Coyote_Fawns_DeYoung_Charles_KingsvilleTX_22August2024_Reel4212.mp3

Charles DeYoung [00:00:00] Well, we've done a lot of work on that. And, in some cases, and I'm speaking mainly of South Texas research now, say, south of San Antonio, in some cases, really intensive coyote control, right before fawns are born, can increase fawn survival.

Charles DeYoung [00:00:22] But it's really hard to do.

Charles DeYoung [00:00:25] And you'll have to do it every year because coyotes are territorial. And so, if you take out most of the coyotes in an area, then the ones in the surrounding area are going to fill it in, when the next year comes around.

Charles DeYoung [00:00:45] We did a project in the late '80s in western south Texas where we had two 10,000-acre experimental areas on ranches. They were about 30 miles apart.

Charles DeYoung [00:01:00] And, we intensively controlled coyotes on those 10,000 acres for three years. And we killed over 100 coyotes a year on each of those.

Charles DeYoung [00:01:15] And, we would put out these scent stations with a, where you would put an attractive scent in a smoothed-out area where you could see coyote tracks, if they had come up there.

Charles DeYoung [00:01:29] So, that was our way of monitoring the coyote population. And, we couldn't ever get them all gone for those 10,000 acres, but we knocked them 'way down.

Charles DeYoung [00:01:41] And, in that experiment, we couldn't detect any difference in the fawn survival between nearby 10,000-acre areas we were monitoring, where there was no coyote control.

Charles DeYoung [00:01:55] And the next year, we would have to kill another 100 coyotes because they had all filled in. So, it was ongoing.

Charles DeYoung [00:02:04] Now there's other, older research in south Texas where reducing, severely reducing, coyote populations caused an increase in fawn survival, like, research done in the '70s on the Welder Wildlife Refuge, near Sinton.

Charles DeYoung [00:02:22] And so, I think of it by if you could really intensively control coyotes like in May and June, right before or during when fawns are born, some years you might increase fawn survival, but not always. But it's a very tough thing to do.

Charles DeYoung [00:02:46] Now people like to shoot coyotes. And they feel like they're saving some fawns, and on the average, they're not.

Speaker [00:02:55] But it makes you feel good that you're doing something. And plus, people like to shoot things. So that's, that's kind of what goes on there.