RE: coyotes
I'm not saying it isn't a good idea to harvest a few coyotes, but....
Do any of you guys with high coyote populations ever figure out your fawn recruitment rates? On my property, for example, I'll get 600-800 photos a year from my game cameras, and can't help but get at least 1 coyote picture in every roll-sometimes 3 or 4 pictures or more. In fact, I've heard up to 5 different packs, in totally different directions, at 1 time. Yet, even with these very high coyote numbers, I still have had 1 fawn to 1.3 fawns per doe the past 2 years....all in an areas that a ratio of 1:1 is about as good as it gets for an average. I also got 15 or 16 bear pics last year, and several bobcat pictures.
I know a coyote will get a fawn or two, but I have just about as many predators as anybody, and still get a fairly decent fawn recruitment rates each year, despite the threat. A coyote, different from a wolf, will eat many, many different types of animals to fill it's stomach and aren't to determined in their hunting pursuits. Red squirrels, rabbits, grouse, pheasants, road kill, beaver, mice, mole, and basically anything they can get a hold of, including a fawn, make up the diet of the coyote.
The appearance of many coyotes may seem like there may be a problem with numbers, but is there a problem? The main way to tell is to study fawn recruitment rates. If you are still carrying between 1 and 2 fawns, and maybe even more into fall, you many not actually have the problem you think you do.
Just curious.