Man what a post!!!!!!!! I thought "arm chair quarterbacks/coaches" were the only ones in quantity. For definitions sake could we go back to basic BIO 101.......... Cover IS NOT habitat, it is merely a component of Food, Cover and Water that compose Habitat. Outdoor language terms have gotten away from their definition somewhat and cause a little confusion from time to time. "Harvesting" (trapping, hunting etc.), - lethal systematic removal of wildlife from an area is only 1 aspect of Management. So jumping on the outdoor writers bandwagon of the definitions of Habitat and Management muddies the discussion. Yes, I have one of those "sheepskins" and spent 34 years in the Conservation field, and trapped every year since '66 but that doesn't mean a daggum thing (thanks Hal LOL). Maybe too specific for some. If anything, I would like folks in these posts to try to use the correct definition/terms so when conversing with everyone (harvesters and non harvesters mainly) we don't confront others with confusing statements and maybe elevate our credibility. ......................... keep up your thoughts. .................. the mike

Yep ... I see a lot of places around here with a lot of cover but the cover that there is rather poor for nutrition and people try to make up for it with feeders

A few things I saw from trapping for Delta waterfowl for eight years. Big blocks of grass, blocks of grass larger than a mile square had a higher natural hatch rate than smaller blocks of grass. You did not catch may skunks and coon in the middle of large blocks of grass. Trapping a few only changes who eats the egg. You had to get the population thinned down pretty low for the hatch rate to improve. There were things you could not control that did not help. Hawks and owls were a couple. Seldom did the hatch rate increase as much as one thought it should for the effort put in removing predators. That was on any block, not just mine. Again it changed who or what ate the eggs or hen. I am sure at time if you take one coon or skunk it will save a nest or two, but it will not make a big difference. Every year the predators move back onto the block. I would catch very close to the same number of predators on the block every year. Toward the end of the nest season, I would see very little predator sign and it would be full again the next spring. You would catch more toward the outside edge of the block then the center the closes you got to the end of the season.
I looked at 1000's of duck nests, and kept an eye on them to see how they did. It is shocking how few of them end up hatching. At times I had over 400 sets out. You were in the field all day every day.

DU research has shown that if 28% of the clutches hatch with even 50% of those lost most waterfowl species can maintain their populations. The big block areas have proven to be by far the most successful as the ability to find the nests goes way down with the exception of the flying predators. Land predators typically hunt edge and small blocks, small marshes, ponds or streams have a much higher proportion of edge to total mass then do big blocks.

Bryce

I've always been of the impression that the bounty on Coyotes are what wiped them out of Pa.?

I can't claim to be an expert on coyotes in Pennsylvania but its my understanding their a relative newcomer to most eastern states,at least in the numbers their in now.Even here in the U.P. of Michigan where everybody thinks we've always had Coyotes ,in Hardings Wolf and Coyote Trapping book there is no mention of coyotes or coyote bounties here in northern Michigan.Wolves yes,coyote no.

That's because there is a huge disagreement on what a coyote is vs what a wolf is. This exists even on here, and to some extent I understand it because coywolf hybrids are what people think of in some states as coyotes. There is a huge difference though between a genetically pure coyote and a genetically pure wolf in terms of weight, size, pack numbers and other attributes.

There may be a huge disagreement on so called coy/wolf hybrids,but not on the difference between the two.You have to have coyotes to produce a hybrid,obviously,so your not going to produce hybrids where no coyotes are present.

The critics of predator management often point to migration from adjacent properties thus the need for large scale programs. I would say the South Dakota statewide program would qualify as large scale.

Statewide trapping or open to trapping? The small amount of trapping that the bounty generates, does very little when spread across the state of SD. Like I said before it takes very concentrated saturation to make a difference. You can not catch a few have have it make a difference. You have to thin the predators out down to close to none.

Coyotes, wolves , whatever box they're put in, our bounty kept them at bay.