Coyotes and Deer

Coyotes attack a buck.  Coyotes can hunt in bands, a group of coyotes.

coyotes (1).mp4

News


The Coyotes Arrived. Now, They’re Changing Angel Island. November 19, 2024 California, Bay Nature

... In 1915, the US Army introduced about 20 Columbian black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus) to Angel Island for hunting, but stopped in the 1950s when the island became a state park. Over the next 50 years, the deer population exploded to as high as 300...  state parks went with a culling program ... at some point, the culling stopped and the numbers of deer on the island apparently stabilized… Shortly after, the coyotes showed up... Since the litter’s arrival, Parks staff have not witnessed any deer grow into adulthood ... Raccoons, too, are no longer a common sight...


Minnesota Man Saves Deer From Coyote, Gets A Thank You In Return June 9, 2024  Whiskey Riff

... The coyotes are seen surrounding the deer, taking turns nipping away at its rear end.  The man jumps into action and starts yelling at the coyotes who immediately take notice and leave. The deer high tails it straight for the man...


God's dog or devil's demon: Maybe just grit  June 6, 2024 Nevada Current

... From 1945-1972, the federal government along with Western states attempted – and failed – to exterminate the coyote in the West by instituting a massive poisoning campaign on public lands using Compound 1080... a 5-year coyote killing effort during the mid-2000s south of Ely and northeast of Pioche ... After spending about $200,000 in 5 years to kill over 1,100 coyotes, the wildlife commission saw no measurable benefit to mule deer...


To keep its coyote population in check, this county offers hunters cash prizes for kills May 1, 2024 Virginia, Cardinal News

... Coyotes are not native to Virginia... in the early 1980s, they were just starting to arrive ... studies have found that bobcats and bears are much more significant predators for deer, particularly fawns, than coyotes are... “Modeling suggests that you need to kill about 50% to 60% of the population every year over multiple years to really have an impact on coyote numbers,” ..,


Wyoming's latest coyote-killing plan results from brutal 2022-'23 winter January 29, 2024 WyoFile

... Last winter killed most of western Wyoming’s mule deer... Wyoming Game and Fish Commission approved a $200,000 sum requested by wildlife managers to supplement existing aerial gunning of coyotes in western and south-central parts of the state ...


Watch a Coyote Attack a Whitetail Deer on a Golf Course October 30, 2023 Alberta, Yahoo

... a large coyote chasing what looks like a young whitetail doe through a manicured fairway. ...and catches up to the deer, it goes straight for the jugular... brings the deer down in a matter of seconds and starts thrashing at its throat while onlookers react with mixed emotions. " ...


Coyote Attacks Buck On Camera September 14, 2023 Georgia Outdoor News

... Beginning at 9:02 a.m. that morning, a coyote and young buck were in the same photo ... by 9:03, two coyotes are in the picture and one of them appears to have its mouth near, or on, the back ham of the buck... By 9:09, the buck is dead and one of the coyotes is walking off into a thicket of briars...


Lessons to be learned from coyote bill August 13, 2023 Maine, Piscataquis Observer

...  LD 814, would have set back a lot of work in this state to bring back Maine’s declining deer population in the North Woods. The bill would have ended recreational coyote hunting and trapping as we know it. Coyotes kill deer...


Wyoming spends record $4.2 million to kill coyotes, other predators June 1, 2023, WyoFile

... In the wake of this year’s especially deadly winter for pronghorn and mule deer, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department is separately planning to provide yet more funding for coyote killing. Following the hard winter of 2016-’17, the agency spent $100,000 on aerial gunning over deer fawning grounds. That effort claimed 177 coyotes..,


Coyotes: A drastic measure April 5, 2023 Maine, The Ellsworth American

... Coyote removals during April, May and June would also reduce the number of coyotes targeting deer fawns. If LD 814 passes, survival of adult and pup coyotes will increase, leading to higher coyote populations throughout Maine... Higher density of coyotes during early summer would result in lower survival of deer fawns, increased losses of adult deer during winter ...


Hunters who return tagged coyotes receive lifetime license March 7, 2023 South Carolina, WACH

... The states DNR says that nearly 20,000 coyotes were harvested in 2021. This number is a significant decrease from the previous year... Study's over the past two decades have shown coyotes have caused a 30% decrease in South Carolinas deer population...


