Tstorm1
New member
Know this thread is a few months old, but figured I would throw in my 2 cents. I agree with Skinney and several others that coyotes vary widely on what they like to eat and that "sweat equity" will get you a long way with trust and respect. That said I will give you the summer perspective after historic flooding in South Carolina from last October. First how I got there...
Through my old neighbors I managed to meet their family which live about an hour away and have a small family farm with around 100 head of cattle, give or take. My wife and I were getting rid of some furniture and the farmers son was getting divorced, so we gave it to him. When he picked it up he invited us to hunt deer with them. I grew up with a father that was a wildlife biologist and learned if you take it you eat it or give it purposefully to someone who will. It took a couple years with the group to get to know everyone and I passed on a lot of deer the first couple of years. It wasn't out of fear of not getting invited back, I was doing what I learned as herd management even if others weren't. After about 3 years of not only cutting lanes, but offering to help haying I was finally trusted on a tractor...my past is filled with tractor work, but as others have said you've got to build that trust! I wasn't offered raking hay or anything super-productive, but given an old tractor with a hay spear and given the job of centralizing the bales for pickup. Even today I'm trusted with the "non-critical" equipment, but still know where the line is and respect that boundary. At the end of October 2013 on a "crisp" SC morning (that means 40 degrees) I hunted a stand in one of his pastures overlooking a white oak that was dropping acorns...it was going to be a good morning! About 30 minutes after sunrise every cow in the pasture was double-timing it my way, then the coyote came over the rise about 200 yards out. After taking care of the coyote and causing more excitement with the cows, I got out of the stand, walked to the other end of the pasture and got in another stand. I didn't walk out that morning with a deer, but with a big female coyote that was looking over his cows. I probably earned more respect and trust that morning than I realized for quite some time.
After the historic floods in SC last October things have changed, some for the good and others not so good. Coyote numbers "appear" to be down with fewer seen and much less nighttime chatter! There are creeks on 3 side of the property, all were minimum 6 feet above flood level...some of our stands were in water until November. One theory is the flooding took coyotes out as they went into the "shallow" water to get an easy dead deer/cow/etc. and the water took them away too. Another is that with a mild winter and all the water tender vegetation has grown abundant and the rabbits, squirrels and other readily available prey are numerous and easy to catch. Regardless, we know we have lost at least one calf to coyotes, but fawn numbers are up considerably. Part of that could be the horrible hunting season last fall and few deer taken in our area...DNR actually closed some areas for a bit due to unfair advantage to the hunters with such little high ground left!
One thing is for sure, coyotes adapt to the local situation and will take what is available food-wise. Whether they are to blame for the cow and fawn deaths or not one thing is for sure, they can be cagey and tough to call in...which make the challenge all the more fun!
Through my old neighbors I managed to meet their family which live about an hour away and have a small family farm with around 100 head of cattle, give or take. My wife and I were getting rid of some furniture and the farmers son was getting divorced, so we gave it to him. When he picked it up he invited us to hunt deer with them. I grew up with a father that was a wildlife biologist and learned if you take it you eat it or give it purposefully to someone who will. It took a couple years with the group to get to know everyone and I passed on a lot of deer the first couple of years. It wasn't out of fear of not getting invited back, I was doing what I learned as herd management even if others weren't. After about 3 years of not only cutting lanes, but offering to help haying I was finally trusted on a tractor...my past is filled with tractor work, but as others have said you've got to build that trust! I wasn't offered raking hay or anything super-productive, but given an old tractor with a hay spear and given the job of centralizing the bales for pickup. Even today I'm trusted with the "non-critical" equipment, but still know where the line is and respect that boundary. At the end of October 2013 on a "crisp" SC morning (that means 40 degrees) I hunted a stand in one of his pastures overlooking a white oak that was dropping acorns...it was going to be a good morning! About 30 minutes after sunrise every cow in the pasture was double-timing it my way, then the coyote came over the rise about 200 yards out. After taking care of the coyote and causing more excitement with the cows, I got out of the stand, walked to the other end of the pasture and got in another stand. I didn't walk out that morning with a deer, but with a big female coyote that was looking over his cows. I probably earned more respect and trust that morning than I realized for quite some time.
After the historic floods in SC last October things have changed, some for the good and others not so good. Coyote numbers "appear" to be down with fewer seen and much less nighttime chatter! There are creeks on 3 side of the property, all were minimum 6 feet above flood level...some of our stands were in water until November. One theory is the flooding took coyotes out as they went into the "shallow" water to get an easy dead deer/cow/etc. and the water took them away too. Another is that with a mild winter and all the water tender vegetation has grown abundant and the rabbits, squirrels and other readily available prey are numerous and easy to catch. Regardless, we know we have lost at least one calf to coyotes, but fawn numbers are up considerably. Part of that could be the horrible hunting season last fall and few deer taken in our area...DNR actually closed some areas for a bit due to unfair advantage to the hunters with such little high ground left!
One thing is for sure, coyotes adapt to the local situation and will take what is available food-wise. Whether they are to blame for the cow and fawn deaths or not one thing is for sure, they can be cagey and tough to call in...which make the challenge all the more fun!
