Forest for the tree thought

[cwedding]

This gobbler was strutting in the food plot on trail cam prior to ending up in Wiley's jaws.

Yotes won't be getting passed by me.


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[GobbleNut]

I think a good question to ask is how many of us here on OG has ever seen a coyote catch an adult turkey?  Personally, I have seen coyotes and turkeys in proximity to each other on only a handful of occasions.  Not only have I not seen a coyote catch one of them, I have never even seen one attempt to catch one of them.  On every occasion I have witnessed, the turkeys came to immediate attention when the coyote came into view, the coyote seemed to recognize that the turkeys were aware of it, and the coyote just continued on its way without any attempt at catching one.  These were some pretty close encounters where I was a bit surprised at the lack of any attempt by the coyotes. 

Admittedly, in each encounter I witnessed, there was a flock of turkeys involved, hence numerous sets of eyeballs on the coyotes.  Perhaps in different circumstances where maybe only a single (or few) turkeys were involved and did not seem to be aware of the coyotes, they would have made more of an effort. 

Of course, my experiences have no bearing on the matter of whether coyotes are a serious predation problem for turkeys.  I am sure there are places and conditions where things might be different.  I just haven't seen it here in several states in the southwest.  Would be interesting to hear from others about their coyote/turkey encounters...

[Greg Massey]

I've never seen a coyote catch a turkey. I've seen turkeys and coyotes in the same field not far from one another and pretty much not even bother each other.. The turkeys keep on feeding and doing what turkeys do... The coyotes went on their way ....

[Prospector]

Let's get this straight. I know a coyote will eat Turkey if he can catch it. I don't believe they consistently catch mature turkeys. I believe they will most certainly take the opportunity if it surfaces. I , however, also KNOW I will terminate with prejudice anyone that gives me an opportunity....

[Paulmyr]

Coyotes kill a lot of nest raiders so are actually considered neutral by some. They eat all the stuff that eats the turkey eggs like racoons,skunks and opossums.

Kill some coons and opossums and toss them out where coyotes frequent. They won't touch them, much less kill living ones.


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So a coyote won't eat a live juvenile racoon as opposed to one rotting and stinking that you threw in the ditch?

Was winter when I experimented so they actually stayed in pretty good shape for a long long time.

Also posed the question of whether yotes eat coons to a very prominent wildlife biologist who has gps tracked many many raccoons. None have been lost to coyote predation.

Has there been any evidence of coyote predation on raccoons? I enjoy trapping and removing both from all properties.


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I've set snares for coyotes around road kill deer carcasses used as bait while trapping in the winter with limited success. A couple coyotes were caught while circling the perimeter. I don't think any coyotes attempted to feed on any of carcasses we set on. They came in circled were caught while circling but most circled at about 50yds and left. Thought was they were catching remnants of human scent and it put them on alert.

I checked into coyotes praying on racoons and found a number of articles stating the did. One article even went on to say racoons were one of the top prey species on the planet. Can't tell you which articles were based on studies as this was over a year ago when I checked. A quick search should find plenty of info on raccoon predators.

[Shiloh]

Not saying they don't, but I would like to see it.  I've Coon hunted with hounds my entire life and seen coons whoop some of the baddest hounds and walk away. 

[dah]

It has probably been ten years but had a coyote run into my set up on a field edge and attacked my hen decoy . The decoy was to slick for the coyote to maintain its bite and ended up running thru it . Ran a little ways and stopped and looked back , the hen was still there and he was studying the decoy, I think he felt the supposed bird was sick or injured , might be what brought on the first attempt , he then started back for a second attempt but I intervened . I had been napping , could have woke up to no decoy . I think he had been studying it just to my right and knew something was wrong  . Given a chance , I think they will eat almost anything , including pets .

[Sir-diealot]

Dont kill the possums they eat ticks all day long.

Not even close to being true, has been proven wrong several times.

The viral claim that opossums consume large numbers of ticks has been debunked. A recent peer reviewed study examined this claim and examined the diets and stomach contents of wild opossums and found zero ticks or tick parts. The study was corroboratated by 23 other studies across the country which examined opossums diet - none of which included ticks. SOURCE: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1877959X21001333?via%3Dihub=

As far as coyotes getting turkey goes yes it does happen I am sure. I have read several studies and they all seem to say that coyote will not normally try to take turkey in an open field or field they can be seen in but if it is an ambush type situation they will try to take a turkey solo or in a flock as they walk by.

I think in my are the Fisher have become a major problem and in my county we are not allowed to hunt them or trap them, in two of the next counties over we are allowed to, but not here. There are some that moved into the state park and you do not see turkey in that area of the park any more.

[El Pavo Grande]

I've seen a coyote crossing a field with a hen in its mouth. 

[joey46]

When hunting LBL Kentucky they routinely came to hen yelps. LBL was the coyote hot spot for a while. Don't see that often in Florida.  When I can get pictures to post again have a few trail camera photos that show how much they really like deer fawns.  My wife always thought coyotes were cute.  Too many roadrunner cartoons (beep beep).  After seeing the pictures now she isn't so sure. Two pics are gruesome. Nature at it's finest. In 20+ years of trail camera use have never photographed one with a turkey.  I'm sure they take a poult or two. Coyotes are the optimum opportunist so if they can catch it they'll eat it.

[joey46]

Try and add a coyote/fawn favorite picture.  If still having picture problems and I add it to my last post it will white out the thread for me.  Let's see.  Reduced the picture to 180kb.

[joey46]

YEA!  the picture worked.  We get a picture or two like this every spring.

[Prospector]

Great pics ( in a terrible way), Mr Joey. The deer fawns natural inclination is to hold tight when they're tiny. I think that's good in some ways but maybe not so good when dealing with an intelligent predator. Also when they are the size the pic shows it's not so hard for a coyote or two to virtually run them down. Most likely, size protects older deer in most cases as a grown deer is "usually" too much for a coyote or two. But as stated, I take everyone I can. One to two a year but that is not seriously impacting the population much. I do know personally they are not immune to broadhead tipped arrows.....

[WV Flopper]

 It takes a fine hound to kill a 20# coon, I agree 100% on that. He is also killing for sport, a coyote does kill for sport as well but typically is killing for food and opportunity of game.

A coyote will kill possum and skunk. I have seen no evidence of them eating either but have seen fresh evidence in snow of these kills. When we first started getting a sustainable population of coyotes here we still had red fox. Red fox are fun to trap, a coyote will shred every red fox he finds in a trap. He doesn't eat them, just kills.

A coyote can easily kill a kitten or yearling coon, he may get some serious battle scares from those 20#ers.

[Farmboy27]

Do coyotes kill turkeys?  Absolutely!  Like any predator they are opportunistic and will take advantage of an opportunity. Do the target turkeys regularly? I've never seen evidence of it. Although I do enjoy hunting coyotes and will take one out when I get the chance, I don't share the hatred for them that many hunters have. I fell that nest raiders do far more harm than coyotes do. But I also don't share the hate for them. These animals coexisted long before we showed up and decided which ones we wanted to value and which ones we wanted to slaughter!!  I hold all of them important in the grander sense and would hate to see any of them gone.