"Compensatory Reproduction" in Coyotes, why killing them equals more coyotes and less deer

[Mustangs Rule]

“Compensatory Reproduction” in Coyotes, why killing them equals more coyotes and less deer.

Pardon me for a moment while I diverge from the topic and follow the wisdom of an old proverb; “Sometimes the only way there, is the long way around”.

I did a month-long trip south recently and along the way visited the Mojave Desert. Of our four great SW American Deserts, it is the smallest yet my favorite. I call the Mojave Desert the “Mighty Midget” being only 50,000 square miles. The other deserts are 2X or 4X as large.

Those many record smashing atmospheric rivers of rain, wind and storm surge coming off the Pacific Ocean dumped so much rain on my favorite desert, I wanted to see it super green and explosively flowered. It was absolutely stunning beyond anything I could have ever imagined.

I visited my old hunting grounds for quail, Mule Deer, Burro Deer, and even where I killed my Desert Big Horn Ram in 2008. (The inside of their horns can sometime be as beautifully colored as abalone).

On the way back I drove up the central San Juaquin Valley, our countries winter bread/fruit/vegetable basket, and along the highway saw endless signs of outrage from farmers being deprived of the water they need to farm because of the needs of a tiny Delta Smelt, a fish a few inches long. Those signs said what a waste it was to be dumping valuable fresh water into the ocean. A hundred miles of outrage and pure misinformation.

Any study of Agriculture modern or old, offers dire lessons about the catastrophic dangers of saltwater intrusion into coastal farmlands. During WW2 bombing breached the dikes of the lowlands and the ocean flooded farmland. 80 years later the amount of nitrogen fertilizer needed to grow crops there now has created an enormous toxic waste problem for Europe’s’ major food producer.

In 2006 record tidal waves from Hurricane Matthew, came inland and flooded South Carolina rice fields with salt water. The rice production game there is OVER! World wide with rising sea levels and more and more powerful storm surges, rice crops are in great peril.

So back to the little fish, it is just an indicator species, it dies if the water gets too salty, and if the water gets too salty, 39,000,000 water drinkers are in big trouble,,,,,,,,,AND,,,,the only thing that keeps the ocean’s salt water from coming in,,,,is the power of fresh water going out, and that fresh water is facing greater and more powerful storm surges. All it takes is one big salty surge to make huge trouble.

All these signs, written by angry farmers, are the result of operating on old ideas without current scientific and climatic knowledge.

So back to coyotes. When they are dying by being vigorously hunted, trapped or poisoned, they know this is happening and their DNA knows it. It isn’t simply that non-dominant females all start breeding, but also that all females start producing many more eggs and much bigger litters and their population explodes. "How do you like them Apples"


Argue with the knowledge offered in the article offered below, not with me.

MR

Coyote Control

Shooting coyotes won't improve your deer herd.

www.huntingecologist.com

 

[D4570]

I have been preaching that for years. I have seen it in action.
I'm not complaining, I live to hunt coyotes, so please shoot some more.

 

[hunter49]

Disagree.

Targeted action at the correct time does have a postive impact.

 

[Mustangs Rule]

I have been preaching that for years. I have seen it in action.
I'm not complaining, I live to hunt coyotes, so please shoot some more.

I bet you did not even read the article

 

[Mustangs Rule]

From our first primitive herding/farming cultures, whose basic formats have not really changed in thousands of years, despite so many new knowledge platforms to operate from, there has been two uncontrollable inherited compulsions.

,
One is to dam all rivers,,,,the other is to damn all predators.

 

[Mustangs Rule]

Coyote numbers are often higher in areas where they are hunted - @theU

Counterintuitive findings are based on images from hundreds of trap cameras deployed in nationwide campaign to document wildlife.

attheu.utah.edu

 

[Mallardsx2]

I kill every one I see and will continue to do so.

 

[Horseman]

It doesn’t make me feel good to kill something unless I’m excited to eat it. Used to but not anymore

 

[WanderWoman]

Disagree.

Targeted action at the correct time does have a postive impact.

If coyotes are the limiting factor in a deer population, then intensive removal in a localized area at the right time may have a positive impact on say neonate fawn survival, but then those fawns still have to avoid other predators, gain weight, and make it through their first winter and years after. Just because a coyote doesn’t kill them doesn’t mean something else won’t.

To each their own, but I think part of the reason shooting coyotes is so popular as a ‘save the deer’ tactic is that it’s much easier and more visible than say, habitat conservation and improvements. Much easier to shoot coyotes and think something positive is being done than advocate for/do land conservation and management. But, if good habitat is there, the does have healthier fawns born in better hiding cover and they can take care of themselves for the most part. The better habitat also supports other small animals the coyotes can eat instead of deer.

