Robin Holevinski, an avid hunter and graduate student at SUNY-ESF, has always questioned the current population of coyotes and their prey.

To find the answers to her questions, she spent the last five years working with a State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry research team investigating rural, non-native coyote populations in Western and Central New York. The team is also researching how rural coyote populations are continuing to expand their range and how they are affecting populations of their prey, particularly white-tailed deer.

Determining the size of the coyote population is a difficult task due to their withdrawn nature, Holevinski said. She and the team are working to develop an efficient and cost-effective technique for estimating the number of coyotes in various areas.

‘Estimating the size of coyote populations is not that important by itself,’ Holevinski said. ‘But knowing how many predators are in an area is an important first step in understanding the dynamics of predator and prey.’

The research team partnered with the New York Department of Environmental Conservation to compile the research and publish the first credible statistics about coyote predation on white-tailed deer in New York state, according to a Jan. 29 article published on Democrat and Chronicle’s website.

Andrew Lewand, a coyote researcher and author of several books on the species, said he believes the research is vital to determining game populations for hunters.

‘The research is necessary because the coyote is getting so much attention,’ Lewand said.

The team is conducting its research using high-tech GPS technology to track the covert coyotes, Holevinski said. Field crews then search specific areas where the GPS indicates coyotes are present and look for remains of their prey. They use this information to calculate the number of animals killed or scavenged throughout a coyote’s home range over a specific period of time, she said.

Research by Holevinski and the team found that coyotes rarely hunt adult deer. Approximately 92 percent of the deer eaten by the coyotes were scavenged remains or were not initially killed by the coyotes, according to the article.

But researchers did find coyote predation may have a substantial effect on white-tailed deer populations by preying on wild fawn. In one instance, a single GPS-collared female coyote killed 10 fawns during a three-week period, according to the article.

The research team is also gathering information about the coyotes by using traditional DNA analysis of individual coyote hairs and feces samples found throughout study areas.

‘This noninvasive technique allows us to estimate the size of coyote populations without the need to trap coyotes over large areas,’ Holevinski said.

No coyotes are currently being tracked by ESF’s collars, according to the article.

Results of the samplings were displayed at the conclusion of Foxpro’s annual New York State Predator Hunt competition, founded by Lewand, at the Genesee Conservation League on Jan. 29.

Said Holevinski: ‘This research will help to fill in the gaps in knowledge about coyotes and hopefully allow for better management of predator and prey populations.’

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Published on February 5, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Shannon: [email protected]