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Fact or Fiction?
asop
Member Posts: 9,027 ✭✭✭✭
If coyotes or wolfs are harvested heaviely out of an area will this promote bigger litters and more surveyor rates in the following years?
Comments
Don't know your answer, but I think it would depend on how healthy their food source was that particular year
Seems like the more you hunt something the more it reproduces. Law of nature. Now there are many instances where this is not true. Take some of the endangers species into consideration for examples.
You asked about varmints, can't think of one that is endangered.
Food, water and shelter. Those three drive populations of any animal. predator or prey.
I am happy to hunt wolfs to extinction.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
We had that till some Idiots put a larger more aggressive species in our state.
SSS.
Margaret Thatcher
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
Mark Twain
Absolutely!
I have read someplace that research shows one factor of coyote litter size is current population.
Read where Red Wolves were being introduced to NC
Agree with the good environment. We had zero coyote existence here until just a few years ago. Deer and turkey population exploded and so did the yote's. Squirrel population is slim, their food source has been gobbled up.
Red wolf has been in eastern NC for quite some time.
Just some anecdotal evidence. A few years back the state trapper flew our area for coyotes and killed over 100 until he ran out of shotgun shells. The following year I saw a den with 9 pups running around outside.
Normally in a wolf pack only the alpha female will birth cubs sired by the alpha male then the pack supports and raises the cubs. When wolves were introduced in Yellowstone multiple females in the pack were observed to be birthing cubs. There was so much space and food the breeding routine changed to fit the environment. The unintended consequence was the wolf population growing and expanding faster than the models had projected.
Actually research shows coyotes will respond with larger litters/greater survivorship provided resources remain stable. No data on wolves, they are too few for such statistical research.