ORIGINAL: explorer_Jack
From my readings,Fawn survival doubled when coyotes was removed from the area. This was also the case with black bears being removed from the area also where fawns was born. K9s have excellent smell and can seek out these new borns quite easy.So their defence doesn't work to well on coyotes as they would on bear.
It's enough charlie to say that when the coyotes was removed from fawning areas the fawn survival doubled.
Also coyotes will kill fox and bobcats that are in their area to protect the food supply. In NY where coyotes are,you see very little fox sign any more. They will attempt to kill every fox and bobcat they see.
Coyotes can and occasionally will prey on a fox though it appears to be an extremely rare occurrence. The real reason fox numbers, both red and gray, tend to decline when the coyote numbers increase is simply because they use the same prey base and since the coyote is a larger and more skilled predator he out competes the fox for both the prey base and the no prey food supply. Then since nature guarantees that no population can exceed its food supply for more then short term periods or ideal conditions the fox populations naturally decline. That has nothing to do with predation and is strictly a result of completion for the available food supply.
Coyotes do NOT out compete the bobcat. In this part of the state we had lots of coyotes and few bobcats ten to twenty years ago. Now we have continuously increasing bobcat numbers and it seems that the coyote numbers have declined with the increasing bobcat populations. The bobcat is a very equal predator to the coyote even though they do share some of the same prey base. Coyotes are not going to tangle with or try to prey on a bobcat unless it is a very young unprotected one.
Adult to adult I suspect the bobcat would win out in a fight with a coyote, but those battles are extremely rare in wild populations since predators almost never want to enter into any fight where there is even a remote chance of being injured. They instinctively know that an injury, even a minor one, likely means death. They aren’t going to put their life at risk unless things are in a very desperate state toward their own survival.
As for the nose on a coyote or any other predator it simply doesn’t matter when it comes to fawns. The fawns have no scent distinguishable to a predator for the early stages of their life. That is why after they have nursed they walk off and lay down to hide while the doe walks off in a different direction. The predators can track the does, by scent, and they do sometimes do that hoping to get into the right area to stumble onto a fawn. If they do they kill it but it was simply because the fawn failed to remain hidden or the predator got lucky and just stumbled upon the fawn. By the time fawns are leaving scent they can generally outrun a predator.
R.S. Bodenhorn