One Less

[Phil C]

I have always said if there was ever a nuclear Holocaust there would only be two creatures that would survive. Cockroaches and Coyotes, and within 2 years there would only be the Coyotes as they will have eaten all of the roaches.
When Parker Bros. Started making their first shotguns there were no Coyotes in the Eastern states.
The coyote has evolved and has expanded his range and now thrives in 49 of the 50 states. He is not the coyote he was 100 years ago. DNA supports this fact.
4 to 500,000 Coyotes are killed each year which should give us an idea of just how many there really are.
Coyotes are very adaptable. They literally will eat anything. Don’t fool yourself that they don’t have an impact on your deer, Turkey and upland bird population. The millions of Coyotes in United States are not just eating road kill and the weak.
Just my 2 cents, but Coyotes have evolved and expanded their range to a point that they have no less impact than the flying carp, snakes, and iguanas that have invaded different parts of our country.
Currently the coyote has very few natural predators.They have learned to adapt and survive even it large city’s.
Unfortunately any thought that nature has a way of balancing things out may not apply to the coyote in a way you would hope for. I have not heard of large scale mass die off of Coyotes due to starvation or disease.
I have personally read about and observed the Pronghorn population south of Tucson near the community of Sonoita suffer due to the coyote praying on the newborns. They have suffered a zero percent survival rate for years.
Game and Fish has transplanted Pronghorn back into this area and has even resorted to aerial gunning killing literally 100’s of Coyotes in a few days. This has helped but the herds continue to suffer.
I agree for the most part that we should eat the game we shoot, but the coyote is not game and although they have their place it’s not everywhere and in unchecked numbers.
As a side note. Most of the Coyotes we trap or call in are skinned.