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Effects of Coyote Hunting on Deer Herd

I did some reading on predator hunting and it's effects on fawn survival, herd growth, habitat, other species, etc. and the results were a little surprising. Most studies found increased fawn survival initially, but the herd population seemed to equalize on it's own after that period due to food/habitat constraints. In other words, predators seemed to be part of the natural process of stabilizing the herd so that all the understory didn't get demolished by an increasing number of deer, which impacts many other species. Seems that the habitat would have killed the "excess" deer anyways, and in the absence of predators, the health of individual deer suffered. Mothers have birth to fewer fawns in subsequent years, etc. This't new information, other studies and deer management strategies echo this - there's obviously a deer density cap that the habitat can sustain. Will, I think you alluded to this a little while back.

What I didn't find was much research on lower density areas like up here. I hunt leominster state forest, which is a 3-4,000 acre chunk of woods and doesn't have incredibly high deer densities in comparison to other states or eastern MA. Have any of you come across studies or articles that speak to these questions in our area? Anyone have a different take on whether or not hunting coyotes is effective in the long-term?

I know everyone has anecdotal information and you talk to 10 sportsmen and most will say "shoot every one you see" but I'd love to hear more research based information if anyone has it.

Thanks in advance.

There was a great article in Deer and Deer Hunting that outlined coyote hunting and its impact, I read it I think last year, but the premise was no matter how many coyotes a hunters shot, the coyotes regulated the litter numbers by the food available. I have a friend that's a biologist and he says the only way to really impact coyote numbers is to continually hunt them year round and shoot on site. He said even then, coyotes will find the open territory and move in to take advantage of the abundant food, so it's a neverending cycle. My farm in IL is a great example, my neighbor and I shot 4 this year and last year we shot 3. We barely put a dent in the numbers, I have another 4 still roaming in the area and thats what I have on camera, my guess is there are many more.

I can tell you I shoot 6-10 ever year . my .02 is this ,most of the year Coyotes are not a huge threat to deer.....but they are 2x a year, during winter in heavy snow cover, if you have ever gone I to a deer yard when there is deep snow you most likely found coyote kills. and 2 during spring time fawning when they are helpless . (bobcat and bears put big dents hear too) so kill a bunch in the winter and there s less in the yards and to mess with the fawns

Wachusett thats interesting. When I get some time ill try to find the research Ive noted before... it was a hair different. Basically that if you dont kill the majority of the yotes, they reproduce faster with bigger litters, in essense, kill some = more overall.

J's point is good. Ive walked up on many dead deer due to yotes. Oddest one was in the quabbin walking in to fish one afternoon, dang doe was still warm, that was freaky 2 miles from anything before cell phones!!!

Not sure how applicable this is to yote's, but Bear Hunting Magazine had a biologist who studied reproduction in hunted and non-hunted populations of black bears. What they discovered is sows in hunted populations reach sexual maturity earlier than those in non-hunted populations. Again not sure if the same would happen with yotes, but it sounds similar to the research you had referenced, Will.

You see it in ocean fishing. Not many predatory fish around. The bait fish flourish. This in leads to more predatory fish in future years. Which in turn leads to less bait fish. The cycle just keeps repeating every few years. Nothing people can really do about it. Say you have 10 yotes in an area. It's harder to get enough food. You kill six now the remaining 4 have less competition. They can eat more. Becoming healthier. Leading to bigger litters. Now in a few years you have 15 yotes in that area. Then there comes the time when there's to many for the area to hold. They can't eat enough food. Some get diseases. Some starve to death. Mother nature is a btch.

If you target them in April and May, there is a gap between when you eradicate them and new ones moving in......thus, you save some fawns in your immediate area.

Kill every one, every time, do not pass, ever.

No use for them. I'm not gonna kill something, and let it rot in the woods. I did how ever see a massive one this year that's bottom half was snow white, and it top half was strawberry blonde. I had plains of full body mount, but he wanted to live. Hopefully we cross paths again.

I stopped killing them. I've killed a bunch over the years but I stopped last year. I just cant bring myself to kill something I wont eat anymore. They are not a problem in any of the areas I hunt. If they do become a problem, it might be a different story but that's not the case. I hold nothing against people that do though. I can see the argument both ways.

I will say though, from what ive read, if you don't kill a ton of them, I mean a ton like 20-30 a year, then it wont have an impact. The alpha male makes the reproductory decisions and the pack will stabilize pretty quickly again. Additionally, if you do kill an alpha male by chance, the population usually explodes because all the non-alpha start breeding all the females and it create a surplus coyote population until another alpha is established. It all makes sense if you think about it. Nature always has a way of balancing out. I personally feel that killing a couple coyotes a year has next to no impact in the long run, only very short term (less than 1 year).

Along those lines, the guys who whack em and stack em would say you wait to kill over bait until you are sure you know the alpha male and female. Shoot them first. Then without a dominant pairing many more yearlings will set up shop and stick around for a bullet. If you shoot a couple small ones first, the alphas get wary and your setup is blown

Makes sense Bigwoods.

Thanks for the input everyone. Not as cut and dried as I once thought, but as you guys mentioned it does seem like shooting 1 or 2 a year won't have an impact on the coyote or the deer population in the long run. No wonder why both species are so pervasive. This answers my real question, which is - is it worth it to do my half-hearted coyote hunting every year where I'm lucky to get 1 dog? Research seems to say no.

If I have enough land one day to go all in with the motion sensor bait pile and everything, I may do that, but for now I may just use my time catching up on all the things I neglected during deer season!

But Wachusett, it's fun! And an excuse to get in the woods!

Well you got a point. Same reason I "shed hunt" in my area - it sure isn't because I find any sheds haha.

Same reason I go duck shooting. Can't hit one to save my life!!

I've mentioned it on similar threads but I believe the deer herd adjusts to coyotes over time. Does that utilize the best cover and have better maternal instincts survive and pass those traits on. Our local herds are increasing but the coyotes haven't gone away. It just took a few generations of deer. For example where there are wolves, deer re-learned the need to stay in the DMZ where wolf packs overlap. Safer there. Same idea as what I think happened to the local deer over the past twenty years as the coyote pressure increased. The coyote savvy deer survived. The rest were dinner. Tekoa

cougar , ive been shooting yotes over same bait site for years. i tries every thing. I have found a few things that make a huge difference. 1- don't shoot the 1st one, let the bait simmer for a few weeks. if you kill the 1st one he does t get a chance to invite friends over for dinner. 2 hunt sparingly I only hunt my site 2x a week both days back to back. this way if you shoot some it gives it time to call down. I often shoot 2-3 in a couple a days 3- lotta bait tied down. 4- don't miss Killem all

I was just listening to this old episode of The Meat Eater podcast on my way home and they had a guy on the show who wrote a book titled "Coyote America" and he discusses reasons why coyotes have been so successful. We eradicated grey wolves without issue, but for some reason despite spending billions of dollars they could never get rid of coyotes, instead they kept spreading. Apparently it's a phenomenon called fission-fusion. Where, unlike grey wolves, who always have to live within a pack, they coyote is perfectly capable at surviving within the pack or solo. So a wolf pack who has a member that goes missing can be baited back in using the smell of the missing pack member, while coyotes will often split up when pack members go missing. And the howling at night is an attempt to take a head count of their population. If they do not hear sufficient howls in return they are triggered to expand their boundaries and have larger than average liters. That's a fairly general overview and I hope I didn't butcher it too much. Pretty fascinating.

The podcast has a lot more good stuff, but if you're just interested in the coyote portion it's about 3/4 of the way through the show.

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