of encroaching suburban sprawl. All the critters pass through and live on or near our property. People have seen up to 10 coyotes on our property and I've heard them on numerous occasions. I'm going to leave them be as we have no livestock other than the hordes of Whitetails.I'm hoping that they will whittle down the deer population so our seedlings can catch a break.
 
Posts: 233 | Location: Solebury, PA | Registered: 20 December 2002Reply With Quote
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Personally, I hunt coyotes for pelts in the winter, preferably on winter range.

I've seen video of a pack of coyotes live-gutting an elk in deep snow. It wasn't quick, it wasn't pretty, and it stiffened my resolve to keep them under control.

During the spring, I will hunt my favorite pheasant areas for coyotes, as they are murder on ground nesting birds. I also try to call around a couple of cattle ranches during the calving season. In bad years, they will go after the calves instead of just the afterbirths. I don't care about the pelts in the spring.

Nothing wrong with coyotes. Just think it's important to keep them honest. Dutch.
 
Posts: 4564 | Location: Idaho Falls, ID, USA | Registered: 21 September 2000Reply With Quote
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how you view hunting coyotes can be based on how you were brought up , where you live or both. Coyotes are views as pests in many areas. And any argument that they should not be wasted because the pelts are valued by some is not much more of an argument that an anti hunter would have. It is in fact slefish to the point that they think because they would use the pelt the kill is wastefull....but on an animal that they wouldnt use the pelt, it dont matter...like crows, or like woodchucks or like prairie dogs....there are extremes but how can one person that would advocate killing 1000 bees, because he dont like them, but not kill a woodchuck in the summer, be much different than a guy who would kill a woodchuck in the summmer , but not kill a coyote in the summer because the pelt is not good then. There is valid point to the issues only because each person personal view is important, but not to the degrees that all the others should abide by it......bob
 
Posts: 125 | Location: ct | Registered: 06 February 2003Reply With Quote
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Growing up in South Dakota where pheasants are king, we didn't shoot coyotes in the spring unless there were lambs or calves dropping. Unfortunately, fox/coyotes and hard winters have hurt the pheasant populations, and therefore the attitude is changing on the farms back there. When you consider guys are willing to pay $150+/day to shoot pheasants, the value of the bird crop is large. Protecting pheasant chicks in the spring has become about the same as when we were protecting lambs and calves. Remember that 4 guys spending 10 days of hunting makes up for some of the loss associated with the row crops, which in rural america is good money.
 
Posts: 472 | Location: Virginia | Registered: 26 January 2003Reply With Quote
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The studies that I have read, suggest that a healthy population of coyotes will help the upland birds. Coyotes are not as good at catching birds as fox are, and since a coyote will kill every fox that it comes across, fewer birds will be eaten. I've never found a coyote den with pups, but every fox den that I've ever seen had the ground around it littered with pheasant bones and feathers.
 
Posts: 93 | Location: Waterloo, Iowa, USA | Registered: 20 January 2002Reply With Quote
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Q,

Maybe you should post this thread in the Varmint Forum.
 
Posts: 93 | Location: Waterloo, Iowa, USA | Registered: 20 January 2002Reply With Quote
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Prairie Dog Shooter,

Old Elbie the farmer is eighty years old, has both knees replaced and is trying not to get bit. He says every once in a while they will leap at him to the end of the chain.

-------------------------------------------------

I will shoot coyotes every chance I get that it's legal and that's all year round here. What does that tell you? They have ruined my fun.
 
Posts: 5543 | Registered: 09 December 2002Reply With Quote
<Q-Wagoner>
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222blr, I understand what you are getting at totally. It all depends on ones interests at hand. Some people think the world would be a better place with out them and it would do wonders for other game animals. Lets take Pheasants for instance. Snakelover made a good example. Pheasants are a source of income in some areas so by killing coyotes that may negatively influence his interests would make sense. Here in NE we have a lot of pheasants but I have no personal or vested interest in the birds. I do have a financial interest in coyotes because I hunt them for the money I get from their fur. We all have interests in the game that we love to hunt whether it is for meat, fur, sport or money. I thought I would throw this topic at you guys to see how you felt about the coyote and why. I have posted questions like this on other boards and have e-mailed a lot of people to get other sportsmen’s perspectives on coyotes. I am working on a paper for my organization in an attempt to bring fur hunters and trappers together on more issues. As sportsmen we are more powerful if we are all on the same page. Any and all opinions are welcome and encouraged. I just want everyones 2 cents and what they think.

