by: Barry Sabean
SPRING 1991
A brand new predator has arrived in Nova Scotia and white-tailed deer are one of its' favourite foods. Coyotes were first verified as living in Nova Scotia when Howard Porter trapped one near Country Harbour, Guysborough County in the winter of 1977. This first specimen caused a lot of surprise and resulted in a variety of rumours about how they got here. In fact, their colonization of Nova Scotia is the inevitable result of a remarkable range expansion which has brought coyotes all the way to Newfoundland from their historical range in the western prairies.
As a result of extensive habitat changes in eastern North America (logging and land clearing) combined with the virtual elimination of wolf populations in settled areas, the adaptable coyote began to expand its range. This trend was first noticed about 100 years ago. by 2929 coyotes were in the process of colonizing southern Ontario. The first report in Quebec was in 1944 and they reached New Brunswick in 1958. By the mid-'70s they were well established throughout New Brunswick and their arrival in Nova Scotia was inescapable.
Helped by an expanding deer population throughout Nova Scotia, coyotes increased rapidly. The use of a $50 bounty between 1982 and 1986 did little tor nothing to stem the tide. Presently coyotes are found throughout the province at relatively high densities.
Our Eastern Coyotes show several differences from their western counterparts. These evolutionary changes better adapt them to a forest environment and the pursuit of deer-size animals. They are somewhat bigger and tend to run in larger, more organized packs. The coat is also darker, coarser and less valuable. These changes have resulted from the process of natural selection (survival of the fittest) and may have been speeded up through some inter-breeding with wolves. Average size is about 14 kilograms (30 pounds) though adult males may exceed 23 kilogram s(50 pounds).
Numerous studies of coyote food habits throughout northeastern North America document that white-tailed deer and rabbits top the list of foods eaten. Studies of stomach samples, scat analysis and winter tracking confirm those results for Nova Scotia. As has been demonstrated in other areas, a large portion of the deer consumed are dead animals that coyotes find.
It is certainly the case that coyotes kill substantial numbers of deer in Nova Scotia. Our tracking studies and numerous reports from the public confirm that fact without question. What is less clear is the effect this is having on the deer population.
In Nova Scotia we have the luxury of looking to other areas with coyotes and deer to see the impact on herds there. Invariably, biologists from these jurisdictions tell us that coyotes by themselves have little or no effect on the number of deer. In fact may of these areas are trying to reduce deer populations to bring them ore in line with the ability of the habitat to support them. For example, New York state first recorded coyotes in the 1930s and had a well established population by the 1960s. Despite a healthy population of coyotes, New York's deer population hit an all time high during the 1980s.
Other areas have also reported similar results. The only area of concern is at times of situations, a condition rarely experienced in most of Nova Scotia. even under these extreme conditions, the actual effect of coyotes on deer population is not clear.
It is not uncommon to hear Nova Scotians state that every deer track has a coyote track in it. By implication they suggest that whenever a coyote is hungry it simply finds the nearest deer track, puts its nose to the ground and runs the deer to exhaustion. Our winter tracking experience disputes this version of coyote hunting behaviour. In fact, in over 1000 kilometers (640 miles) of coyote tracking we rarely see this pattern. Coyotes seldom follow deer tracks for any distance. When they do encounter deer, chases are normally short.
Coyotes are predators who must consider an energy balance if they are to survive. Long chases, if unsuccessful, can seriously deplete the energy reserves of a n individual, leaving little left for the next chase. The energy risks of long chases are too great and coyotes normally give up the pursuit if prey is not killed in a short time. Domestic dogs, on the other hand, can chase a deer all day, return home for an energy-building meal and then go back out and chase the next day. wild animals do not have this luxury!
Although coyotes can and do kill healthy adult der, they are more likely to catch animals which are young or in poor physical condition. In many cases these animals would have died form other causes even if not killed by coyotes. this helps to explain why coyotes have not been observed to control deer populations. Additionally, coyotes place controls on their own populations by establishing exclusive breeding territories where only one coyote pair breeds in a territory. Territory size is somewhat regulated by the availability of food. In Maine, these territories average about 50 square kilometers (20 square miles).
Many people have suggested that the bounty should be re-established in order to reduce the number of coyotes. despite their long history in many jurisdictions, bounties have never been successful in controlling coyote populations. Kansas maintained a coyote bounty for 93 years and concluded after that time that "the bounty system does not control predators or predator damage". Similar conclusions have been reached throughout the range of the coyote, including here in Nova Scotia.
Two major factors make the control of coyote populations extremely difficult. The first is their high reproduction rate. Females have an average of five to seven pups during their second year. If the population is lowered through some kind of a control program, coyotes respond by having larger litters and begin to breed in their first year of life. It has been estimated that we would have to kill 75 percent of the coyote population every year for more than 50 years in order to eliminate them.
The second part of the equation is the difficulty in hunting and trapping coyotes. They are an extremely clever animal and remarkably resourceful when it comes to the business of staying alive. Some people claim it is the smartest wild animal in North America. Any control program would do well to harvest 25 percent of the population. Coyotes could flourish even with this level of kill.
If we were to institute a $50 bounty with the coyote population at 10,000 animals, and succeeded in killing 50 percent of the population every year (an unlikely high number), theoretically we could harvest about 29,000 coyotes over a five year period for a total cost of around $1.5 million, and end up with 3,000 more coyotes than we started with!
Another consideration is the problem of what we are paying for. It is difficult to prevent coyotes taken in other provinces from showing up for bounty payment in Nova Scotia. Also, the payment of bounties on road killed animals does nothing to increase the kill of coyotes. In fact, a high percentage of bounty payments would go for coyotes that would have been killed, whether a county was in place or not.
Coyotes are now a fact of life in Nova Scotia! They will not wipe out other wildlife species, though in some years they may force hunters to take a smaller share of the harvestable surplus. By providing a new quarry to dedicated hunters willing to accept the challenge, coyotes may actually expand hunting opportunities in Nova Scotia. Certainly the eerie serenade of a pack of coyotes adds a new dimension to our wildlife experience.
This doe was killed by three coyotes.