Belvedere considering use of federal snipers to kill all coyotes in city March 4, 2023 California, ABC7 News

... The residents say the predator population is exploding and as a result, deer, raccoons and squirrels have all but disappeared. And, so are the pets... [Just a few years ago the city was investigating deer population control]


Local farmer concerned with Sussex's coyote population November 11, 2022 Delaware, Cape Gazette

... “It’s going to devastate turkeys and the local deer herd,” said Hopkins, showing photos of a pack of coyotes taken at night with a trail camera. “You can tell there are more coyotes around because the deer herd is real skittish.” ...


Pack of coyotes surrounds dog walker in Massachusetts October 17, 2022 News Center Maine

... the dog walker, who said that they were surrounded and that the coyotes were “not backing down,” police said in a Facebook post.  Officers counted at least nine coyotes ...


Here’s the general region where Colorado plans to reintroduce wolves September 9, 2022 Colorado Public Radio

... the state’s best wolf habitat due its to vast deer and elk populations. At the same time, researchers concluded the region had a higher potential for conflict between wolves and people. Most voters in the region voted decisively against wolf reintroduction...


New Law Allows Alabamians to Hunt Hogs and Coyotes at Night July 6, 2021 Alabama News Network

... Coyotes have become more common in the Southeast in recent years. They’re known to prey on farm animals and kill white-tailed deer.... “Neither one are indigenous to this area, so they don’t fit in to our natural balance here,” ...


Deer hunters can get free lifetime hunting license by trapping coyotes May 26, 2021 South Dakota, Walterboro Live

... The S.C. Department of Natural Resources is asking deer hunters to help save the state’s deer population by helping to control a growing coyote population. ... coyotes first appeared in SC about 30 years ago ... preying heavily on deer fawns ...


Wildlife Commission votes to consider ban on killing contests March 21, 2021 Nevada Current

... Dr. Don Molde cited NDOW’s failed efforts to cull the coyote population near Caliente in a campaign to benefit deer.  Molde says NDOW spent $4.5 million to kill 10,000 coyotes, “lost 35,000 deer,” and has “more coyotes than they started with...


Deer refuge undertakes lethal coyote control September 24, 2020 Washington, Wahkiakum County Eagle

... "We did conduct coyote control at the Julia Butler Hansen Refuge for the Columbian White-Tailed Deer this year after a year of low fawn survival," Myers said in a written statement. "An intensive study conducted on the refuge concluded that fawn survival was one of the biggest factors affecting the deer population, and the main reason for low fawn survival was coyote predation...


Local wildlife panorama now includes deer-killing coyotes February 21, 2020 Delaware, CapeGazette.com

...  “Coyotes run their prey down from the rear and rip into them from that direction. I don’t think the coyotes ate any of the deer unless one of them ate its entrails.” ...  I used to hunt land in Connecticut  ...There were lots of deer and turkeys ... “Then around 2003 or 2004, the coyotes showed up. The last five years I had a license I never shot a turkey or a deer..,


Predator control returns to Grant County February 13, 2018 Oregon, Blue Mountain Eagle

... 2,000 deer wintered on his ranch when the county had a Wildlife Services agent keeping predators under control, but the deer population dropped to about 100 after the program ended...  the Wildlife Services agent had removed about 40 coyotes a year from his 5-square-mile property...


Coyote predation on fawns may demand direct attack April 17, 2015 North Carolina, Penn Live

...  after spending a lot of time and money removing a lot of coyotes, did not measure a significant increase in fawn recruitment. Thus follows the advice: If fawn recruitment is falling, reducing doe harvest is easier, cheaper and possibly more effective than spring trapping." ...

Seeing more coyotes where you live? Now we know why March 9, 2017 Georgia, The Telegraph

... coyotes in the Southeast are relying more heavily on deer as prey than Western coyotes do ... white-tailed deer were the most important prey resource for resident coyotes ..,


Georgia wildlife managers want more coyote hunting February 17, 2017 Online Athens

... “Currently, scientific research suggests that removal of coyotes during the spring and summer is the most advantageous time to reduce the impact of predation on native wildlife,” ...


