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Regarding west Texas coyotes.

A 12k acre ranch adjoing ours to the north hired a trapper to thin their population. In one weekend the trapper claims to have removed 75 and sent pictures as proof. FWIW, he is paid by the day not the head. They have asked if we want to use his services.

In 2021 & 2022 we heli-hunted our property taking ~ 100 yotes. Fun but not nearly as efficient or economical as the trapper. As a result our deer population has significantly increased even with the drought...we are covered up in young bucks.

The other side of the coin.

The biologist who advises us with our Managed Land Deer Program says TPW is changing its view on coyote removal. They believe the positive results we are seeing are short lived as new animals move into the vacated land faster than previously thought.

There's a lot to coyote social interactions. They are pack animals but often there are loners and pairs too. They have established pecking orders where certain behaviors are kept in check by dominant individuals. When an area has a major decline it's often repopulated with young and aggressive individuals who are looking for new ground outside of where they were born. It's believed the young and aggressive yote are more willing to kill large prey instead of living mainly on mice and bugs. Plus... it's believed that yote adjust their litter sized based on their population density. Less yote = larger litters. Density is sampled through their nightly howling sessions. If true I've long thought a person could loud speaker howling and to help keep numbers lower. Plus, I think their hunting behaviors can change and be taught. I have 5 trail camera that I run year round, plus I hunt and fish a lot. Until last yr.i saw zero evidence that yotes harassed deer any other than finding the occasional fawn. A yr ago I started getting pics of yotes chasing deer. It became somewhat regular so I set some well placed traps this winter and took out a few. Haven't seen evidence of yotes chasing deer since. Hope to have solved a problem but I don't think it's likely.

Some of the above is just stuff I've read about, but some of it is what I believe through experience so take it with a grain of salt if you must.

I don't doubt that one you thin them out others will move in, how quickly I would think depends on how over crowded they are in the surrounding area. The one thing for sure is the ones that were taken out wont be moving anywhere, I think its a problem that we will have to realize that is continuous,.
While I dont have a huge problem I am starting to see a couple really regularly on my game cameras, and coincidentally, at the same time, my turkey pictures have diminished tremendously as did deer pictures, not thinking that they killed them or anything but more just moved on from being harassed. not unlike a neighbors pair of dogs starting to ramble thru the woods a few yrs back, wildlife just doesn't take to it.

That is a nice set of 8 pointers that drowned it looks like, look very similar it seems, I bet they were from the same bloodlines.

Gehajake - if I were concerned about turkey (and ground nesting birds in general) I would take up trapping coons, skunks, feral cats, and yotes. A LOT of experienced habitat managers will tell you of the benefits to turkeys by removing a portion of these animals. It can happen quickly too. Increase of poult numbers the falling summer with larger flocks of birds the following yr. With that said there is a decline of turkey numbers that seems be nation wide. Even to the point that many states are considering lower tag numbers for hunters. Nobody seems to know exactly what's causing it.

How much do you think yotes affect turkeys? We have a lot of yotes but our turkey population seems to be growing. Not concerned with deer reduction since we have plenty and I want to avoid too many to discourage diseases.

I know feral cats really reduce the number of rabbits. I am seeing more rabbits this year than in years past. I had a feral cat problem in 2022 that I thought was 2, maybe 3 cats. I removed 28 for the year and that was with just one live trap. I just reset the trap after seeing cat tracks in the snow near one of the outbuildings. RAH, I did find one jake turkey that was killed by a cat. It ate a part of it and covered it up with debris. I had the same problem when I lived in Ca and raised Pheasants. Same kill MO.

We do not seem to have very many feral cats, just a few bobcats, but they are safe on my place.

Hunted quail today. Not near our pond, but not too far away. A coyote ran out in front of me. 8 shot doesn’t even roll them at 40 yards..
Still had a great day. Almost like the old days. Nothing like a Setter with a snoot full of bird scent.. I do not look forward to the day I can’t follow my bird dogs..

Beautiful!!! I absolutely love watching dogs do what they are meant to do! Very nice!

I think yotes are opportunistic egg eaters and active poult predators. But, of the animals I listed in the previous post I would rank them last in affecting turkey populations. Coons would be #1. The good news in that is that coons are extremely easy to trap.

Thanks. I like fishing, I like deer hunting. I love bird hunting over a couple of Setters.

Gehajake, you are right both are 8 pointers. One was a little bigger than the other but not by much, a very close match. I feel they were really nice size 8 pointers. I know I have smaller 8 pointers visiting my property. I'm no deer pro but my friend is a deer fanatic. He lives for deer hunting and shed hunting. He was thinking probably 3 years old and maybe the same blood line as well.

