Coyotes kill buck story out of Georgia

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Kelljp

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Just read this in GON, so much for predators taking out the old and weak.

gon.com

Coyote Attacks Buck On Camera

Tim Brown, of Covington, is a working man, so he relies on his Tactacam Reveal cell camera to get pictures of what’s going on at his Warren County hunting club when he’s not there. Tactacam offers users the option to set specific times when a camera will take a random photo and send it to…
gon.com gon.com
 
I hate coyotes with a passion, but do not believe they kill as many deer as many people think.

That said, ANY wound causing even a minute amount of bleeding will attract coyotes (and dogs). They can wind them from several hundred yards downwind, or if cross the deer's trail, will immediately begin tracking (then "dogging") that deer.

So what I'm suggesting is high odds this particular yearling buck had some kind of injury or wound, which either caused the coyotes to target it, and/or allowed them to kill it.

Note in one of the pictures, there is the appearance of some type injury to the little buck's hind legs. Since there is no blood there, it would appear to be an old injury. This deer could have also been "nicked" by a broadhead on the neighboring property, that small amount of bleeding attracting the coyotes.
 
Ski said:
They absolutely hunt and kill adult deer.
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They absolutely do.
But they mainly eat carrion and/or kill things much smaller than a deer.
Mice, rodents, rabbits, young turkeys, and birds (+ carrion) are their normal daily diets.
They also kill & eat housecats & small dogs.

But, yes, they do kill the occasional deer, that best we can tell appears healthy.

I hate coyotes, but know of no way to eliminate them.
You can kill them all this winter, and a year or two later,
it's like you never eliminated any of them.

But I'm still killing (and trapping) them all I can.
 
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Yeah I shoot at every one I see within reason. I've ruined many a good sits to kill one, and was glad to do it.

I've always heard the wives tale that buzzards won't eat coyotes, so I tested it once by dragging one out into the middle of a hay field. Buzzards regularly perch in a dead tree on field edge. That coyote rotted away to nothing but bare bones and not even a possum touched it. No buzzards. Nothing. I'd have never believed it.
 
Ski said:
Yeah I shoot at every one I see within reason. I've ruined many a good sits to kill one, and was glad to do it.

I've always heard the wives tale that buzzards won't eat coyotes, so I tested it once by dragging one out into the middle of a hay field. Buzzards regularly perch in a dead tree on field edge. That coyote rotted away to nothing but bare bones and not even a possum touched it. No buzzards. Nothing. I'd have never believed it.
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The old man in Texas that I deer hunt on swears buzzards wont eat a Mexican either and Ive always been afraid to ask him how he knows!
 
Ski said:
Yeah I shoot at every one I see within reason. I've ruined many a good sits to kill one, and was glad to do it.

I've always heard the wives tale that buzzards won't eat coyotes, so I tested it once by dragging one out into the middle of a hay field. Buzzards regularly perch in a dead tree on field edge. That coyote rotted away to nothing but bare bones and not even a possum touched it. No buzzards. Nothing. I'd have never believed it.
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I've never tested that theory. Might have to give that a try as buzzards come quickly around our place.
 
Ski said:
Yeah I shoot at every one I see within reason. I've ruined many a good sits to kill one, and was glad to do it.

I've always heard the wives tale that buzzards won't eat coyotes, so I tested it once by dragging one out into the middle of a hay field. Buzzards regularly perch in a dead tree on field edge. That coyote rotted away to nothing but bare bones and not even a possum touched it. No buzzards. Nothing. I'd have never believed it.
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Yes they will. Turkey vultures might not, but black vultures will most definitely eat on coyote carcasses. I have seen it first hand multiple times. But then black vulture are also much more aggressive, and are known to attack and kill live calves and fawns.

