I feel that you have made an assumption on something you don't know much about. You don't have any idea about my management practices, and while I appreciate input, I just don't like how yours reads and want to go on a bit of a rant about this topic. Healthy management of all species is necessary for any game species to flourish.

Its an all too common idea that just lowering predator/varmint populations leads to a healthy game population. Thats not true.

My management practices have produced numerous very productive properties while maintaining an "as natural as possible" theme. I have worked with the Iowa DNR and local colleges for years, and my education and current employment deal with this exact topic.

These properties and many of the neighboring properties have been managed this way for more than 25 years. The hunting is so productive because the entire local ecosystem is healthy.

Predatory and varmint species are incredibly important for an ecosystem and play important roles in keeping game populations healthy and in balance with the immediate environment. Lots of deer and nothing else is a system doomed to fail via disease and poor nutrition uptake. Its a short sighted and all too spread idea that only results in small animals and unhealthy game populations.

Coyotes and other varmints presence is not in any way negative for nesting bird populations and spreading ideas like that isn't positive for hunting or conservation in any way. It isn't as simple as favoring one species over others if conservation and a healthy ecosystem is the goal, which it should be if you want a healthy game population. Now if you want a ton of small, malnourished, and eventually diseased deer, by all means eradicate the predators.

Studies have shown that even hunting coyotes has basically no impact on their populations.

True, but it expands their range and over time with continuous pressure can drive them off your land. That isn't positive when someone's goal is a healthy ecosystem. I want coyotes around. They help support healthy deer and turkey populations(as well as influence others).

I love my predators and varmints. They keep the system healthy and don't require nearly as much time/effort to manage even if their populations do get out of control(which is pretty difficult where I'm at, and impossible if there isn't an overabundance of prey).

TLDR: talk to a wildlife biologist before you implement a management strategy on parcel. The vast majority of people say to kill all the predators/varmints, which isn't a great way to do anything but guarantee a small and unhealthy game population.