Good hunting.

Q,
 
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Here in Massachusetts, coyotes are totally out of control!!! Last winter, I shot 2 in my driveway, and I live in town. My mothers cats are constanly being eaten by coyotes. She lives on a farm about a mile out of town, and they come right up to her door looking for cat food. Last spring, 2 coyotes were trying to drag down a calf that was about 2 weeks old 50 yds from the house.Bear in mind that these coyotes up here in the norteast can run 70 lbs and better !!! We had 3 hanging in the barn last winter that all ran 60-70 lbs. Hunters here have pretty much adopted (see 'em, shoot 'em) philosophy too. We have a limited season for them, but after seeing the damage that they've done around the farm to the pheasant, grouse, and rabbit populations(not to mention woodchucks), I personally have no problem killing them whenever they are spotted.

bowhuntr
 
Posts: 931 | Location: Somewhere....... | Registered: 07 October 2002Reply With Quote
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Q-Wagoner: I shoot Coyotes every week of the year and have for decades. I also leave most of them right where they drop! The Coyote predation on Game Animals, Game Birds, domestic pets and domestic livestock in the region of the west I have Hunted for over 40 years leaves no doubt in my mind I am doing the right thing. Now that Coyote Hunting contests are gaining popularity in the west I have seen improvements in the Mule Deer, Antelope and Game Bird populations in those same areas. I have seen Coyotes with fresh kills of Pheasants, Turkeys, cats, dogs, Rattlesnakes, fawns, lambs and calves. I shoot the Coyotes and on most occassions leave them lie with an absolutely clear conscience! No hesitations what so ever. By the way I consider myself an animal lover and work for the benefit of all creatures and the outdoors! Coyotes are simply out of hand here in the west! I often Hunt Prairie Dogs in mid and late May thru early June in Wyoming and Montana. During this time the Antelope and Deer are birthing. It is rare to see a doe Antelope in her strained walk, hunched over birthing posture without a Coyote or two following her! I shoot the Coyotes with gusto during this time of year also. Last year I was driving down a road here in southwestern Montana. Not 150 yards from the road was a new mother Antelope with a fawn on the ground and blood on her inner thighs! Two Coyotes were taunting her and I stopped and scared the Coyotes off (no Rifle with me - drat!). About an hour later I was returning down the same road, same spot and the doe had birthed her second fawn and now not only was one Coyote again watching her but a Golden Eagle was swooping down at the fawns who were 50 yards apart! I stopped again and gave the fawns a few more moments of life!
I absolutely and firmly disagree with one of the previous posters that feels Game Birds are not affected adversely by Coyotes. I buy books and read more than any other sportsman I know and have never come across data showing Coyotes do not in fact harm Game Bird populations. Coyotes and Foxes not only kill adult Birds they also seek out Game Bird nests and rob them at every chance. I have watched them do this. In the west Weasels and Skunks also do the same thing. These Varmints also get the same treatment from me - shoot them and go out of your way to do so! You will be doing the overall Game and Bird populations a favor.
The next large valley west of me here in SW Montana is the Big Hole Valley. It is about 70 miles long by 20 miles wide. My Trapper friend there a few years back trapped and shot 525 Coyotes from the Big Hole alone in one year! He has a nuisance Trapping license as well as a standard Trapping license. He Traps year round for ranchers and land owners in that valley. Once the Ranchers and land owners acquire permission for his services from the Game Department my friend Traps til the problems the Ranchers experience are tolerable. There are just about zero Deer in that valley! I have flown over that valley several times scouting Game and it is amazing how many Coyotes are still alive even after the Trapping and shooting that my friend and many others have done there for decades! Coyotes have large litters and repopulate quickly - "like Rabbits"!
If it was up to me to kill the last two Coyotes on earth I of course would refuse. But the Coyotes that have evolved here in the west are apparently next to impossible to just diminish their numbers appreciably! I have tried. I think there will be enough Coyotes for all the Trappers in my neck of the woods to make some money for a long time to come!
In case there is any question - I recommend anyone, anytime and anywhere shoot every Coyote you see! Do not let anyone try and intimidate or impune you for leaving them where they die! The Coyotes are simply impossible to exterminate by todays lawful means. I submit all the western states I have Hunted them in have no closed season for Coyotes. I wonder if these respective Game Departments are making this decision on facts relevant to Game herds and flocks welfare? I think so.
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VarmintGuy
 
