Coyote deer interactions

[RobbyW]

Pulled my card today and I got a picture of a coyote and in the background is a buck. The buck is watching him, but didnt run off. Coyote doesn't seem to care at all about the buck. My question is do coyote even pray on deer in middle tn, or do they have enough other food sources that they don't try to tangle with a grown deer? Sure most of us saw the camera pictures on the Internet of a coyote attacking and killing a big buck, but don't know where it was.

Deer is top, left of picture

 

[BSK]

Single coyotes are hard and fawns, and a hungry pack of coyotes will bring down adult deer, including mature bucks. However, in most cases, a single coyote won't bother an adult deer and the deer know it.

 

[stik]

I watched a doe stomp a coyote all the way down a ridge and out of sight.

 

[CDUB]

During the summer months coyotes are hunting for fawns and sick deer (EHD). I've read several studies on coyote/deer impact and most estimate that coyotes will catch and eat 40-50% of the fawns each summer. During the fall coyotes key in on deer wounded by hunters, lost by hunters, and of course gut piles....

 

[BSK]

During the summer months coyotes are hunting for fawns and sick deer (EHD). I've read several studies on coyote/deer impact and most estimate that coyotes will catch and eat 40-50% of the fawns each summer.

It is very "normal" to lose half of all fawns born each year to a combination of factors, including: malnutrition, disease, abandonment, and predators.

In fetal conception studies, it is common to find that does are averaging 1.6 fetuses per adult doe in late spring. If all of those fetuses became surviving fawns, that would create a fawn recruitment rate of 160% (16 fawns for every 10 adult does). However, in TN, pre-hunt fawn recruitment counts average around 80% fawn recruitment. That means half the fawns didn't make it until September.