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Falldreams

Falldreams

Well-Known Member
With temperatures finally starting to dip more like winter as of recent, I can’t help but notice the huge uptick in these sightings on cameras all across both the private farms I hunt as well as public all across the SC part of the state. They seem heavier already this winter than even past years. I also find it interesting that I seem to see more of them in the bottom tier of counties, then compared to counties more to the north abit. Whatever the reason, I’m not sure, but I would guess it’s due to multiple reasons. Either way they are thicker than ever and hungrier than ever and I also notice how significantly they affect deer movement when they are packed up on the prowl. They simply just aren’t hunted nowhere near enough to make an overall dent in their population. Probably a crazy idea, but what if the state incentivized someway shape or form for people to get out more often after these over populated varmints??? I know sounds silly. BUT what if??
This old monster needs to goooo along with countless more!! What a beautiful thick pelt that would make.
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I saw one from the road last Sunday at 1 pm. It was hunting a contour buffer strip in a corn field. Isn't their breeding season coming up?
 
Say the word! Me and a buddy more than willing to come down and thin them down !! Pm me!

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EPIDEMIC LEVELS!!!!!!! 10 years of little to no trapping …. Ya guys…. We got an issue!!!! It’s not balanced. There’s millions of them.
On the flip side- ya, our fertile lands have deer, rabbits, mice, birds to feed the packs of them… why they have exploded in #’s since trapping slowed. But- they need thinned bad!!!!!!!!!!

I am officially dead set on learning how to trap. Just put 25 sets out. We killed about 250 with thermals - buddies on my place & some farms in my area - in last calendar year.
I can’t emphasize enough- landowners…. BEG guys to come thermal hunt your farms and trap them!!!

I’D 1000% BE FOR A BOUNTY PROGRAM!!!!! Like South Dakota does with coons. Throw a little $ at a huge problem…. U pay folks a bit of $ to cover gas & traps & such- get kids back into trapping. & BTW- SD’s bounty pays for itself in dividends on what they get for licenses & bird hunting dollars vs their bounty cost. Best ROI a state could come up with!!!!
 
Less than 5 years ago we had the best coyote fur prices we’ve had in years and $40 average on Iowa yotes. Lots of people trapping those couple of years not to mention the uptick in predator competitions. I feel like hunting and trapping coyotes has been more popular in the last 5 years than ever (my time alive).

I’d venture to say coyote levels are about the same every year. Just depends on if you’re looking for them or not. Kind of like a hunter sitting next to a city person driving down the road. Hunter is going to see the 3 deer half a mile in a field while the city person won’t. Why? Because the hunter was looking for them.
 
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Goes to show how the popularity had boomed. So more coyotes being taken now more than ever yet, “EPIDEMIC” levels. So what’s that saying? Is the litter size increase studies true where they just fill back in?

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Curtis, how do they come up with those #'s? 18,000 and a previous record of 15,347. Hunters/trappers dont report their coyote kills. Just wondering how they come up with a # of how many are harvested.
 
sep0667 said:
Curtis, how do they come up with those #'s? 18,000 and a previous record of 15,347. Hunters/trappers dont report their coyote kills. Just wondering how they come up with a # of how many are harvested.
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I’m going to assume they have some sort of formula with fur sales and other methods. I can tell you there was a huge influx in coyotes at the fur truck and fur auction that year. I’ll see if I can find how they do it.


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Didn’t take me long. They also use the bowhunter survey to look at population trends. Looking at the 2022 survey results most of the state the coyote population is trending downwards or staying stable only a couple regions that have a slight upward trend.

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This is all VERY VERY interesting to me for many reasons. I spent many years hunting deer in Kansas back in the earlier 2000s to mid 2000s and witnessed each year extreme high levels of coyotes. Hard to say, comparatively the numbers from then in Kansas to here now in the south central areas I spend an enormous amount of time year round.
Doing lots of thinking and reminiscing I feel like it’s possible that the coyote population has reached record levels in the last 5 to 10 years or more but they are also becoming wiser and how they hunt. The ability to take down deer and not just fawns has become different. Coyotes are very intelligent survivalist and I truly feel like they are now capable of taking down even older and more mature deer just as easy. Buck or doe has no relevance to the yotes. It’s purely just instinct and food.
 
I had a coyote chase the buck I was targeting past me on thanksgiving morning. Never imagined a lone coyote would chase after a mature buck. Couldn’t get the buck to even slow down, I made the coyote pay with a sharp whistle. The coyote was within 40 yards of the deer while chasing it.

I hadn’t seen one in daylight for over a year which was very odd considering I am outdoors every morning for work. Then this fall I gained permission on a large piece that is just over ran with them.


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Sligh1 said:
EPIDEMIC LEVELS!!!!!!! 10 years of little to no trapping …. Ya guys…. We got an issue!!!! It’s not balanced. There’s millions of them.
On the flip side- ya, our fertile lands have deer, rabbits, mice, birds to feed the packs of them… why they have exploded in #’s since trapping slowed. But- they need thinned bad!!!!!!!!!!

