Just another perspective from perhaps a coyote's view,...the only creature he know's of that kills for fun is man and man is willing to kill him with extreme prejudice, when he is killing only enough of the weakest to feed his family, to protect man's fun. If he hunts creatures man hates like feral hogs or ground hogs, if man sees him he still kills him because it's fun. He does not understand. No matter what he hunts to feed his family, man kills him.
Not quiet 100% true. Many predators will kill more prey at one time than they can eat, even over the period of a few days. Wolves, feral/stray dogs, mink/weasels are the few that come to mind immediately. Also, just because an animal isn't killed, doesn't mean that it isn't stressed and possibly could lose it's fetus, or not make it through a hard winter. Also, if the prey animal escapes, it might have injuries that affect it later on. Same as fish in a pond dying from stress. Do the predators kill more than they can eat at once for fun? I can't answer that.
Do I hunt for fun? Well, I wouldn't call it that. I'm not laughing after I pull the trigger. Do I eat everything that I kill? Nope. I kill woodchucks because their digging under my barn will compromise the barn. I kill starlings and sparrows because they are preventing Purple Martins from using the martin house. I kill mice because they are in my buildings and sometimes in my house. About everything else goes in the freezer....... Coyotes? Haven't tasted one. Neither have I tasted a skunk. But, I'm like Catmandoo - about everything else has had a fork stuck in it, at least once.
As for letting nature take care of the prey animals, even if man were to stop hunting completely, I don't think that would ever happen. I take that back, that WOULD happen, but the outcome wouldn't be pretty. There are boom and bust cycles of Hares and Lynx, Fox and Lemmings, etc., without any intervention from man at all.
Man has altered the environment so much that the habitat for the different animals has changed and will never be reversed unless man vacates this planet. Whitetail deer, Rocky Mountain Elk, American Bison, Roosevelt Elk are a few of the top end prey that has been influenced by man altering the habitat.
Predators need to be controlled, or man just has to live with the consequences. Coyotes in California eating pets. Wolves killing and eating dogs. Mt. Lions, wolves and bears eating livestock. Mink, weasels, fox, raccoons, opossums, skunks killing and eating chickens/ducks. The list goes on and on.
Fox were the apex predator in the Midwest in the 50's, '60's and early '70's. There weren't many deer because of overhunting and habitat wasn't conductive to deer populations. Which was the major cause of low deer numbers? Good question, and I don't have an answer. Coyotes moved in when the deer population started to climb, and displaced both Red and Grey Fox. In areas where wolves are now common, they are displacing the coyotes.
Coyotes are very adaptable, and can live and flourish in close proximity to humans. Wolves on the other hand cannot. So, wolves controlling coyotes near populated areas just won't happen.
Clarification someone? Differentiate between herd improvement and population expansion? Scott's program sounded to me like a plan to increase their numbers, not so much improve overall health.
Herd improvement could be the buck to doe ratio. Or managing (in a high fenced environment) for large antlers. If you increase the herd health, the numbers WILL increase, because does will have multiple births. If predators are managed, then the increased births will grow to adults. The State will issue more deer licenses or up the bag limit. All wildlife will benefit, not just the deer because of the $$ put into the pot from the funds generated by the Pittman-Robertson Act. Yes, that also is funded by fishing monies. But, I'd like to see a breakdown on just how much each outdoor sport contributes, and where the $$ goes. I'd also like to see how much $$ is contributed to wildlife by non hunting and fishing people. i.e. people that go out nature watching or bird watching, or just utilize the National/Regional/State Parks.