I will kill every coyote I have an opportunity on. I absolutely hate them. They hunt in packs and take more deer than people might think. I have gotten several sequences with coyotes in numbers of 3 or more seconds behind deer.
 
backyardtndeer said:
Yes they will. Turkey vultures might not, but black vultures will most definitely eat on coyote carcasses.
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Yesterday afternoon had half a dozen black vultures on the yote from earlier this week. Two on it this morning, wife managed to get pics.
PICT7017 (2).JPG
 
backyardtndeer said:
Yesterday afternoon had half a dozen black vultures on the yote from earlier this week. Two on it this morning, wife managed to get pics.
View attachment 196477
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Well, there you go. I do believe that black vultures and turkey buzzards have totally different habits and personalities. Not that I hang out with them a lot but I have witnessed a few things.
 
rifle02 said:
Well, there you go. I do believe that black vultures and turkey buzzards have totally different habits and personalities. Not that I hang out with them a lot but I have witnessed a few things.
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They do. Black vultures are a lot more aggressive and are known to kill calves and fawns. I have had to chase black vultures off of newborn calves a few times. Turkey vultures are a lot more passive.
 
True story. Just this summer a stupid squirrel was electrocuted on the power pole close to my house. After the lineman had replaced the fuse thing or whatever that is and had left I had a dead squirrel to dispose of. I didn't want him laying on the ground close to my deck so I tossed him way off by the side of the backyard. It wasn't but maybe 2 hours later I looked out and there was a dopey old redheaded Buzzard sitting there looking at the squirrel, examining it. 30 minutes later I looked out and it was being devoured by a black vulture who had pushed the old Buzzard away from it. I felt sorry for the old red-headed guy he had to sit there and watch as the black vulture ate the whole darn thing. I was glad it was gone at least. They do perform a valuable Duty as garbage disposers.
 
BuckWild said:
Coyotes would love to be able to kill as many deer as motor vehicles kill...
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Which brings up another aspect to this.

Many of the deer which coyotes get blamed for killing, have actually been seriously injured previously by a motor vehicle. Many deer get hit, but do not die on the road, only to wander off, sometimes dying even days later, then scavenged by coyotes.

We then get a picture of a coyote carrying a deer leg, and assume that coyote killed that deer. Sometimes they do, but often it's a case of scavenging an already dead deer, and/or finishing off a dying deer.

Again, I hate coyotes.
They do sometimes kill healthy deer, or deer that would have survived their wounds. ANY wound, even superficial, if it bleeds any at all, that deer is in grave danger of being "dogged" and weakened by coyotes until they can eventually kill it.

This is something to think about when you take any less than high-probability shot at a deer. The deer may survive the superficial wound, but may not survive being dogged by coyotes because of it.
 
Another thing, in many areas it's household dogs killing (and scavenging) more deer than the local coyotes. I actually despise free-roaming "pets" more than coyotes, as it can be easier to deal with the coyotes. Your neighbors' free-roaming dogs are a much larger "conflict" and probably kill more fawns than coyotes.
 
Ski said:
Yeah I shoot at every one I see within reason. I've ruined many a good sits to kill one, and was glad to do it.

I've always heard the wives tale that buzzards won't eat coyotes, so I tested it once by dragging one out into the middle of a hay field. Buzzards regularly perch in a dead tree on field edge. That coyote rotted away to nothing but bare bones and not even a possum touched it. No buzzards. Nothing. I'd have never believed it.
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@Ski I did the same thing during the 2014 turkey season on, as it turned out, the day my father passed. I had been turkey hunting all week on a ridge where the corner of two pasture fields met the woodline, and had been seeing 1 to 5 coyotes during the first two hours of light each day. Although I was using a Mossberg 835 for turkeys, I decided to carry one of my Remington 700 rifles with me to deal with the coyotes. That morning I literally whacked and stacked seven coyotes and probably could have taken more, but that was when I'd received the call about my dad. By the time I changed clothes and got to the hospital, he had already passed. Several days later, after the funeral and family meetings, I went back out for turkeys one morning. That corner of the field stank like you wouldn't believe! I thought buzzards would eat anything, but apparently, they won't touch a coyote at all. Those seven were still stacked there, untouched, and........well.....you can probably imagine after lying out in the sun for nearly a week.

Moral of this story = don't let anyone try to convince you that buzzards will eat anything. They may eat most things, but I don't think they will even nibble on a coyote.
 

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