I am officially dead set on learning how to trap. Just put 25 sets out. We killed about 250 with thermals - buddies on my place & some farms in my area - in last calendar year.
I can’t emphasize enough- landowners…. BEG guys to come thermal hunt your farms and trap them!!!

I’D 1000% BE FOR A BOUNTY PROGRAM!!!!! Like South Dakota does with coons. Throw a little $ at a huge problem…. U pay folks a bit of $ to cover gas & traps & such- get kids back into trapping. & BTW- SD’s bounty pays for itself in dividends on what they get for licenses & bird hunting dollars vs their bounty cost. Best ROI a state could come up with!!!!
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As I’ve mentioned before…. I can’t even fathom this amount of coyotes. IMO the problem sounds like access to me. Not being a butthead but every Tom, Dick and Harry has a thermal these days and around me, right or wrong, there is A LOT of lead thrown at coyotes from the road with every fresh snow. How big of an area did the 250 coyotes come from?
Sounds like you have people hunting but are you in a tightly held area where most of the neighbors don’t allow access? I’ve hunted with thermals and calling and trapping, if the coyotes are at the level you are saying the thermals would be like Christmas lights. Not to mention, that population of coyotes would quickly fall under control of parvovirus and mange. Like how many coyotes are you thinking average per square mile?
 
CurtisWalker said:
Goes to show how the popularity had boomed. So more coyotes being taken now more than ever yet, “EPIDEMIC” levels. So what’s that saying? Is the litter size increase studies true where they just fill back in?
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Maybe it is all relative to people’s expectations. I would not say our population in the two states I hunt have changed much. Coyotes to me need to be managed yes, but not eradicated. They are part of the ecosystem.
Curtis I can tell you a guess where some of the increase in fur sales came from during the increased coyote pelt prices a few years back, people actually sold them. I’d guess some of those coyotes would have still been killed but thrown in the ditch had prices been in the normal $5 to $15?range.
 
I worked pretty closely with the MO DNR on their deer studies a few years back and coyote predation was BAD for the first two weeks after fawns started traveling out with their mothers rather than hiding away. Do they kill some adults as they get older yes, but not as often as you’d think. After that two week timeframe as a fawn coyote predation was not even relevant, EHD, vehicle collisions and hunting were main killers of deer outside of the window I mentioned. That two week window is when you want the coyote numbers at their lowest because they are resident coyotes that are feeding a den full of pups and looking for easy meals.
 
I know guys around here with night vision don’t ask to hunt- they just do it. That’s the scary part for me, with 2 little girls and a dog, it’s becoming the Wild West out there after dark. Add in suppressors and you barely know anyone was there. Not sure I’m a fan
 
newfarmer said:
I know guys around here with night vision don’t ask to hunt- they just do it. That’s the scary part for me, with 2 little girls and a dog, it’s becoming the Wild West out there after dark. Add in suppressors and you barely know anyone was there. Not sure I’m a fan
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I would bet that those same kind of guys were spotlight coyotes before they had night vision and they were probably trespassing before the night vision came out. Losers are losers.
Down here in MO we have only had a short night season a couple of years. I will say this that if you hunt with a thermal you are probably hunting safer than hunting in the daytime.
What I mean by that is that the thermal can see what you can’t. Like I have seen a mouse at 240 yards run down a tree limb drop off on the ground and then run back up the tree. The scope sees heat. It will show animals on the far side of brush and trees. So what I am trying to say here is that thermal will show you if someone is on the other side of a small brush patch where in the greatest clear daytime you would have no way of seeing what is in the other side.
 
bluedog69 said:
I would bet that those same kind of guys were spotlight coyotes before they had night vision and they were probably trespassing before the night vision came out. Losers are losers.
Down here in MO we have only had a short night season a couple of years. I will say this that if you hunt with a thermal you are probably hunting safer than hunting in the daytime.
What I mean by that is that the thermal can see what you can’t. Like I have seen a mouse at 240 yards run down a tree limb drop off on the ground and then run back up the tree. The scope sees heat. It will show animals on the far side of brush and trees. So what I am trying to say here is that thermal will show you if someone is on the other side of a small brush patch where in the greatest clear daytime you would have no way of seeing what is in the other side.
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I wonder how many deer are shot having been mistaken for coyotes through a thermal and left without saying a word? I don't know how often it happens, but I promise you it happens. I have mistaken a small deer for a coyote more than once looking through my thermal in long grass. Never to the point where I shot but enough that I know I need to really look them over well. It is surprising how often coyotes and deer will be intermingled in a field. I was watching deer out the house window through a thermal this fall, and a coyote walked right up to a group of bedded deer and none of them moved. I have also had deer walk right by with the caller screaming loudly. It's actually astounding how little concern some deer show for a caller screaming away in the darkness. I could easily see someone assume that would have to be a coyote and start firing.
 
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