Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction What did you do at your pond today?

Was he feeding with or on the buck?

If he had been feeding with the buck I might not have a problem with it. But this is the fourth deer that I have seen them kill on my property. I am usually able to take care of the problem if I am there but this is a second home

I have not witnessed my coyotes on an adult deer kill yet, but they help clean out excess fawns in spring. We have a lot of yotes! Have pics of 5 at a time on my trailcams.

Wow!

I also didn't know that coyotes were taking adult bucks.

Is there deer hunting pressure adjacent to your land? I sometimes find deer carcasses on my farm when no one has been hunting and there are no poachers on my cameras. I assume these were wounded deer that headed towards our heavy cover.

Think it is possible that the coyotes are preying on wounded deer?

Boat slides are wonderful, but with my pond being in the front yard, Mrs. Augie said NOT HAPPENING. lol

Fishnrod no hunting pressure it is well past the season. And we don't have an excess amount of fawns or deer in general. This wasn't what I would call an adult buck less than a year old but bigger than a new fawn. A few years back I saw four coyotes chasing a nice three by three buck down the hill looked like they had already tried to hamstring it. Grabbed my ar15 and followed them they had it cornered in the bottom of a pond that I was working on he was trying to defend himself looked like he got antler into at least one of them. Dropped two on the spot hit another one as it fled by the time I got on the last one it was in hyperdrive. Emptied the rest of a thirty round magazine at it. Don't think I hit it but put the fear of God in it or at least the fear of colt manufacturing

A buddy was driving out here from Chicago and watched a pack of 5 take down an adult buck in a cut corn field not too far off the highway near Wanatah, Indiana.

Darn coyotes!

I don't know if they are getting some fawns at our place, or if we have sufficient small game to keep the coyotes fed.

Sounds like I may have one more project to add to my "To Do" list.

My bet is that they are killing fawns as fast as they can catch them.

I rarely get turkey vultures at my farm. Sounds like I probably need to always go check what they are after when I see them congregated.

If you are out deer hunting and see a yote then you are now varmint hunting

If the yotes catch a fawn, they take it back to the den for the pups. I don't think there would be much left to interest the turkey vultures. I remember a video made of a pair of coyotes at the den. By the time the pups left the den the parents brought back 80 fawns. This was in Indiana somewhere, but a number of years ago. Dr Grant Woods did a study, and if the fawns are young enough the coyotes also consume everything they can of the fawn, including the hooves.

We had Norwegian elkhounds that would everything but the teeth when given the remains of a butchered deer.

Thanks for all of the help everyone!

Our ground is fairly flat, but there are some large dug dens. I can now identify the armadillo dens based on their distinctive trails. I thought the larger dens were for badgers. I now suspect they are for coyotes, since I have a lot more of those than badgers. I probably need to set up a game camera the next time I see a fresh burrow.

I have never even take a shot at a coyote. Time to read up on all of the relevant regulations.

Following along. I had no idea coyotes took that many fawns. One neighbor shot one and another neighbor shot two (coyotes) during deer season.
We always bury the gut piles, but this year I got pushed up against a hard departure time. So I dumped a pile at the edge of a field, and put a game camera on it. I’ll see what comes in.
We’ve seen a few in game cameras, plus coons, and possums. Saw a news article yesterday that two brothers in Missouri got a 35 pound coon. It looked huge.. Although it looked so fat, I doubt it was running down much.

Rod, now is the time of year to start trapping them. If I were you, I'd contact the Kansas Fur Harvesters Association and see if they can recommend a few trappers that target coyotes in your area and have them get to trapping on your place NOW. Fur is prime, while the prices aren't great there are some guys out there that still trap. That's the best way to reduce their population and if you don't know how to trap all you will be doing is educating them. Traps work 24/7 not just when you are out there.

http://kansasfurharvestersassociation.com/

Hunting coyotes at night has become a big thing around here, they have made it legal to hunt them with lights at night, and its a blast, some use night vision scopes but even without, on a bright moonlit night with snow on the ground and a coyote call they will come in close a lot easier then they will in daylight.
They even have a competition up in northwest MO, similar to a bass tournament, everybody meets up at a predetermined location and takes off at a designated time and reports back at a predetermined time and place the next morning, with a monetary prize for the most and the biggest coyote.
I have a friend that is set up with night vision binoculars and scopes and even has a gopro camera mounted on his gun, its crazy how fast they come barreling in to a predator call.
I am definitely going to try it this winter on my place, I dont have many and they are not hurting my deer populations but I do see them on the cameras pretty regular.
I have been successful in trapping a bunch of coons, and my turkey recruitment shows that it is helping.

I put a couple of artificial Christmas trees near some bass cover hoping to get some bait fish established in that location.






Bald Eagles watching me work. They have been busy making a living on my pond.

I'd love to at least dabble in something like that. I have a small collection of federal tax stamps, so I've got the gun & a muffler, but have no NV or thermal toys.

A friend showed me a NV scope he'd bought. Forget which, but I'm thinking he said it was around $3500 & it was incredible. Light years better than the PVS-14s I used for years in the Army & makes the PVS-2 Starlights we used to mount on either our M60s or M2s look absolutely primitive. Made me wonder how on earth I was ever able to drive at night in blackout mode with the -14s. I'd love one for myself, but holy smokes. My wife's a tolerant woman, with the patience of a saint, but that might be pushing my luck a bit too far

I neither hunt nor allow any hunting/shooting of the song dogs on my place. Why?
First, I realize that they eat deer. But, they also hammer the pigs that we are loaded with. The pigs are taking over the place. I no longer can plant wheat patches for deer. The hogs root the whole crop up. I’ve declared war on them since TPWD and other Guv Agencies have retired from the field. I hunt them year around.

I neither hunt nor allow any hunting/shooting of the song dogs on my place. Why?
First, I realize that they eat deer. But, they also hammer the pigs that we are loaded with. The pigs are taking over the place. I no longer can plant wheat patches for deer. The hogs root the whole crop up. I’ve declared war on them since TPWD and other Guv Agencies have retired from the field. I hunt them year around.[/quote]

I can see your point, I probably wouldn't either in that case, the lesser of two evils, so to speak. we don't have that problem yet, but if the coyotes helped much, wouldn't they have slowed the spread of hogs in the first place? or maybe they have. I can see a coyote having a meal of young pigs but they prob wont have much effect on the adults. That would really suck, having everything uprooted, they probably absolutely destroy any kind of vegetation, I know tame hogs do if not managed.

Dave, I have to disagree with you. If the coyotes ate that many piggies, then Texas wouldn't have the pig problem that they have. If they weren't also targeting the fawns and deer on your place, then how do you explain why the deer numbers are way lower on your place than they were 15-20 years ago? IIRC you had good deer hunting on your place back then compared to today.

I bet that if you removed a bunch of the hogs and targeted the coyotes you would have the deer population rebound.

Old habits are hard to break when I saw a documentary on how may fawns a single female yote feeding pups. 80 in a single breeding year! That’s hard to imagine. But you ave a valid point about them helping knock pigs down a bit but I think it doesn’t help all that much seeing how a sow can have three litters a year…..

Agree that the odds are overwhelming. But, they are the only ally we have. TPWD has thrown in the towel. No money involved coming their way.

can you not use selective poison 'pills' for the hogs? A favorite treat laced with toxin that is situated in a feeder or at a height or location that hogs are most likely to enter?