We have a declining deer population in Ohio. The population really dropped where I hunt in Perry county.

The talk is the increased bag limit over several years, and yes that is a factor. But the ODNR Dept. of Wildlife denies the connection with our large coyote population.

This year I set 11 snares in the area I hunt. On the first night I caught three coyotes, next night two more. Then I moved them 1/2 mile and caught three more. That's 8 coyotes in 11 snares in 5 days all in a radius of about a mile.

Lets face it, the issue is not something the ODNR wants to deal with. It is huge and difficult. Since coyote pelts are worth next to nothing in Ohio the population keeps on growing. That means a bounty, and we can't have that with the ODNR budget set by the legislature ( it used to be independent of that, all on license fee's, at least the wildlife division was) not to mention the bleeding heart PETA type city azzholes.

Lets be clear, the studies done in other states that prove the impact of coyotes on eastern whitetail are just as valid here. The nature of the varmint does not change just because you crossed Ohio's boarders.

You want some wolves? I could probably send you some. They eat coyotes with gusto!

When wolves moved into the area around our cabin, the coyotes disappeared. 5-8 wolves, including pups, do a number on the coyotes in an area. We went from a dozen or more coyotes in a couple of square miles to a couple of coyotes in a dozen square miles. Deer numbers did drop lately but it took several years of multiple deer tags per hunter in one of the most heavily hunted zones in MN along with a couple of harsh winters and wet, cold springs to do this.

The wolves weren't nearly the problem as the deer numbers increased with the presence of wolves and the decrease in coyote numbers. Now, we need some easy winters and a new pack of wolves as the old one was trapped out. One of the adults was shot during the first season and the rest ended up killing livestock. That led to them being classified as nuisance animals and were killed out. Coyotes are now commonly heard and I took three last time there. Dozens of coyotes have a greater impact than a quarter or less that number of wolves.

It might be beginner's luck, but my SIL set a snare a few days ago and overnight had a good looking 'yote but with a worthless pelt. Our weather has been too mild for them to have a decent coat.

He found 2 skeletons of deer out behind our property that were completely stripped to the bones, and the heads were found some distance away from the carcass.

His work schedule keeps him from doing much hunting or trapping, but I think that there is a LARGE population of 'yotes in Franklin County. I have seen them along the roads several times, and there are tracks all over.

Now this is a county that is largely urban, so the 'yotes are adapting to live close to humans.

I'm not sure that I understand how wolves could be less harmful to the deer population, though, per Uglydog2's post.

Myron

The population of deer where I live is in a decline, with a much smaller population than 10 years ago. I blame more hunters with bigger bag limits, and the general consensus that there is an overpopulation that is pushed by the AG&F, farmers and the insurance companies. I also wonder if the big three mentioned has been putting some form of birth control in corn. Baiting is legal here and when you go to the feed store they have bags of corn and bags labeled deer corn which is always a little cheaper. Walmart, sporting goods stores, grocery stores and some quick marts always sell the deer corn if anything at all. I seem to see a lot of does with no fawns which used to not be the case. My thoughts, no proof. miles

The deer population is down in the places I hunt in TN as well.

same in va.coyotes,rising bear population and disease. when you throw in a few bad mass crops it doesn't take long. i'm not seeing half as many deer in the mountains as i was 4-5 years ago.flat lands in va. are better but down some to.

deer numbers down significantly in Va northern Piedmont region. Too many bears, waaaaay too many coyotes and to many years with liberal bag limits got us here. The coyote problem is here to stay.

These things are naturally cyclical. Here blue tongue also took a huge toll. Populations of coyote go up and down as well because the deer populations were so high. We have plenty of coyote here now and fewer deer, but disease helped knock down the deer population. I wonder what coyote meat tastes like? Perhaps there's an idea?

Coyotes are a blast to hunt. Get a call and a centerfire rifle and get after them.

I have read that bounties on coyotes really does not have a significant impact on population.

They effect nothing in our local area.

But I can see in places they certainly do.

When they get a bit high in numbers here I will shoot a few. Just like managing the deer you manage all your numbers.

Although if you read a lot about coyotes, it seems they are almost like pigs... the more you shoot, the more you do almost no good.

But thats according to articles. Seems like if I shoot a few at home they don't hang around as much for a couple of years.

But I have 2-3 on game camera at deer feeder in the middle of the night usually for a number of years now and have not lost a single deer or fawn to them. Thankfully they do take a few coons which I have a few to many of.

Keep after em, get a small bounty on them, such that folks get after some of them.

How is the deer population up there determined? Hunter success is not a valid measurement.

Bacon grease soaked chunks of sponge....will thin coyotes.

Unfortunately where I hunt is a three hour drive from here. I can try and hit some in April for Turkey season. That would be trapping and shooting. I'd probably give up on the turkey and go after coyotes.

As far as that goes three week long stints will not really make a difference. Good thing, coyotes have pups in the spring so killing the adults has an impact on them, not much but some. It would be good to kill the adults and let the pups die in the den.

How far out of dowtown Cincinnati would you have to go to hunt coyote?

Drought and fires have had an impact on deer in California. Coyotes thrive here. They are doing well on cats and small dogs.

I would rather have the Coyotes than the deer to hunt.

Interesting. How do you set snares for coyotes?

Set in trails and runs that have overhanging limbs that are too low to be deer. Also put deer stops on the snares so the loop will close to about 4-5" in diameter. This will hold a coyote, but not strangle a deer or dog.

Generally along roads and old log roads. As you walk along you will see holes through the edge brush. Many of those have overhanging brush so you know it's not a deer trail. On the muddy road or in the edge ditch you find tracks. I set on the inside of that brush, often in the ditch. You can't just walk up that trail, circle around.

