Coyotes and Deer

As hunters and conservationist would you give up a deer season and harvest only coyotes if that is what it takes to get the state wide herd back up to 1980's numbers.
If Fort Rucker a 63,100 acre tract of land has a fawn mortality rate of sixty five percent then what could the numbers be state and county wide.
I think this is a big issue that needs to be address sooner than later.

wouldn't help, still have too many yotes.

No need for a closed deer season, just need to manipulate our doe harvest regiment. Ft. Rucker used to host some of the highest deer densities in the state but now combination of 2 doe a day for several years and low fawn recruitment has resulted in a very low deer density. Areas of the state still can kill 2 does a day and it not hurt the population but in many places it has. Offer incentive to kill predators and establish zones with differing management needs. If an isolated pocket or landowner needs to kill more does then apply for tags and have a biologist issue the tags. Doesnt have to be just state biologists either...it can be a cooperative effort between private and public sectors....just my thoughts

What would help?
You probably know better than any one on this forum fred.
Thanks.

I really don't think there is a long term, state wide answer to the problem. Yotes ain't going to magically disappear.

On a local level one can get a GOOD assessment of the makeup of the local deer herd and making a management plan from there. Yote predation must be part of that assessment. And yote control should be a part of any plan, as much as how many antlerless deer to take and how many total deer to take off the property.

Yote control is a never ending job and is not easy. Trapping is the only effective method. I would also encourage every club member to shoot every yote they see, no matter the circumstances. I hate hearing a hunter say they saw two yotes and didn't shoot because they didn't want to scare a deer away.

yeah !!!!!


if i can only blow a toe off a yote i will , hell with a clean shot . lol

AMEN!!!
Shoot em all!

On the does, just look at the situation SITE SPECIFIC and YEAR SPECIFIC. Don't take a blanket approach to a dynamic situation.

I speak out a lot against unregulated Doe Harvest. But, truth is, I think it is a necessary component of herd management. I usually try to harvest near as many does as bucks. That usually works to keep the ratio in check if already balanced as long as the overall harvest is not at a rate that is reducing the herd below the annual recruitment rate.

Just keep a finger on the pulse of the herd and set your harvest accordingly.

I'm for shooting, running over, poisoning, death rays or whatever else you got. Plain and simple, the coyotes will eat your deer and keep increasing their population until there aren't enough deer to eat.

Man! Why are y'all always picking on the coyote? He's just out there doin his thing. I like to blow soft rabbit squeals to them then tranquilize them with a 22-250 lead dart, then pet them while they lay there asleep. Then I leave before they come to so they wont be frightened.

The FIRST thing I do when I get in the stand is hit a few soft squeals just to see if theres any hungry mouths in ear shot.

I want to know what the heck people do with all the daggum doe meat in this state! I usually only take one deer per season, because that's all my freezer can take and I live with just my brother. I cook something with deer in it AT LEAST once a week and I almost always have some ground meat and stew meat left by next season. I've opened up a walk-in cooler and seen four or five doe carcasses that have been hanging with skin on for weeks, all the work of one person with a bow. Now I know plenty of folks who give away excess meat to friends, family, people in need, but I CAN NOT STAND people who kill a doe just to kill a deer and don't hunt for meat.

We have one of those

There are a large number of hunters that just like killing deer they don't really care if the deer herd where they hunt is balanced whether or not it is above or below carrying capacity or whether or not the population is decreasing increasing or staying steady they just want to kill deer. I personally don't understand it but that is the way it is.

Come look in my deep freeze and I will show you what I do with my venison. I have also been able to invite 3 people to church with me so far through giving them deer meat.

As far as yotes, we have shot and killed every last one that has come by a stand this year with someone in it. Just got my AR sighted in today and plan on starting an extensive process to hunt and kill as many as possible before fawns start dropping. We ( my family club members) get just as excited about hunting yotes as we do going for deer in most cases.

It takes 6-7 deer to fill my freezer for a year. It gets used. And yotes are here to stay.

We hunt in Roxana in Tallapoosa county. Even after the pines were thinned a few years ago we still have a hard time seeing deer. We know we have about 15-18 deer (sightings, cameras, signs, etc). However we also have quite a few coyotes. I believe God intended for natural predation but He also told us in Genesis to have dominion over all the animals. I just exercised that respopnsibility over one of our resident coyotes. Hit him on a trot and he TOOK OFF like a bolt. Hopefully I got him. We'll see when I get down later.

Regardless of the circumstances of my hunt I take every opportunity to kill a yote! Death to all the vermin I hate them

Yeah, last year I shot a coyote right at sunrise, and then sat there wondering if every grass eater in the county would be running away from the sound of my rifle shot... for about five minutes that is... then a buck (not a shooter) stepped out in the same lane about 200 yards out and walked right in to within about 30 yards of the dead coyote without ever getting spooked.

X2

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