First Yote......almost

[Liv2hunt]

I had to sneak out today with the fresh snow on the ground...still trying to find those pigs. After a 3 hour stalk, found nothing, just one set of small deer tracks. I only have a muzzleloader permit in zone 25, so thats what I was carrying.

While heading home, midday, I decided to check the activity in the snow on a private piece we hunt and hit the preditor call a few times. Place was barren, no tracks of anything from that morning. I set up and start calling. Five minutes into it, I hear some ice cracking in the swamp, then a few branches. Then movement about 60 yds out...ITS a yote! He is grey/tan (typical I guess) and bigger than I expected. I'd guess 50lbs, his tracks were about the same size as my 80lb Lab. I stand to get a better position, but its just to thick. I left the calls down too low and don't want to move again, so I make some low squeaks with my mouth and he runs right at me. He pops up from some thick briar about 30 yds out, head low, straight on. He freezes and locks eyes with me....he looks surprised and acts like he's about to bolt. I don't like the shot, but I feel like its all I'm gonna get.

I shoot and through the smoke, I hear him doing his best Tazmanian Devil imitation. When the smoke clears, he gathers it up and starts walking away, front leg in tow:o I load as fast as I can, but he's out of sight before the cap goes on.

I gave him 30 minutes and checked where I hit him, not much blood and I can see where the bullet entered the ground behind him. There is about 1/2 an inch of fresh snow, so the sign was easy, he's dragging a paw and blood is not flowing. I walk it about 300 yds and the blood stops completely. No sign that he ever paused or stopped and without the snow, It would have been tough to see the blood at all, none on any of the low branches he had to rub past.

I know its a yote, but I don't like to end a hunt like this. He was headed onto another private piece that we have problems with the owner, so I called it a loss.

3" higher and I'd be posting pics right now...what a shame. The worst part is that I left the shotgun behind, because I didn't want to leave it in the truck on state land during the earlier stalk...with buckshot and 3 shots, this was a done deal. I'll be out again, but it won't be with the muzzy.

[Revclimber]

hopefully he'll die anyway:thup:

[Flintlock]

That's exactly what I was saying Revclimber, hopefully he drops dead at some point, that's why there were no deer in the area......damn coyotes!:mad:

[Get Some]

That's exactly what I was saying Revclimber, hopefully he drops dead at some point, that's why there were no deer in the area......damn coyotes!:mad:

If people would stop shooting all the does,there would be more deer.Just because the state "lets you" does mean you should.Those yotes aren't eating that many:rolleyes:

[Get Some]

Liv,congrats on calling one in,you make it sound easy.I don't think that yote will fall for a call anytime soon.Good luck on the next one.

[Liv2hunt]

If people would stop shooting all the does,there would be more deer.Just because the state "lets you" does mean you should.Those yotes aren't eating that many:rolleyes:

Get Some, It's Flintlock's piece of land that the coyote was on. His comment was not directed at the coyotes eating the deer. It has become painfully obvious to us over the course of the seasons that the coyotes are pushing the deer. We first noticed that when the coyotes would sound off and were active in our area, the deer would come out of the swamp earlier than usual. We hunt part of a very big piece, many square miles. The deer have been mysteriously there one day, gone the next, then back again...ever since the yotes showed up last year. Definately off their usual patterns.

We generally can hear 5-7 yotes howling, so I was glad that this one was alone, didn't hear any others. Hopefully I didn't educate all of them, still have a few weeks left.

[Flintlock]

If people would stop shooting all the does,there would be more deer.Just because the state "lets you" does mean you should.Those yotes aren't eating that many:rolleyes:

I don't think the coyotes are eating the whole herd, but as Liv2hunt said, they are definitely pushing them all over the place. In the piece I hunt you will need an army gunning down does to dent the population. We don't shoot does but very rarely, and that is just for meat in late January. I'm talking maybe one or two, I'm certainly not killing them off.

[darrenwondo]

I know for a fact that the Coyotes in 25 are running the pigs around. I saw two of them pushing about 25 pigs through a swap two seasons ago. If they are running pigs you know they are pushing the deer as well. I don't think they could take a full grown pig (200 lbs.) or deer for that matter but the can sure hit the young pretty hard. The group of pigs I saw them pushing had a half a dozen little ones in the group.

[Flintlock]

Yeah, it does not take a pack of coyotes to run a herd around. I hunt on approximately 75 acres which is attached to another piece approximately 500 acres, so when the coyotes start moving the herd, they head out into the other parts of the piece, and there aren't a lot left on my piece to hunt.:mad: It could be days or more until they return when things settle down. The yotes definitely disrupt the deer patterns and the general quality of my hunt.

