Bear impact on coyote population

[Igottanewknee]

Unless I'm asking the question... then all bets are off!!

[Thermal Predator Control]

Didn’t say a stupid question, just trying to make the person that posted it think about there questions.  It’s a good question, but, people don’t learn things without criticism, I learn by reading and taking criticism and hunting hard. Btw where are you from in Washington state?

[KFhunter]

I live in GMU 105 which is called "The Wedge" due to its triangle shape.

[justyhntr]

It's been our observation through game cameras and time in the field that if we have a cougar in the area that will put the coyotes off. Last year we went into a spot in Kapowsin that was always productive for coyotes and we found no fresh sign and could get no vocalizations, we did a set anyway and ended up calling in a cougar. Through the use of cameras we found that the coyote movement changed if  we got a cougar on camera. We are currently running some cameras down by Little Rock and we are getting both coyotes and bear pretty regularly on the same cameras so it doesn't look like the bears are effecting the coyotes. I will say you do have a ton of bears there in Mason, we ran some cameras on some Green Diamond land and in one small area we had 11 different bear moving through so maybe they are having an effect.

[buckfvr]

I know yotes will move around other predators and make adjustments, but in no way do bears determine coyote populations.   

[huntnfmly]

We try to encourage new hunters to ask questions, so we try to curtail any bashing or mockery, we all started out somewhere.   No such thing as a stupid question on HW 

X2

[huntnfmly]

And to the OP thank you for the question I also learn from other people's questions about things I didn't even think about.
Pay no attention to the people who are obviously the best hunters.
There are lots of people that have a bunch of knowledge and enjoy passing it on

[bearpaw]

I've watched a bear and a coyote happen into each other, they were only 5 or 6 feet apart, they looked at each other a few seconds, there was no reaction, then the bear went back to eating berries and the coyote strolled off, just another day in the woods for both of them. Some of the areas I bear hunt have high coyote populations, from what I've seen I doubt there is much interaction or reaction unless a coyote ran into a very hungry bear, that would likely make a difference.

We've found a few coyote kills made by cougars when hunting cougar during the winter. I think anything smaller is a potential meal for a cougar. One year WDFW documented two collared wolves killed and eaten by cougar, but I've been told a pack of wolves will kill and eat a cougar.

A guy I know who has been on cougar and wolf studies tells me they have found every kind of hair in wolf scat, that includes cougar, bear, and coyote. They had all kinds of animals collared, he said when the wolves move into a drainage everything starts moving out in every direction away from that drainage. I've been told wolves will even pull bear out of their den in the winter and eat them. Having stumbled onto denned bear, they seem pretty groggy when they get woke up, I can see where they would be a fairly easy target for a pack of wolves.

[buckfvr]

So we've all thought or even said "what kind of a stupid bleeping question is that?"  And we all know you can't fix stupid.  With that being said, I think most of the questions asked on here are not from stupid people.  Probably even asked by educated and or intelligent persons who happen to just be ignorant of something they don't quite understand.  You can fix ignorance, we've all gone through the learning curve from not knowing to competency. 

When these questions born of ignorance are asked and then answered as best as possible, the askers can then take that answer and put it into motion to learn from it. That is how people learn......try others methods, take their advice, sort it all out and see what works for them.

At some point, the very people who ask ignorant questions, will in turn, be the ones who answer them.  Learning is everything about outdoors.

[KFhunter]

couldn't have said it better 


If criticism and ridicule helped people learn, then there'd be a lot of hunting experts on facebook. 



oh wait...

[smithkl42]

At some point, the very people who ask ignorant questions, will in turn, be the ones who answer them.

As one of those ignorant folks who keeps asking, I sure hope this is eventually true :-).

I'll say this - I've learned to ask my dumb questions here, rather than on Facebook groups. On Facebook, there's a large contingent of folks who just want to make fun of the newbie. Here, it it seems like most folks' first inclination is to help and to educate. That's appreciated.

[nwwanderer]

And no matter how much you know, you have just scratched the surface.  Ask away, good people here

[bearpaw]

At some point, the very people who ask ignorant questions, will in turn, be the ones who answer them.

As one of those ignorant folks who keeps asking, I sure hope this is eventually true :-).

I'll say this - I've learned to ask my dumb questions here, rather than on Facebook groups. On Facebook, there's a large contingent of folks who just want to make fun of the newbie. Here, it it seems like most folks' first inclination is to help and to educate. That's appreciated.

Some of those rude people on facebook might have been on this forum at one time, the moderators have all made an effort to keep this a friendly and helpful place.

[longtrails]

I hunt coyotes year round, mostly in Mason County, Tahuya area. I've gotten to know some areas real well by concentrating in one area. I have noticed a sharp decline this spring in the amount of coyote sign I see while at the same time I am seeing a lot more bear and bear sign. Have gotten good looks at bear three out of the last four trips. Coyote sign in one usually active spot has dropped off to almost nothing. The same area shows bear sign, lots of tree stumps ripped open. Several bear sightings.  My queston is whether the bears are pushing out the coyotes.

I live and hunt in Tahuya, and I can attest to the bear and cougar overpopulation problem. My nephew and I have seen a lot of fresh scat in multiple areas. I have never eaten bear, and have heard it is extremely greasy, so health wise it's not a good idea for me to hunt for it due to bad cholesterol, though very tempting with all the bear sign.  As you know they have been doing a lot of logging in this area including on Manke land so its driving ALL wildife into smaller areas. But bears aren't pushing them out, they have just moved to another area because that are looking for more food, because they have exhausted the area. From what i can tell, and hear, is that they have moved closer to residential lake areas right now for more food. Warning though, don't put your coyote call out near residential areas, it pisses non hunters off and last year the cops were called for disturbing the peace.   

[Bango skank]

I hunt coyotes year round, mostly in Mason County, Tahuya area. I've gotten to know some areas real well by concentrating in one area. I have noticed a sharp decline this spring in the amount of coyote sign I see while at the same time I am seeing a lot more bear and bear sign. Have gotten good looks at bear three out of the last four trips. Coyote sign in one usually active spot has dropped off to almost nothing. The same area shows bear sign, lots of tree stumps ripped open. Several bear sightings.  My queston is whether the bears are pushing out the coyotes.

I live and hunt in Tahuya, and I can attest to the bear and cougar overpopulation problem. My nephew and I have seen a lot of fresh scat in multiple areas. I have never eaten bear, and have heard it is extremely greasy, so health wise it's not a good idea for me to hunt for it due to bad cholesterol, though very tempting with all the bear sign.  As you know they have been doing a lot of logging in this area including on Manke land so its driving ALL wildife into smaller areas. But bears aren't pushing them out, they have just moved to another area because that are looking for more food, because they have exhausted the area. From what i can tell, and hear, is that they have moved closer to residential lake areas right now for more food. Warning though, don't put your coyote call out near residential areas, it pisses non hunters off and last year the cops were called for disturbing the peace.

The reason you hear bear meat is greasy is because the fat is very oily.  The meat is not greasy, but people take a bear into the butcher and tell them to make sausage.  The butcher, charging by the lb, is going to put all that oily fat in there.  If you butcher yourself, take all that oily fat off, cut steaks, roasts, stew meat, its not greasy.  bear meat is excellent.  And you can set the fat aside, render it, and use it to make stuff like biscuits and pie crusts.