The potential change in the South Carolina deer regulations as highlighted in the blog by Clint titled "South Carolina Buck Regulations?" has a lot of people talking about buck limits, fees, and the one I'm most interested in, PREDATORS. 

	Coyote in trap

I had the opportunity earlier this year during trapping season to watch what I would call a professional trapper at work.  If they were to give trappers a degree, this guy would have his Masters.  For the purpose of this blog, I will refer to him as Master Trapper.  His main goal was to trap wily coyotes from a friend?s property and he didn?t disappoint.  My buddy told a story of a few days before when they noticed Master Trapper abruptly stop his ATV and examine a spot on the pasture fence.  My buddy said they stopped and asked him what he was looking at. Master Trapper replied, ?coyotes are crossing here.?  He spotted a single coyote hair on the fence while traveling 40 mph on his four-wheeler.  That?s impressive.

Over the past few years, the coyote has expanded his range and is often seen in places you wouldn?t expect.  I read an article this morning on CNN of coyotes in New York City.   I wouldn?t have believed that a few years ago.   I also have seen them in my backyard, which just a few years ago would?ve been unheard of.  According to SCDNR, ?populations in South Carolina were established in Pickens and Oconee counties in the late 1970?s by houndsmen, and coupled with natural immigration, have since expanded to include all counties in the State.?

The question that often is asked is ?what impact do coyotes have on deer/turkey/predator populations??   Based on my research there are various opinions on this question.  The scale goes from those that say that we need to eradicate coyote populations to those that say they have no impact at all.  Personally, I don?t think it?s rational to say they have no impact at all.   I found an interesting article called, ?Coyotes in the East: Are They Impacting Deer?? which was done by the USDA Forest Service.  Its research has found that coyotes do have a significant impact on deer fawn populations.  In its research they monitored 60 fawns and noted that 44 of these fawns didn?t survive until the fall season.  During the research, they were able to attribute 36 of the 44 (80%) fawn deaths to coyote predation.  That sounds significant to me.   They are still conducting research as highlighted in Clint's Blog "South Carolina Buck Regulations?" .   I also found an article at Outdoor Life magazine, which showed a series of pictures in which a coyote caught a fawn. This just gave me a visual of the research done by the USDA Forest Service.  As with everything, I feel that the impact depends on the situation, but you can?t ignore that there is an impact.

	Me posing with coyote trapped by the Master Trapper

The next question would be ?What does a landowner do??  Let?s face it, the coyote is here to stay, but there a measures that can be done to control them.  SCDNR has a good publication that gives a history of the coyote and how they can be controlled.  I got to see this done first hand by Master Trapper and it?s something I will not soon forget.  Let?s remember that they don?t call them Wily for nothing.

Personally I'm not against buck limits because I usually don't reach the proposed limit.  I usually will kill a doe or two for meat and then hunt for a "Wall Hanger".  That's just me though.  What impact do you think coyotes have as it relates to the proposed change in buck limits?