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Thread: The GPS collar story...

  1. #1
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    Default The GPS collar story...

    In 2015 I helped coordinate the SCDNR part of a 3 state coyote study...The SCDNR trapping was done by myself and my trapping partner along with Rusty Johnson and Mark June, those familiar with the trapping world will recognize the names of those two icons...Headed up by Prof. Joey Hinton of UGA, GA took the lead role for AL, GA and SC...We trapped and did a biological profile, including DNA, sex, age and weight on the average of 35 coyotes in each state...Each one was then fitted with a unique numbered $3,500 GPS transmitter which would send out a burst signal to a satellite every 4 hrs to plot on the master computer at UGA it's location.

    Purpose of study was to gather information on the travel habits of each coyote, the type of terrain they preferred to inhabit on a seasonal basis, the type of terrain they preferred to hunt in, etc...Many follow up trips were made to the target areas to gather scat and DNA match it to a particular coyote and determine what it's diet consisted of...Untold man hrs went into the study from paid professionals and volunteers.

    The ULTIMATE GOAL of the study was to LEARN more about coyotes so we would understand how to TRAP AND/OR KILL MORE of them in the future...So many people are so construed as to how we could possibly trap a coyote and then release it...I will tell you from first hand experience, the knowledge gained from this study has caused mega multitudes of coyotes to meet their demise far beyond those few we originally trapped and collared.

    We are currently doing a study in McCormick County that is along the same lines of the original one, but it will also include GPS collared doe deer to more closely study the interaction of coyotes and deer during the fawning season...After a doe fawns, it's inserted uterine device will alert researchers to the fawning and they will then locate and GPS collar the fawn... This study is a cooperation between SCDNR and Clemson...I just spent the day yesterday in McCormick with my good friend Rusty Johnson, and the amount of data they are gathering and preparing to compile in the upcoming fawning season is immense.

    Information from these studies help us to better understand our world...The technology is impressive.

    For a quick take-off, there's a few things that jump out at me...SCDNR had been accused of transplanting coyotes into SC to help control the deer population and/or satisfy vehicle insurance companies...This is blatantly false... Nobody believed how far a coyote travelled until some were GPS tracked...Coyotes trapped in Saluda County wound up being killed in Union SC, in Walterboro, SC, one was almost in VA before the collar battery died, one crossed the Savannah River and went on to Fort Gordon Military Base to set up residence...And some stayed within a few miles of where they were originally trapped and collared, those being some of the ones which have been trapped a second time...There seems to me in my own "unprofessional opinion" coyotes that are "Transient" and also those that are "Resident"...Study shows no difference in age or sex of either.

    What this does tell the wildlife manager is that there is no way to keep a coyote from being where it wants to be, and there's no way to eradicate them from an area...If you trap out an area for a period, coyotes from many miles away can move in literally overnight...The only effective deterrent we have at the present is to trap religiously year after year after year.

    The more information we gather and the better we understand them, the better chance we have in developing a plan to help control them.

  2. #2
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    Very interesting. Thank you for sharing.

  3. #3
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    Excellent stuff, keep it coming. It is damn amazing what they do. Like land sharks.

  4. #4
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    full-22835-403519-coyote_map.jpg
    Just for an example of the plot chart and to show how a coyote moves, this coyote was trapped in the western corner of Saluda County, and was taken a couple years later close to Walterboro.

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    Good information and appreciate the work.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Swift Strike View Post
    full-22835-403519-coyote_map.jpg
    Just for an example of the plot chart and to show how a coyote moves, this coyote was trapped in the western corner of Saluda County, and was taken a couple years later close to Walterboro.
    That is frickin crazy


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  7. #7
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    Wow....
    \"I never saw a wild thing feel sorry for itself. A small bird will drop dead frozen from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.\" <br />D.H. LAWRENCE

  8. #8
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    Traveling sons a bitches...

  9. #9
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    Thanks for sharing.
    More fuel = more boost!!

