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Posted on 02/19/2012 6:34:03 PM PST by SJackson
With a recovered gray wolf population and thriving numbers of black bears, coyotes and bobcats, predators are one of the most common topics of conversation among Wisconsin hunters and wildlife watchers.
The question is often asked: What predator is the most significant cause of deer mortality in Wisconsin?
The Department of Natural Resources embarked on a pair of deer research projects in 2010 that will add facts to the conversation.
The first-year report is due to be released soon.
But a study in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan has been under way for three years and has produced several preliminary reports.
It's titled "Role of predators, winter weather and habitat on white-tailed deer fawn survival." The Carnivore Ecology Laboratory at Mississippi State University is leading the study; it's being conducted just north of the Wisconsin-Michigan border in Menominee County.
Researchers have attached radio collars to adult deer and fawns and follow the animals to learn more about their movements, choice of habitat and causes of death. In 2011, the study had about 40 adult deer and 50 fawns radio-collared.
The researchers also have GPS collars on bears, bobcats, coyotes and wolves in the study area.
Last year we ran a story with preliminary results that showed coyotes were the leading source of predation on both adult deer and fawns.
The most recent update was issued last fall. What's it show?
For the third straight year, coyotes killed more adult deer and more fawns than did wolves, bobcats or bears.
(Excerpt) Read more at jsonline.com ...
sounds like a project for the social engineers.
While I've no reason to question the results, the size of the study over three years makes any conclusion highly suspect, and relevant only to the immediate area.
The cumulative three-year record shows coyotes have preyed on seven adult deer in the study, wolves on three and bear and bobcat one each.Similarly, over the three years coyotes have preyed on 22 fawns, outpacing bobcats (12 fawns), bears (four) and wolves (four). One fawn was killed by a bald eagle.
Its a jungle out there.
They got a fawn in my backyard last Labor Day. I’m only a mile outside Detroit! It is a jungle there. :)
dog-eat-deer.
It’s hard to imagine coyotes taking adult deer here- maybe in deep snow in a weakened state- but highly unlikely.
Plenty of them around, but they mostly play hell on rabbits and and mice. Birds that ground nest are at risk come spring.
So, what are the wolves eating?
I can say for sure...coyotes are taking adult and young deer here.
They are the biggest predator of whitetail deer here.
No matter the month.....
My guess would be cars and trucks!
We raise exotic deer in Mississippi. No wolves here; but wild dogs and coyotes decimated our herd one year. They killed many of our fallow and red, bucks, does, and fawns for the sheer joy of it.
BS - main cause of death for deer (outside hunting season) remains man - poaching and autos cause the greatest losses to deer population.
Maybe in an urban area, but in more rural areas a surge in yotes can have a huge impact on local wildlife, deer included.
Normally they will leave cattle alone, but when one goes off to give birth, the yotes apparently smell it and I’ve witnessed them circling, looking for an opportunity. It took a gunshot to scare them away... a running truck didn’t seem to deter them.
I know of at least one case this year where the calf was attacked before it was out of its mother. One other where the calf’s scattered bones were all that was left to prove the mother had even given birth.
As for the deer, the biggest group I’ve seen in years is seven. Before we had the yotes (or at were aware of them) I drove through a group of deer one night and stopped counting at 27. I haven’t seen any wild turkeys in years either, but we used to before we had coyotes.
We have ole Wiley Coyote here in the mountains but ya haven’t seen nothing till you see a Giant-literally a giant Great Pyrenees Dog terminate Coyotes. Its fast, almost scary the power and speed these Dogs possess. If the Sheep don’t make it to the barn at night they will herd them in and if one is missing, they seem to know and will go looking for it. Our female Pyr. has actually brought new lambs back in her mouth.
My father in law raises sheep. He had a female Pyr. What a great animal. Decimated any intruder she didn’t approve of. No worries about the kids either. She was a baby doll terror! Loved that dog.
I thought it would be automobiles.
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