Coyotes dampening Deer herds in the East?????????????????????

We will be further reviewing what impact coyotes have on deer populations in the next couple of days.............In Pennsylvania and Kentucky, no recorded impact.................Vermont and New York State continue to have very large deer herds.............NJ deer are out of control large................most of Massachusetts have more than the 4 to 8 deer per sq km that most biologists feel is optimum for the continued reproduction of all the plants that grow in the woods.............Folks in Maine always seem to be blaming coyotes for what they perceive as deer herd reductions from abnormally large counts..............We know that coyotes take fawns in the Spring and adult deer in Winter(deer vulnerable if heavy snows occur)and other times of the year...........We know that bears are the most opportunistic predators of fawns..................more on this shortly to come......................

 

 

 

 

Coyotes eat Kentucky deer; Toll hasn't hurt local herd

Written by Steve Vantreese   

Saturday, July 10 2010

Southeast population decline due in part to coyote increases

Biologists note that deer populations are beginning to decline in some areas of the Southeast, and they point some of the blame — or credit — at coyotes.

Wildlife managers in South Carolina say the deer population there dropped by more than a third over a decade from 1997 into 2006 despite implementing more restrictive hunting regulations. Not coincidentally, the increase in coyote populations directly reflects the downturn in deer numbers, biologists say.

Managers in Kentucky have their eyes on what's happening elsewhere in the Southeast, but so far they don't see anything in the ascension of coyotes in our food chain to put any undue stress on the prey link that whitetails pose.