Notes on Yotes, Balance, and the Truth

Trapping yotes is fun and not really that hard to learn if have the time. There’s really only a few things you need to know and pay attention to.....Location is key….. A few gang sets put out in quality locations can make a big difference…. Keep it simple….Make your sets look natural and not try to dress them up too much…. Study the map and look at the bigger picture….. ….

Take your time and don’t get any scent on the trap itself…..Ive learned that’s there no way to put them in fast so you just got to just throttle back a little and concentrate on setting each one right…Even if you know you’ve only got one reset to put in and you get in a hurry…. you may put him on alert and make him suspicious just by your sweat dripping on the set too much….Try to be patient though and focus on quality over quantity….especially for anyone new and just getting started.

The worst thing that could happen is for a trap to snap on his toes and he gets away…. They may not look like it but coyotes are highly intelligent and adaptable. It may only take one poor set to educate him and make him trap shy. Then he probably wont come around any of your sets again…. They have the potential to be baby deer killing machines…. but they’re really not the killers they seem to be….Its only in situations where the land has been fragmented and there’s a lack of a quality understory due to poor management decisions and practices where they become a nuisance and cause issues.

The truth though is that you're better off to not worry so much about trapping unless necessary and instead put your efforts into improving your habitat and it will in turn produce more wildlife. Proper balance is an important concept to understand instead of yotes simply being labeled as “bad” … …..People may not like them but coyotes are just another part of nature and they can actually be a vital friend. They serve a purpose like everything else. They take out the weak and sick and allow “survival of the fittest” to run its course …. Environmental factors change over time and that’s how the wildlife change with it. Its evolution and its what insures us of having a strong prosperous herd for years to come.

Another important thing that coyotes do though is they keep the deer population from exceeding the carrying capacity in the event humans fail to do so. Destroying the diversity and quality of the habitat is bad for all the critters…..I’m certainly not saying that we need to completely quit shooting and trapping them……But we definitely could understand them a little better…..a lot like weeds…..In places where the understory is well managed across a large amount of acreage…..you really don’t have to worry about doing anything with coyotes and that’s the most ideal way to go….There’s gonna continue to be some areas though where the land is fragmented with poor understory. If folks know how to tell the difference then they can make wiser decisions. Folks just have to know how to recognize the difference instead of only seeing him as bad……

It can be hard to change what you see as normal and "just the way its done" once its been ingrained in you for so long. But if you slow down and look at nature with an open mind to new possibilities and a humble heart to the awesomeness of its depth …..Then we can simply use our eyes to see that nature has given us the blueprint and the process for EVERYTHING. Its been right there in front of us the whole time for everyone to see. An immaculate design able to adapt to unimagined or unforeseen change and its deeper and more complex than we will ever know or could have imagined possible….Even our perception of something as simple as a coyote may be misunderstood and our understanding of its role as part of the bigger picture may change through time ……Can you see it?.... H-o-l-i-s-t-i-c…


Round like circle…..Whole like circle…..Circle good…….Scary thing not “bad”…..

Homework......Faith? Truth?.......Good? Bad? Balance ......Both go boom-boom

I'm all good!.....Ehhh.....maybe on second thought.....truth

Coyotes aren't native to Alabama, anti-trapper know-it-all. Everyone on ALdeer is really tired of your philosophic ramblings. Get on some hippie dippie love all predators board and spout off, please.

Coyotes are at the top of the food chain here. If trappers and predator hunters don't dwindle their numbers, then they will destroy every bit of our native wildlife. Responsible land managers know that where coyotes are removed, deer herd numbers thrive.

Are you even from Alabama?

CNC is struggling with mental instability. Most of us by now have learned how to ignore his meaningless dribble.
I'm really good at it, when his post is more than one sentence I don't even read it.
Just for fun I might activate his flood protection and limit it to one post per day. 😂

Tell any land manager, deer herd steward about how important coyotes are and they're going to tell you where to can take that ish. You really ought not be posting in our trapping thread. No one here comes to read your hogwash.

There are certainly other aspects of wildlife management to consider when looking at a coyote’s role in the bigger picture. For instance. if a particular landowner were looking to increase sustainable yield produced for the purposes of hunter and/or landowner satisfaction…..then trapping and reducing predator populations would definitely make sense. It’s also suspected that pressure from coyotes checking for the weak and wounded may have a significant impact on deer behavior when it becomes too intense. There may certainly be a place for reducing their populations down to a more moderate level on some properties in order to reduce stress from the herd….especially during fawning season and hunting season. I dont believe we're going to eliminate the coyote from the equation though...nor do we want to.... I believe there’ s a balance to be found instead of an all or nothing approach that labels the coyotes as bad in every landowners mind.....no different than painting a broad brush across all native vegetation as bad "weeds"…..I believe it would benefit everyone for the public to have a better understanding of their role and how predator prey relationships function. Its my opinion that an all or nothing approach simply labeling him as "bad" could cause unintended negative consequences for other properties and management situations when looking at the bigger picture.....such as areas where mob grazing might be practiced and hunter harvest not a significant factor. In this situation you would rely on the yote to insure the habitat and vegetation remained vibrant and productive for the other aspects of multiple land use land management. As it is now you have people going to lengths such as poisoning and using grease soaked foam to try and eliminate yotes. I hear what you’re saying though so I’ll concede my position and maybe we can revisit it in the future

Unfortunately moderators do not have the option to ignore any particular user. We just have to make a conscious effort to ignore certain individuals.
But, you pollwoll, on the other hand, you do have that option. Click on CNCs name, then you should find an option to "ignore user". Click that and you'll never see his posts again.

I think he needs to be restricted until he gets back on his meds

Aw come on fellas! Y'all know CNC has everyone's best interest at heart.

He makes a few valid points, occasionally! Lol!

I've seen a large tract of property that an unchecked deer herd destroyed. Coyotes, along with all other predators had been whiped out by poisoning and nature with some help from the landowners balanced the scales. This was an extreme circumstance though. This wasn't average Joe trapping in his limited spare time.

Today's hunters at best can hope to cause a small void in predator populations at the most crucial times (fawning season for deer and nesting season for turkeys) in order to help boost game numbers.

In CNC's perfect world each hunter has 1,000 acres to do with as he sees fit and has unlimited resources to work with. In reality 95% of hunters lease timber company land and do well to afford the lease and planting winter food plots.

CNC needs to get some help. It is unhealthy to say the least to get on Aldeer and post all this dribble trying to solicit some type of response that appears to me (IMO) to be generally baiting... an unconstructive and augmentative response and ultimately the entire thread..

I thought I remember CNC starting his trapping adventures since I have been a member of this board. That would make him hardly qualified to school some of us on "the how and why it's done". He's a rookie.

To be honest this garbage need to stop. I don't think it is cute or helpful to anyone on here. There is nothing constructive about it. There is no benefit.

I have a landowner/client with about 5,000 acres on the Alabama river. He has too many deer and, while they try to kill enough does, it is a struggle. We have not killed a coyote or bobcat on his place in the 25 years I have been working there. Managing habitat is key but the coyotes and bobcats are sacred on his place. Just food for thought

I love hunting Bobcats.

Who ‘balances’ the coyotes and bobcats? I do my part, do you? LOL

I guess you could also say “moderate” their population……Coyotes tend to go through boom and bust cycles……I will eventually figure out how to curtail or moderate their use of a property through deterring their travel on the road systems.