Coyotes Are there really that many of them?

GSOHunter

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
I hear them every night I fish out at a local lake here in Greensboro. I've never seen one tho.
 

brwnitdwn

Guest
I had never even thought about a yote up here in northern Granville until a couple of years ago. Then I started hearing them behind the house in a cutover. Now, I hear them nearly every night I"m outside and anytime the aforementioned jets fly over. QBD hit my place trapping for a couple of weeks last year but didn't connect on one but I'm still getting pics on a regular basis, sometimes as close as 100 yds from the house at night. Would love to have someone experienced come try to thin them down.

I don't have experience trapping but I'd be more than happy to post up with a couple of calls and I'll take out as many as I can. I have always wanted to hunt for coyotes.
 

DBCooper

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I've probably seen 20, while deer hunting (in the last 10 yrs). I killed two with the bow, last year (one sit). I've seen 3, this year (missed 2X :( ).

I don't see a lot of shooter bucks where I hunt. Doesn't mean they aren't around, though. They're just not stupid.

Neither are yotes.
 

Homebrewale

Old Mossy Horns
I have seen five coyotes while deer hunting this year. I may have seen the same one twice but there are at least three in my hunting area since I saw a pair of gray ones and a black one.
 

Quackman

Twelve Pointer
i have seen upwards of 15 yotes this year alone. Killed 4 the rest got away. They are smart creatures and dont come out in the open very often. Also some places have a much larger population than others. I have only seen 3 yotes in my 25+ years of hunting our farm in ENC. I can not count how many I have seen at the club in Anson and Chesterfield.
 

Lucky Clucker

Old Mossy Horns
I hear them almost every night , I look for them everyday I hunt, but being thick around here keeps sightings down, they will smell you and you not see them, tracks and scat everywhere, and year round deer hair is in most of it. They got started in the Moore county area next to my land a 250 acre oen was made for fox hunting, coyotes were put in ther in 85, Hurrucane Hugo hit in 88, trees fell in on fence, Deep river 1/4 mile away . Boom Yotes go everywhere! It took them a few years but they got a hold of things now, the deer are doomed as long as there is a steady increase in coyotes.
 

Clayton Yankee

Guest
Cant much see it being any different here in North Carolina compared to the Midwest, but up in Indiana its nothing to see a pack of 15ish yotes running together and still theres a healthy deer population. Your really giving coyotes way to much credit for a lower deer population here, its number one factor has been the EHD kill-off late August-early October and the "brown its down" crowd. Just because there's not deer carcasses laying all over in plain view means nothing. Coyotes are not to blame. Take up coyote hunting instead of blaming them for your failure.........its actually an awesome hunting oppurtunity.
 

Sailor

Guest
its number one factor has been the EHD kill-off late August-early October

EHD has certainly become a bogeyman and convenient scapegoat, but it has not hit the entire state or even half the state. Talked to WRC biologist in this part of the state and was told it has not been seen here, yet people continue to 'blame' EHD for their own lackluster year hunting.


Same with 'yotes, same with x, same with y.

Further, WRC says (if you choose to believe them) that this year's was a "moderate" EHD outbreak.

To listen to some folks, there are no deer left in the entire state, which is patently ridiculous.
 
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wolfman

Old Mossy Horns
I keep a camera on a field edge in Lee County. No bait. I get more pics of coyotes than any other animal.
 

nckeith

Ten Pointer
Well I'll throw in my 2 cents. I do think the "damage" is overrated. Hunters and growth cause more damage to deer numbers then any other single factor. Period. I live on the outskirts of metro charlotte in Union County. I do see lots of coyotes on my local honey hole lease of 120 acres. But honestly, my lease is now surrounded by single family homes. Homes that were not there 10 years ago. Those deer are gone or crammed into smaller areas. The coyotes seem to like living between the suburban and rural fringes. They eat dog food, garbage, household pets etc. Its ideal for them. Deer not so much.
Just this year alone I can see probably 300-500 acres that has been cleared for new homes. For me to think a D9 dozer hasnt run off more deer vs coyote predatotion in my area is ridiculous.
I like to keep reminding folks, that NC is now the 10th most populated state in the country. Soon to be #9, surpassing Michigan. 30 years of growth and scraping and clearing and houses and second houses etc. plus more effective hunters with range finders, inline muzzle loaders, compounds, crossbows, scent control etc is catching up to us.
You can't keep having liberal doe limits, plus poachers and cars and loss of habitat and then blame a population decrease on coyotes. I think they may be a factor, but only one small piece. Who can honestly say the area they call home in NC is twice as big as it was even 10-15 years ago. Charlotte, Raleigh, Wilmington, Winston. They growth has been torrid and unabated except for the 07 recession. Now that the land from 07 is built on, they are clearing land again.
 

darkthirty

Old Mossy Horns
do they kill deer? yes. Are they decimating the deer herd? I don't think so.