Posts: 3067 | Location: South West Montana | Registered: 20 August 2002Reply With Quote
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I approve killing of coyotes at every opportunity. I also leave them where shot.

Jerry
 
Posts: 391 | Location: NM | Registered: 07 January 2003Reply With Quote
<Q-Wagoner>
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VarmintGuy, This is a little out of your neck of the woods but I have a friend that lived in MT that was an ADC man for Garfield county named John Graham. Did you know him?

Good hunting.

Q,
 
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I shoot them all year long and leave them lay where they fall.
 
Posts: 109 | Location: Washington | Registered: 18 December 2002Reply With Quote
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They are like rabbits; Shoot one and six show up for the funeral. If we don't kill them year round we'd be over run.
wort
 
Posts: 40 | Registered: 15 February 2002Reply With Quote
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I don't shoot any animal during the time of year that it may be the primary source of nourishment for its offspring.

I don't see the consistency in telling anti-hunters how hunting is necessary to keep animals from overpopulating and starving, then killing an animal that is about the business of keeping their young from starving.

Coyotes are vermin so I don't think there should be a season but rather a voluntary moratorium when animals are nursing or nesting. If one enjoys the sport of calling coyotes those pups will be fair game in a few months.

There are of course livelihoods that need to be protected from vermin and I don't fault a rancher, outfitter, or farmer from doing it. But most of us weekend deer hunters would not be adversely affected by concentrating our efforts against coyote overpopulation into the cold weather months.

As far as utilization of the carcass is concerned, the laws against wanton waste apply only to game animals and then only to help enforce bag limits. The ecosystem would actually benefit from leaving the carcasses, but these laws helps keep the morons from shooting first and looking for antlers later and preserve animals for those of us who want the meat and have a modicum of respect for life.

Frankly after I'm dead I don't think it will matter to me which organs are taken, if any, and I presume it doesn't matter to the animals we shoot either.

[ 03-04-2003, 15:18: Message edited by: steve y ]
 
Posts: 612 | Location: Atlanta, GA USA | Registered: 19 June 2000Reply With Quote
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My views are the same as Varmintguy's. And others, as well.
Coyotes are a problem in the Yukon and in Saskatchewan where I was raised. Growing up in Sask. there was coyotes around but nothing like the numbers they have now.
A couple of years ago, while hunting whitetail in Sask. we shot this whitetail buck near dusk. It fell in some high stubble and we could not find it for we were loosing light fast. We knew that the deer was dead so we decided to come back in the morning to recover the deer. We returned in the morning and had no trouble finding the deer or what was left of it. The stubble around the deer was worn down to the dirt 20 feet around. The only thing left was the spine, pelvis and half of the deers hide pulled up over the deer's head. There was no rib bones, legs, or guts. Absolutely no meat at all. Just bone. Lots of coyote hair around. I would have not believed it if I had not seen it. It had been slightly less than 12 hours since we had left the deer and it had been completely devoured.
In the Yukon we are overrun with coyotes. According to history, there were no coyotes before the Alaskan Highway was put in. Since the highway, the coyotes have migrated north. Until the gamebranch started shooting coyotes at night around Whitehorse, they were getting out of hand. 20 miles out of Whitehorse, I have shot 10 coyotes in my yard sinse X-mass.
In the Yukon there is a season on coyotes. I apply the S.S.S rule.
Coyotes are vermin. I never grew up thinking this way. From what I have seen in the last 10 years makes me believe such. We need to get rid of many as we can.

