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  • From: list@ginda.us
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] people, piglets and deer
  • Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 22:18:23 -0500

I doubt it. It wasn't that close - they roam over a large range. And the coyotes settled in the den and had a litter before the rodent population spiked - it spiked later that summer. I really think it was mostly that they displaced the smaller predators who really like chipmunks and mice.

On Feb 9, 2004, at 9:47 PM, tanis cuff wrote:

Try thinking the other way-- maybe the den was nearby because that's where the food (the spiking population of rodents) was ?


----Original Message Follows----
From: list@ginda.us
Reply-To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] people, piglets and deer
Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 17:58:47 -0500

I had a big increase in my rodent population the year we had a coyote den nearby. The chipmunks, in particular, boomed, but we had extra rabbits and mice and voles, and no shortage of squirrels. That was the year I got the fewest berries ever. I think it's because the coyotes killed my local fox, and killed or scared inside all the local cats, but didn't bother with the little stuff that ate my berries. So I am not a coyote fan.

(The hawks that occasionally nest nearby, on the other hand, are my friends. We've had red shouldered and red tail hawk pairs, and when I see them around, the squirrels make themselves scarce.)

Ginda
In the Boston suburbs, where there's more wildlife than I would have expected.

On Feb 9, 2004, at 12:52 PM, Lon J. Rombough wrote:

Having a son who has studied this sort of thing has helped me a lot.  He showed me that coyotes (at least here), hawks, owls, snakes, etc. feed almost exclusively on small rodents and having them around is a great way to keep the place clean of vermin.  Even cougars, which show up around here, are not a  problem because the ones we see are always just passing through.  Individual males have very large territories, measured in many square miles, and most of the time the ones you actually see are young males trying to find some place to claim as a territory.  Most don't make it and die of starvation and disease.  The few that do, quickly learn to avoid humans and things connected with them.
   As you note, the people who kill off the predators pay for it in much larger populations of rodents and crop destroying pests.  The ones that start taking pets, sheep, etc. are usually very rare and only do it if they are starving or unable to catch other things.
-Lon Rombough
   


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.


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