"Coyote Predation of Deer, Livestock and Pets" November 9, 2015 Georgia, Patch 

...  in Southwest Georgia on 2 sections of land. One section of 11,000 acres, 23 coyotes and 3 bobcats were trapped and on another 7,000 acres no trapping was done. The results were staggering. In the trapped area 2 out of every 3 does had fawns opposed to the un-trapped area where only 1 out of 28 does had fawns...  “if coyotes are not a problem on your hunting property they will be in a few years.” …

 

2 major studies underway in Georgia, Alabama involving coyote research February 22, 2015 Georgia, Fish Wrap

... Biologists warn that coyotes in some areas are having a devastating effect on fawns — and that has implications for future generations of the whitetail deer... “Removing/killing coyotes simply opens up territory for others to move in and occupy,” Mowry said ...



Research


Urbanization and primary productivity mediate the predator–prey relationship between deer and coyotes 2024, Ecosphere

... Though not conclusive, our results indicate the possibility that coyotes could have stronger effects on deer populations in NC if their densities rise, but primarily in less productive and/or more suburban habitats...


Coyotes take advantage of ungulate carrion subsidies as wolves recolonize Washington 2024 Canadian Journal of Zoology

... Coyote scats contained more adult ungulate remains inside of wolf pack territories (27%) compared to outside (14%), while seeds and berries were more commonly consumed outside of wolf pack territories (23%) than inside of wolf pack territories (4%). These findings suggest that coyotes are taking advantage of wolf kills to increase ungulate carrion consumption ...


Research finds coyotes thriving despite human and predator pressures November 6, 2024 New Hampshire, EurekAlert!

... Published in the journal Ecography, the study, one of the largest-scale studies of coyote populations to date ... used data from over 4,500 cameras set up across the country by the Snapshot USA project ...“Intensive coyote removal can obviously reduce populations in the short-term, but removal can also result in younger coyote populations with higher reproduction and immigration rates,” ...


White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) fawn survival and the influence of landscape characteristics on fawn predation risk in the Southern Appalachian Mountains 2023 Plos One

... . During 2018–2020, we radio-collared 71 fawns within the Chattahoochee National Forest of northern Georgia, USA and monitored survival to 12 weeks of age. We observed low fawn survival (cumulative = 0.157, 95% CI = 0.091–0.273; vaginal implant transmitter = 0.196, 95% CI = 0.096–0.403) with predation as the leading cause of all known mortalities (45 of 55 mortalities; 82%) due primarily to coyotes (n = 22), black bears (n = 12), and bobcats (n = 7). Relationships between landscape features and fawn predation risk were minima ...


Survival and cause-specific mortality of coyotes in Wisconsin - Journal of Mammalogy, 2023

... we detected weak correlation between survival probability and proportion of human-induced mortality, suggesting coyote harvest may be compensatory. Although our findings indicate that the Wisconsin coyote population had relatively higher human-induced mortality than populations in other regions, these mortality rates appear to be sustainable for this population under current landscape and habitat conditions...


A Coyote Unexpectedly Attacked a Human in 2009. Scientists Now Know Why December 14, 2022 Canada, CNET

...  Taylor Mitchell was attacked by a pack of coyotes while hiking at the Cape Breton Highlands National Park in Canada [2009] ...  died from her injuries ... According to a paper ...  they seem to be hunting moose for their meals ...  these coyotes learned to attack larger mammals, like humans ...


Assessment of the Effect of Urbanization on Diversity, Population Dynamics and Wildlife Interactions Using Citizen-science Camera Trapping and Ancillary Data.  AW Parsons - 2020

... Using an integrated population model, I found that suburban white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) survival and recruitment were negatively related to coyote density at low levels of development but positively related at high levels of development, consistent with deer exploiting suburban and urban areas for concentrated resources and/or as refuges from coyote predation. Overall, I found that diversity, the frequency of interspecific interactions and prey population dynamics can all be higher in suburban areas...


Coyotes living near cities are bolder: implications for dog evolution and human-wildlife conflict J Brooks, R Kays, B Hare - Behaviour, 2020

... We analysed the reactions of 636 coyotes to novel human artefacts (camera traps) at 575 sites across the state of North Carolina. Likelihood of a coyote approaching the camera increased with human housing density suggesting that urban coyotes are experiencing selection for boldness and becoming more attracted to human artifacts... We also note physical traits in coyotes that could be the result of domestication-related selection pressures, or dog hybridization...


