I shoot them. I trap them. I snare them. If I see them on the road I try to run over them. If I see a dead one on the road I will run over it anyway just to make sure it is dead.

People have been killing coyotes for a very long time...guess what? We still have plenty of them. I kill and trap everyone I can and have for the last 50 yrs. only got 4 coyotes last year but did get 32 hogs. I only saw one fawn this year on my place and I have not seen it in the last 45 days now. I have not had cattle in over a year now and have lots of cover...just no fawns. My fawn numbers remain low no matter if I kill coyotes or don't kill them...does not matter if I have hogs or don't have them......fawn numbers have been low on my place for the last 5 yrs now. Less than 25% per year with this year being the low point.

might have a job for you

What are your thoughts on the cause of it? Im sure you have forgotten more about deer than I can hope to learn or know and likely have more and have devoted more time to it than I currently can or have, I just dont understand where they are or what is happening to them.

I swear every doe I see I think has at least a fawn and several have 2. We had a dry summer, but had water available from troughs and protein/corn available all year. I saw 13 deer on my last sit 4 bucks, 5 does, and 4 fawns.

for every coyote you see, there are 20+ you don't

I'd like to hear STX thoughts on his plight, too. In Mills county, we have plenty of deer, but I had a large number of dry does on camera this year. I know both our hog and coyote numbers are up and I'm doing what I can about both. I can't do anything about lack of rain, though. I need Mother Nature to help with that. I suspect all three contributed heavily this year. Very surprising was the number of really small fawns on camera. We are not killing a lot of bucks, so I'm puzzled about does breeding very late given our ratio.

Finally got to move out to my place. I don't pass on any of them. I've actually started learning how to trap as well. Some large hog traps are also going to be in the works. I hope to put a serious hurt on the hogs and predators on my place. Deer herd has been affected and I used to have turkeys on my place and they have now all but disappeared as well. Coyotes,Coons,Hogs, Possums, bobcats none are walking on my place.

I said something about killing opossums once to an acquaintance who is an exterminator. He said that opossums eat a lot of ticks. I dont know if they do or if they dont, but I dont really thing opossums hurt anything I want to grow too much, and I hate ticks with a passion.

Good post by Cochise (and great name).

Most predators I've ever seen in my life and the most deer I've ever seen in my life were in the same place. I'm not sure the math is very simple.

When we raised goats (which we did in very large #s for decades), we killed the hell out of the predators. That was business. Beyond that, I'm not so sure the wildlife #s work out all that simply.

Get em

One thing is certain. A dead coyote never eats again.

I haven't understood the logic behind kill every one you see. IMO nature is ECON 101, it has a carrying capacity of X based on conditions. The more coyotes you shoot the more coyote pups will be born next year and will survive to adulthood due to more food being available, it is just seems an inefficient and exhausting practice to shoot them. Deer and coyotes have evolved for thousands of years, the only time either gets wiped out is our fault.

We have a very healthy coyote population and this year we have a tremendous amount of does with 1 or 2 fawns. I can't remember seeing a doe without a fawn during rifle season. We had significant spring rains and they could easily hide and survive to adulthood. Meanwhile rodent populations were doing well and the coyotes haven't missed a beat. We have tons of hogs and even alligators in the river... still a ton of deer.

I have a friend in Indiana who put a no flash game cam on a coyote den. He counted 26 fawns being carried to the den last year. He has no hogs. I'm not sure how germane that is to our situation. The coyote is an opportunistic predator/scavenger. I told him to wait a couple of years until the pigs arrive and try it again. I would love to find a coyote den and do the same thing.

No doubt in my mind that I have a lot more pigs than coyotes or deer. Hell, we all do.

I screwed up this year, Another hunter and I shot some nice bucks opening weekend. We skinned, gutted, and cut out the meat. Then hauled the carcasses out into the brush. Within 3 days everything but one foreleg was gone. Wish I had put a cam on it. But, I figure coyotes hauled the carcasses off. In the past, when I put a cam out, everything including hawks showed up.

OTOH, a kid shot a huge boar a couple of weeks ago. He cut off the head and walked away to let nature clean it up. 2 weeks later that carcass is there and mostly intact. Since he left it on the road, I'll have to hook it to a 4wheeler or tractor to haul it off into the brush. I would have figured it would be gone by now.

My dad shot a 235 pound boar couple years ago, we weighed it. We put it on the gut pile after dark and the next morning it was 100% gone. That is the way our bone yard is most times, unless you dump a dead coyote or bobcat in it, they dont seem to like other predators.

We don't let hogs or coyotes pass. They are both devastating to farmers and ranchers. Hogs eat up crops and root up fields, coyotes will eat your livestock and they aren't prejudice on how expensive your livestock is. Guardian dogs and donkeys work to a certain level, but if a coyote is bound and determined they will feast on what they want.

There are chicken houses to the north and to the south of my central Texas place. We shoot them there. South Texas, even shooting them doesn't make a dent.

An alpha female immediately goes into heat when a member of the pack is lost. Unless you can wipe out the pack, killing a single coyote here or there doesn't negatively impact the population.

Wipe out all the yotes and we will be overrun with mice and rats. The natural order of things will always find the balance. We humans tend to do more harm than good when inserting ourselves into the equation.

Since when have we wiped out all the coyotes?

Concentrated and ongoing predator control works in areas where it's practiced and maintained.

I wouldn't worry too much about getting overrun with mice and rats with the highly protected raptors in high numbers never seen before. Might be a switch in their quail diet.

A question about your other post... If I kill a coyote in June, does the Alpha female immediately go into heat?

We wiped out wolves and most lions traditional range which paves the way for coyotes to fill that void. Alpha predators like the aforementioned kept coyote numbers supressed naturally. I know this thread isn't going to change anyones mind however you at least have to be honest in knowing that "shooting everyone you see" isn't going to scratch the surface which IMO would just be needless killing.

If you raise livestock so be it, raising native/low fence/wild deer is different IMO.

Some of these IMO's around here are really something. Pavement raised folks and their IMO's mean squat out in the real world where you see nature every day.

I hope they don't quit their day jobs!

But in fairness, those type hunters just leave more coyotes to kill for those that do!

Probably why there are so many now.

It's funny to see old folks all up in their feelings!

that sir, is bull chit