Coyote Ponderings..........

[Lawdwaz]

I get so many coyotes on the cameras you'd think there wouldn't be a deer for miles.

Funny thing though, I've never seen a single deer carcass from what you'd think was a coyote kill.  Yea, during hunting season I might find a gnawed on rib cage and some bones scattered about but it seems as though those are usually close to a road and could have been dumped there by a home butcher??

I certainly don't spend all kinds of time traipsing the woods but between spring gobbler, fall hunting and winter wandering I sure don't bump into many grizzly scenes or bone yards. 

Do coyotes bury their victims? 

 

[G-Man]

they will carry pieces back to their den .ive seen turkey and fawns puled up near a den. adult deer no. they mostly scavenge wounded dead or dying deer

[Doc]

This is the condition of a deer that I shot that was too weak to get out of its bed. Kind of a mercy killing. No question it was a predator attack. The damage to the rear quarters of this deer were definitely the result of a running attack by something. Coyotes, bear, dogs??? No way that I can say with any certainty.

I sometimes wonder how many of the carcasses that we find in the woods and assume are wounding losses from hunting season are actually the remnants of predator attacks. But this particular critter was still alive with the damage that showed it was not a hunting casualty.

[Robhuntandfish]

had one get eaten that i shot at the end of gun season.  Shot it before dark went back the next morn and there was barely anything left and couldnt even find the head.  There was just a backbone and some of the hide.  I think they take and drag away some of it esp if there are others there to compete with. 

[LET EM GROW]

They sure do take advantage whenever they can.. I believe coyotes will carry as much as possible back to the dens. They got to a doe i shot 2 years ago before i could get to her. matter of a few hours. She was already 1/4 eaten. I never made it back to check how quick she got cleaned up or if she was carried away..

Heres a couple coyote shots i got over the years, one being a fawn, and the other looks like an adult leg.. Guessing they were going back to the den with their "Score"

[Rattler]

I find plenty of deer carcasses as well as turkey remains on my land, mostly after the deer season is over.  Many are killed in the winter snows of February.  I suspect coyotes are the culprits.

In the spring they kill lots of fawns and take them into the den for their pups.  You will not find anything from those kills.

[Steve D]

[wooly]

This being the "season of plenty", I don't think you'll find many coyotes taking on adult size deer unless they're sick or injured.

It's too risky for them right now to be targeting deer when there are so many other weaker critters on the menu that pose less a threat to becoming injured to hunt and take down. Contrary to popular belief amongst hunters, yotes will eat more than just deer,lol

 

I've heard fruits, insects, vegetation, fish, and the occasional sissy hunter that gets lost in the woods after night fall!

It's hard to find a carcass after deer season that hasn't already been found by yotes. I presume the majority of those were either unrecovered animals, or wounded from the season making them easy prey. Those prolonged winters with extreme weather that has taken a physical toll on the herd are the times I think we lose a good number of adults to predation.

I've seen them catch and kill fawns as the doe looked on in the spring, and I've even seen one jump an adult buck and take chase before thinking twice and calling it off when he realized he may have bit off more than he could chew. I watched this yote using his nose and the wind to hunt down this bedded deer in the tall grass. I'm sure he was hoping to jump a fawn, but instead went hungry a little while longer that night.

[moog5050]

21 minutes ago, wooly said:

This being the "season of plenty", I don't think you'll find many coyotes taking on adult size deer unless they're sick or injured.

It's too risky for them right now to be targeting deer when there are so many other weaker critters on the menu that pose less a threat to becoming injured to hunt and take down. Contrary to popular belief amongst hunters, yotes will eat more than just deer,lol

 

I've heard fruits, insects, vegetation, fish, and the occasional sissy hunter that gets lost in the woods after night fall!

It's hard to find a carcass after deer season that hasn't already been found by yotes. I presume the majority of those were either unrecovered animals, or wounded from the season making them easy prey. Those prolonged winters with extreme weather that has taken a physical toll on the herd are the times I think we lose a good number of adults to predation.

I've seen them catch and kill fawns as the doe looked on in the spring, and I've even seen one jump an adult buck and take chase before thinking twice and calling it off when he realized he may have bit off more than he could chew. I watched this yote using his nose and the wind to hunt down this bedded deer in the tall grass. I'm sure he was hoping to jump a fawn, but instead went hungry a little while longer that night.

Awesome pic wooly!

[wooly]

5 minutes ago, moog5050 said:

Awesome pic wooly!

Thanks man. That was a really cool encounter to watch from start to finish.

I LOOOOOVE coyotes,lol

 

[grampy]

In the last five years, my hunting buddy has had two deer partially eaten by coyotes, between the time he hit the deer with an arrow and recovery. About an hour and a half both times. ( wasn't positive of where he hit) The farthest one only went less than two hundred yards.

Each hunting season, I find a couple of carcasses of deer eaten by coyotes. But they could easily have been wounded by hunters on bordering properties. Or hit by vehicles and limped off to die. 

I have never witnessed coyotes killing an adult deer, but have seen and heard them killing fawns in the spring. Also no doubt, that they feed on adult deer, during the deep snows of winter. There is also a place for predators in the wild, I fully understand that! But when their numbers become so numerous, and their prey, deer and small game, becomes almost non existent, like we saw on our own property a few short years ago. It's time to take out some coyotes! We shot on sight for a couple years, had a trapper come in, and we started calling them to hunt after deer season. (not easy)

I have heard all the things about how shooting them brings more coyotes. I have found that to be false based on my observations, on my own property. We have also seen a dramatic increase in fawn survival, and with that, deer numbers here have climbed as well. Other small game is more numerous as well.