Y'all got to remember that coyotes in NC for the most part are new. Just like everything else in nature, there numbers will grow until they outnumber there food. Then gyps have less pups. The whole scenario has taken place since the beginning of time.

IMO the biggest factor is that the majority of deer hunters in this state have been in the "hayday" for the last few years. Deer numbers were high or extremely high in many portions of the state. Combine a disease that's cyclic, a somewhat newly introduced predator to an animal that essentially has had none for 100+ years, and generous limits set forth by the state, and suddenly "below carrying capacity" has became the new "there aint no deer no more"........

May be apples to oranges but a buddy and I have been hunting a private farm in West TN where coyotes have been established for 75+ years. Theres definitely no shortage of deer there and that's also combining an area of TN where the daily limit on antlerless deer is 3/day the entire length of the season.
Y'all gotta understand that wildlife numbers are cyclic by design. It concerns me none at all that deer numbers are not what the average hunter expects. It would concern me more that a lot of hunters don't realize that sooner or later, your sightings are going to be below normal. Sometimes hunters just have to accept the fact that theres really nothing other than mother nature and God doing what they have been doing since the beginning of time.
 

Eric Revo

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I don't think they kill too many adult deer, but fawns I know they can catch and kill with ease. I've witnessed fawns being run and killed during bow season a few times, and it's sickening the way they play with them before they tear them apart.
I also know they will destroy a turkey population in a very short time, and have already combined with the other varmints to decimate the quail population in my area.
Are they #1 reason for the low numbers of deer seen, no, but they are another non-native invader that should be dealth with accordingly. We have plenty of native raptors and smaller canine and feline predators that can take care of the natural order of things, the WRC needs to concentrate on getting rid of as many of these varmints as possible in any manner they can, whether it be a bounty or other methods to encourage folks to take more of them when given an opportunity.
 

guyo

Ten Pointer
just keep telling yourself that and see what it look like in 30 years. Vermont they've had Coyotes for over 40 years you don't hear the word Coyotes or yote all you hear is Coydog and they will run a deer to death 4 or 5 will run in relay. And they still hit the fawns hard. The fish and game say that they are not a problem but every hunter in Vermont knows better.
P S. coydog are Dogs that do the same as your Red Wolves breed with yotes.
 

nc rabbit hunter

Guest
If they dont kill adults I wonder why we have witnessed so many hot on the heels of adults with the deer hasselling!! They are the same as silent running ferals,once they get the taste of blood it comes naturally.
 

bluetick

Spike
there down east bad we have kill one the last two week end and more have gotten away never know there ar around until the dogs jump them
 

clp311

Guest
There are large numbers of coyotes in urban areas that are never seen. I think guaging numbers by sitings or trail cam pics isn't a good way to estimate numbers.

Yep, just ask anybody that has a bunch of yotes howling at night as there walking out of the woods. They will tell you they didn't see one of them while hunting but could probably estimate 7 or 8 in a pack when they start up.
 

dlbaile

Ten Pointer
they are very elusive predators I hunt harnett co on private land and we very seldom see one or get them on trail cams but just about every time I'm over there I here them howling in packs sometimes more than one pack , I have only seen them a couple times in the last eight years we have known they were there,killed a big female 2 years ago at first light going down a creek bottom on the hunt following a doe that passed by 5 mins earlier.
 

jboi72

Eight Pointer
I've seen probably 20 in 18 years of hunting and most where while calling for them and a few in traps, now I have had a experience with 2 chasing down and killing a mature healthy doe, one morning during deer season I heard them barking heard the chase and heard the deer being killed by the bawls it was making all this within 75 yards couldn't see it happen but I walked right to the deer after it all happened. I know for a fact it was coyote, I put a cam on it but they never came back. Only experience with them killing a healthy deer. Now fawn kills is where I see the problems.
 

greatwhitehunter

Guest
I hunt several large pieces of land and don't see many coyotes, I can hear them and see plenty of tracks though. They don't seem to affect our deer and turkey populations. I see 2 to 3 bobcats a year most years.
 

HAYCONC

Six Pointer
My son and I have both shot one this hunting season. Choot em every chance we get! He had one on his cam we checked tonight in Polk county. I've heard lots of coyotes at night but never like a couple nights in Moore county this season. Must have found a wounded or dead deer on our lease!
 