[Get Some]

Sorry,I miss understood.I'm sure they do run the deer,as well as get afew,especially this time of year when food is scarce.I bet they have a pretty good impact on the pigs too.

[ACEarcher]

You'll get another shot at him sooner or later. Hey your a step up on me. I've never called one in! It's really hard to call in Eastern yotes. I think it's cause of the pressure they get.

[Darrin Greene]

You guys are seeing nature at it's true finest and doing nothing except complain about it...

Natural predation, there's a concept us suburban hunters have no clue about.

[Liv2hunt]

Darrin, I'd agree with you, but the natural balance has been disturbed in populated states like NJ. Maybe in Wharton or other big tracts, the preditor/prey senerios can still play out fairly, but when coyotes find deer stacked in small parcels and urbanized areas, the harrasment level is way above what nature intended. There is just no where for the deer to escape, even the healthy ones.

[Flintlock]

I agree. There is just not enough land available to "nature" anymore. Like Liv2hunt said, the balance is being distorted, and there aren't many places for the deer to get away from them. As there become more coyotes, you begin to start to increase the amount of them on these parcels of land, and the numbers begin to get skewed. If you are talking about big open areas like Wyoming, there wouldn't be such a problem. That is all we are saying with regard to the coyotes chasing deer.

[darrenwondo]

Just for the record, I wasn't complaining. In fact, I think it is cool as can be that we are seeing the diversity of wildlife we are these days, despite the limited land resource.

[Liv2hunt]

Just for the record, I wasn't complaining. In fact, I think it is cool as can be that we are seeing the diversity of wildlife we are these days, despite the limited land resource.

I was responded to the other darrin:)

I was just telling a friend last night, that 10 years ago, if you told me I would be hunting pigs and coyotes on the same day in NJ I'd think you were nuts:D

[Darrin Greene]

Interesting perspective fellas. So we're all for coyotes as long as they don't interfere with out deer hunting.

Someone said "I know it was just a yote but that sucks".

Pretty troubling attitude for someone to have about one of the most beautiful and elusive creatures we have in this state.

Personally I'd much rather see more yotes and less deer in those urban settings you speak of. It would be a lot easier on the front of my truck if the yotes cut the deer population down a bit.

LOL I just think they are cooler than any deer I ever saw in the woods. If you could shoot them with a decent single projectile weapon in this state I would hunt them, and I gave up deer a long time ago.

I just have no interest in wounding one with T shot.

I don't blame you guys for wanting your deer hunting to have abundant sightings. I just look at a yote like something very different and much more interesting than an overgrown rabbit.

[Liv2hunt]

Darrin, your absolutely right, they are magnificent creatures. I believe I was the one to make the comment you quoted, but this is exactly what I said "I know its a yote, but I don't like to end a hunt like this." I know it sounds like I mean "just a yote", but I don't. The bad shot bothers me and would no matter what animal it was.

I make every effort to recover animals that I hunt and if the track indicated that a recovery was possible, I'd still be out there today looking. I've spent hours in the frags looking for a duck and once spent 3 days on a deer...It was never "screw this, its just a yote."

I read plenty of harsh comments on them both here and other places, so the comment was made that way in order to preempt those expected comments on this thread. I have no disrespect for coyotes, but in our situation, I feel they need to be kept in check.

We have watched them go from non-existent to the dominant creature in our piece in a matter of 3 years. Nature being what it is, I'm sure the population would peak, suffer and then decline based on available food sources. I like to just see them kept in check before that happens, but I would not like to eradicate them.

[Ole 20 Point]

I make every effort to recover animals that I hunt and if the track indicated that a recovery was possible, I'd still be out there today looking. I've spent hours in the frags looking for a duck and once spent 3 days on a deer...It was never "screw this, its just a yote." I didn't go back & look at your post but if I recall correctly you followed that wounded yote up as long as possible. So I never read you're comment as "just a yote". ;)

[Darrin Greene]

Liv I misquoted you because the whole scenario just hits me wrong. I am sure you're ethical about your hunting. Just reading your posts I can tell.

There are many who aren't when it comes to the dreaded coyote though, and that worries me.

I apologize for quoting you out of context.

I think these coyotes are the coolest thing to come along since beavers, eagles and turkeys started coming back to our area.

It's really cool to see animals like these becoming common place. Heck eagles are getting so common in my hunting areas that I don't even point them out any more. Beavers are in every stream around and turkeys, well we all know what that population has done.

Of course it's easy for me to say that as a waterfowl hunter. They don't effect me much.

Good luck keeping them in check. Between them and the pigs you have some definite issues on your hands.

[SEMIAUTO]

At least you got a shot , the best part is that you called him in .

[vonhess]

Hey Brad, Its good to see your still at it.:thup: Let me know if ya need any help. :D Will