VERMONT---Despite the 3rd snowiest Winter on record(2010-11).................Despite the fact that on average there are a good 6000 Eastern Coyotes(Coywolves) calling Vermont home...........Vermont hunters recorded a robust Whitetail Deer Harvest this seaon with over 15,500 "hoofed browsers" taken out of the Forest--up 2% over the 2009-10 hunt.................At the end of the day, while both Eastern Coyotes and Bobcats take a % of fawns in Spring and both take and scavenge adult deer(especially in Winter), neither of these Carnivores truly fills the historical ecological niche of the currently extirpated wolf and cougar.................The Vermont woodlands would have optimum regeneration and biological diversity(as we have discussed in previous postings) if wolves and cougars were restored to the landscape

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — Vermonters are still digging out from a winter storm that is taking its place in the record books.

 The National Weather Service says the Sunday-Monday storm dumped 25.8 inches at the Burlington International Airport, the third-greatest snowfall recorded there.

It even beat the monster Valentine's Day storm of 2007.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Brooke Taber says that so far the winter of 2010-2011 is the third-snowiest on record with a total of 124.3 inches. The record of 145.4 inches was set in 1970-1971.
It was the greatest March snowstorm ever and Monday's snowfall of 17.5 inches demolished the single day snow record in Burlington of 8.5 inches.

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Vermont Deer Hunters Had Successful 2010 Seasons

Biologists for the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department have completed analyzing final harvest results from the 2010 deer hunting seasons and are qualifying last year's hunting seasons as a success. During Vermont's four seasons last year (archery, youth, rifle and muzzleloader), hunters harvested a total of 15,523 deer. That number is well within the department's 2010-20 Big Game Management Plan that set the annual harvest objective between 14,000 and 18,000.
"Our 2010 deer harvest increased by two percent from the 2009 totals," said Mark E. Scott, Director of Wildlife for the department. "In all four seasons combined, our hunters brought home nearly one million pounds of wild venison, totaling almost 4 million meals."
A review of the 2010 hunting seasons and prospects for the 2011 seasons will be the main topics of discussions at a series of public hearings being held around the state starting this week. The first of Vermont's deer hearings is March 24 at Burr & Burton Academy in Manchester. Other meetings will be held March 28 (Lyndonville, at Lyndon State College), March 29 (Pavilion Auditorium in Montpelier), March 29 (Middlebury Union High School) and March 30 (Springfield High School). The meetings begin at 7 p.m.
The 15,523 harvest total includes 2,914 deer of both sexes taken by bow hunters, 1,712 deer during the weekend-long youth hunting season, 6,665 antlered bucks during the November rifle season, and 4,232 bucks and does during muzzleloader season. In-depth, season-by-season discussions will be held at the five public hearings.
A PDF version of the 2010 Vermont White-Tailed Deer Harvest Report, containing detailed season results information, is posted on the Vermont Fish and Wildlife website (vtfishandwildlife.com).
"Deer hunting success depends on many variables," said Scott. "We hear from hunters during and after the seasons, but we gain our best understanding of the season when we can analyze the harvest numbers like we've done here."
Scott said the 2010 totals indicated that Vermont has a healthy and robust deer herd and estimates that Vermont had between 120,000-130,000 deer in Vermont at the conclusion of hunting seasons.

Source: Department of Fish and Wildlife

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VERMONT WILDLIFE FACT SHEET

  Although little is known about the mortality factors of young coyotes, several studies have shown that between birth and one year, as many as 50-68% die. Adult mortality rates are lower. Several diseases and parasites can affect coyote survival including heartworm, distemper, canine hepatitis, sarcoptic mange, and rabies.

The population of Eastern coyotes in Vermont fluctuates between 4,500 and 8,000 with fewer animals in the population during winter. Many juveniles disperse in the fall, while others may stay with their family group well into their second year.

Coyote reproduction and survival is tied directly to habitat and food availability. In addition, coyotes are density dependent breeders. As the number of coyotes in an area decreases, their reproductive rates increase. Coyote control efforts are therefore often unsuccessful because they tend to stimulate reproduction.

MORTALITY

Current Management Efforts

The Fish & Wildlife Department recognizes that people have many differing views on the value of predators. We believe, however, that coyotes are important members of the ecosystem and have evolved together with many of nature's existing prey species. Conservation of the coyote is important to maintaining ecosystem integrity because of the vital role they play as predators. Coyotes are also a renewable natural resource and the utilization of these animals is appropriate as long as their population remains viable.

Certain groups would like to decrease or eliminate the coyote population. While coyotes kill other animals to eat and survive, including an occasional deer, they should not be subjected to an extermination program. Coyotes fill the role of a natural predator, a role that is important for maintaining the dynamics and health of our ecosystems.

Expensive extermination and bounty programs were common in the past and were responsible, along with habitat loss, for the elimination of some natural predators throughout the United States. These techniques have no place in modern wildlife management, which stresses the importance of all species