Snowy CSI

[El Destructo]

That's some big ole Song Dogs for sure....ours normally  hunt in pairs here...sometimes 3-4....and I have never seen one kill anything bigger than a jack rabbit or turkey.

[gstoneberg]

We only saw 1 fawn this year at the lease on the trail cams.  I think the yotes and bobcats wiped out our whole fawn crop.  Hunting hogs at night it sounds like there are about 50 of them, though I'm sure it isn't that bad.  It makes the long walk in to camp from the field blind at about 2am really unnerving.

Pat, I am curious if you'll catch the killer on trail cam.  Why is it that an SD cards chance of failing is directly proportional to how bad you want the pictures off it?? 

George

[Pat B]

I guess that's the way technology works George. As soon as you get used to it it bite you! 

[JW_Halverson]

Eastern 'yotes are well on their evolutionary path to a divergent species.  There are subspecies of serveral animals that are divided based on behavior and/or vocalizations.  Considering the aggressive pack behavior of the eastern 'yotes compared to the small and shy western yodel-pups there is significant reason to start thinking of them as a different animal all together.  Explains why most eastern deer hunters hew to the rule of shoot on sight.  Out here in western South Dakota I just think of them as comic relief as I watch them stalk mice/voles or bust a covey of grouse when they have no chance of catching one. 

[predatorcaller]

coyotes have for sure taken over  some parts here in penna.I,m not sure they take many mature healthy deer but fawns in the spring and weak or crippled deer don,t stand a chance.Up at the cabin in northen Pa.(potter Co.) My boy and I always carry ropes and a pulley in case we get a deer late way back in.We pulley it up  into a tree and get it in the morning.Gut-piles from previous deer don,t last overnight.We,ve taken a few yotes this year with the biggest one(male) tipping the scales just under 50lbs.have a great day-Lloyd

[Justin Snyder]

Just to clarify, western song dogs will kill a healthy doe. I have seen it and I have seen them kill a whole flock of sheep. They don't usually pack up like the eastern dogs do, but in the late fall it isn't unusual to see a pair with several grown pups out hunting together. Whether she was sick or healthy I don't know, but I would wager on the dogs being the ones eating her.

[Pat B]

All of the evidence is in a relatively small area. Our only other big predators are black bears and there is a cougar in the general area. This mature doe was brought down and eaten in a manner a pack of dogs(coyotes) would have done and not a lone bear or cat...and not coverde like a cat would do. It is surprising that the "crime scene" isn't bigger than it is and that more hair wasn't scattered around. It all came down pretty quickly.
  We have been below freezing since we found her but after tonight it will be getting warmer with rain coming in. I think more activity will happen as the "smell" factor increases. I'll check the trail cam in the morning and see what has been visiting. I know Lucy Brown will be in at least a few pics.    She sure has been acting funny at night lately with lots of barking and howling.

[Pat B]

I went to check the trail cam and crime scene this morning. It was obvious that the scene was tampered with last night...41 pics on the cam.  When I checked the settings on the cam it showed it would take pics every 30 seconds so I have changed that to every 2 minutes. Here are a few of the pics with a few culprits...

[Pat B]

The first pic is my lab Lucy Brown. She likes fresh venison.    Lucy is 55# so you can compare her size with the coyote. Looks like the crows and a buzzard were enjoying the feast also. In a few of the coyote pics you could see more eyes shining in the background.

[Hillbilly]

Here are a few trail cam pics of eastern yotes taking on adult deer. I got these from another forum. The first three are a series of two yotes taking down a spike buck at a feeder. A spike buck in this area usually will weigh about 110 lbs. average. You can see the size of the yotes. Doesn't look like they had much trouble catching it, and there isn't any deep snow there. The fourth is an unrelated pic of a yote chasing an adult deer. A large percentage of the coyote scat I find has deer hair in it.

[JackCrafty]

Very interesting, Pat!

[Little John]

Pretty cool Pat, bet it was the coyotes that perpetrated the crime, guess I am going to have to get a trail cam. We suspect we have foxes and no telling what eating the barn cat food.

[Sparrow]

Those are some strange looking songdogs there. ( Big too ! ) Think there might be a little eastern red wolf in there ?  That tail in the last shot is looking wolfie, maybe some domestic dog Hybridization ? I don't know.  When I left South Carolina in 1979, we were shooting alot of feral dogs. They were breeding in the wild and running in packs. We would bait them out of the river swamp and shoot 'em with rifles. I know that coyotes are there now, so surely there has been some hybridization there. I have seen Dog/Coyote Hybrids here in Washington state.  Critters  '  Frank

[Pat B]

These have only been around here for a few years. Down in GA where my hunt club was there were lots and some the locals called coydogs. I saw one that was solid black except for a white tip on his tail.
  Where in SC did you live, Frank. We moved here 20 years ago from Bluffton, near HHIs on the coast. Originally from Savannah.
   From what I've heard coyotes were introduced by fox hunters with the stipulation they were neutered before release.  Apparently the fox hounds would chase coyotes too.

[Little John]

Pat, since you know there are coyotes in the immediate area you should slip out there late this evening and see if one doesn't want to come to your predator call and get arrowed.      Kenneth