Coyotes and Upland Gamebirds

Authors

Fred S. Guthrey, Texas A&M University–Kingsville

Date of this Version

January 1995

Document Type

Proceeding

Citation

Published in Coyotes in the Southwest: A Compendium of Our Knowledge, Symposium Proceedings, December 13–14, 1995, San Angelo, Texas

Edited by Dale Rollins, Calvin Richardson, Terry Blankenship, Kem Canon, and Scott Henke

Comments

Published 1996, Austin, Texas. Used by permission

Abstract

That coyotes (Canis latrans) destroy nests and individuals of bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) and wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) is well documented. In many situations, however, the removal of coyotes would have little observable effect on gamebird recruitment and population dynamics. This counterintuitive result occurs because (1) renesting reduces the hen failure rate and (2) loss sources other than coyotes become stronger when coyotes are removed from a predator–prey system.