Livestock depredation is another thing entirely but if it’s deer (esp in the west), predator control has time and time again shown to not be a silver bullet, outside of special cases/scenarios.

 

[LopeHunter]

Here is my farm boy take. I would say coyotes adapt to enough types of habitat including suburban areas that no amount of hunting will cause the population to collapse.

Coyotes can have large litters only if females are healthy. Big litters can only survive if plenty of prey, habitat and suitable weather as pups are born. So, coyote populations are more dependent on prey abundance than the impact of predator hunting.

Consider 400 years ago, that more than likely, the predator and prey balance swung back and forth in a narrow range across many years. If prey collapsed due to disease or a bumper crop of predators then predator females would soon not be as healthy as prey became scarcer so litters would have less chance to find enough prey to reach adulthood. That would allow prey to bounce back. A balance would become the norm.

If the prairie caught fire and thousands of acres burned then prey and predator populations are both suddenly impacted though predators might evade the fire a bit more successfully than prey.

If a deadly disease goes through the predator population then prey population will grow rapidly putting pressure on available food sources while the surviving predators become healthy due to abundant prey and have healthier and larger litters likely to survive to adulthood. On the other hand, if a disease goes through the prey population then the predator population will crash suddenly and take a few years to rebound and balance to be restored.

Hunting coyotes to the extent their population drops even 10% is a challenging scenario. Hunting pressure will need to be sustained and likely increased somewhat in perpetuity as prey populations grow year over year.

Introducing more lethal methods of significantly reducing coyote populations are likely needed. Night vision is what some states are allowing. And, electronic calls. Poisoning was tried at one time though were unintended impacts on other predators.

If prey do increase as coyote populations are sustainably reduced then farmers may see more crop damage. Ranchers will likely lose fewer newborn animals so will see less herd loss.

I have trapped coyotes with leg hold sets and the set preparation takes longer in my opinion than what is needed for catching raccoons, mink, beaver and muskrats. Coyotes are cautious. Or, perhaps I am a crappy coyote trapper when I was a teenager. We put the hurt on muskrats and beavers in the county I grew up in during the 1970s and 1980s and only the collapse of fur prices turned off that pressure. Another factor was otters showing up in our county as they negatively impacted muskrat populations.

I have hunted coyotes after a skim of snow in winter by glassing harvested fields. A coyote can cover a lot of ground when they take off if you miss on the first shot. You need to lead a running coyote by a LOT which is a skill I never mastered.

We had a bounty per coyote for years into the 1970s which I think was $15 for the right ear paid at a neighboring county's court house. The state stopped paying bounties on coyotes in 1968 when I was a wee lad. No one got rich on those bounties. I made more money selling raccoon and muskrat pelts that did from coyote pelts and bounties. I did pick up some roadkill coyotes driving to work through the river bottoms at sunrise which were hit by long-haul truckers during the night and probably those hides, sometimes in badly torn condition, outnumbered the number of hides I trapped and shot with a rifle.

Coyotes did not seem to collapse in population even when hunting and trapping efforts significantly increased during the winters of 1974-76 (gas jumped in 1974 by 25% due to OPEC and never really went down) when prime coyote pelt prices doubled due to demand during the Alaskan Pipeline build as heavy coyote fur was used for fringe on parka hoods when not enough wolf fur was available.

Will coyote hunters be as inspired to drive for miles road-hunting with $5 a gallon gas and diesel? Most harvests this coming winter may be incidental where a coyote is stumbled upon while ranching or hunting for something else.

 

[Mustangs Rule]

If coyotes are the limiting factor in a deer population, then intensive removal in a localized area at the right time may have a positive impact on say neonate fawn survival, but then those fawns still have to avoid other predators, gain weight, and make it through their first winter and years after. Just because a coyote doesn’t kill them doesn’t mean something else won’t.

To each their own, but I think part of the reason shooting coyotes is so popular as a ‘save the deer’ tactic is that it’s much easier and more visible than say, habitat conservation and improvements. Much easier to shoot coyotes and think something positive is being done than advocate for/do land conservation and management. But, if good habitat is there, the does have healthier fawns born in better hiding cover and they can take care of themselves for the most part. The better habitat also supports other small animals the coyotes can eat instead of deer.

Livestock depredation is another thing entirely but if it’s deer (esp in the west), predator control has time and time again shown to not be a silver bullet, outside of special cases/scenarios.

You really got it best on a very complex issue. Thank you.