by HowlingBears » May 2, 2002 @ 7:55am
Uh, begging to differ, but the coyotes haven't been killed off. We've got loads of'em here in Missouri. If you don't live in town, then you bitch about the coyotes. They're kinda like mammalian cockroaches; they're really adaptable survivors. I've actually heard that they've been growing larger as they fill the niche left vacant by the missing wolves.
And as for the usefulness of hunting deer to keep the population down--hunters want bucks. Hunting bucks is near useless if you're trying to reduce the deer population. As I understand it, one buck can and will impregnate about 30 does a year, given the availability of does. Killing a buck just means some other lucky buck's gonna get laid. The does are the limiting factor on deer population size, so to reduce the deer population, you've gotta target the does...
Unfortunately for the noble hunter, does don't have those pretty antlers to show off...