Last week, area outdoorsmen joined Erie County Federation of Sportsmen Chairman Dan Tone for a coyote seminar with feature speaker Dr. Jacqueline Frair, professor of wildlife ecology at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. The Armor Fire Hall, with standing room only - including hallways - was packed with more than 450 people.Frair provided the audience with a high-energy speaker experience that was entertaining and fun. With common, uncomplicated language, she explained her early experience with coyotes in Saskatchewan, Canada, and in other areas out west. Her slide presentation started with an explanation of our NYS coyote genus that peaked outdoorsmen interest and logic.Coyotes were never native to New York! Eastern wolf and northern gray wolf (Canadian) were present, while coyotes were only exclusive to the Midwest and far west. As soon as the wolf and cougar populations were exterminated by farmers and landowners trying to maintain livestock and land, and the larger predator animals were out, coyote's expanded their range to the east and New York.By 1925, two waves of coyote were identified in NYS. One through Canada, where coyotes picked up some wolf DNA, and a later wave under the Great Lakes, where they did not interbreed with wolves. As a result, much confusion arose with huge, apparent coyotes that really were half wolf. As coyotes got larger, a couple of distinctive features remained. Frairr said, "Their vocalizations are quite distinct: coyotes are yippier!"With new field data in, Frair's students are calculating final results to be ready in about two months. Preliminary conclusion is that scat studies followed by DNA analysis show the trend in the diet of coyotes has changed from about 80 percent small animals with 20 percent deer in the 1950s, 60s, 70s, to a much higher percentage of deer and a much smaller percentage of other small animals in the 90s and recent years.
In the 1950s, there were so few deer that no doe permits were ever issued to hunters; today, hunters complain when they get fewer than two or three. To hear farmers talk, we have lots more deer today, nearly to nuisance levels. Maybe the NYS deer management program has been so effective that we have so many more deer now than before; the changing coyote diet is simply a matter of convenience for the coyote. My observation is that the deer harvest rate of the coyote seems to reflect the same increased harvest rate of deer by hunters, due to more deer everywhere.
Frair said, "The important part about looking at diet DNA is that we learn how important deer are to coyotes. But DNA does not tell us how coyote got those deer. If the coyote are simply scavenging, consuming deer that would have died anyway, wounded hunter deer, they will not have an impact on the deer population. So we need evidence of whether, and to what degree, coyotes might be killing deer that are not just wounded, walking dead. "Coming by that evidence is hard and speculation runs rampant," she added. "When we investigate the field, we see many common sights of a carcass clearly cleaned out by coyotes. There are tracks everywhere and people tend to speculate immediately, that was a coyote kill. However, the only honest thing one can actually say is that there isn't enough evidence to say what killed this animal, although it clearly has been fed upon by coyotes."Frair added that, in order for us to understand how important coyotes may be to the deer population, we need two pieces of information: "How many coyotes are out there and how many deer does the average coyote kill." She added, "Basically assessing the per capita effect of a given coyote and multiplying that by the total population size. Both are incredibly difficult pieces of data to gain with any precision!" This is a rough conclusion from my perspective: the NYS coyote population is estimated at 20,000 and NYS is about 55,000 square miles. That's fewer than one coyote per every two square miles. While coyotes are socially oriented, trail cams at dens show a typical normal diet - no gross fawn numbers or adult deer. Friar said black bears will typically cause more damage to deer fawn populations than coyotes, though coyotes cannot be disregarded in some areas.A question was raised on how coyotes might be competing with native predators like red and grey fox, bobcats and bear. With so many species, efficient sampling is even more necessary - and this work is hard work. According to Frair, there is simply no way to eliminate coyotes altogether, even with an all-year open hunting season. DEC said an all-year season cannot happen here because coyotes are not listed as a varmint, but as a game animal - and that requires a season. I'm not sure how NYS corrects potential errors from the early centuries, as this question also relates the NYS lack of a dove season, while most other states have one.Coyotes adjust population numbers based on what the land will allow. Hunters don't usually see coyotes because they are fully nocturnal, but we can hear them at night. Coyotes have been known to pair up to carry newborn calves from a barn to the woods, so while they are not usually an unending menace, they can be cunning when food supplies force adaptation. Out west in the last few years, people have been attacked and some have been injured and killed by coyotes on the prowl, with DNA proof to substantiate the attacks. Coyote attacks on humans are considered rare, while, on the other hand, records show that about 300,000 people are bitten by dogs each year.Frair's presentation was followed by questions and answers with DEC Conservation Officer Lieutenant Tom Scott, and he was followed by a very interesting 15 minute presentation from Gary Huber with Deer Search, who showed slides of coyote predation of wounded deer during the overnight of a 24 hour period.
We do have coyotes here in Western, NY; they seem to be able to detect wounded deer and quickly eliminate them. But after that, we need to wait for Frair's data for the rest of the real story. See www.esf.edu/coyote for the ongoing results.
