scn said:
I've been told by coyote experts that a lot depends on which coyote you remove. They supposedly have some pretty strict "social order" that if memory serves me correct is controlled by an "alpha" female. As long as she is in control, the actual yote population may be surpressed. If you kill her, it may allow an increased number of yotes to expand into that range until another alpha animal emerges and the population goes back down. You actually end up with increasing your yote population.
Make sure you shoot the right one!
Which experts specifically are you referring to? That sounds more like wolf population dynamics than coyote. Coyotes are not strictly territorial like wolves, and they are also not pack animals. They do associate in loose family groups that disperse after a year or a couple of years, especially the males.
I have heard theories about short term population reductions stimulating increase in litter size as food availability increases, thereby causing increased population if mortality levels don't remain high. I don't find that theory to be cogent. I have usually seen it propounded by animal rights activists who don't want any coyotes killed. Even if it were accurate, it would only make sense when coyote populations are at or near carrying capacity of their range, which I don't think is the case in most eastern states....they are still expanding here.
Consider this: native muskrat populations have plummeted in recent years across the native range, and there is no consensus regarding the cause. How much do we really know about coyotes if we can't even figure out concrete population shifts in muskrats?
Also consider this: many studies have been done on the coyote, paid for by the federal government. They have not been eradicated and have spread like wildfire in the east, increasing their range significantly over where it was before the white man came. Some say they cannot be controlled. However, DNA evidence also suggests that the eastern red wolf is actually just coyote with a bit of dog mixed in. And the red wolf was extirpated from the eastern range just like the grey wolf was extirpated from much of the western range. So if the red wolf is really just a coyote, and it was extirpated, why can't the coyote be controlled?
Part of the problem in much of the southeast is the live market. Dog hunters like to run coyotes and they paid big money to bring them in. They still pay big money in many states where it is legal. Most coyotes trapped in some states end up sold to the pens. They get out and the problem goes on. It just spreads them around.
Coyotes hunt in family groups. Every coyote killed reduces the effectiveness of that hunting unit to bring down larger prey like deer.
If you already have too many deer on your property, than predation due to coyotes may not even be a problem, to the extent that they are killing the excess. It may be viewed a problem if they are killing mature bucks that survive hunting season but are weakened after the season.
Consistent trapping of coyotes in an areas is the best way to reduce the population. If you do nothing, they will surely continue to increase. If you kill a bunch, they still may increase but not as quickly. If your property aligns with terrain features that coyotes will use as dispersal corridors, you will always have a lot of coyotes moving through the area. Find the best locations to trap them and keep the trap working.
Here are two locations where I have caught over 30 K9's in the last 2 seasons, the first one 7 coyotes, the second one 4 coyotes and a couple doze fox. Nobody had seen a coyote in the area until 5-6 years ago:
