Confirmation of Coyote Predation on Adult Female White-tailed Deer in the Southeastern United States

The recent expansion of Canis latrans (Coyote) into the eastern United States has generated interest among wildlife managers because of the potential impacts on Odocoileus virginianus (White-tailed Deer) populations. Coyotes have been reported as predators of adult and neonate White-tailed Deer in some parts of their range, but recent studies in the Southeast have documented only Coyote predation on neonates. We report 4 confirmed Coyote predation events on adult female White-tailed Deer that were radiocollared, implanted with vaginal implant transmitters, monitored every 4–8 hours, and apparently healthy. Field necropsies confirmed killing-bite wounds to the upper throat and base of the mandible, and feeding behavior on the carcasses was consistent with what has been observed for Coyotes. Further, we used swabs from bite wounds to confirm the presence of predator DNA, and the 3 carcasses that were swabbed tested positive for the presence of Coyote DNA. To our knowledge, our results represent the first scientifically documented Coyote predations on adult female White-tailed Deer in the Southeast. Canis latrans Say (Coyote) is relatively new to the fauna of the southeastern United States (Gompper 2002, Hill et al. 1987); thus, its role as a predator in the region is largely unknown. Because Odocoileus virginianus Zimmermann (White-tailed Deer; hereafter, Deer) populations are important economically, interest in Coyote impacts on Deer in the southeastern US is high (e.g., Kilgo et al. 2010). With burgeoning Deer populations in many areas, Coyote predation might be welcomed by wildlife managers, and recent evidence has suggested that localized declines in Deer density could be attributed to high neonate mortality due to Coyote predation (Kilgo et al. 2012, Saalfeld and Ditchkoff 2007). Though Coyote predation on adult Deer is significant in other regions (see Ballard 2011 for review), data quantifying Coyote predation on adult Deer are scant for the Southeast. Though collar-based Deer research in the Southeast is common, we failed to find a documented case of Coyote depredation of adult Deer. Because many studies rely on 4or 8–hour motionsensitive mortality switches, and collars are not monitored intensely, it is possible that many depredations have been missed. Thus, the capability of Coyotes to depredate healthy adult Deer has been questioned, particularly in the absence of environmental factors like snow and ice, which have previously been reported as important factors in making adult Deer vulnerable to predation (Mech 1984). Moreover, in the Southeast, because Coyote predation on healthy adult Deer is undocumented, our knowledge about the potential impacts of Coyotes on Deer population dynamics is limited to Coyotes’ effects on neonate survival (e.g., Kilgo et al. 2012). However, Coyote food-habit studies suggest year-round Deer predation (e.g., Schrecengost et al. 2008, McVey et al. 2013). We conducted a neonate-survival study at Fort Bragg Military Installation in central North Carolina. From January through May 2011, we darted 28 adult (i.e., >1-year-old) females from vehicles or over bait and fitted them with GPS collars (Wildcell, Lotek Wireless Inc., Newmarket, ON, Canada) and vaginal implant transmitters (VITs; Model M3930, Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Program, Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695. Corresponding author [email protected]. Manuscript Editor: Michael Conner Notes of the S utheastern Naturalist, Issue 13/3, 2014