As Coyotes Change The South, The South Is Changing Them April 24, 2019 Georgia, Georgia Public Broadcasting

... It's taken about a hundred years for coyotes to move in and fully saturate every corner of the South... “By and far white tailed deer were the most important prey resource for resident coyotes,” Chamberlain said of the study results in 2018...


Survival of Neonate Mule Deer Fawns in Southern Utah: Effects of Coyote Removal and Synchrony of Parturition JT Hall - 2018 [PDF]

... Our results indicated that coyote control can decrease mortality and increase survival of neonate mule deer in some situations. Removal of coyotes was most effective when removal efforts occurred for multiple consecutive years, and when control efforts occurred in or near fawning habitat...


Impacts of Coyotes (Canis latrans) on White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) Behavior and Mortality in the Chicago Region [PDF] G Anchor - 2019

...  Predation by coyotes was the primary cause of mortality (77.8%) of white-tailed deer fawns at our study site. Furthermore, white-tailed deer remains were found in most coyote scats (53.5%) but the presence of these remains were highest in scats collected in the summer (83.9% in 2017; 61.3% in 2018). The results of the fawn mortality analysis and scat analysis suggest that there are high incidents of coyote predation on white-tailed deer fawns but provide little evidence of predation on adult ...


The recent spread of coyotes across North America did not doom deer populations March 20, 2019 North Carolina, Phys.org

... A new study of deer numbers across the eastern United States has found that the arrival and establishment of coyote predators has not caused the number of deer harvested by hunters to decline... Previous studies of how coyotes might be affecting deer populations have produced inconsistent results...

Assessing factors affecting adult female white-tailed deer survival in the Northern Great Plains KL Moratz, BS Gullikson, ES Michel, JA Jenks… - Wildlife Research, 2019

... Predation was the main source of mortality for adult females in our study, with coyotes (Canis latrans) being the sole predator capable of depredation in our study area... almost 90% of mortalities occurring during the Post-hunt time period happened during late winter before spring green up...


Behavioral response of white‐tailed deer to coyote predation risk WD Gulsby, MJ Cherry, JT Johnson, LM Conner… - Ecosphere, 2018, Georgia

... Coyote abundance (i.e., predation risk) varied spatiotemporally and was a predictor of foraging behavior during at least one season for all sex‐age classes of deer except juveniles. Adult males were more sensitive to predation risk in winter, after the breeding season, whereas adult females were sensitive to predation risk during both seasons, but more so during fall when offspring are at greater risk. Yearling males were more sensitive to predation risk than adult males, and juveniles were least sensitive to predation risk, likely because of inexperience and high energetic demands...


White‐tailed deer population dynamics and adult female survival in the presence of a novel predator MC Chitwood, MA Lashley, JC Kilgo, CE Moorman… - The Journal of Wildlife …, 2015 North Carolina

... Recent localized declines in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) populations in the southeastern United States have been linked to increasing predation pressure from coyotes (Canis latrans), a novel predator to the region. Studies have documented coyotes as the leading cause of mortality for neonates, and 1 study documented coyotes as a mortality factor for adult females... Our data indicate that for low-density deer populations with heavy predation pressure on neonates, protecting adult females from harvest may not completely offset population declines. Coyote removal might be a necessary strategy because it could possibly increase very low fawn survival, which appears to be the most important vital rate influencing λ in our study. However, managers may have to start with reductions in adult female harvest ...


Scale-Dependent Effects of Coyote-Predation Risk on Patterns of White-Tailed Deer Browsing along Linear Forest Edges JLB Pierce, SA Dalinsky, AA Chenaille, LM Lolya… - Northeastern Naturalist, New York, 2015

... Predation can influence patterns of browse through decreasing White-tailed Deer abundance and influencing patterns of habitat selection... We did not observe a change in White-tailed Deer browsing at the landscape scale in response to variation in the risk of Coyote predation, or a mitigating role of escape cover. However, we did detect a tendency for White-tailed Deer to shift browsing from the forest edge to interior along transects with more Coyotes. Our study indicates that Coyotes in the focal area were likely influencing patterns of browsing primarily through behaviorally mediated indirect effects...


Researching the coyote January 29, 2012 New York, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

... coyote research team at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry ... GPS collars were fixed on 50 coyotes ... Preliminary findings show coyotes have little impact on adult deer survival rates (92 percent were scavenged remains) but they do impact the fawn population (34 documented coyote kills). One collared female coyote with seven pups killed 10 fawns during a three-week period...