T-Max
Well-Known Member
I wasn't sure where to post this, but here it is.
About a week and a half ago, my father and I were driving back from town when we passed a house that had probably 10 apple trees in the yard. We had been experiencing pretty high wind the week prior and their yard was covered in apples. Never one to miss an opportunity, we pulled in and I approached the owner about getting a few buckets to put in front of a trail camera. He said we could have all of the apples, or none of them. He wanted them gone. It seemed like a lot of apples, but I really like using them to get a batter look at the deer on our cameras.
We went home to get some rakes and scoop shovels and returned to get it done. By the time we cleaned everything up, we had about a half a pickup load of apples. We both had plans that afternoon so as much as I wanted to put them out in several places, they ended up in a single pile in front of the camera. The camera in question is along a field edge that is essentially a deer highway. It is where I get pictures of does and small bucks all summer and the big boys come late October through November.
This is where my coyote problem comes in. It has only been a week and a half, but after checking the camera last night, it looks like a pack of coyotes has set up camp over the pile of apples. All summer I had seen maybe 2 coyotes total on this camera. Through the course of the last week, deer pictures have dwindled to almost none, while the coyotes are appearing on there as many as 4 at a time for hours on end. It really stinks as I rely on deer movement along this trail for all of my fall hunting.
I have had apples here in the past, but never in this quantity. In the past it has worked really well at helping me get the deer close to a camera to get a batter look. The corn in our area is also ready to pick so this is a time when historically my deer pictures go down anyway. I am concerned about the number and frequency of coyotes though. What should I do? Hunting the coyotes is not gonna happen. I would rather not set traps this time of the year, but I will if I need to. I could bring the truck back in there and get rid of the apples altogether, or I could do nothing and hope the deer get used to the coyotes and return to normal. My gut says to get in there and remove the apples and call it a lesson learned. Has anyone else had this happen? It seems like I have too much of a good thing at the moment and I would like it to clear up before it costs me my season... Thanks for any advice in advance.
About a week and a half ago, my father and I were driving back from town when we passed a house that had probably 10 apple trees in the yard. We had been experiencing pretty high wind the week prior and their yard was covered in apples. Never one to miss an opportunity, we pulled in and I approached the owner about getting a few buckets to put in front of a trail camera. He said we could have all of the apples, or none of them. He wanted them gone. It seemed like a lot of apples, but I really like using them to get a batter look at the deer on our cameras.
We went home to get some rakes and scoop shovels and returned to get it done. By the time we cleaned everything up, we had about a half a pickup load of apples. We both had plans that afternoon so as much as I wanted to put them out in several places, they ended up in a single pile in front of the camera. The camera in question is along a field edge that is essentially a deer highway. It is where I get pictures of does and small bucks all summer and the big boys come late October through November.
This is where my coyote problem comes in. It has only been a week and a half, but after checking the camera last night, it looks like a pack of coyotes has set up camp over the pile of apples. All summer I had seen maybe 2 coyotes total on this camera. Through the course of the last week, deer pictures have dwindled to almost none, while the coyotes are appearing on there as many as 4 at a time for hours on end. It really stinks as I rely on deer movement along this trail for all of my fall hunting.
I have had apples here in the past, but never in this quantity. In the past it has worked really well at helping me get the deer close to a camera to get a batter look. The corn in our area is also ready to pick so this is a time when historically my deer pictures go down anyway. I am concerned about the number and frequency of coyotes though. What should I do? Hunting the coyotes is not gonna happen. I would rather not set traps this time of the year, but I will if I need to. I could bring the truck back in there and get rid of the apples altogether, or I could do nothing and hope the deer get used to the coyotes and return to normal. My gut says to get in there and remove the apples and call it a lesson learned. Has anyone else had this happen? It seems like I have too much of a good thing at the moment and I would like it to clear up before it costs me my season... Thanks for any advice in advance.
