I’m a popular guy during the spring. I know this because a lot of people I don’t hear from all year long reach out then and ask me to come for a visit. I get texts and phone calls regularly, mentioning they haven’t seen me for a while and how it would sure be great if I came by. “The coffee’s always on,” they say. And then they’ll add, “Oh, and bring your rifle. I’m calving and the coyotes are driving me crazy.” It happens every spring.
I stopped being surprised by it a long time ago, recognizing that a key event for predator hunters is the springtime birth cycle. I see it every year as new life appears all around us. For farmers it’s when calves are born, or lambs begin to drop. And recognizing the helpless nature of these young critters, predators are there to take advantage of it. Fortunately for these domestic youngsters, there’s someone looking after them, and a phone call means a hunter can show up and provide an additional line of defense.
The same birth cycle is also happening in the wild. There, new fawns appear in the deer herds and the ground-nesting routine begins among upland and migratory birds. All this new life is largely helpless, too, and predators being what they are take advantage of that fact. Of course, here there’s no one to dial a mother deer’s version of 9-1-1, so we predator hunters must take the initiative ourselves.
Working this knowledge into a hunter’s yearly cycle, makes it a prime time to strike back and protect the young, whether they’re domestic or wild. And it’s those two categories where I draw a line separating my strategies in approaching a protection role.
Protecting Domestic Young
Cattle, sheep and goats are the species my domestic protection efforts tend to be focused on, with cattle taking up most of my time. However, there are plenty of other kinds of animals being raised domestically in North America that become a target species for predators. A drive in the country or hanging around a feed store is all that’s needed to establish where the problems might be in your area.
If I mention I’m protecting cattle from coyotes, uninformed city folk will often challenge me, saying something such as, “Coyotes won’t take down and kill calves, the mother cow would stomp them to death.” Of course, they are living in a sterile, media-induced version of reality, where all mothers have a strong protective instinct and predators kill an animal quickly and cleanly, then after it’s dead, eat it. If only. The truth is much more gruesome.
What really happens is coyotes hanging around the edges of a herd will dart in when the opportunity arises and rip the nose off a newborn calf and run away. Alternatively, they’ll go for the belly and grab a portion of it, or some of the soft flesh near the anus, tearing off a mouthful or two and retreating to escape Mom’s hooves. However, this is enough to seal the calf’s fate, as it can’t be saved, and the owner will have to destroy it. Then, too, it often seems the calf’s mother doesn’t have a protective instinct and will abandon the calf, at which point the coyotes will start feeding immediately on the living calf. It only dies incidentally much later, from loss of blood, crying in pain the entire time.
Coyotes in cattle country are almost as familiar with the cry of that distressed calf as that of a hurt rabbit, and this creates an opportunity for hunters. Most e-callers have the distress sounds of young domestic animals in their sound libraries, so don’t overlook those applicable to your area when calling during the springtime.
Unfortunately, coyotes aren’t the only predator looking to take advantage of defenseless young. I have one cattleman who has a continuing problem with ravens pecking the eyes out of newborn calves. It seems their eyes are a delicacy to these big, highly intelligent birds and so his instructions to me are, “If it’s black and flies, kill it.” So, on his place, when the coyotes have stopped responding on a stand and the ravens swoop in to see what’s going on, my 12-gauge plucks one or two of them from the sky as well.
Lambs and kid goats are in the same danger from coyotes but face an additional issue in that the newborns are small enough for coyotes to carry them off completely. Here, as in cattle, it’s common to see coyotes working in pairs or in packs to pull off their heist. Harassment and distraction are the name of the game, until one has the opportunity to dart in. Again, killing is not high on the agenda, eating is. Meaning, they will begin to consume a live animal, and a lot of painful cries result.
In all these cases, coyotes tend to be nocturnal predators simply because that’s when no humans are around, and their chances are best of surviving a raid. If night hunting is allowed in your area, this will be the most effective. It’s not allowed where I live so I go where the coyotes are during the daytime. At sunrise and sunset they might be found around the edges of a domestic herd or flock, but most of their daylight hours will be spent in a resting/bedding area. The best strategy then is to approach these areas undetected from downwind and call.
But perhaps the best tip I can offer centers around the importance of establishing and maintaining good relationships with the owners of those domestic animals predators are targeting. As hunters we are only out in coyote country occasionally, but the landowners are there every day. As a result, they know where the predators can usually be found and what their habits are. Maintaining good communication with them is like having spies working in enemy territory, as the intelligence they can provide is invaluable.
I regularly get texts telling me where coyotes have been seen, where some dead stock has been dropped, or when a deer has been killed. When the springtime snow is deep, they will plow out access points for me and provide trails so I can walk into the back corners of their property where the coyotes hang out during the day. Demonstrate the ability to take out predators and the owners of domestic animals will do what they can to help.
Protecting Wild Young
Targeting predators focused on making a meal of the wild young is more complicated, simply because of the much greater variety of wild species. Of course, there are the fawns in deer and antelope herds and coyote behavior is similar here to what it is with cattle. Additionally, there’s the real possibility of taking down a slower pregnant doe. The process here is to hamstring her with bites to the hind legs, and once down, start feeding. Several years ago, a rancher told me that during the spring he’s seen coyotes chase deer into fences, apparently hoping one will get caught up on the wires when trying to jump over. We’ve all seen deer remains caught up in a fence, and I never considered coyotes might be involved until he told me his story.
Looking for a predator hunting hotspot in the spring? Consider any water body where ducks are nesting. For the detrimental effect predators have on duck populations look to Delta Waterfowl and their Predator Management Program. Their studies show that in some areas nest predation is so high fewer hens leave during the fall than arrived during the spring. So, they hire trappers in a targeted effort to remove the foxes, skunks, raccoons and other predators raiding these nests. And it works, as successful duck hatches increase dramatically when this program is in place.
The lesson for hunters is clear — go to what is a predator’s food source, which is anywhere ducks and other migratory birds are nesting. These are the classic wetlands, marshes and potholes of the Great Plains, but also includes places such as beaver ponds. Predators frequent these areas looking specifically for eggs, and while my e-caller doesn’t have an Egg Distress sound in the library, there are effective bird sounds that can be used. I’ve found vole squeaks to be successful as well.
It doesn’t take much imagination to extrapolate Delta Waterfowl’s findings to ground nesting upland birds. Unfortunately, the high predator numbers in my area have badly damaged this bird population, so there are no such nesting areas I can target. But that’s not the case everywhere, and some research and personal observation might reveal likely hunting spots in your locale.
And then there are the burrowing rodents, such as ground hogs, prairie dogs and ground squirrels, who have young ones popping out of burrows, into the sunshine, every spring. Calling in and around these underground “dog towns” when these furry rodents first emerge during the spring is a solid tactic.
When doing ground squirrel control with a rimfire, it’s not uncommon for me to see predators show up, even while shooting is going on. It’s clear they have come to associate the gunfire emanating from these rodent colonies with the easy pickings involved in scooping up freshly killed varmints. My most recent encounter was with a fox, which made repeated trips into the field where I was shooting to carry dead ground squirrels back to the den to feed her young. And, yes, I gave her a pass, because I know the landowner and his sentiments. If it had been a coyote, there would have been a different outcome.
In conclusion, just remember that the young of any species are always the most vulnerable, and that it’s a lesson predators learn early. This means hunting in the places where the predators are hunting is a winning tactic. Those little critters being targeted by coyotes, foxes, raccoons and others will vary across the country, but learning the predator’s favorite springtime food sources will make a hunter a popular guy with landowners and the many wild mothers trying to raise their young.