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nc rabbit hunter

Guest
The local outside foxhunters stack them like wood!!!!! Ask them how many yotes are here!!
 

huntngolf

Six Pointer
I don't think they kill too many adult deer, but fawns I know they can catch and kill with ease. I've witnessed fawns being run and killed during bow season a few times, and it's sickening the way they play with them before they tear them apart.
I also know they will destroy a turkey population in a very short time, and have already combined with the other varmints to decimate the quail population in my area.
Are they #1 reason for the low numbers of deer seen, no, but they are another non-native invader that should be dealth with accordingly. We have plenty of native raptors and smaller canine and feline predators that can take care of the natural order of things, the WRC needs to concentrate on getting rid of as many of these varmints as possible in any manner they can, whether it be a bounty or other methods to encourage folks to take more of them when given an opportunity.

I agree that coyotes have definitely hurting our deer population however man has been trying to get rid of them unsuccessfully in areas they are established for years. I don't think there is anything the wrc can do because we now have coyotes and unfortunately they are here to stay. The only thing the wrc can do is maybe adjust our deer season. I think the days of killing as many does as we can and still not worrying about deer populations may be over.
 

Larry R

Old Mossy Horns
For those that think they don't kill adult deer. I strongly disagree with that for one simple reason. Many deer wind up hurt from fighting, brushes with vehicles, running and do damage to their feet and legs, shot by hunters but not fatally wounded, other injuries and it becomes an easy task for a couple of yotes to take that injured deer down before it has time to fully recover. Every year I capture a bunch of deer on my deer cameras that have been injured, some with extremely serious injuries and could hardly walk much less evade being caught and killed by coyotes.

I have had the same experience as others have posted. It doesn't take a pack of coyotes more than a few minutes to find a killed deer. Twice I have had them find and begin to eat on a deer before I could walk 3/4ths mile to get my ATV and get back to the deer. I have started leaving my back pack sitting on top or beside any deer I kill until I can get to my ATV and get back to the deer. One time I shot a doe with a bow and arrow. While we were tracking the deer it grew dark and not long afterwards we heard coyotes coming down the blood trail we had just followed. They came within 20 - 30 yards of us in the thick laurel patch. We were only able to get a shot at one of them, an immature pup of the year so we know they were running in a pack. It wasn't a good feeling hearing them coming down the trail we had just followed and us only having a pocket pistol.

I have heard lots and lots of coyotes howl. I have seen many while varmint hunting in the summer. I have seen more than a few while deer hunting. I definitely have seen more than a few while hunting over my coyote bait pile. From my experience I can definitely say that my sightings have increased ten fold since I began hunting the coyote bait pile. That to me means without a bait pile for every one you see there are probably 10 or more in the area that you don't see.

I believe that they do take a heavy tole on the deer herds, primarily during the fawning season but also a lot during the fall hunting season when injuries of all kinds to deer are more apt to occur.

I do everything in my power to make a good one out of every one I can.
 

NCST8GUY

Frozen H20 Guy
I like Darkthiry's thoughts.

If they are relatively new, then they are having a field day with new fawns, as any new predator would. Nature will calm that down. I also agree that dropping deer #'s may cause some hunters to think there are no deer anymore, when there are simply fewer.

What I don't understand is why would they be so elusive? If they are relatively new to an area, as an apex predator, why don't we see more when driving or what not?

nearly every single one I've seen (less than 25) have been in predator mode, whether I'm in the truck, in the stand, or looking at my trailcam pics.

Other than people with weapons, they really don't have much to fear, so why aren't they bolder. I would think if they were inundating urban areas, they'd be seen and called about all the time?
 

MJ74

Old Mossy Horns
If coyotes are doing all this damage to the herd then how do other states that have as many or more coyotes still have a lot of deer?

Not being sarcastic just honestly looking for a answer.
 

DRS

Old Mossy Horns
Research suggest in the Southeast fawn survival in about 1 fawn to four does. They don't know what the difference is in the southeast but the only change is established populations of coyotes. Extensive trapping of coyotes on large tracts has also be researched and fawn survival increased. To ignore these facts is bliss. I know we had/have a population of at least one coyote or more/100 acres . I don't get a lot of pics of yotes but we kill them and hear them at night. I have also gotten less pics of fawns(does with no fawns) over the last several years. I have also witnessed coyotes hunting adult deer in packs.
 

chrisj0616

Guest
Go to the pee dee game lands and tell me there isn't an overpopulation of them
 
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