Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum COYOTE BOUNTY

Based on what recent study do you get your info. I can tell you for certain that coyotes's have a big impact in some areas. I have suspected this in the area in which I live in Walton county Fl but couldn't prove it. I see scat all the time during fawning with deer hair in it. In the last 10 years our management has gone way up and our deer numbers have gone way down (this is without harvesting many bucks or does). You rarely see a mature doe with a fawn (WHY?). There is no explanation except predation. Most of our does used to have 1 or 2 fawns, now there is 1 fawn for every 4 or 5 does that you see. My suspicions were validated is a study done in South Carolina where they collard 32 fawns as soon as they were born,(they had previously collard the does and done implants so they knew the exact moment and location of each fawn birth) only 8 survived the rest were killed by predators. Mostly coyotes within the first 3 weeks, the majority were killed the first week or so. There were some older studies from back in the eighties that didn't seem to think they had as much impact, but those studies have been challenged and have been proven to be inacurate. The big question is how do we get rid of the predators? I tracked the 2 mile dirt rd that I live on the other day and didn't find a single deer track 24hrs after the rain. Ten years ago there would have been 30-40 sets of tracks back on forth crossing the road. There is very little hunting pressure in this area. I'm at a loss as to how to get it back on track.