Daryl
 
Posts: 536 | Location: Whitehorse, Yukon | Registered: 28 May 2002Reply With Quote
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Q-Wagoner: I met a just retired fellow in Ekalaka, Montana this past October. He was a government Hunter/Trapper (Federal Employee of some type) in Garfeld County. He retired last year and moved from Garfeld County down to SE Montana primarily to Hunt Coyotes and get away from civilization! I remember this gentleman of about 58 was a bachelor and was a handsome slender dark haired man. I forgot his name when he introduced himself to us but I remember it was a common type name. Could this be the man you are referring to. I guess I can not figure out what ADC stands for? But not right off hand can I recall his name or say for sure I know your acquaintance. By the way Garfield County is home to a Coyote Hunting Contest that takes place each February for the whole month. The rules in brief are this. Mostly local Hunters participate as the Hunt last the whole month! Two man teams compete and bring in the Coyotes for marking and proof of kill. The Hunters also for the most part sell the hides of the taken Coyotes. My friend and his partner came in second place in last February's contest with 107 Coyotes brought to bag! They actually killed more Coyotes than the first place team. But one of the rules gives MORE points for female Coyotes than for males killed! Thus the first place team had only taken 103 Coyotes but in that number kiled more females and thus outscored my friend and his partner! My friend uses a 30/338 Weatherby for Coyote Hunting. He holds on fur for a long way out there!
About 6 years ago in Garfield county a huge funeral occurred in the dead of winter. Two local rancher types were killed in an airplane accident while Hunting Coyotes from a small plane! They had been shooting Coyotes from the air for many years in an attempt to control their numbers! There were 1,500 people at the funeral far out numbering all the people in the town which the funeral was held in! People came that just wanted to thank the deceased Hunters and their families for trying to control the Coyotes. My friend attended and not many good things were said about the Coyotes that day. As an interesting aside the federales in charge of the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge (along the Missouri River and Ft. Peck reservoir on the north border of Garfield County - which is a vast area!) have instituted a "Federal Season" on the pesky Coyote vermin! Protecting them certain times of the year! The surrounding cattle and sheep ranchers are not pleased one bit from what I gather. In one day of Deer Hunting recently in the CMR Refuge I saw more than 10 Coyotes and heard many others! It is just over run with Coyotes. Any one interested I will give you the coordinates for a good but VERY remote Coyote Hunt. Last year on a two day snowmobile informal Hunt for Coyotes several locals in my area of SW Montana killed 27 Coyotes by chasing them down and running them over with the snow machines. Then they circled back and shot the Coyotes with pistols. Again this "drastic" measure and unusual style of "Hunting" the Coyotes was taken in desperation over their high numbers and resulting impact on ranchers. I know a lady rancher who hired two men and their Helicopter for two full days work flying and shooting Coyotes on her sheep and cattle operation. You can only imagine the expense in trucking a helicopter, its fuel and the pilot and shooter to this remote area in SE Montana (SE of Birney, Montana) to have them eradicate Coyotes. I am guessing a minimum of $7,000.00! Something motivated that investment and she and the helicopter crew of course let the offending Coyotes lie.
Q-Wagoner let me know if my description of the Government Hunter/Trapper is the person you know.
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Posts: 3067 | Location: South West Montana | Registered: 20 August 2002Reply With Quote
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That was not him that you speak of VarmintGuy BUT it is funny that you mention the men that was killed in the plain accident. One of them I am sure was Johns father in law. John quit his job as a county trapper because more and more people are getting out of the sheep business. Coyotes are hard on sheep but not on cattle so he was getting less and less work every year. He went to work for the state of Idaho to control coyote populations around deer herds.

Wort made a keen observation. He said, “They are like rabbits; Shoot one and six show up for the funeral.” That is very true in a lot of cases and at specific times of the year especially. If you remove a resident pair of coyotes in an area there territory is now open and un-guarded so it is a free for all for any other coyotes to take it over. You have in a sense created a vacuum and until a new pair takes over the territory you will likely see an increase in coyotes. Carrying capacity plays a role in coyote population as well. The higher the pray-base the more coyotes an area will support. It is or has been said that to see a decrease in coyote population you need to kill off around 70% of them a year over a vast area to see an overall decrease in total population. Then once you crop the numbers to a leval that suits you and stop controlling them the population will be back to what it was originally with in 5 years or so. From what I have read anyway. I think that if there were ever a nuclear war the only thing that would survive would be the coyotes and a few cockroaches. LOL

Good hunting.

