Professional Trapper & Wildlife Manager

Researching how predators effect game populations can be extremely difficult. For the past 31 years, I have been actively involved in conducting such research. Many times, the landowners and sportsmen make excuses as to why game populations are low. Often they do not attribute the reduction in game animals to an increase in predatory animals. For many years it was the concensus of most wildlife biologists that predation did not effect normal healthy game populations. That theory has now been discounted by extensive research. Predator management, conducted in association with proper habitat and harvest management, provides the landowner or wildlife manager assurance that his property will sustain huntable populations of desired game species.

Here is a prime example of how predators like red fox effect duck populations. In a study conducted in Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, the Dakotas and Manitoba; Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center biologist Alan Sargeant and colleagues found that foxes annually consumed about 900,000 common ducks. So with this data it's not hard to figure out that effective trapping of red fox will increase duck numbers. Predators are very effective hunters. If you don't believe it, just visit the Delta Waterfowl website and see how predator management has substantially increased the nesting success rates in their pothole nesting grounds. It was also found that raccoons, skunks, coyotes, and opossums also eat a substantial quantity of ground nesting bird eggs. In fact, it has been proven in Mississippi that the raccoon is the number one nest raider of wild turkey.

The coyote, which is an intelligent animal, is one of the top predators because they work in packs and are very effective at adapting to new environments. Deer fawn kills from coyotes are quite high. Two coyotes working as a team will consistently kill one or both fawns from the same mother. According to documented research, coyotes, when present, account for approximately 50% of documented fawn deaths. Most hunters never comprehend how many deer fawns are being wiped out by coyotes each spring.

In urban areas, the coyotes are killing pets and there is no management scheme that seems to work. Livestock problems can usually be solved by removing the offending animals. But you have to ask yourself one question; who is removing the offending coyotes that are killing the deer fawns?

Not only should we keep our game animal populations in check, we should also keep the predator population in check. The America sportsman has done an outstanding job protecting and paying for wildlife improvement. But now the great comeback of deer, wild turkey, and waterfowl are in some areas being negatively impacted by the influx of predators. Coyotes are thriving in areas that they were absent from just 10 years ago. Raccoons are spreading their range northward and westward. Many predators are so adaptive to habitat changes that they are thriving in large city environments. Humans can no longer think that the predator problem will solve itself. When predators get over-populated, disease and starvation soon follow. Rabies, distemper, sarcoptic mange and other parasitic diseases occur, and most are transmittable to domestic pets. Rabies and many parasitic disorders are also tranmittable to humans.

Predator management is not a one-time fix. Trapping must be performed on an annual basis to obtain optimal results, and it must be done by professional, educated and ethical trappers.