Coyotes and deer

Heard coyote howling when walking in today before first light. Came approximately from direction where my target spot was located, but was hard to say exactly or even judge distance of howl.

I still proceeded to walk in(while keeping bear spray close by ) and hunt through the morning

Got me thinking though, deer lives side by side with coyotes. I can't imagine that it will get pushed too much or am I wrong?

what are your experiences on deer affect by coyotes:
If some howling, is deer completely gone from the area for days/weeks? Or they simply adopt new travel patterns while stay within core range ?

Would you still hunt the target spot or go some place else?

There is no doubt that Coyotes have an effect on deer. But they have been living in the same ecosystem since the Dead Sea was only sick. They learn to live with each other. Sometimes the coyote will kill a deer, mostly fawns however. And sometimes deer will evade or escape the threat of these predators. Just the way she goes.

But just because you heard a coyote howling in your hunting spot...it does not mean it has ruined it, or blown all the deer out permanently. As you mentioned, deer have a home range, and the range fluctuates in size, depending on several factors ( season, buck vs doe, age class, hunting pressure etc). Don't get discouraged.

Deer do no not always blast off out of an area just because they can hear or even smell a predator. Sometimes they might, but its not a sure thing. I recall last year during the bow season watching a 2.5 YO buck square off with a mature coyote around an apple tree. The buck stood his ground and eventually spooked off the coyote. So the Buck won that round!

Before I shot my buck last week the field had 4 yotes in it. They were dining on a previous day gut pile. Didn't bother the buck at all. I called him over to me with a doe bleet call.

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Originally Posted by bigtedd

There is no doubt that Coyotes have an effect on deer. But they have been living in the same ecosystem since the Dead Sea was only sick. They learn to live with each other. Sometimes the coyote will kill a deer, mostly fawns however. And sometimes deer will evade or escape the threat of these predators. Just the way she goes.

But just because you heard a coyote howling in your hunting spot...it does not mean it has ruined it, or blown all the deer out permanently. As you mentioned, deer have a home range, and the range fluctuates in size, depending on several factors ( season, buck vs doe, age class, hunting pressure etc). Don't get discouraged.

Deer do no not always blast off out of an area just because they can hear or even smell a predator. Sometimes they might, but its not a sure thing. I recall last year during the bow season watching a 2.5 YO buck square off with a mature coyote around an apple tree. The buck stood his ground and eventually spooked off the coyote. So the Buck won that round!

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Good answer.

Besides, where are the deer going to go, the next bush probably holds coyotes too, so they have no choice but to learn to live side by side with their predator friends :)

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Originally Posted by fratri

Besides, where are the deer going to go, the next bush probably holds coyotes too, so they have no choice but to learn to live side by side with their predator friends :)

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A lesson I learned after 60 years of Deer hunting is that we should never sell deer short for self defense. Bucks can fight like Satan's spawn possessed. There's lots of photos on various outdoor sources (the last I saw as on Buckmasters not too long ago) where Coyotes lost big. They'd been gored and stomped to death.