Hi Larry!
100 coyotes in 13 checks = 8 per day is surely possible and is sometimes done. Sometimes. For 8 per day, running 100 traps, you'd of course have a 8% catch ratio and an 8% catch ratio is way above average. 6% will keep you in the more normal range of things in excellent fur territory but we rarely ever hit that in ADC work because ADC work is more sniper fire than shotgunning the herd of coyotes.
If you're in density rich coyote country as parts of Kansas are, 100 in two weeks may be on the light side actually.
I trap a lot. And I trap predator control more every year. And day after day, during 13 checks on a ADC line, the catch will not be robust unless you've got low fence, migrating dogs, little mange, no distemper, mild canine lice, and decent weather. That rarely happens.
As far as Marc Bekoff, I was trained in the era he was but Marc is about a 15 years older than me and is the leading animal activist and most prolific writer on canines in our lifetimes. I've read much of his work over the years, and I always remember has animal advocacy bias when I read his research. His hooey has resonated in our wildlife management field (I'm a biologist) and every time I hear, "If you take out coyotes from an area, they'll just repopulate"..... I know it's Bekoff..... and I tell the person telling me this, "Hooey. It's plain hooey." The research was biased and the researcher is against harvesting.
"Hire me and in a 3 year project, I'll increase your herd production exponentially. Guaranteed. How? Year #1 = Kill coyotes. Year #2 Kill coyotes. Year #3 = Kill coyotes."
Sun Tzu.... Know the enemy, know the terrain, to win the battle.....
Good post!
Blessings,
Mark
