North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[RW Spalinger <rwspal@earthlink.net>]

On Feb 9, 2004, at 9:24 AM, road's end farm wrote:

> On Sunday, February 8, 2004, at 05:08 PM, Peter Knop wrote:
>
> >      We now have cayotes - anyone with experience in what they will 
> > do to
> > the deer population?

Here in SE Texas, at least in my area of it, we have coyotes. They 
don't seem to make a dent in the deer population though. Some farmers 
in the area claim that they kill calves, but I believe that it is more 
likely feral dogs. Our rabbit population is very small, so maybe that 
is what they are going after.

Farmers and ranchers in the area are at odds with any kind of predator, 
including owls, hawks, snakes, etc. and have killed off most of them. 
Maybe that's why our gopher population is so healthy. If it weren't for 
federal protection and large fines, the mating pair of American bald 
eagles on the next property to mine would be stuffed on someone's 
trophy case, or just shot and left where they fall. There seems to be 
little knowledge in the area of a balance of natural forces.

Randall Spalinger