I agree with you Tom, in that we all have to make our choices based on the information we have but we can’t limit that information to just “food and cover” and we need to take in as many variables as we can find and apply them to our model and see if they have an effect. In the case of disease, we simply ignore such an important influence. I guess what I’m saying is that if a species could use a little help from us I believe it is our duty to help while staying within the law.





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Living in the country, I fear coyote predation on my dogs--I saw them gang up on my best friends 100 lb Lab. Bob cats probably a bigger predator on grouse than coyote. Yeserday i took a 4 hour hike thru strip pit country--carried a 22mag, specifcally for coyote. This one with a 20 ga slug gun.

Here in NH. back before the coyote started it's "come back" in the early 80's we had plenty of grouse, rabbits, and woodchucks and NO COYOTE. you could hunt grouse with out a dog just by walking and on deer drives you would carry bird shot to shoot the ones you ran into while walking. I haven't shot a grouse in over 25 years in the southern part of our state, the woodchucks I use to shoot with my bow around populated areas are all but gone. snow shoe rabbits the same and the coyote population is very high! . peoples dogs and cats are getting killed by the, There are people getting attacked by the sick ones too. I shoot all I can when I see them. I all so believe they have something to do with the ticks being spread. When I was a kid in the late 60's and early 70's we had little or no ticks. I do a lot of taxidermy work and when I skin one out ,they are full of ticks and they travel a lot to spread them around ??? (IMHO)
scott

Right Scott and I hardly ever see a red fox anymore... coyotes eat them too. The foxes that survive are the gray foxes that are able to climb trees.





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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.

I agree 100% Phil. They are vermin and should be treated as such.

I wish we could unleash the coyotes upon the wild boar and feral pig populations. What beautiful mayhem that would be.





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Dean'
Remember
wild pigs are doing what wild pigs are suppose to do.

:biglaugh:






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Is the term vermin like "weed" (a plant out of place)? There are many times I feel like humans are the vermin.

I'm a little too young to remember the days when bounty's were paid for shooting hawks and fox pelts brought good money. These were the days before we had coyotes in Pa.
From what I understand, those were the days of bountiful small game, however, modern farming has also had an affect on small game.

Just my opinion, coyotes are hard on deer, woodchucks, and small game, that is why I will shoot them every chance I have.
I also believe if we were allowed to keep the number of hawks in check, our small game would be better off, but not to the level it once may have been. I know this may seem like swearing to some, but to be real honest, we have way too many hawks, I remember 30 years back, it was great to see a red tail hawk, but anymore, we have way too many.

Only my opinions,
Stan Hoover