Q,
 
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Q

I think that the big issue is whether or not you view a coyote as a fur bearing resource or vermin to be exterminated.

If shot in the midst of cold weather then I suppose that the pelt could have value.

I view coyotes as vermin that need to be shot at every opportunity. I know that they are so prolific that hunters are not going to cause coyotes to go extinct or even seriously damage the population.

I do not think that me leaving a coyote alive in the summer so that you can harvest the pelt for fur in the winter is a viable trade. There are too many other wild creatures that are going to die by that coyote or its offspring to negatively impact MY hunting opportunities in the winter.

Jim B.
 
Posts: 1115 | Location: Huntsville, Alabama | Registered: 07 August 2002Reply With Quote
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It's been said that depending on where you are standing at any one point determines whether or not you're an idiot. I personally think it relates to ignorance and rely a little more on the "walk a mile in a man's shoes" school of thought. I digress...

Several things come to mind. First, growing up I had a good friend that used to snare coyotes every year back when they were going for $50/pelt or better. He'd get 50-60 every year. No small change. I also remember back then that populations of such things as pheasant and quail seemed to be many times higher than now. I'm talking about central Kansas. I'll go a bit further to estimate that if he were to put the same amount of work into snaring today as he did then that he'd probably get several hundred. There seems to be a certain cause and effect relationship here don't you think?

Secondly, I used to live in North Dakota and that region is arguably one of the best CURRENT regions for waterfowl nesting success in North America. There have been many studies performed in the region on nesting success and two in particular come to mind. One, performed by the Delta Waterfowl Center, identified rather large tracts of land (many square miles or sections) as two distinct study areas. One was a control and simply left to nature's whim. The second was an area where trappers were turned loose to reduce the coyote/fox populations to absolute minimums (keep in mind that birds of prey were not affected). Nesting success of numerous waterfowl species (ground nesting birds) were monitored in both tracts. The control tract yielded about 11% as expected for that time. The trapped tract yielded over 70% nesting success. I think you can do the math with that study.

The other study that comes to mind relates to what Tony, I believe, brought up regarding coyote vs. fox populations. It's a fairly well established fact that coyotes out-compete foxes for territory. What this study determined, and I apologize but I don't remember the exact numbers, was that the coyote was several times less adept at predating waterfowl populations during the nesting phase as the fox. For me personally this meant that I did not shoot coyotes while I lived in North Dakota but I took every pot shot possible for fox.

Now that I deer hunt on land where cattle are in production it's pretty well understood that the cattle rancher wants the coyotes shot on sight. This doesn't have anything to do with the time of year. In terms of personal experience, I know my deer hunting buddy once shot a coyote that had it's mouth on a calf being birthed as it was coming out of the cow. Let's just say that the rancher is very good friends with my deer hunting buddy as a result...

In trying to shape my own thoughts on the matter I would say that modern agriculture/ranching and the population expansion along with the PC slant towards complete reduction of the fur trade has resulted in a situation where prey species such as the coyote, fox, racoon, opossum, skunk, bobcat, etc., are experiencing boom populations while other "more desirable" populations (at least to humans) such as game birds and deer/antelope are experiencing reductions. This is quite predictable when you compare it to the well known case studies of the ptarmigan/prey population cycles (at least I think it's the ptarmigan). Anyway, they tend to track one another, so when one exceeds carrying capacity the other comes in, sees an increase until they do the same and then crash, and it keeps going and going and going...until man enters the picture. Once this happens the variable are much harder to define and predict.

Bottom line, I think the agencies defining seasons and limits do a pretty good job as long as they stick to biology and don't let politics enter the equation.

I hope that made sense as I was in a hurry and "shooting from the hip."

Good luck.

