Trapping Effectiveness

[Swift Strike]

I've been trapping my plantation very hard for a number of years...Been branching out for about a 10 mile radius the last several years...The coons just keep on coming, but the catch rate and live sign for coyotes and bobcats has greatly diminished...It has diminished so that I would have to travel further than my time allows to run the kind of trapline I used to.

That 10 mile radius is about 314 sq miles or 201,000 acres...I know for a fact that in this area there at least 3 trappers of at least equal talent.

Got me to wondering, if there was a very profecient trapper for every 100 sq miles, and that trapper had access to most all areas in that 100 sq miles, there could be a beyond significant reduction in predator population.

For now let's say we are specifically referring to coyotes.

Are coyotes a resource..?? Do they serve a purpose..?? Do they need a harvest limit per license..?? I know what most people are going to say, "Kill em All !!"...But, that was said many years ago about the Red Wolf, they were practically wiped out and Mother Nature filled that void with coyotes...I think it would be most impossible to delete the coyote population on account of the research I've been involved in that documents how far one can travel...But this travel and translocation also makes them vulnerable to being trapped also.

I've seen several species of wildlife evolve in my lifetime, and my lifetime is a nanosecond in history...50 years ago there wasn't a single deer in Saluda County, or armadillo, or feral hog......Or coyote.

Just wondering if the present rate of attrition is continued against coyotes, what may Mother Nature fill that void with in our kids lifetime........