By AD CRABLE, Intelligencer Journal, link to original post
Perhaps no critter in Pennsylvania has been the subject of more rumor, notoriety and speculation than the eastern coyote. Remember the stories that persist to this day that the Pennsylvania Game Commission, or insurance companies or foresters secretly released coyotes into the state to trim the deer herd?
Now, the wily predator is being reviled anew as a key figure in the latest brouhaha over how deer are managed in the state. There are those, several Pennsylvania game commissioners among them, who fear coyotes are making a considerable dent in the deer population, already intentionally whacked down by hunters.
The contention is that growing numbers of coyotes are taking deer, especially fawns, and will stymie attempts to let deer rebound. The Game Commission should factor in such considerable predation in determining deer quotas, but is not, according to critics.
A recent study using DNA testing to show that coyotes in Pennsylvania and New York are mostly coyote-wolf hybrids — and thus bigger, more effective hunters than their western coyote counterparts — fuels the fire.
Reports of coyotes surfaced in the 1930s and the first documented coyote was killed in Tioga County in 1940. By 1990, an estimated 1,810 were being trapped and shot. The take rose to 11,652 in 1998 and 23,699 in 2008.
Coyotes have been found in very Pennsylvania County, including Philadelphia. Given their secretive nature, there’s no way of know just how many are in the state.
Matt Lovallo, the Game Commission’s furbearer biologist, has said 50,000 to 60,000 may be a good guess with the population still growing in southwestern and southeastern parts of the state. Ha. Try 200,000 to 250,000 says Randy Santucci, a Pittsburgh businessman who’s launched his own research into the issue.
He says in talking to biologists and reading studies in such other states as West Virginia, South Carolina, Virginia, Maine and Alabama that it’s becoming clear that “the predation factor of these coyotes is a big issue.”
He says, for example, that West Virginia had zero reports of livestock damage from coyotes in 1991. In 2005, there were claims filed for 1,300 calves and 2,300 sheep. He says more people are coming forward in Pennsylvania to relate stories of adult deer being killed by coyotes.
“It shows these animals are pack hunting and killing adult deer,” says Santucci, whose current effort is trying to line up a presentation of his research and message to the state House and Senate game and fisheries committees.
“I think the concern that many people have is we have drawn our deer numbers on public lands down dramatically to less than 5 deer per square mile. If there are lower numbers, and we have fawn predation, there’s more impact.” But Game Commission biologists and a Penn State researcher remain adamant that coyotes are not taking an inordinate number of deer.
“I have no information to suggest that coyote predation is a problem,” says Duane Diefenbach, an adjunct professor of wildlife ecology at Penn State, who performed the seminal study of fawn mortality in Pennsylvania from 2000-2002.
His research involved radio telemetry tracking of more than 200 fawns in the Quehanna Wild Area in northern-tier counties and Penns Valley near State College.
The study found that nearly 70 percent of fawns died within a year in forested settings. About 22 percent was from predation, with about two-thirds of that coming about equally between coyotes and bears.
But, and this is the important part, according to the Game Commission, about 40 percent of antlerless deer killed each year by hunters are fawns.
That’s been monitored for decades. If more coyotes were killing more fawns, that 40 percent rate in the fawn-to-doe ratio would go down. It hasn’t, not in a single wildlife management unit, according to the Game Commission.
“From a management standpoint, we are achieving our management objectives of keeping most Wildlife Management Unit deer population trends stable,” says Jerry Feaser, Game Commission spokesman.
“Those trends are remaining stable with hunting as a primary mortality cause, as well as predation of bears, coyotes, bobcats and vehicles — not to mention poaching.”
Discussion of wildlife issues often seems to be dominated by two groups: 1) Those who won’t acknowledge that humans are predators, and 2) those who refuse to recognize the rightful exiestence of any predators other than humans.
Very true. I find that ancient religions (such as those of Native Americans) taught people to live in harmony with nature, but modern religions teach that humans are superior. It has led to some pretty sad and devastating mind sets.
Is there coyotes in York,Pa.? My 14yr old son was going to his bus stop. He stated he & one of his friend seen a animal that looked like a coyote or a huge fox. He didn’t know what it was but he was scared, ready to run. My questions, is there coyotes in York,Pa or some kind of wolf hybrids.
Yes there is almost hit one yesterday with the car . They are coyote/wolf hybrids
In answer to the question of “Is there coyotes in York, PA”…YES! We have small patches of woods around our house and have heard and have seen coyotes in our back woods. We do have deer that come around frequently and many rabbits and squirrels. Fuel for the fire! I guess if they become more in numbers, our neighborhood will have to come together to initiate a game plan to re-locate them. My kids wanted to know what a coyote looked like so I found this article about coyotes in York. Will keep you updated.
I live in York PA and just this morning while walking through our woods I found some poo that I didn’t recognise. I am wondering if it could be Cyote? Is there a way to put a picture on here? And do cyotes eat berries?
We live in Sullivan county; 2 Coyotes came in day light ,4 p.m.and took 2 of our pet ducks today..
About 6 years ago I saw two coyotes chasing each other near my house. They stopped and stared at me and i ran inside. Now we are missing a few cats and when i went hiking there were at least three sets of coyote prints in the woods. It’s very disturbing to know that they are here and are taking our pets away from us…