Look at Wisconsin. You have a hard time finding a Deer track anymore after releasing those wolves. Now they are finding them as far South as Milwaukee county. Wolves will move on after they kill all of their food. In Wisconsin Dairy Farmers are not even allowed to shoot them when they attack their Herd. Only the Indians on their reservation are allowed to. That is why Farmers are donating young Bulls to them to lure the wolves onto the reservation and the Indians shoot them.

Wow. Just wow.

Several years ago we did a fawn survival study in SD, I assisted in catching new born fawns and placing radio collars on them for the study. I don’t remember the survival percentages but they were higher than I expected but I’m sure coyotes accounted for most of the predation.

In one location a coworker and I collared a pair of fawns and while driving away we spotted a coyote den about 500 yards away with pups running around, I was surprised to learn that both those fawns lived to 1 year old (collars were designed to fall off at that point). Would have bet money they were in trouble.

Around my place, the average adult doe carries 1.7 fetuses. By september, the doe:fawn ratio is .5 fawns per doe. Fawns take a beating. If coyotes are killing that many fawns after August - they probably killed twice that many before august.

You have to remember that the DNR are controlled by the Tree Huggers in most states and they protect the wolves in every way.[/quote]

Im not buying it. Most state agencies are in favor of controlling them...evident by the hunting/trapping seasons that were in place until the FEDERAL courts got involved. To say the DNRs in most of the states affected are in favor of uncontrolled wolf populations is utter nonsense.

Its good to see these studies done.
It adds to the knowledge about wildlife and thus aids in management.

I know most don't trust the dnr and I get that, I have my issues with them too.

Don't believe any studies if you want but its got to be more accurate than some old trapper sitting at the bar and claiming he knows better cause he has seen dead deer carcasses in the woods and he only saw 2 deer all last season.

As far as I can tell from my bar stool there are way too many deer, I go by the damage they do every year to the flora in the woods and the sightings we experience every day from our house.
10 deer this morning, 16 last week Tuesday, 3-4 every day. No shortage of deer around here.


I read a while ago that something like 60% mortality in fawns was a max to maintain herd size.
The coyotes around here don't seem to be knocking the herd down at all.
And there are no wolves around here either.
The odd bear maybe spotted every spring but it doubtful that there is any kind of resident population.

Trouble is most deer hunters think that there is no such thing as too many deer. I'm here to tell you that ain't factually true.

When the deer herd is so high that they are eliminating native plants from the environment then there are too many.
Talk to anyone that manages natural areas about deer. They all have issues with too many deer.

I won't be concerned about deer population numbers till I see no tracks, beds, rubs or don't sight one for several months from the house.
I know that won't be happening any time soon.

You got a source for all these claims? Never seen an agricultural area where raccoons were in decline, especially in a weak fur market. ..

Any where farming is the primary use of the land, raccoons populations have plummeted in the past 20 years. There is no habitat for them as the old groves, farm houses, and fencerows are being removed and there is nothing but crop land from road to road.

Bernie, I guess ag land is different in different regions. Around here, the healthiest raccoons are still found in agricultural areas and they dont have any problems finding a place to lay their head. Again, not questioning your ag lands, but that is simply not the case around here.

I’m in a high percentage agricultural area and before the tornado of 2017 and the hurricane in 2018, our Turkey population was on the great side of the scale. Everything else rebounded after those events except turkeys.
If our deer population was any higher it would be dangerous, lol. I sometimes wonder if it wouldn’t hurt to not take coyotes, but they just don’t prey on deer. If coyotes left turkeys alone I probably wouldn’t even target them, but they don’t so I trap them.
I may be wrong, but I see fawns being born based on the population. Our does generally produce one (high density), sometimes twins, and on very rare occasions they’ll have triplets. On areas with low density populations I’ll consistently see twins and triplets. I guess mother nature knows what is best for the land.
I wouldn’t say we are a high density predator area, at least not areas I trap, then again it could be because I trap. I see more predator sign on our WMA’s. When I get rich or have enough money to waste I may submit an application to trap one, right now it would cost way more than I want to put into it.

Drive through the midwestern states and what I'm talking about will become very obvious. Ditches have been straightened and cleaned, groves have been removed, fencerows have been torn out, farm places and barns have been torn down, not a tree in sight. Plant every inch is the name of the game in these days of high land prices.

"I read a while ago that something like 60% mortality in fawns was a max to maintain herd size."

This would be complicated to assess. It would depend on the adult doe survival rate and twinning and pregnancy rates. I could see a world in which 80 to 85% fawn mortality would result in a stable doe population.

We have large areas of "Black Desert" here. Nothing but subsidized crops as far as you can see and when they till its basically a black desert, great farmland, poor wildlife habitat for most species.

Here's a two-part article on the subject of coyotes and fawns I wrote a few years ago:

https://www.bucksbullsbears.com/2019/01/23/control-coyotes-to-improve-deer-hunting-part-1/

https://www.bucksbullsbears.com/2019/01/23/control-coyotes-to-improve-deer-hunting-part-2/

Passed through central MN several years back picking up a prisoner from Federal custody and I was shocked at the lack of habitat with a lack of tree belts or idle ground was non existent the only animal sigh was a few rat huts in the ditches.