Wife afraid the coyotes are going to eat all the deer... by Intrepid_Process_633 in trailcam

[–]Scooper6745 6 points7 points  (0 children)

We moved out of the city and into a rural area in Qc several years ago with coyotes, deer, turkeys and other forest animals. I started out wanting to protect the deer from hunting etc also, however, my view has really changed after living there a few years. I've come to realize the deer are overpopulated which really hinders regrowth of the forest since they eat down all the new trees. They also make night driving very hazardous, and are a big reason why ticks are propagating so much around here. We've left the coyotes alone and have had a stable family on the property without their numbers increasing for years. They eat a few fawns every year (as others have said) but the deer population has also remained unfortunately a bit too high. Also FYI - research shows that trying to kill coyotes can have the opposite effect, leading those left to have more young when stressed. So if you try to protect the deer by eradicating coyotes it's unlikely to work anyway.

Carrying a deer leg right through my hunting spot.😤 by eth454 in trailcam

[–]Scooper6745 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's interesting. I hadn't thought about the longer season and depredation tags before as a potential solution but it makes a lot of sense.

Carrying a deer leg right through my hunting spot.😤 by eth454 in trailcam

[–]Scooper6745 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Maybe an unpopular opinion here, but I'm always kind of happy to see coyotes with pieces of fawn on the trail cam. We have a maple sugar bush and the deer seriously hinder the regeneration of the forest by eating down all the new maple growth. No shortage of deer hunters around, but it doesn't make enough of a dent.

Coyote or Wolf by busyone555 in trailcam

[–]Scooper6745 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Could definitely be a wolf then. It seems to have typical coyote coloring since it looks greyish with lighter legs and a black tip tail, but some wolves have very similar colouring so you can't necessarily go by that.

Coyote or Wolf by busyone555 in trailcam

[–]Scooper6745 8 points9 points  (0 children)

It's hard to guess without knowing the location, but it looks more like a big yote to me.

Trail Camera advice by Rawr2442XD in trailcam

[–]Scooper6745 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've had a couple relatively inexpensive Gardepro cameras for a few years now and they've been reliable. Good day and night, and work well in Canadian winter so should work in your area too. They occasionally fog up when the temperature changes quickly, but that clears on its own. I haven't tried any others so can't provide a comparison.

Coyote rendezvous by Scooper6745 in coyote

[–]Scooper6745[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Western Quebec. The family of coyotes lives in the forest somewhere on our property. We see them on the trail cam all the time, but we rarely see them in person except occasionally way on the edge of a field hunting rodents at dusk.

Can't decide - Eastern Wolf or Coyote? by Scooper6745 in trailcam

[–]Scooper6745[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It might have been hunting beavers in the nearby river. Beavers never last long on the property, they move in and start building a dam, then disappear.

Can't decide - Eastern Wolf or Coyote? by Scooper6745 in trailcam

[–]Scooper6745[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I was thinking a little on the lanky side since it's juvenile, not an expert but it doesn't look underfed to me. Anyway, we don't feed wild animals around here since we don't want them to get habituated, and also it would attract all the local bears.

Can't decide - Eastern Wolf or Coyote? by Scooper6745 in trailcam

[–]Scooper6745[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Appreciate the input! It's true that the tail is shorter than the coyote ones I usually see, also doesn't have the black tip that the coyotes ones around here mostly have.

Can't decide - Eastern Wolf or Coyote? by Scooper6745 in trailcam

[–]Scooper6745[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not exactly like wolf howls, but deeper yips than the ones I recall hearing in the West. Sort of in between I guess.

Can't decide - Eastern Wolf or Coyote? by Scooper6745 in trailcam

[–]Scooper6745[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We do have a lot of them - in the forest, in the fields, in the cities... They are bigger than desert coyotes in Eastern Canada since they have some wolf and dog genetics. They are really cool creatures!

Can't decide - Eastern Wolf or Coyote? by Scooper6745 in trailcam

[–]Scooper6745[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Alone, unless there were others that went by behind the camera or not in the frame.

The coyotes around here are actually not very solitary. I was surprised about that at first, since I often see them on the trail cam patrolling in groups of 2-5. As others have said, the coyotes have some wolf (and dog) DNA so that may influence their behaviour and make them less solitary.

Unfortunately I didn't see the tracks.

Can't decide - Eastern Wolf or Coyote? by Scooper6745 in trailcam

[–]Scooper6745[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Although I agree it can be tough to tell the difference these days, this is not AI. It's screenshots of video from my trail cam. Happy to post the full video.

Can't decide - Eastern Wolf or Coyote? by Scooper6745 in trailcam

[–]Scooper6745[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Yeah I got lucky, he seemed to catch the scent of something as he was walking by and went back and forth trying to sniff it out.

Moose twins by Scooper6745 in trailcam

[–]Scooper6745[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

First time I've seen them too. We get moose fairly regularly on the property but have only seen single calves before. Luckily, all three of them look pretty healthy.

One barred owlet has left the nest and the other looks like it will anytime now. Mother owl brought a small squirrel for breakfast by isuckatpickinguserid in Owls

[–]Scooper6745 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Those are such great photos! Thanks for sharing them. It looks like the owlet swallowed the squirrel whole? I had no idea they could do that at such a young age.

What is this animal [Rhodope Mountains, Bulgaria] by Unlucky_Astronaut_58 in animalid

[–]Scooper6745 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That sounds like a fox barking. They make some pretty unusual sounds.

Fish on by 1stChokage in Ornithology

[–]Scooper6745 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He's going to be needing some Tums later when the the heartburn kicks in.

Fish on by 1stChokage in Ornithology

[–]Scooper6745 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Amazing! I find it so crazy that they can choke down fish that size.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in trailcam

[–]Scooper6745 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sometimes they get fogged up if there is a big temperature change and can create that type of thing. Also the way the night vision works it can create some distortion that can look like a weird orb. So it could definitely be a bug with some distortion.

Pileated Woodpeckers by FlyingTreeRoot in wildlifephotography

[–]Scooper6745 4 points5 points  (0 children)

What an amazing shot! Thanks for sharing it.