Editor’s Note: Today outdoorsmen have begun to learn more about the white-tailed deer. In the past, we haven’t known the right questions to ask. But scientists and researchers have started studying deer more intensely.

A later study in Illinois shows that the size, the shape and the distribution of fawning cover also greatly impacts fawn mortality. If blocks of wood are next to some low-growing habitat, fawn mortality due to coyotes will be much less than if there’s 1,000 acres of open fields with little or no understory. In the Illinois study area, predators have accounted for 64 percent of fawn mortality, with coyotes being the primary predator. Predation by coyotes is higher in places with less fawning cover. However, an impenetrable understory isn’t good because does have to be able to get into that fawning habitat. Fawning habitat needs to be in blocks of 10 to 20 acres instead of in blocks of 1 to 2 acres.

Places Where Coyotes Can Have a Detrimental Effect on Deer Herds:

Research names three types of situations where coyotes can have a detrimental impact on deer populations, including areas with:

• extremely-high coyote populations like south Texas;

• poor fawning habitat; and

• deep snow in the extreme northern section of the country where the migrating deer are in a stressed condition. The coyotes learn about these migratory deer routes and feed heavily on these deer. Since coyotes don’t sink in the snow as deeply as deer, coyotes can move faster across the snow than the deer do. In these types of regions, coyotes can have a detrimental effect not only on fawns, but also on mature deer.

In the South, hunters consider coyotes incidental predators on adult deer but effective predators on fawns. Coyotes have learned to hunt deer hunters because the coyote knows that when it hears gunfire, that there’s a chance for a free meal. In many parts of the South, if a hunter leaves a shot deer out overnight, the coyotes will find and take the wounded deer before the hunter does.

John E. Phillips’ latest deer book “How to Hunt Deer Like a Pro: Volume II,” just was published on Amazon in print at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BGSP3QPB/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tpbk_p4_i4

The Audible version should be available by December. Since deer hunting and deer hunters are drastically changing each year, John interviewed some top deer hunters like Mark Drury, Dr. Larry Marchinton, Dr. Bob Sheppard, Pat Reeve, Gene Wensel, Cody Robbins, Ernie Calandrelli, Brian Murphy and Luke Brewster, who took the world’s largest whitetail, to learn their up-to-date techniques for successfully hunting deer and having more places to hunt. Also, John’s first book in that series “How to Hunt Deer Like a Pro” in Kindle, print and Audible at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007D3H08M includes other outstanding deer hunters. Too, check-out John’s book, “Bowhunting Deer: the Secrets of the PSE Pros,” https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0091T1NKM/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i1, available now in Kindle, print and Audible versions. You may have to copy and paste these links into your browser. When you click on these books, notice on the left where Amazon says you can read and hear 10% of the Audible books for free. On the right side of the pages and below the offer for a free Audible trial, you can click on Buy the Audible book.

Tomorrow: Know How Breeder Buck Deer Impact Herds