Coyotes (here) have home ranges as do most wildlife. Once you harvest the majority there may not be too many neighbors to take the original's place right away. I have killed a bunch of (what I consider Locals - litter residents sharing the home range) coyotes and it takes time for others to fill in as its not really a dispersal time. Many times I have seen no tracks or serenades for periods up to 3-4 weeks and then a pair of coyotes shows up. You will know they are NOT locals as their tracks (for me anyway) are all over the place (but just a pair). They seem to be really examining this "vacant" real estate whereas the locals have set haunts they visited. My take on what I have observed.... the mike

Distemper can thin the herd considerably by knocking out the young coyote. Went through this summer in Northern MN and my catch dropped in half this fall. What was missing was the young dogs.

Offda!

Must be nice.


Reasons why baits have just all of a sudden gone dead in my experience.......

I’ve killed a few coyotes off it and they wise up to it.
The coyotes that were on it are dead.
A hot food source came online somewhere else.
They’ve just flat left the area for a while (my coyotes can be quite migratory depending on time of year and weather).
Habituated (in a bad way).
I dumped something in it they didn’t like (I’ve KILLED hot sites with duck and goose carcasses, pig carcasses, coyote carcasses, doctored cow carcasses).

So, those who have seen distemper roll through, do the coyote bounce back fairly soon? Does it run it's course in a single season or linger on like mange? I know they are resiliant and can bounce back once the disease has run it's course, but wondering how long it can hang on.

Boones explanation is pretty encompassing, but in the original situation I find it very odd that the big birds have abandoned it as well. In my experience the only thing that has caused that is a fresh large new kill/food source in the vicinity.

Osky

Are the birds even around?

When we get COLD cold the ravens, pies, eagles, crows, leave until it warms back up.

They’ve been getting some serious frequent flyer miles this year with our wishy washy, warm cold warm cold weather.

Well, I snagged a pair last night from that deadbeat bait. Still no ravens on it. Birds all over the cow bait. Last couple days have been awfully cold. Minus 33 yesterday and minus 27 today. I am really wondering if a moose or elk died in the area nearby, drawing birds and yotes away from that bait. Just glad to know there are coyotes around. Patience is a tough thing. Again, I have had baits die before. Just not for so long, and not becoming birdless.

Will keep amending this thread as time goes on. Thanks again for all the input. Appreciate it.

Piles of ravens on the newer bait. None at all on that deer bait. Bunch of Coyotes nailed the new bait last nite. Set a bunch of wire today after last nites snow. All excited again. I think I will move that dead at bait a hundred yards or so and see what happens with it.

We had a Parvo outbreak here a few years ago - seems like it was more locally around me.
It flat put the hurt to the K-9 population.
Seems like they bounced back fairly quickly.