My small game hunting oasis has all buy dried up

[m021478]

This is the view from my garage where I spend most of my time these days. Normally the woods just beyond the grass is teaming with squirrels and chipmunks and other little critters. But not anymore!

About three weeks ago, about 25 yards past the small chainlink gate visible out in the distance I spotted a coyote just standing there starring at me and my dog. I quickly got out my M3 .30cal and had plenty of time to scope in on his head and get a shot off. He dropped to the ground and started twitching. To my surprise, a second coyote ran up to it to see what the problem was, and it remained there long enough for me to cock my gun and put a shot right in its head as well. Both coyotes were howling wildly. Again to my surprise, almost as soon as I put my second shot into the second coyote, both coyotes stood up and ran off into the woods. They didn't make it very far though as I was clearly able to hear the howling still. I'd say about 1/4 mile away from where they were both shot.

And that brings me to my problem... ever since that day, the number of squirrels, chipmunks, and other small game critters I see on a daily basis has gone from dozens to virtually zero! My only guess is that both coyotes dropped dead about 1/4 - 1/2 mile out into the woods, and their odor (or the odor of the parts of them that got blown off when they were shot) has been serving as a deterrent for the small game. Either that or it's an amazing coincidence that my small game oasis has all but dried up ever since then. I've gone looking for the coyote corpses a few times but haven't had any luck.

Is there anything that can be done to revitalize the small game population in this area and somehow eliminate any coyote odor that might be keeping them away? Or am I mistake to believe that two mortally wounded coyotes from nearly a month ago could still be keeping small game away to this day?

 

[uhfradarwill]

I would make a trek to see if you can find the possibly dead animals and dispose of them.

 

[AirShot]

My guess would be the coyotes already dined on your critters and scared the others away! I also have coyotes in my area and the eat a lot of critters!! Once a coyote or two has been cleared out, slowly the critter population comes back, but does take awhile. I have a neighbor that hunts them seriously, and can tell when he has the population thinned out as we have lots of rabbits and other critters, but if he hasent taken any for awhile, there are no critters to be seen..

 

[Thebloodyhound90]

Ain’t no way the smell is affecting them. Rotting fresh is rotting flesh whether it’s a sparrow or a deer. However seeing two large predators alive or dead could spook them. To the critters, it could appear that the coyotes are just resting. Go find them and bury them, you owe it to them since you shot them and aren’t going to use the hide or anything. 

 

[Hal4son]

Head shots that result in runoffs are not likely to be fatal. The description of dropping at the shot and then coming to, sounds like it didn't penetrate the brain/spinal column. "Howling wildly" would be a good indicator to send the second shot into the first coyote.

Your recent low numbers of prey animals is more likely feeding a couple of coyotes with an extra hole in the back of the head/neck.

 

[Woodard63]

I think that your shots threw them for a loop and once they were able to get a clear head again they ran off. I’ve seen it before with coyotes where even rim fires will hit the skull and instead of penetrating the skull it will follow the skull and exit the skin. So the only damage would be two holes in the skin. That’s my guess as to what happened. But I agree with others that you should try and go find them and let us know what you find or don’t find. 

 

[Guest]

Maybe you should shoot some paper.

 

[dizzums]

theres probably still something hanging around, if not them, something else like hawks or something ... you know what to do lol ..

 

[darylm]

Don’t wait for those follow-ups, man. Sounds like you should have put about 4 or 5 shots in each one.

 

[Vetmx]

Dead animals don’t bother animals. I’ve had deer walk right past a dead coyote with an arrow pinning it to the ground. They just look at it and keep browsing. You might have a Hawk that moved in if you have feeders. They will have the biggest influence on daytime critter activity. Once a hawk discovers how easy it is hunting at the restaurant that humans provide for little animals, he hangs a shingle.

 

[CharlieF]

if there were two you saw, there were probably three you did not see. Chipmunks are natures nachos. Coyotes will eat most small game and move to new territory when all food is taken. They will also eat cats and small dogs If you have pets, hope you keep them safe. 

 

[Traxx]

Like the fellow state above, there are more coyotes around besides the 2 you saw. 

But on the other hand, what is the food source that is attracting them? Most game around me move around to new feeding grounds as they ripen or become available. 

 

[wahoowad]

The ethical thing to have done was put forth some effort into locating your wounded coyotes. They might have needed a follow up shot to ease any suffering. To allow a wounded animal to run off and not finish what was started is unconscionable. Somebody has to say it.

 

[L.Leon]

Seems from your described reaction of the coyotes at the shot, that they were not hit fatally. Going down, then getting up and running away while howling? I don't raise any livestock so I give the small and medium size predators around here a pass. We currently have two foxes and at least four young coyotes roaming around our and the adjacent properties. Like @vetmx, said it can also be a hawk, they will set up over a tasty locale and hunt it daily. Also if you are consistently killing those small critters they do become wary. So those coyotes probably had nothing to do with the scarcity. Coyotes have to eat to survive, those two will probably never come back to your place.

 

[dan_house]

Ill second the above opinions... and add this:

how's the drought in your area? We have bears coming down from the high ground cuz there's less food up high for them. Getting into folks trash, raiding your strawberries and blackberries..... Might be the environment, and the yotes may be responding to that also.....

 

[qball]

Just put bird feeders out and they will come back in a hurry.