  10. #10
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    SC34M.jpg

    The extremes.....

    I guess the extreme long-ranger from our study was the one that made it all the way through NC and almost to VA before the transmit battery died...Don't know whether it is alive or not, but if it is dead it probably wasn't due to human hands as the collar has not been turned back in.

    This plot represents the "Resident" extreme...From the time it was collared until I trapped it again 2 yrs later, and literally a couple hundred yards from where it was originally caught, it never went a mile...Literally living on the edge of the town Ridge Spring.

    You can see it's core area that is oblique with dots where it spent 90% of it's time.
    Last edited by Swift Strike; 12-09-2018 at 11:01 AM.

  11. #11
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    I can't fathom what would possess a coyote to travel to Virginia. You would think that the availability of food or pussy would be the driving motivator, but obviously there are other factors at play here...

  12. #12
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    Fascinating.....big thanks for sharing.
    "hunting should be a challenge and a passion not a way of making a living or a road to fame"

    Rubberhead

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    Quote Originally Posted by JABIII View Post
    I can't fathom what would possess a coyote to travel to Virginia. You would think that the availability of food or pussy would be the driving motivator, but obviously there are other factors at play here...
    That is the big question we want the answer to...As of now, we have no clue either.

    I'll have to go back this week and check the records, because if memoy serves me correctly the long-ranger was a female.

  14. #14
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    Pretty cool information.
    Thanks for sharing.

  15. #15
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    Coyotes got no use for i95

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    Keep the info coming buddy, I find this stuff very interesting.

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  17. #17
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    What gender was the one that went from greenwood to Walterboro?

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  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Swift Strike View Post
    That is the big question we want the answer to...As of now, we have no clue either.

    I'll have to go back this week and check the records, because if memoy serves me correctly the long-ranger was a female.
    That just makes it weirder. Like bees, I know animals can communicate with each other in a much broader sense than people give them credit for. I can bait a very hidden swamp with corn, watch the few (10-20) regular summer ducks start coming, hear them on the roost making many, many different vocalizations, then a few days later there are many hundreds. A few more days if you didn't shoot them, black ducks show up. That isn't luck or happenstance.

    There are few animals that vocalize more than yotes. Listening to the different packs singing at dusk on the Canadian prairie is wild...

  19. #19
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    I've heard a theory that removing resident coyotes from a limited area actually causes a short-term increase in the local population. The removed resident animals had established and defended territories. Many new colonizers move in and take some time to establish their own territories, running off interlopers and the population eventually settles back down to where it was prior to removal.

    With continued removal, the population is always in the "new colonizer" phase with a surplus of animals fighting for their own territory.

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Catdaddy View Post
    What gender was the one that went from greenwood to Walterboro?

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    Well, it took some digging but I found it...

    That coyote was known as SC37M...It was a male, aged at just over 9 mo old and weighed 32# at first capture...It was trapped by Mark June on Jan 16, 2016 between Johnston and Ridge Spring SC...I had earlier stated that coyote came from Western Saluda County, but in fact it was Eastern Edgefield County...The capture location is close to the County Line...Upon release with GPS collar it made it's way N into Greenwood County before deciding to go basically S to the Walterboro area...It set up a home base around Walterboro as evident by the amount of locator pings in that area...Not sure of the exact date of recapture, but approx 2 yrs later it was trapped again by a fellow by the name of "Will" close to Walterboro...At that time it was discovered that half of the Coyote's bottom jaw was missing...This injury was not present at time of original capture...Biologists deduced the injury was from a rifle bullet...The injury was totally healed and did not appear to be hindering Coyote's survival...2nd recapture weight is not recorded...Data sheet shows that the trapper released the coyote back into the wild minus the GPS collar as a gesture of compassion for it's contribution to research.
    Last edited by Swift Strike; 12-09-2018 at 05:17 PM. Reason: Can't spell.....

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