2006 coyote pop.

More pondering. Was thinking the other day. Perhaps some breeding female coyote's are gentically set-up to "always" have [large] litters or constantly [small] ones. Regardless of local prey pop, or other external factors.

Say, this is true for example[bare with me, for a moment]. Someone or something, takes out the local alpha high pup-count breeding female.

Next in-line is a "constant" low pup-count breeding, female. The following yrs could show low coyote pop. Until another high pup-count breeder come into an area.
 
Well with pigs the farmer would do that, keep the sows that had the bigger and better litter. Not sure if it varies much between the yotes? T.20
 
Side note; There was a pr that inhabited a section with good prey source & cover[CRP & timber]. Winter snowfly [03-04], I stalked in on them. Missed the very large male. Killed, the female.

It holds coyote, once again since last Summer.
 
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Actually a coyotes eyes where built for good day vision and hunt crepusclar periods of the morning and evening. I can see coyotes out at all hours of the day.

I don't see coyotes having cycles per say. Mange can account for ups and downs, and prey base can effect litter sizes along with overall densitys of the population effecting littersizes as well.

Coyotes can adapt very well and I have seen no real evidance that a coyote lives or dies by rabbitt populations at all. They have mice,P-dogs,gophers,voles,snakes, birds both game and non game alike. Roadkill when needed, hunters who don't track down the big ones or little ones, grasshoppers,fruits,berrys etc.

When one looks at the prey base the hardest time for a coyote to feed it's belly is at this time of year not the dead of winter, now all young prey base is larger and wiser,the berrys and fruits are drying up for the year, depending on rains and drought conditions can make cover tough to find. The mice can be a constant and I'm willing to bet any place there are a good population of mice,gophers,P-dogs etc your going to find coyote sign. Livestock is also looked at very close as a lamb is just about as defenseless as it comes and those yoy pups and ma and pa will certainly teach them how to hunt on those 70-90 lb lambs.
 
Lets see if i can remember my first year wildlife biology.
I believe coyotes breeding is what goes down
with the decline of it's prey. So in the case of coyotes
it would probably be mice(unlikely) .Unlike lynx mentioned above whose diet consists of mainly hare,the coyote is more
omnivourose(sp) it can eat and survive on just about anything.
I talked to a local dnc biologist about the origin of our
wolfy coyotes here in vt and she told me (and gave me a link to an abstract i can't find ,about the decline of the wolf population in the us and canada being more or less responsible for the expansion of the coyote to the east,and how our eastern yotes are a cross between a canadian brush wolf and western coyote. They have also found that the beautiful southern red wolf is under genetic attack from the coyote.And that there is probably no pure strain of red wolf left today (sad).
I know i am
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But i think our winters being harsher than most have a good
effect on our coyotes as they can feed on deer that are sick
or injured or can't get away as fast in the snow.
No one thing has ever been able to eradicate the coyote
except maybe habitat destruction.They are an amazingly adaptive animal.
 
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