Coyote vs deer...

[280PLUS]

In your estimation, what would be the minimum number of coyotes required to take down a deer. I found gnawed deer remains in a new area I'm hunting and I'm trying to get a feel for how many coyotes may be around. I'm thinking there must be a few of them.

 

[usmccpl]

After what I saw a couple weeks ago I would have to say 2.My CWO shot one close to dark and the next day went to trail it. We found it but there was signs that the coyotes found it before it died. Chunks of skin and hair were 35 feet from the critter where it tried to get away from the yotes.From the tracks I saw there were no more than 2 of them.

 

[Art Eatman]

Normal circumstances, coyotes won't mess with grown deer. Too much energy required for that hunt. It's different in the heavy-snow country where deer "yard up" and weaken during the winter.

Coyotes will work over fawns if they find them. So, fawns stay very still when they're little, and have no discernible body odor that Ol' Wily can detect. That's why when people find a little spotted baby, it doesn't run and folks think it's "lost". If you find a fawn and try to raise it, you have to wipe its little bum with a warm sponge to trigger the nursing reflex. Mama keeps the little critter clean and odorless.

Art

 

[280PLUS]

Normal circumstances, coyotes won't mess with grown deer.

That's what I thought but the remains were pretty large which leads me to believe there must be a few of them, this was a good sized deer. I'm just out there, alone, with my little .410 single shot hunting squirrels and wondering how well I'd fare against a pack of the beasties with it. Like I'm thinking I should have more firepower.

 

[JohnKSa]

Could be that the coyotes didn't kill the deer...

 

[280PLUS]

Yea, that's true. They're definitely out there though, I'm just curious as to how many.

 

[Art Eatman]

If you hear a bunch of yodeling from what seems like a dozen or more? That means there are maybe two or three of them. Dunno how they do it, but a very few can sound like an army.

Back when my friends were feeding coyotes at their house, they'd have as many as five come up. We'd watch from the porch. Any movement and they'd boogie. I'd find it very hard to believe that any healthy coyote would bother an adult human. Little kids? That's a whole 'nother deal.

Coyotes will happily scavenge. No telling what killed that deer. Hunters/poachers, illness, old age. But a free meal is a free meal. Ol' Wily's not persnickety.

Art

 

[Kingcreek]

A friend of mine, with no reputation for tall tales, says he saw 3 coyotes chase a doe onto thin pond ice. she broke thru and they circled her on the ice as she tired and drowned. they came back next day after the ice refroze and fed on the parts of her they could get at.
I have seen 2 coyotes kinda harrass a deer (a doe during spring fawning time) but have never seen an actual attack or evidence of a kill.
I spend alot of time in the woods bowhunting whitetails, and I never worry about the coyotes bothering me. Hear them all the time, see them sometimes.
They can be kinda pesky around cattle on pasture during calving, but I think they are mainly after the placenta or a weak or dead calf. They will try to lure a young puppy or small dog out- I have seen this several times. And they most certainly hunt cats. They are more scavengers and opportunists than aggressive hunters of anything bigger than they are.

 

[grizz]

Cougar?

 

[JP1954]

Did you find paw prints?.....DNA?......Could it possibly be the work of a species other than Coyote?. ......Can you spell B-E-A-R? C-O-U-G-A-R? You might want to invest in a LARGE (i.e. 44 magnum) sidearm as insurance when you go out in that neck of the woods again. Also, personally I don't thinks it is wise to go alone. If you are soloing, try and hook up with someone to go with. Another self defense option would be to carry bear pepper spray. I read a book by a guy named Lipinski who claims to have successfully used the stuff on two bears and a cougar (not at the same time ) in 3 seperate instances.

 

[USMC - Retired]

Or it could be a deer that someone shot and didn't/couldn't recover.

 

[280PLUS]

Thanks for the input. I doubt it's anything more than coyotes, there's very few bears or cougars in CT but until I get a line on what's going on out there I WILL be carrying the 20 ga 870 instead of the single shot .410 and it will have some 3" #4 loads in it. This lovely state won't let me carry any handgun larger than a .22 when hunting. I called the DEP and asked them if I could carry my .45 specifically for protection from predators and they said while they don't agree with it the law says no. I hope to cull the coyotes on this particular parcel over time so that the small game has a better chance. Right now I see very little in the way of squirrels or rabbits and I'm thinking the yotes got something to do with it.

 

[chuckmo]

Just had this conversation...

...with a hunting buddy the other day. I'd always thought a coyote couldn't kill a deer, either. That's because I'd seen a buck thoroughly stomp one once. My friend has had the opposite experience, watching a coyote kill a small buck by himself. Guess that's as clear as mud. You're welcome.

 

[mete]

While for small game they hunt alone , for deer they hunt in groups .Coyotes can be significantly larger [to 70 lbs] in the NE also , so a few would be able to take a deer.

 

[dfaugh]

I would bet a single large coyote COULD take down a small-medium sized deer, under ideal ("surprise attack") conditions. But there'd be alot of luck involved (good luck for the coyote, bad luck for the deer). But, I suspect at least 2 or 3 under "normal" circumstances, that's why they hunt in packs, and go for smaller/injured deer. Once one has the deer stopped, the others move in for the kill. And even then, a feisty deer might escape with minimal damage.

 

[106rr]

On the Carizzo Plain in central CA we actually watched in amazement as a coyote stalked a full grown steer. I was thinking he has delusions of grandeur but my wife said "what is he going to do after the fight starts" When the coyote got close enough, the steer just turned toward the it and stomped his foot once -- the coyote fled in that peculiar loping sideways kind of gait.

 

[Furncliff]

...practice-practice-practice.

 

[Kimber1911_06238]

I shot a 65 pound male coyote in CT this year....I think he would have been able to take a young/weak deer by himself, but they probably hunt deer in groups of two or more anywayz...

 

[Steve H]

I live next to a cattle ranch and have seen "packs" (6 -10 of them) of coyotes go after calves and deer.

 

[langenc]

As Bob Dole said "depends".