New Kid on the Block in Deer Management in the Southeast

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2012/04/coytoes_a_new_player_in_deer_m.html

Recent studies of John Kilgo at the Savannah River Site show that coyotes can inflict an 80% mortality rate of white-tailed deer fawns.  Though this may be a generalization to that specific area, and not necessarily true for the whole Southeast, it still indicates that coyotes have the potential to control deer populations.  It is of great concern if deer herds are reduced to the point that fawn survival rates are not high enough to overcome the level of coyote predation, considering that the game animal generates millions of dollars annually in revenue for each state in the Southeast.  Coyotes were not historically found on the eastern side of North America, but now they seem to be filling the ecological niche of the mountain lion.  Most people view them as a non native nuisance species because they regularly prey on livestock such as sheep, or maybe the occasional pet may go missing.  On the other hand, the presence of apex predators can be an indication of health of an ecosystem.  Hunters, however, are also apex predators.  As the coyote continues to predate on species that are tagged with monetary value, they will be known as pests and "mobile vulture food plots."  It will be interesting more research to see if low fawn survival rates by way of coyote predation is a wide spread phenomenon, and not just a characteristic of the Savannah River Site.