Coyotes and Deer Hunting

[Ski]

Interesting thoughts posted so far. Looks like everybody has somewhat unique experiences.

I shot one the other day on my way in to the stand and left it lay. It's in a thick transition area between bedding and food. The next day I say 7 does and two bucks, but every one of them acted nervous with their heads pointing up often to sniff the air, then looking toward the area of the dead yote. They never did come in to the creek bottom as typical, just skirted through the thicket about 50-70yds along it. I've hunted that stand two more times since and not seen a single deer, which is odd because it's a reliable stand where I generally have my pick of the litter any time I want. Even more odd is that crows & buzzards & possums haven't touched the thing. Going on a week dead and it still looks like I just shot it.

 

[TDW05]

I killed a spike when I was younger that came behind a pack of coyotes. He wasn't no more then 2-3 minutes behind them in the same thicket. I remember saying to myself I don't know how that happened but that was a pretty lucky deer until it walked out in front of me.

 

[Archery_Research]

Just to post a follow up, no deer to be seen this morning from the same stand. I certainly agree with Mega's take on it that there has been a lot of human pressure on this plot and I do think that has slowed the action down during daylight hours for this particular area of the lease. All really good points made in this thread though and I appreciate everyone's input - feel like I've learned more about these annoying suckers in the past two days than I ever knew before.

 

[catman529]

My first coyote I ever shot was in a bedding area at 10 yards through the spine. It dropped in its tracks and I continued to hunt.
Later the does started staging through the bedding area making their way toward a destination food source. They were very uneasy about the coyote, staying in the bushes, stomping, staring at the coyote and sniffing around.
Eventually one old nosy doe got curious enough to come out where I could get a shot. I also dropped her in her tracks and had a dead doe and a dead coyote within 10 yards.

I don't think coyotes will run deer out unless the particular yotes in question have a habit of stalking and chasing deer. Kind of like people. Deer will stay a safe distance from non-hunting people but they won't completely avoid the area if they are used to non hunting human presence. But on property where a lot of people hunt, the deer are more leery of human presence and will avoid hunting pressure specifically. I'd say it's probably the same with coyotes, since coyotes can have different personalities.

Kind of like the discussion a few weeks back about four wheelers. If deer are used to four wheelers and don't associate them with hunting they don't care. If the only time they see a four wheeler is when people are sneaking around the woods shooting at them, they'll spook when they hear the motor coming through the woods.