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CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. 



THE COYOTE AS A DEER KILLER. 



By E. V. JOTTER. 



Although we have long known the coyote as a predatory animal it has 

 only been recently that we have obtained evidence of its destructiveness 

 to big game. Heretofore known as a destroyer of quail, grouse and 

 domestic stock such as pigs, sheep and poultry, the coyote must now be 

 classified along with the mountain lion as a deer slayer. 



In that many persons have been slow to believe that the coyote is a 

 factor in our deer supply we have attempted to gather some evidence 

 tending to prove that this animal is responsible for a considerable loss 

 each year in Trinity County. This evidence is presented herewith. 



Fig. IS. Male coyote taken iii liap January -^ 1 . ivls, 14 miles south of Douglas, 

 Trinity County, California, by C. O. Fisher. The stomach contained deer hair 

 and meat. Photograph by C. O. Fisher. 



Bert Higgins, who i-uns a trap line within the Trinity Game Refuge, 

 reports finding along this one line during one month, the remains of 

 fifteen deer killed by coyotes. Ranger Bucklew in April, 1916, saw a 

 full grown doe. apparently in good condition, pulled down by one 

 coyote. 



Mr. Wm. Friend writes as follows concerning his experience with 

 coyotes in the Game Refuge : 



"In regard to the deer I found killed by coyotes in the Game Refuge, will say 

 I commenced trapping between Little Creek and Bear Ci'eek on February 1, 1916, 

 and between that date and March 2, 1916, I found the remains of seventeen deer 

 killed by coyotes. 



They were all sizes from large bucks to fawns, but mostly small deer. The snow 

 was about two feet deep and the deer had collected near the river and in gulches. 

 After the snow settled the coyotes could run on top, but the deer broke through, so 

 it was an easy matter for the coyote to catch them. In one gulch I came down I 

 found eight deer that had been killed at different times — one of them had been killed 