Reed
 
Posts: 649 | Location: Iowa | Registered: 29 August 2001Reply With Quote
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Q-Wagoner,

Used to see quite a bit about John Graham in the Trapper and Predator Caller. Haven't lately though. His reputation in the business seemed strong.

Here were I live,SE Iowa,we have a healthy population of coyotes and they are pursued hard without any seemingly adverse affect on their numbers. Heard a dog hunter say just today that they kill them out of a section and 2 days later they go back and find new ones in there. I myself am not much for the dog/pickup method and don't see much sport in it, however the guys who do it really enjoy it.Just a matter of what your idea of hunting is. I'll continue trapping and calling them myself.
The coyotes,along with the hawks, do catch a lot of blame for predation,both on wild game and domestic animals here. Cattle men don't have much problem but the sheep men have their hands full sometimes. I don't feel that our wild game here is affected much by the coyotes. Our deer herd is borderline out of hand. Our upland game suffers far more from the effects of dozing and mowing than from predators. Find a place that the farmers and developers will leave alone and you'll find plentiful game living right amongst the coyotes.All of that said, I realize that the situation is different in other locales. I took trapping lessons in Montana and saw first hand what they can do to livestock. I also read enough to know that in some areas they take a tremedous toll on the wildlife.
I myself will not kill them and leave them lay accept in a damage control situation. It just goes against what I was taught and my own personal convictions.

Brian-ITA NTA NRA
 
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You can hunt them, trap them, poison them, set out land mines, straff them, stab them and burn them out and the last two creatures on this earth will be the coyote and the cockroach...

Might as well hunt them and enjoy...then you will have a few more birds and game animals and the Sheep raisers assn. will appreciate it....
 
Posts: 42309 | Location: Twin Falls, Idaho | Registered: 04 June 2000Reply With Quote
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Bogio, Did you take instructions from O’Gorman? A lot of guys I know took instructions from him and are well satisfied. He is one of the best coyote men in the nation that’s for sure.

Do you know of any studies about coyote predation on ground nesting birds? I have been looking and have not found any. The best I have come up with was a partial report on the stomach contents done one summer. At that time of the year a large portion of their diet was grasshoppers, mice, moles, gofers, and a lot of plant material. I am not sure if they mentioned pheasants or grouse though. I will try and dig it up later.

I don’t see the problems with coyotes here in my area of Nebraska either. We have a ton of pheasants, grouse and hoards of deer. The problem that others are having may have to do with a lack of food for the coyotes other than game animals. That would leave the coyotes little choice but to pray on deer and pheasants. Coyotes will always take the easiest meal.

Plow’s, mowers, combines, hawks, eagles, snakes, skunks, coons, possums, red fox, gray fox, weasels, drought, flood, blizzards, vehicles, disease and of course coyotes will impact a pheasant population to a degree. I would like to find a study that would break down the percentages. I know it would all be location specific according to pray base but it would be an interesting read.

Good hunting.

Q,
 
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Q,

I realize that we are getting off-topic, but I believe that QU did a study where they put a camera on wild quail nests. If I remember correctly, snakes were responsible for the majority of the nest raids.
 
Posts: 93 | Location: Waterloo, Iowa, USA | Registered: 20 January 2002Reply With Quote
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Q-Wagoner

Yes, O'Gorman is where I went for instructions.The man is pure wolfer, through and through. I came away with much more than just trapping knowledge though. He changed my entire outlook on my life and priorities. I came back made some serious changes and have benefited from him ever since. If you get a chance, GO.

I can't site any specific studies on nest predation but most of what I have read would support the notion that smaller predators such as fox, raccoon, and skunks have a much larger impact.

Brian
 
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Q-Wagoner,

It looks like trying to move your "John-Henry" view of the world over here didn't work either. Why don't you just stay over on the "Black Board"? John-Henry "Black Board"

Yes, I hunt coyotes all year and the ranchers thank me for it.

I don't think that hunters going around pissing on other hunters accomplishes anything positive.

Good Hunting,

Bob
 
Posts: 3065 | Location: Hondo, Texas USA | Registered: 28 August 2001Reply With Quote
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