I have seen trail cam footage where adult deer have been torn apart by a pack of 3 to 4 yotes here in Surry, Isle of Wight and Prince George Counties Va. One was a nice 8 pointer who didn't even stand a chance I was shocked as I watched the footage that the buck didn't defend itself much better. I can only imagine how easy pickings fawns are. I do believe yotes can will an do have a impact on our deer population no matter what they say.

Grinnersrus, I agree with you.

Based on the comments, It sounds like some other states have biologist with the same mind set. Do you think a few liberal schools have taught this to our biologist? When 85% of people that have a passion for something like hunting and trapping and believe the same way, it would take some good data to convince me to be in the 15% group. I would like to hear some more comments, specially if there are biologist or others that believe coyotes do not impact deer populations. I believe a coyote pair raising their young(6) where the deer population is between 20 to 30 per square mile will take approximately 20 fawns. I also believe some does are killed while given birth. More comments would be appreciated.

Our Pennsylvania Game Commission biologists are saying that coyotes replaced bear as the number one deer predator about ten or fifteen yeas ago.

I am not aware of any actual population impact study results here in PA.

I was told at a ODNR meeting by a game protector that bobcats never killed fawns What?? How can things be managed if the managers are oblivious?

Often times there are other groups of people that influence the opinions/policy of the DNR/Biologists as to their pay.

Even at times some sportsmans groups have gone against other sportsmens to have it JUST their way only.

Here in Michigan we have battled the groups over the years that wanted our hobby eliminated.

Most claims were that we(trappers) were killing hunting dogs. So more restrictions were added to our trapping.

Some were justified. Some not so.

Politics at it best/worst at times.

This discussion reminds me of the climate change debate. It really does not matter what percent of any group of people believe. The are plenty of studies that contain facts. Facts say predators do impact prey populations.

My trail cameras say your biologist is in a bubble. They are here at my place every night trying their luck. Anymore the does are lucky if they have twins left by fall.

I have also found a few fresh deer pieces on my property with canine style teeth marks in the bones. Upon picking it up and investigating the meat was still soft bloody an fresh. On one of those ocassion there was a yote about 10 yards away laying in the edge of the cutover taking a nap. The suppressed 45 pistol served the eviction notice that day. They are also hard on our waterfowl like wood ducks, pintails mallards as me and my brother always see an kill 2 or 3 yotes a year on my swamp bottom chasing waterfowl.

Seniortrap - I think you hit the nail on the head- their position is based on politics. That is why I'm wondering more and more about how coyotes showed up so quick in VA.

Despite politics, no state agency will import coyotes. Pens spread them in NC as the primary method of population migration. Natural dispersal was a secondary method of migration. It's ALWAYS baffled me how the trafficking of an invasive species could be legal.

“I can not and will not blame predators for the decline in the deer herd,” he said.

Hence no more hunting seasons or bag limits, or aren't hunters predators?

How about how .gov wastes millions a year on the feral horses, there's about the biggest invasive specie there is.

I think our biologist believe VA coyotes are predators that prey on mice, grasshoppers, rats, moles, voles, groundhogs and an occasional fox.

Our fox population is gone now. I get 20 pics of coyotes to 1 fox pic. I caught 6 grey fox and 4 reds in 2015/2016 and zero of both in 2016/2017. I caught 6 coyotes in each season. 2014/2105 I caught 9 coyotes, 3 reds and 3 greys. I only trap on one farm.

Here is an article that the VA DGIF is funding:

https://blog.wildlife.virginia.gov/2016/06/coyote-research-study-update/

Interesting article. I know I'm going off track but the article says a lot of squirrel remains are found in bobcat scat. I've used squirrels as cat bait in multiple ways. Including tails for a flag the same way I use a feather. I found squirrels to be very unsatisfactory as bobcat bait. Anybody else had the same experience or is it time to fool with them again? I wonder if cats just don't often scavenge on dead squirrels for some reason?

[u][/u]

Actually you have that backwards. Mathematically a change from 2 to 4 is a 100% increase, but with that low sample size it is not a statistically significant change.

Wolferman - I say this coyotes are opportunist feeders.

I agree 100% ......coyotes are opportunistic feeders. I believe coyotes are feeding hard on corn here now based on scat I've seen. Later this month they will be feeding hard on apples and pears in our orchard. In May and June I believe they feed hard on fawns. They feed on what is available and easy to find during the year (opportunistic feeders)....your right they are very efficient.....coyotes are not going to waste energy if they don't have to for food.

Danny when I find bobcat scat here it appears to be mostly squirrel hair. I have noticed the farm cats kill squirrels and eat part of it while fresh but never eat the leftovers.

Deer are pita but the deer hunters are worse and I think outnumber the deer at times.

If I become convinced that coyotes really impact the deer population I may quit trapping them.

That or the bios need to take more samples, I am always astonished, when reading some of the most referenced studies, at how small the samples were in comparison to the conclusions drawn from them.

The problem here is one of reading comprehension. The biologist has explained plain English exactly what the issue is (because it is not necessarily a problem), but for whatever reason some readers simply can't get past the bright shiny object (coyotes) to comprehend what he is actually saying.

So lets break it down.

1. Somewhere around 20-30 years ago deer passed the cultural carrying capacity across much of if not most of the state. Deer hunters attitudes and regulation still favored the harvest of bucks, and the population wasn't adequately controlled through hunting.

2. Slowly attitudes changed and hunters started letting younger bucks pass and harvesting more does. Still over cultural carrying capacity.

3. Finally big regulatory changes kick in....easier to get bonus tags and many counties are now earn a buck. Harvest numbers go up by as much as 25-30 percent and does make up a lot of that difference.

4. And this is what Knox is saying: we made these changes knowing they would curb the herd, and that once that happened, harvest number would be lower. Now here we are 10 years later and harvest numbers are lower....exactly like he said they would be.

5. On top of the change in regulations, there have been a few EHD breakouts that were borderline catastrophic in some areas.

6. And the herd and western VA has been on the decline due to National Forest timber cutting restraints that pre-date any talk of coyotes.

Is he saying that predators don't kill deer? Absolutely not....he is merely stating that despite all predation that occurs, we would still be in the same place today due to the above factors.

Matt Knox is one of the best deer biologists in the country and Virginia is extremely fortunate to have him.