About Me

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Lansing, Michigan, United States
A two-time graduate of Michigan State University. Now a marketing specialist at Cabela's helping others enjoy hunting, fishing and the great outdoors. If you'd like to see a post on a certain subject, feel free to leave a comment requesting it.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Prepare Yourself for Predators

It's been a while since the last update to the blog so I thought I would write something that many hunters don't necessarily want to hear about this time of year - predators on their property.

I've been bow hunting a 120-acre piece of land in Michigan for the past four years and have noticed that the number of fawns on this farm is much lower than what I've seen in other areas.  The obvious reason for this is that there must be less does giving birth compared to the other farms, right?  I would like to think that's the case in this instance, but unfortunately my trail cameras have been showing me another possible cause for the problem.

Because game monitoring has become an essential part of strategic bow hunting, I purchased two Cuddeback Capture trail cameras last spring and have been using them regularly ever since.  I've 'captured' some great shots of whitetail bucks and tom turkeys over the last two years, which - to me - makes the purchases worth while.  But like I said, these cameras also pick up activity that hunters may not be too fond of.  I've found that the property I've been hunting holds much more than deer and turkeys.  Coyotes, red fox, gray fox and the occasional mink are all predatory animals that feed on the young of both deer and turkeys - and to my surprise, they're all on the property.  Below are some pictures I've collected of these predators over the past two years of game monitoring.


So the next time your scratch your head and wonder why your game numbers aren't growing, consider the not-so-obvious answer.  Just because you don't see predators on your property doesn't mean they aren't there.

Predator hunting can affect successful whitetail and turkey management the same as normal conservation efforts.  Keep that in mind the next time you're in the field and decide to pass on that coyote because you don't want to mess up your deer or turkey hunt.  Taking that predator off your property could have long-lasting positive effects on the local deer and turkey population in your area.

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