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What to do when deer season ends?

Kevin J Legg

Kevin J Legg
in Big / Small Game

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reeleyz

reeleyz

Posted
Posted

Awesome.

I am already planning on taking my 8 year old for squirrels next week with my old Remington .22 open sites.

It is a great way to start working on woodsmanship.



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justtracytrolling

justtracytrolling

Posted
Posted

Predator  hunting is a great winter activity, but it doesn't help much with coyote population control or to help your hunting much.  There have been several studies on controlling coyote populations where sheep ranches have serious problems and the more you stress the population the larger the litters.  Not too mention if you have a problem with them its because they do well in your exact area.  Therefore others move in to take advantage of the the ideal conditions as soon as room is a available.  I've hunted them for 30 years  and the places we have killed the most still have the most.  Basically you can kill 25-35 a year in one block every year and never run out when at any one time there are less than 8-10.  It's impossible to reduce the population if habitat is ideal.  I doubt there are many hunting parties that have killed and trapped close to 2000 or more of them, but the group i hunt with has and we have more than ever.  Incidentally, the specific areas we first saw coyotes in the 80's when we would go weeks without cutting a track because there were so few coyotes in the southern tier are still the best areas now.  When NY had a bounty on coyotes, and fur prices were high the coyotes still couldn't be eradicated.  Fox populations, on the other hand, are very easy to keep at a low number within a certain area.  

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justtracytrolling

justtracytrolling

Posted
Posted

Honestly, coyotes don't decimate fawns as much as many think.  The areas where fawn predation is on the high side are areas where there isnt enough tall grass, goldenrod, etc for does to leave their fawns.  Coyotes  hunt fawns by sight and can't smell them during  the period when fawns are vulnerable.  Also, the new coyotes move in almost immediately if the area has good coyote habitat.  Even in deep snow coyotes don't kill healthy deer.  Gut shoot a deer with a bow on my lease or the golf course i hunt a little and before you can nock another arrow there is a coyote on the deer.  Coyotes survive by hunting mice and by being the most adaptable opportunistic predators.  Bobcats on  the other hand are much better at killing healthy deer and rabbits and  basically never miss given an opportunity, but really need perfect habitat to live in long term.  My deer lease and surrounding area is infested with deer, rabbits, and coyotes.  Nearly every doe has 2 fawns and the only years I see a dip in rabbits and hear them killed we consistently see bocats, and catch them in traps.  Watch deer behavior at night with night vision and they hardly pay any attention to coyotes in the same field.

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tangledline

tangledline

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, justtracytrolling said:

Predator  hunting is a great winter activity, but it doesn't help much with coyote population control or to help your hunting much.  There have been several studies on controlling coyote populations where sheep ranches have serious problems and the more you stress the population the larger the litters.  Not too mention if you have a problem with them its because they do well in your exact area.  Therefore others move in to take advantage of the the ideal conditions as soon as room is a available.  I've hunted them for 30 years  and the places we have killed the most still have the most.  Basically you can kill 25-35 a year in one block every year and never run out when at any one time there are less than 8-10.  It's impossible to reduce the population if habitat is ideal.  I doubt there are many hunting parties that have killed and trapped close to 2000 or more of them, but the group i hunt with has and we have more than ever.  Incidentally, the specific areas we first saw coyotes in the 80's when we would go weeks without cutting a track because there were so few coyotes in the southern tier are still the best areas now.  When NY had a bounty on coyotes, and fur prices were high the coyotes still couldn't be eradicated.  Fox populations, on the other hand, are very easy to keep at a low number within a certain area.  

Sounds like the same problem as wild Boar

whaler1

whaler1

Posted
Posted

I love shooting them! Reason enough for me.


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justtracytrolling

justtracytrolling

Posted
Posted

In some areas of the north country, coyotes definitely impact  deer numbers, but those areas don't have the grasses deer and mice really need and coyotes adapt and do whatever it takes to survive.  The first real successful  hunting of coyotes in ny was perfected in the mid 40s in Lewis County using hounds crossbred between running walkers and beagles in order to collect a bounty.   The original  houndsman began developing the breed by catching a bred female coyote and raising its pups for the purpose of training pups and figuring out a mix breed to use.  He is still alive today and his knowledge of the coyote is not comparable and I was fascinated with his stories when I first met him in 92 and to this day find him a most remarkable individual.  He also went on to be an absolute authority on running bobcats with hounds.  His breeding and exact mix is still hard to top today in a coyote hunting hound.  There are very few houndsman who have been mentored by him directly and have been involved in breeding dogs with him directly also...the man who taught me the basis of all my hunting skills is one of them.  

justtracytrolling

justtracytrolling

Posted
Posted
32 minutes ago, whaler1 said:

I love shooting them! Reason enough for me.


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Me too!  Just don't think you are going to easily make any difference in your predator/prey numbers hunting them

Sk8man

Sk8man

Posted
Posted

I don't hunt anymore so I am stuck reorganizing some of my lures:lol:lureorganiz.thumb.jpg.67853c2c981181ef39fb26cd8cd47ad4.jpg

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Gator

Gator

Posted
Posted

The wife and I bud capped hundreds of small conifers yesterday with aluminum screen to prevent browsing. It was too late this year for most of the small white pine. My wife was PO'd, but she's the one that removed the mesh cages earlier this year. Protect it or lose it in deer country. 

Sk8man

Sk8man

Posted
Posted

:lol: Yeah Chuck I only sorted them down cellar so the wife didn't get a look

Kevin J Legg

Kevin J Legg

Posted
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Posted

Run dogs for bunnies all over NY. [emoji106][emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]


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I use to have a beagle and we had a ball running both cottontails and snowshoes. That was in the 70’s and 80’s when we had many bunnies and grouse and few deer and turkey. Now we don’t seem to have many in my area but I’d love to hear the dogs running them again.


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