The plight of the deer in the Northern United States populated areas.

reply to post by charlyv

I have many deer in in this now muddy forest, clinging to the last vestiges of life, as they have completely lost their environment. If you look at a satellite map of this area, you can see the chains of woodland that provides the borders between housing complexes, other dried up ponds, and meadow that are the only remaining refuge for these animals, and it goes on like a chain through the town, into the next town, and ultimately joins up with a very large forested area where it is permissible to hunt these deer…. Guess why these deer are in my area.

The deer are in your area because it probably holds a good number of treats for them to gain nutrition from. Berries, nuts, grasses...

Not only are there deer here, but there are their predators as well. There are many coyote in the area, and they are new here as well as the deer. The coyote have the added advantage in that they can coral these deer into areas such as the one behind my house, and have a small feast when they are successful.

I seriously doubt that the coyote are "new" there. They have always been there. Believe me. You just haven't noticed them until now. The influx of deer in your area is because they are probably overbreeding. The number of hunters is down because of the lack of accessible areas to hunt. Where there are a lot of prey animals, there will be a lot of predators. Simple as that.

And the coyotes aren't corralling anything. The deer probably live there, and hardly venture out anywhere this time of year. The coyotes are coming to them. They stalk using their noses and pick off the small and weak in quick ambush attacks, at night.

Sometimes the howls and commotion behind my house are so fierce, that I have to go out there and fire a shotgun to make it stop. I go out there on the edge of the pond with my dog and we both howl to force them to take off for a while.

If I were you I would stop the practice of howling back. We use calls when we coyote hunt. And if they are in the area they practically run in on a string. We have shot 3 coyotes in one stand without ever getting up. That means we call, shoot, continue to call, see another yote, shoot, continue to call, shoot again. If they are hungry enough, your shotgun blast will not deter them.

I have neighbors, so I have to explain this to them, but they understand because the sound these coyotes make is nerve racking to everyone. But, it is much more than nerve racking to the poor deer who are being systematically slaughtered by these coyotes on a continual basis.

They aren't being "slaughtered". They are just being a part of the food chain. Nature happens, ya know?

My town does NOTHING about this.

WTF would you like them to do? Tell the coyotes to stop feeding on deer? Shoot, the town I live in takes forever just to do road repairs, let alone fix the ecosystem.

The coyotes could be stopped very easily by sectioning the congruent areas off, and systematically policing it once in a while for predators.

No, that wouldn't work at all. What you need to do is set up trail cameras in the woods behind your house. Find the trails that the deer use, and set up trail cameras. Figure out the natural movements of the deer, and you will know the movements of the coyotes. Then grab yourself a 22 mag and take a couple of the coyotes out of the population. Just doing that may make a big change in their behavior. They may move out of the area if you shoot the alpha or omega.

Relocating the deer might be the only option... Sounds like they have been backed into a corner. I wish there was another option. I would suggest burning down the whole damn area and giving it back to it's former inhabitants... But we all know thats not an option.

Just had a great idea... Take a few cans of white spray paint and make the deer look like an endangered species.

Presto now they are protected.

Wish I had a real solution for you OP. Afraid there isn't really anything you can do unless you take matters into your own hands. Build a preserve of sorts or relocate. Ask for help from your community, you might be suprised the help you could get from people in your area.

That's a tough situation you have.

Out here on the open plains, coyotes come out as the sun goes down, and because there is only grassland, no trees or hills, we can hear them yipping and howling from miles away.

The ranchers around here will shoot any coyotes they can and then skin them and hang the hide on their barbed-wire fences. I think the scent of dead coyote scares the live ones away.



I have a small herd of mule deer that come in from New Mexico (about a mile away) and have taken up residence on our acreage. I am delighted by their presence, although they are exceptionally fast and run away if they smell humans. My husband tells me that if the herd grows to 5 or more, the ranchers will start shooting, because they don't want large herds of them competing for food and water with their cattle. I'm hoping that doesn't happen, because they shadow me as I walk in the evening and they are such beautiful creatures.

In your case, there is no easy answer. If the deer are allowed to breed without any checks and balances, they will be everywhere, hungry and scrawny, and then they cause accidents by wandering on the road. If the coyotes are allowed all the critters they can trap and eat, then you have a coyote problem, where they also get hit on the road, and gobble up cats and small dogs.

If you want to stop the coyotes, get a coyote whistle from any sporting goods store, get out at sunset and call 'em. Then plug 'em, and leave the carcasses as a warning to other coyotes. That will give you some peace, temporarily, but there is the larger issue of human encroachment on wildlife habitats, and the natural balance of nature in the wild.

I know some people will think this is cold-hearted, and I do apologize to those of you who are uncomfortable with the killing of coyotes. I personally do not kill them, I simply bring all my cats in at sunset and let the coyotes do their thing.

Originally posted by JAY1980
Relocating the deer might be the only option... Sounds like they have been backed into a corner. I wish there was another option. I would suggest burning down the whole damn area and giving it back to it's former inhabitants... But we all know thats not an option.

Just had a great idea... Take a few cans of white spray paint and make the deer look like an endangered species.

Presto now they are protected.

Wish I had a real solution for you OP. Afraid there isn't really anything you can do unless you take matters into your own hands. Build a preserve of sorts or relocate. Ask for help from your community, you might be suprised the help you could get from people in your area.

Therein lies the problem. I hate to see them cornered with no way to escape. I have opened the back of my yard to give them some kind of escape, but they will not come that close, and then of course, they would have a rather busy road to cross. which is not good for them, or the motorists.

I have respect for both the deer and the coyotes, I just wish that there was a way to keep the deer from making the mistake of coming in here. The town owns the land and I cannot block the entrance and they will not do it either.

By saying that I want the coyote's "policed" does not mean kill them, just herded out of the area if that would be possible. It is just a bad situation. I know that the deer and coyote are symbiotic, as they depend on each other.

Thank all of you for your replies so far.

reply to post by charlyv


No problem at all here. You should all move and let the Deer have your land. Take down your fences and buildings and give it back to nature.

Overpopulation means there are not enough natural predators and that they should thin the herds. When you don't thin the herds, more die than would die if you did. Simple facts. Game Management is an old, old science and what happens when you allow the herds to overpopulate is never in dispute.

Since the Deer populations in the US are higher than when the first settlers landed, your arguments ring hollow when countered with facts. Are facts relevant at all?

Emotional solutions always hurt more animals than they save. Activists seldom know anything about their topics and run on pure emotion and zero common sense. That hurts far more animals than hunting ever harmed. Well managed game populations are healthier and far better off. Likely where you live the fanatics have stopped good game management practices and as usual caused more harm than good. It always ends up that way. Always.