I've been doing predator control for a couple of decades and have seen what an unchecked coyote population can do to an area's wildlife.
They were pushed from the western states to the east coast 70 years ago.
I used to think that they would become a normal part of the ecosystem and mother nature would control their numbers like she does with other animals, but coyote are survivors and can adapt where other animals perish.
We put a trail camera on a coyote den and found out why the deer population was dwindling.
Small pets around the area started disappearing and some thought it was devil worshipers, but what we found was that the coyote were at work doing what predators do, as after we cleaned out all the devil worshippers, the pets were still disappearing !
Mother nature needed a hand in controlling them, as left unchecked like any evasive species, they would've cleaned out every animal they could get their paws on and then probably die of mange or rabies, which is a painful death.
So I've been hunting them and in the areas I hunt and do farm over watch in, I know it makes a difference.
I've left out dead cow and legal picked up deer road kill for bait and have had nothing touch it for weeks in the areas I hunt.
Of course that makes them gather in areas I don't have permission to hunt and all of a sudden I'm getting calls in those areas now.
More and more people are getting tired of the growing coyote presence and their getting harassed more now a days, but I think the coyote will be around forever in NY state in good numbers as long as there's a coyote season and trapper numbers dwindle because of the declining fur prices.
No one wants to wear dead animal fur anymore.
SJC