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Where are the fawns

I have around 200 pics over the last week and only 1 fawn in all those pics . Did have a coyote in 1 set of pics ,I'm guessing that is the problem .

Yesterday i had 7 deer in my field. 4 doe and 3 fawn. The one lone doe had a fawn earlier in the year but it disappeared about 3 weeks ago. That doe is easy to spot because of its dark colored snout. i saw coyotes chasing her fawn the day my field was cut and i guess they got it

Coyote and mowing machine bait--maybe. A neighbor of mine got six in his machine during his first cutting. I'm seeing way too many barren does.

I've been seeing a good number at my place. I did run over one with my tractor

With coyote and bear predation on fawns at an all time high in modern history the only way to combat it is to have a more balanced buck/doe ratio so the rut is condensed to allow for a shorter fawning period. This saturates the area with fawns in a shorter time period which allows a higher percentage of fawns to survive.

People have a hard time grasping this- studies have shown in some states coyotes get up to 46 percent of fawns ! Plus we have bear and bobcats that get them too ! You want to increase your deer numbers, let a trapper trap ! or you catch a few after 1st of January, their most Vulnerable time !

First let me say this , I think everyone should shoot or trap any coyote they can as long as it's in legal season. New gps studies on coyotes show that up to 30% of coyotes don't have a defined home range. They just keep traveling from area to area. Unfortunately what that means is if you can trap most of the Yotes out of an area in Jan. And Feb. and just as many can be back there by May or June. The most recent studies show that the absolute best time to trap them in order to to decrease predation on fawns is the 2-3 weeks leading up to fawning season. Unfortunately, we don't have that option at this time in WV.

The other bad thing is if a population is knocked down litter size is usually higher and pup survival is higher because there is more food to go around.

With trapping not an option during the pre fawning period intensive hunting during the couple months leading up to fawning season may be the best option to decrease the population right before fawn drop.

Unfortunately, they're here and they aren't going anywhere so we have to come up with the best strategy to decrease their predation on fawns .

Killing or trapping any and all coyotes you can should be our goal as long as it's legal. however if we can focus on shooting as many as possible right before fawn drop will help increase fawn survival. Easier said than done however.

I have seen a lot of fawns here in Jefferson county. I found one dead in my front yard last week. No visible signs of anything wrong with it. I hate that our DNR gave our gobblers away in exchange for coyotes and rattlesnakes.

Smokey, I agree with what you've said, Mostly, lol, I have a place that I trap just outside of Charleston that is text, Fall/Winter dispersal, year after year I catch pretty close to the same amount of coyotes. However, I believe that in the Spring there aren't as many coyotes there, landowner see's more deer and Spring Gobblers and hens with poults, but by Janurary, when he finally lets me trap, there are as many as ever as they are traveling ,looking for a place to call home ! Other areas that have family groups of coyotes without as much Fall dispersals, I honestly Believe you can make a difference that there will be fewer coyotes there for a couple of years. Just my observations in the different areas that I've trapped in Jackson, Wirt, Roane and Kanawha Counties. Smokey, In talking with you about your coyote problems in Monroe County, you've said the coyotes don't live on you but cycle through every 1-2 weeks, I believe if you killed or trapped several of the local coyotes on neighboring properties in the Fall / Winter you would see fewer coyotes over the next 1-2 years on Your Place, before again, their being as many as ever. God bless ya

I'm willing to try as soon as u teach me to catch one of them. LOL

I know they are bad here but with the limited property I have to control it is hard to manage deer or coyotes . Just concerned the renewable resource is limited on how renewable it is . My question is should we limit the doe harvest until the population catches up ? The buck to doe ratio seems to be good in my immediate area . Thanks for all the responses .

Jack, I agree about limiting the doe kill, I dont shoot does in Wirt Co. I shoot them in Kanawha and Jackson Counties where there are plenty of does !

Smokey, Im gonna come down and get you 1 day and we will go out somewhere and make a couple sets that will kill coyotes !

According to my copy of the current game regulations for 2017-2018, coyotes can be hunted year round with no daily or season bag or possessions limits. Hunting them at night with artificial light is legal January 1 through July 31. I don't see anything about trapping them though.

Id say you can't trap them because you might trap something else.

Yes, trapping has a defined season

Several years ago I was able to get something like a damage permit to start trapping early for coyotes because they were killing house pets and getting very close to several of our houses here. There was one pack that had at least a dozen in it. I just had to release everything else but the coyotes. I ended up trapping 2 of them but trapped 3 turkeys as well! They were fun releasing! I called the local DNR guy and told him the situation and he called his boss and sure enough they gave me a permit.

Officers can give out "out of season" permits for most animals like deer, geese, bear, etc if you can prove they are causing damage to livestock, pets, crops, etc. there has to be some economic loss associated with it. I don't think saving fawns would qualify.

I have been seeing a good amount of fawns in Jefferson county but I have found 3 fawn carcasses on the farm I hunt in Kearneysville. The coyotes are thick in that area where i hunt do to all the food that is available. Plenty of squirrels, rabbits, ducks, geese, turkey and plenty of deer. I always see coyote tracks when I go there. I know the farmer wants them gone because he has seen them up in the barnyard with the cows and calves.

lots of fawns in Jefferson county. I almost hit one last night

lots of fawns in Jefferson county. I almost hit one last night

The bad thing about trying to call and shoot a coyote (in WV) before fawns are born, is the hay needs to be mowed to see good enough to shoot. Some places are open enough to see, call and shoot, but not a lot of places. By the time hay is mowed fawns have been born. A good trapper will catch more coyote than a good coyote hunter will kill here in WV. Just kill what you can kill of them whenever you get a chance.

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