In the 1950s, there were so few deer that no doe permits were ever issued to hunters; today, hunters complain when they get fewer than two or three. To hear farmers talk, we have lots more deer today, nearly to nuisance levels. Maybe the NYS deer management program has been so effective that we have so many more deer now than before; the changing coyote diet is simply a matter of convenience for the coyote. My observation is that the deer harvest rate of the coyote seems to reflect the same increased harvest rate of deer by hunters, due to more deer everywhere.
Frair said, "The important part about looking at diet DNA is that we learn how important deer are to coyotes. But DNA does not tell us how coyote got those deer. If the coyote are simply scavenging, consuming deer that would have died anyway, wounded hunter deer, they will not have an impact on the deer population. So we need evidence of whether, and to what degree, coyotes might be killing deer that are not just wounded, walking dead. "Coming by that evidence is hard and speculation runs rampant," she added. "When we investigate the field, we see many common sights of a carcass clearly cleaned out by coyotes. There are tracks everywhere and people tend to speculate immediately, that was a coyote kill. However, the only honest thing one can actually say is that there isn't enough evidence to say what killed this animal, although it clearly has been fed upon by coyotes."Frair added that, in order for us to understand how important coyotes may be to the deer population, we need two pieces of information: "How many coyotes are out there and how many deer does the average coyote kill." She added, "Basically assessing the per capita effect of a given coyote and multiplying that by the total population size. Both are incredibly difficult pieces of data to gain with any precision!" This is a rough conclusion from my perspective: the NYS coyote population is estimated at 20,000 and NYS is about 55,000 square miles. That's fewer than one coyote per every two square miles. While coyotes are socially oriented, trail cams at dens show a typical normal diet - no gross fawn numbers or adult deer. Friar said black bears will typically cause more damage to deer fawn populations than coyotes, though coyotes cannot be disregarded in some areas.A question was raised on how coyotes might be competing with native predators like red and grey fox, bobcats and bear. With so many species, efficient sampling is even more necessary - and this work is hard work. According to Frair, there is simply no way to eliminate coyotes altogether, even with an all-year open hunting season. DEC said an all-year season cannot happen here because coyotes are not listed as a varmint, but as a game animal - and that requires a season. I'm not sure how NYS corrects potential errors from the early centuries, as this question also relates the NYS lack of a dove season, while most other states have one.Coyotes adjust population numbers based on what the land will allow. Hunters don't usually see coyotes because they are fully nocturnal, but we can hear them at night. Coyotes have been known to pair up to carry newborn calves from a barn to the woods, so while they are not usually an unending menace, they can be cunning when food supplies force adaptation. Out west in the last few years, people have been attacked and some have been injured and killed by coyotes on the prowl, with DNA proof to substantiate the attacks. Coyote attacks on humans are considered rare, while, on the other hand, records show that about 300,000 people are bitten by dogs each year.Frair's presentation was followed by questions and answers with DEC Conservation Officer Lieutenant Tom Scott, and he was followed by a very interesting 15 minute presentation from Gary Huber with Deer Search, who showed slides of coyote predation of wounded deer during the overnight of a 24 hour period.
We do have coyotes here in Western, NY; they seem to be able to detect wounded deer and quickly eliminate them. But after that, we need to wait for Frair's data for the rest of the real story. See www.esf.edu/coyote for the ongoing results.
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some further comments from our friend Elise Able who was in the audience at Jaquie Frair's talk.................
I did attend Dr. Frairs NY Coyotes talk in Hamburg, NY. I was nervous, as the Erie County Sportsmans Federation had arranged the talk, and they are pushing for a year round season on coyotes. I figured what she had to say must in some way support their request.
However, She told the truth- the coyotes were mainly scavenging deer, but they found three deer the coyotes killed. Those three deer were "walking dead" though, suffering from gunshot wounds and / or broken legs. She also said numerous cameras were set up at den sites- as per the reports by coyote haters that she could count the number of fawns brought back to the dens that way. The cameras did not record a single fawn brought back to any of the dens- dispelling that myth. They also analyzed much coyote scat, found mostly deer, then rodents. Only one scat had evidence of a cat in it. They also found scat with livestock in it, but were able to confirm the livestock was scavenged , not killed.
One guy asked her if a year round season on coyotes would reduce their numbers, she said, not likely as they rebound. The DEC agreed with this. Someone else asked about rabies, she said it was not an issue.
All in all, I think a lot of hunters were very disappointed that she did not report what they are all hoping she would- that they were killing all the deer, fawns, cats and dogs and children would be next. Unfortunately, most of these guys are not educate-able and will probably disregard her study and continue forming their own opinions that suit their desires.--Let us hope that the discussion at least caused some to at least pause and consider that coyotes might not be quite the devil thought to be previously--blogger Rick
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