We still do have coyotes. That's fine!!! I would never want them to disappear completely. They are beautiful animals that I have a huge respect for. As long as their numbers are kept in check. 

I also feel that there should be no closed season.

JMO..............................

[doebuck1234]

Open season year round!this past weekend while clearing trails I came across a bone pile.not sure what did it.nieces took em home to "collect"

[Pygmy]

31 minutes ago, Bill Schmidt said:

Just too many coyotes!   Always take a good Knife with you while Hiking.

Never take a knife to a gunfight.....<<Wink>>…..

[virgil]

Holy crap. Is that a puppy with a collar in the yote’s mouth in Steve’s picture?

[Pygmy]

2 minutes ago, virgil said:

Holy crap. Is that a puppy with a collar in the yote’s mouth in Steve’s picture?

Looks like Aunt Matilda's missing her Jack Russel terrier....Those things are like jelly donuts to coyotes, along with various other ankle biters..

[virgil]

I hate small dogs. But, someone was probably pretty upset about losing a pet. 

[Pygmy]

Not to hijack Larry's thread, but I have a funny story, told to me by a landowner whose property I hunted on up in Ontario..

This guy raises minature dacshunds.. He had an invisible fence, and one of his  dogs was in the yard when a coyote came charging in, grabbed the weiner dog like a sausage and ran like hell...The dog had it's collar on and when the coyote hit the fence, both the dog and the yote got zapped !  The coyote dropped the weiner dog and ran like hell for the woods, and the dog,  slightly injured but still mostly intact, ran like hell for the house !  True story....Hehehe... 

[Doc]

Whenever coyote discussions come up, I start thinking about how in NYS, the coyote is really at the top of the food chain if we do not intervene. So other than disease, and cars, there is nothing to keep their numbers in check. Am I wrong about that? So I guess I am not very surprised when I hear that they are putting a heavy dent in some deer populations around the state. I am sure the DEC is most likely very enthusiastic about that. So I don't expect to ever see any push to promote a year around season on them.

[Lawdwaz]

I’ve never experienced the wounded and left overnight loss to a ‘yote but know of a few incidences when it’s happened. 

I guess it’s just the mere fact you don’t find chewed on rib cages, legs,heads etc too often that has me wondering. 

 

[Four Season Whitetail's]

Whenever coyote discussions come up, I start thinking about how in NYS, the coyote is really at the top of the food chain if we do not intervene. So other than disease, and cars, there is nothing to keep their numbers in check. Am I wrong about that? So I guess I am not very surprised when I hear that they are putting a heavy dent in some deer populations around the state. I am sure the DEC is most likely very enthusiastic about that. So I don't expect to ever see any push to promote a year around season on them.

You got that right. You want your hunting tanked just let the Vermin population grow. It's been like day and night around here after the killing season turned to shot on sight whenever seen. Call it what you will but in this area it's open season for Vermin.


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[Doewhacker]

2 hours ago, Lawdwaz said:

I’ve never experienced the wounded and left overnight loss to a ‘yote but know of a few incidences when it’s happened. 

I guess it’s just the mere fact you don’t find chewed on rib cages, legs,heads etc too often that has me wondering. 

 

I lost part of a doe once, it took them 45-60 mins to clean the one side completely off, ribs and all and didn’t leave a speck of evidence.

The up side was I didn’t have to gut it. 

[Rattler]

I once shot a deer at last light, gutted it in the dark and went in.  Came out before light the next morning and the entire gut pile had vanished, along with all the bloody leaves around it.

I find the remains of deer on my land as well.  Bones, hide and hooves, that they don't eat, but all the rest is gone.   My land is too far off any road for a car hit deer to be dying and the hunting season for deer is over long before I find these remains in late February and March.

[Bigfoot 327]

During the summer I believe that coyotes focus on fawns. Adult deer are pretty safe. Mama deer are nothing to mess with, there was a case locally where a doe stomped on the head of a large dog who got too close to her fawn, killing the dog. This was witnessed by the dog's owners.

That being said, most of our adult does start out the summer with twin fawns. By autumn, most are down to one fawn. It's my belief that the coyotes separate the deer and the doe has to choose to defend one fawn leaving the other to die.

By late winter the coyotes are hungry, small game is sparse, and coyotes will try to kill any deer they can. They can and do kill perfectly healthy deer. I have seen this first hand. One was killed just off the edge of our lawn a couple years ago. I had always thought that they ran the deer down to the point of exhaustion and sometimes they probably do. But, the tracks in the snow showed told the story. The deer was ambushed and didn't make it 50 feet before it was taken down and eaten. Coyotes start at the rear and rip out guts, at some point the hapless victim dies. Three days later there was nothing left of the deer at the kill site except a few tuffs of fur.

Did I mention that I have zero respect for coyotes and shoot every one on sight?

[doebuck1234]

Leaving work today around 6 saw a blondie.work right off from scottsville rd/Beahan rd on back side of airport.thought I saw something as I got to car.tried to get a quick pic.caught it as it was halfway behind the trees in center of pic.gave it a quick lip squeak n it tore off into the small field between two buildings.up jump two smalls bucks that must have been bedded down.grrrrrrr burns my arse

better pic.got a short 6 sec vid so took a screen shot

Edited September 18, 2018 by doebuck1234

[Reb]

Haven't lost any deer to yotes but I will shoot them on sight,we have a good amount in the back of my property.  Year's ago when I lived in Phoenix for a few years we let the dogs out one morning and within 10m my wife started screaming,i ran out to find a coyote going after one of the dogs.  After that they die on sight.