I made mine from 1/8" cable, galvanized. I rolled it out along my fence that I grow beans on and left it all summer. Then I rolled it up and put it in a bucket with walnut hulls and some water. Same with the nuts and washers I use to hold them together.

I never liked stainless cable.

I cut them 6 feet long and build them. Pretty easy really.

My hand is 9 inches wide fully open, tip of my little finger to the tip of my thumb. The loop is that plus an eyeball inch, same for setting it above the ground to the bottom. I use soft iron wire to suspend them usually, or coat hanger wire as a stand it there is not something to hang them from.

All mine are from roads, we have a good deal of old over grown logging roads and those going to gas and oil wells. The coyotes have to cross those roads at some point.

Unit L designation for last 10 years and a catastrophic EHD have done us no favors.
couple that with the East Tn 'hamburger helper' [bleep] mooching in on our west tn deer herds, numbers are way down

TWRA goes out to the first green soybean field with a pair of binos and formulates a statewide bag limit off of a 5 minute observation

the previous big game coordinator was a goddamm 'salamander biologist'

someone's boy obviously

I think you're on the right track, but seriously consider that the coyote that is responsible may be 2 legged and not 4 legged.

I have 200 acres just across the river in Bracken County. Coyote come. Coyote go. Coyote sometimes get so thick that they all get Parvo and then they all go away for a few years. It's a natural cycle.

On the other hand, I saw deer and turkey disappear starting in 2011 and by 2012, it was bad. They started to come back in 2013.

Here's the kicker: right about the time the deer and turkey and all the other game almost disappeared, the neighbor got evicted from his shack and was sent packing. The landlord bulldozed the shack and started rehabbing the land and the other house on the property.

What do you know? All of a sudden the deer and turkey start coming back. It turns out the family had been poaching like crazy and the elder son had been shooting deer out his window with a .22 lr just for kicks.

My point here, is that we have very low employment numbers right now, and it does not take very much to make the game go away. I'm thinking a lot of people are not buying licenses and filling their freezers.

Armednfree, I know this is not comforting, but consider yourself lucky that you don't deal with bears and wolves as well.

The northern half of Wisconsin deer herd has been decimated by coyotes, bear, wolves and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Is it certain parts of the state? I still about the same amount of deer that I have for the last 10 years in Adams County.

Kentucky's Fish and Wildlife Dept. does an excellent job. There's no shortage of deer here. The Turkey population seems to be doing very well, and the Elk herd has gotten so large that some have been trapped and sent to other states to help them get a herd going.

Close to a million deer in Kentucky according to this:

http://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/big-buck-zone/2013/05/new-whitetail-scale

Yes indeed they do. KDFWR seems to do a wonderful job at wildlife management. We've got good numbers, and are near to top of B&C lists as well. My only complaint about the department is the elk lottery. I'm not sure how some people have been drawn 3 or 4 times, yet I've applied every year and haven't got it a single time.

Several of those elk were sent here to Wisconsin this year and released.
The DNR figured the wolves were not getting enough to eat.

Thanks for the elk.

You're welcome. Kentucky is running out of places to put them.

90% of the cows are being bred every year with 95% live birth,...no natural predators and easy winters compared to most places they inhabit.

They'll never be nearly as many as there are deer, of course. But I'd guess that quite a few Elk tags will be passed around in Kentucky during the next few years.

I have done some pretty detailed observation on Coyotes and no doubt they hammer both deer and turkey populations.

The insurance lobbies. DNR nods head.

Habitat is key. Always.

Gents, as a boy growing up in Wisconsin during a time before the deer explosion, I can tell you that liberal bag limits are as much to do with decimation as wild predators.

Minnesota, neighboring my boyhood home counties, had a "shoot it if it walks" bag limit back in the 60s and before. It got to the point where they had to close their deer seasons for several years to let the herds come back. When they did, we on the border were inundated with out of state hunters who couldn't quite get used to the "Buck Only" rules we had. In one weekend, I found 8 doe that had been shot and left to rot - and all were within 400 yards of a camp of out of staters. They were used to shooting a deer first and then looking to see if it was a buck or doe. If it was a doe...they walked away.

We couldn't shoot doe in those days, except if one had a "Camp Meat" permit that was drawn on a lottery system,

Not only did Minnesota nearly shoot their deer herd out of existence, their hunters had a very detrimental effect on the deer herd in neighboring Wisconsin counties for several years.

South eastern Perry county and adjoining counties are down bad. No agriculture there and it's woods and hills. Still, the area has not changed in the last 14 years I've hunted there. Back then deer everywhere, and you didn't see or hear coyotes. Now it's coyotes all over the place.

Yep.


Many don't pay attention to how the land and woods can affect deer numbers. Consider this,..an acre of mature forest will produce around 250 lbs an acre of hard mast. A clearcut will provide around 2500 lbs per acre of food from all the new regeneration/shrubs/shoots. On top of that a clearcut provides tremendous cover for deer and other critters from predators.



If you have land with woodsand aren't seeing many deer, have some timber taken out or do some clearcuts yourself. Deer will find it and you will see a big difference.

This is my area:

39°34'55.69" N 82°08'29.27" W

Google earth for that

"Given this, coyote-wolf hybrids "should be able to do things like take down deer, which a little, scrappy Great Plains wily coyote would not be able to do on its own," Bozarth said."

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/...yotes-wolf-virginia-dna-animals-science/

I used to hunt near Buckeye Lake and I'd see 75-100 deer on opening day.

I've been hunting Adams & Pike Co the last few years. This year, I did not bother buying a license because I haven't seen a shootable deer (during legal hrs, on permissible property, etc) in 2 years.

brown downers sukkkkkkkkk.......
everywhere..................

sounds like unit l counties in tn......................