Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Coyote predation on pheasants

Coyotes aren't dummies, nor is Ma Nature as to wasting energy for caloric gains. There is no doubt in my mind that Coyotes are hell on any broody hen and or the eggs of any ground nesting bird species. There should be some truth to the fact that Coyotes eat and keep down other nesting predators but no true research , that I have found, shows that the balance is swayed towards the positive recruitment of a ground nesting species by the coyotes eating other nest predators.

Most certainly Hawks, Owls and Eagles play a huge role in any ground living birds as do snakes where applicable.

It is quite obvious , if one knows the history of game bird be it pheasant, quail, turkey or similar that raptors were kept in check in the days of past. Further I can factually attest that a year round trapping program for coyotes, racoons, skunks, foxes etc will almost always increase recruitment in both game birds and Cervid species.

One of the more and recent worries discovered lies with the widespread and increased use of Neonicotinoids as the go to for insecticides. . Studies have shown that these chemicals greatly affect the reproductive and immune systems, especially in small game birds, in a negative way. The chemicals can be not only transferred by the eating of sprayed grains directly but also from the consumption of dead or dying insects from the chemicals application.

I am not about to step out there and onto the farmers toes but I believe that these chems in particular should be very closely scrutinized.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25177026

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4284370/

Without great cover and lots of it, ground-nesters cannot avoid predators. All sorts of predators eat pheasants/nests, and the only way around it is to have enough good cover that the predators cannot find many of the nests/hatchlings.

The demise of widespread CRP combined with "modern" clean farming practices spell doom to any ground-nesting bird except sometimes turkeys.

A high school contemporary from our mutual home town who made his career with the DNR in MN has referred to NW Iowa with its 20k/acre farmland, a biological desert for exactly the reasons you mention.

The new game bird killer is going to be neonic pesticides, and not just directly but indirectly too by wiping out insect used for chick forage. Just watch.

^ Yep, definitely something to consider.

Absolutely, excellent post....you too Strick9. 👍

We’re our own worst enemy sometimes, most times, and it’s hard to blame the critters for doing what they do.

There’s a reason why some critters lay a lot of eggs (millions or more in some cases) and some give live birth to a single being.

That's sure the case here. Pivot sprinklers have removed many acres of ditch rows and cover. There's no place for them to hide any more.

Out here in the Northern part of the county some folks let loose some and they sure wrecked havoc with the Prairie Chicken.

They would find a clutch of eggs and lay theirs in the nest.

The chickens would think it was full and give up.

Meaning less chicken eggs every year.

Let loose some what?

My 1st order of business would be feral cats, they're very efficient predators. Next would be the nest-robbers skunks and raccoons. About the only thing a guy can do regarding raptors is to remove their perching positions and nesting trees. Get those under control and then have a coyote plan.

Pheasants.

There are still some around you can see from time to time but not when hunting season is on.

Weather and cover. Both effect our grouse and woodcock up here in spring. And if the snow continues this winter, the turkeys are gonna catch hell. In hunting SD for 40 years, noticed the same for pheasant populations. Fact, if you read the SD Brood Count Survey end of August, right or wrong, those two issues lead the reasons for an increase or decrease in bird populations.

Skunks are also hell on nests with eggs

So, callers have educated the coyotes to the rabbit calls by missing them.

It all comes down to cover with pheasant...

no cover they yotes find them easily... the weather kills them easily.

The problem is this new generation of farmers / corporate farms have completely removed all the fence rows and removed that cover.

In places where the field boundary’s are creeks to wet for tractors the population is doing well - but for Western KS, and Eastern Colorado - as always it’s the farmers that are doing the damage to wildlife.

heck Kansas (the state) forces farmers to poison thier prairie dogs, they do drive by’s looking for signs of Pdogs - if they see them, they deliver bags of poison for the farmer to put out to kill them off. IF the farmer doesn’t do it, they hire people to go poison them and send the farmer the bill. I used to Pdog hunt in KS... but there aren’t any decent populations anymore, and the guys doing Pdog outfitting that was fighting the state in lawsuits either died or ran out of money, some of both really.

Pretty crazy huh

This^^^

Overpopulation of humans requires those toxins for adequate food supplies.

I move we quit financing the population explosion with welfare.

In the summer I routinely see big hawks shadowing wild turkeys, especially hens with half grown chicks.

What REALLY kills off or endangers any species is that particular species lack of ability to adapt.

That's why at the end of times, the world will be inhabited with cockroaches and coyotes.

They adapt well.

Kind of off-topic, but since bird books were mentioned...

I just bought a copy of "Sibley Birds West" to replace my 1966 copy of "Birds of North America." All I can say is WOW! The number of bird drawings and info packed into 477 pages is incredible. Too much, perhaps, as the typeface is pretty tiny for a senior's eyes. The illustrations - all by Sibley - are simply awesome. He depicts birds in flight that you'd normally see flying, and ground birds walking. Usually both ways. Raptors in particular are shown in great detail, both juvenile and adult.

My level of bird identification would require a book divided into "Little brown ones" "Big brown ones" "Little kinda yellow ones" and so on...So this volume is a LOT more sophisticated than I need, but it is a joy to simply page through.