Hate seeing good prospects bite the dust, but bucks get pretty serious during the rut. It is possible that these were a couple brothers just sparing a little and that they just had bad luck. I have never come across bucks locked together and hope that I never do.

To me, coyotes are a trade off. I know they take some deer but they are our only predator of pigs. And, we have a helluva lot more pigs than we do deer. Pigs seem to be more drought resistant than deer so they keep multiplying.

About time that I reset the pig traps.

Dave, if the coyotes kill and eat the pigs, reset the traps and kill the trapped pigs, leaving them there for the coyotes to eat. If they don't eat the pigs, then that answers whether they eat a lot of pigs or not.

The 1 buck had pretty good hook to his antlers, my friend said that this probably wouldn't of happened if it wasn't for that.

Catscratch, Yer preachin to the choir, I have removed more raccoons from my place then I should probably say on this forum, Including getting in trouble for it from the wardin, not for trapping them but for not having my name on my trap, but he told me to keep trapping but not to relocate them, said they will be somebody else's problem, have since heard that in some states its against the law to relocate them.
Along with those vast numbers of coons there were countless other varmints that were caught, Coons are extremely rough on Turkey populations and I have seen much better recruitment of young turkeys since I thinned the coon out. and nothing thins out rabbits like feral cats, they can get right into any hidey hole that the rabbits can, if nothing else they run them out for other varmints, hawks and such to eliminate them, I am not a fan of feral cats if you cant tell. nothing against them as pets, keep 20 if you like, just keep them at your house.

It's good to be around like minded people! It isn't always like that.

Scott, I’ve done that. When I shoot one I drag it out to an open area. Coyotes, buzzards, hawks and foxes all hit the table. Nobody gets to shoot a coyote on my land.

Pigs are, in Texas, vermin and are taking over the rural areas.

My grown Grandson, Trevor, and his buddy, Josh, trapped about 20 pigs in one trap set. They butchered them and hauled the meat home. A couple of days later Trevor got seriously Ill and we almost lost him. Although they couldn’t find a tick bite, the pigs and his sickness were the only thing the Doc’s could come up with.

I have one bunch (sounder) that is pretty tame. We were at my small pond at the back of the place tossing feed to the green sunfish. About 25 pigs of all sizes came up close to us and (about 10 feet) got in the water. I took a cell phone pic. Wife freaked out. When we left I looked back after going a couple of hundred yards and they were following us. We goosed it and went out a different direction. Due to ticks, I don’t like being around them. I have, on occasion, drug them to an open area and burnt them to kill the ticks.

Odd that I rarely see a tick on a deer.

BTW, the pigs migrated here and are spreading in all directions. Some day, sooner or later, you guys will also be able to ‘enjoy’ hunting them 12 months of the year.

I've been fighting Lymes disease since August 2015.

If anyone finds themselves suspicious of getting Lymes, contact me. It's serious, life-changing stuff.

My wife has had Lyme disease 4 times now. The first time was in 1989, and due to a slow diagnosis, she still has residual effects. If you get bit by a deer tick and the site becomes red, get your 10 days of antibiotics started ASAP.

Just to be clear, the site of the bite does not have to turn red at all to get infected. Many of those afflicted with Lyme never even knew they were bit by a tick. I've never had the red mark or 'bullseye' call Erythema Migrans/EM.

While it's not uncommon for me to get bit by a tick (have two dogs, outdoorsman, etc.), I never knew of the actual tick bite that gave me the Lyme.

But you are right, RAH, in that you can kill if off if you get to it quickly. I was probably afflicted for 6-12 months before I was positively diagnosed.

I agree that many do not even know they are bitten, and some show no rash at the bite site, but still get Lyme. I found 2 deer ticks crawling on me in the last 2 weeks in central Indiana. If it warms up into the mid 40s, they can become active. We treat our 5 German shepherds for ticks, but still find the occasional live tick feeding on them. They also bring ticks into the house... Just one of the hazards of being in the wild. While the spirochete that causes Lyme is killed by antibiotics, symptoms can be chronic if left untreated for an extended time. There is a lot of misinformation and alternative medicine that has developed as a result of these chronic symptoms, but none have gained any credibility yet among scientists.

A family that I know has everyone in the family affected. In each person it shows up differently.

My best advice when it comes to illnesses that are difficult to diagnose, lymes disease for instance, is to find yourself a medical doctor
that also practices Traditional Chinese Medicine. This physician should possess, and be fluent in the operation of, a Zoll or similar other
brand of electro acupuncture device.
This isn't the proper forum to discuss particulars, so feel free to send a PM. I'll get you pointed in the right direction.

AFA the pond goes, I've spent a bit of time over the past few days trying to catch YP from my pond with no results. Been using nightcrawler bits,
but I'm thinking it might be time to try something else. Waxies or crappie nibbles or maybe even some FHM.