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Mason and I went up to Fayette Co today to rabbit hunt. This farm has provided a unique insight for me to coyote predation over the years. I ran BECs up there for several years, and the number of coyotes I saw was amazing, and increased as the deer numbers decreased. A couple years ago, I had a camera hung on a burr oak. In just two weeks, there were three times that coyotes ran deer off the acorns. I've seen them prey on deer, and at times, there are more coyotes around than one would evern imagine. I saw ten in one morning year before last. I KNOW they are a problem to deer and to fawn recruitment.
Today, I found a buck I shot back in November. I thought for sure my shot was lethal, and have looked for this deer for probably close to 60 hours, if not more. I found him today. It appears he just died. I don't know if my arrow did him in, or something else, but I believe from what I saw in the snow, the coyotes killed him.
Here is a pic of a few coyote tracks. Every field edge looks pretty much the same all over the farm. This pic was taken 500 yards from where the deer carcass was, so it isn't a misleading concentration of tracks due to the dead deer. All the field edges look like this! We didn't see a deer track anywhere on the property today... but plenty of yote.
I am going to try to get to the farm tomorrow to start snaring a little earlier than I did last year. Going to try taking advantage of the carcass, as there are several wel-defined trails leading to it. There is a huge red coyote on the farm that looks exactly like a red fox... If I can kill him, I will feel like I've reached the peak of my hunting life!
I thought the last pic was cool as it appears coyotes found some mice or something living in that old tire. They dug at it, and eventually ate a hole through it! Pretty impressive really.
Today, I found a buck I shot back in November. I thought for sure my shot was lethal, and have looked for this deer for probably close to 60 hours, if not more. I found him today. It appears he just died. I don't know if my arrow did him in, or something else, but I believe from what I saw in the snow, the coyotes killed him.
Here is a pic of a few coyote tracks. Every field edge looks pretty much the same all over the farm. This pic was taken 500 yards from where the deer carcass was, so it isn't a misleading concentration of tracks due to the dead deer. All the field edges look like this! We didn't see a deer track anywhere on the property today... but plenty of yote.
I am going to try to get to the farm tomorrow to start snaring a little earlier than I did last year. Going to try taking advantage of the carcass, as there are several wel-defined trails leading to it. There is a huge red coyote on the farm that looks exactly like a red fox... If I can kill him, I will feel like I've reached the peak of my hunting life!
I thought the last pic was cool as it appears coyotes found some mice or something living in that old tire. They dug at it, and eventually ate a hole through it! Pretty impressive really.
