Wednesday, January 7, 2015

This is why everyone who hunts deer needs to hunt coyotes. This past summer,in late June/early July, I found 3 fawns in one week that were hiding behind condos,two of them were behind the A-C units,since the people who live there,and the township cops ain't too fond of gunshots in the condo complex-I called them to come and shoot the fawns to end their suffering. two of them had huge chunks missing from their hindquarters,and the wounds were infected-complete with maggots.The township cops told me that they had to shoot an average of 6 fawns a week that had been attacked by 'yotes in May and June. Not sure how many they had to shoot the rest of the summer,as I was not working much in the area,and didn't find any more wounded fawns behind homes.
In NE Ohio,between fawn and adult deer predation by 'yotes,the EHD that hit hard in 2012,and last winters extended brutal cold-deer numbers are way down.
The only way to get the population to increase again is to take out as many 'yotes as possible. Wildlife biologists say that 'yotes can not be controlled state wide by hunting them-but they can be controlled in local areas,if enough of them are taken.
Whatever your favorite deer hunting area is-get as many guys and gals as you can to start hunting 'yotes-no bag limit-no closed season. Makes for good target practice too. Another plus is in Ohio,you can hunt 'yotes with rifles-not just the straight-walled rifle cartridges legal for deer hunting-any rifle caliber is legal for hunting 'yotes.
I'm going to hunt them with my muzzleloader,then with my crossbow,then with my compound,then with my recurve. My youngest daughter is going to hunt them with a 30-30 to practice for deer hunting in W.Va next year,with her 20 gauge using deer slugs,and with a borrowed 45-70 since that's legal for deer in Ohio.
Hopefully,we put enough of a hurtin' on the 'yote population to improve fawn survival rates by slowing 'yote predation on the fawns and pregnant does.
If everyone does the same thing in their favorite hunting area-the deer population will rebound quickly-most of those wall-hanger bucks are only 3-3 1/2 years old.
We should all stop taking does,or at least only take one-not the 9 deer total bag limit currently in effect for the state-that will help the deer population rebound faster,and cause 'yote predation to have less of an effect on deer population.

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