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Benefits of trapping?

Myself being a former VERY enthusiastic groundhog hunter/shooter, I have seen the impact coyotes have on game populations. When coyotes moved into the area back in the late 80's and early 90's, the groundhogs disappeared. Even now with fields of Imperial Clover, alfalfa and hundreds of acres of soy beans which are favorties of groundhogs, when a groundhog shows up it won't be more than a couple of weeks before it's gone. i never shoot one anymore because they need all the help they can get just to survive.
 
we have started a varmint program on our farm.
I trap all season from Dec-end of Feb.
This was season 2.
Piles of possums, a couple dozen coons, and a dozen or so yotes.

We are seeing rabbits on the upswing for the first time in 15 years. The hawks, feral cats, and predators have them pretty well thinned out by fall, but we are having more make it through spring.

We have increased the turkey population from 1 hen to 3 hens nesting on the place.

A pack of yotes has moved back in about 2 weeks ago and have been chasing deer so the foot holds will be going back out until I catch the adult pair.

Two does fawn in the lower field each year and the fawns have yet to make it a month before something gets them. Hopefully that will change if we can hammer the yotes.

I think trapping helps balance the predator load. Most of the coons I caught the first year had wounds from fighting. This year, every one was in great shape. Caught the same number but it was spread out through the season instead of a pile the first week, then a rare coon till the end of season.

Like they say... A mans gotta eat and that goes for all animals.
Fewer yotes= a better chance for prey critters to make it.
But they will fill back in after you take them out so you have to stay after them.
 
Any of you interested in trapping methods, trappers for hire, trappers in your area who may be looking for places to trap, should go to the website of Tennessee Fur Harvesters- tfhaonline.net join the forum and ask questions . Some of the most knowledgeable trappers in the State can help you find answers.
 
The Fall Rendezvous for the TN Fur Harvesters Association will be the first weekend in October at Fall Creek Falls State Park this year. As always there will be some very experienced trappers and fur handlers doing demonstrations of their techniques and answering questions for anyone in attendance. Trapping supplies will be available for sale there also.
 
Wow, 10 year old thread....

Coyote you kill today won't kill any fawns this spring or kill my calves. I kill every one I get an opportunity on. I killed 6 last deer season, half were females iirc. Killed two early on this deer season, so 8 in probably a 12 month span, and haven't been seeing or getting pics of any until just a couple days ago. I ran a couple traps last winter but didn't catch a single yote. I will get some traps back out soon.
BHC said:
On our property 3300 acres, if we removed 10 yotes trapping and say 5 to gun in a yr, so 15 yotes. To me that could have a huge impact.. If half of those were females, 7, that could be a minimum of 40+ pups not born/ have to be fed the next spring..
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I have just 55 acres, and think my best year i killed/trapped as many as 10 in that year. I think it does make a very little difference, but I will give the local wildlife any help i can so I will continue. If others in the area were doing the same, it would have a bigger impact. Problem we have is that we just have more move in from somewhere that they are not making an effort to control them.
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!
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I have heard the same, but not so sure their hierarchy is as big a deal here as it might be out west. I have seen some odd results though, killed 6 males early one spring and later on that spring walked up on a female yote that was with two male feral dogs. That was probably close to 20 years ago.
 
I have always suspected that the theory that killing the wrong yotes just leads to increase in yote population, was a theory developed and pushed by animal rights activists, and accepted by way too many in the wildlife field without a proper dose of skepticism.
 

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