Trail camera overlooking a deer carcass

[Johnny]

One of our dogs found a dead deer just 100 meters from the house laying in the snow. We set a trail camera on it for almost a week. About 560 photos later, here's what the camera picked up:

Day Time: Ravens and hawks would pick on the carcass. Whenever a hawk would arrive, the ravens would leave.

Night Time: Coyotes would arrive. Usually 2 at a time. One would overwatch while the other one ate. The coyotes were surprisingly large, perhaps 60 pounds. They were very skittish. When the coyotes were gone, possums would take over.

[4thIDvet]

Road kill a few doors up from me here a racoon or some poor guy met his maker. Watched the buzzards show up for a snack and suddenly they got real skittish.
A huge beautiful bald eagle glided in and those buzzards didn't fly off but knew to back off while the eagle ate. So much food for the eagle to catch and eat around here I did not think they would eat something deceased.
Yah learn something every day.

[Johnny]

Originally Posted by 4thIDvet

Road kill a few doors up from me here a racoon or some poor guy met his maker. Watched the buzzards show up for a snack and suddenly they got real skittish.
A huge beautiful bald eagle glided in and those buzzards didn't fly off but knew to back off while the eagle ate. So much food for the eagle to catch and eat around here I did not think they would eat something deceased.
Yah learn something every day.

Bald eagles are beautiful creatures. Wife and I were walking the dogs just yesterday and saw a pair fly pretty close overhead. I never get tired of seeing them.

[Johnny]

The carcass is almost gone. Coyotes have been eating on it almost every night. My retired DNR buddy says they'll start at the back and work their way up to the head. He said given enough time, they'll even devour the bones. Coyotes are cleaning up what would otherwise be a big mess. You'll never catch me shooting them.

The trail camera is actually spooking them at times. I think there's a little light that shines when it records at night. You can see them suddenly run away in the middle of a video.

[4thIDvet]

Originally Posted by Johnny

The carcass is almost gone. Coyotes have been eating on it almost every night. My retired DNR buddy says they'll start at the back and work their way up to the head. He said given enough time, they'll even devour the bones. Coyotes are cleaning up what would otherwise be a big mess. You'll never catch me shooting them.

The trail camera is actually spooking them at times. I think there's a little light that shines when it records at night. You can see them suddenly run away in the middle of a video.

Africa somewhere I would have to look it up the citizens started killing and roasting and eating vultures. I guess turkeys at the store got to expensive.
Bad idea as dead animals and garbage started piling up. Diseases went viral and the govt. had to tell the idiots they were going to all die if they didn't stop killing the vultures.

[Johnny]

Originally Posted by 4thIDvet

Africa somewhere I would have to look it up the citizens started killing and roasting and eating vultures. I guess turkeys at the store got to expensive.
Bad idea as dead animals and garbage started piling up. Diseases went viral and the govt. had to tell the idiots they were going to all die if they didn't stop killing the vultures.

My opinion of vultures remains unchanged. They're Mother Nature's clean up crew (just like coyotes). You'll never catch me shooting one.

The deer carcass is a thin collection of hide, fur, tendons and bone. It has been dragged about 30' from its original location. Not much left. Wife has been bugging me to drag it away and bury it. I'm purposefully delaying knowing that by June there will be nothing left but some bones.

[bill3542]

Last summer we had a deer with chronic wasting disease running around and died up back, within 24 hours there where around 30 turkey vultures buzzing the carcass.

Between them and the other critters it was almost gone in 3 days.

[drh]

I can't see the OP photos, but my Coyotes are posting out on the corner of our property

[bill3542]

Locally here in rural SW Pennsylvania coyotes are shot on site if somebody has a rifle handy, where I work they've been spotted numerous times, we hear them yipping and howling all the time.
We don't let the cats out at night and people have reported small dogs disappearing in the day.

Around here there considered pests/vermin.

[Johnny]

Originally Posted by bill3542

Locally here in rural SW Pennsylvania coyotes are shot on site if somebody has a rifle handy, where I work they've been spotted numerous times, we hear them yipping and howling all the time.
We don't let the cats out at night and people have reported small dogs disappearing in the day.

Around here there considered pests/vermin.

We live on rural acreage.

We rarely see coyotes, but hear them at night. I'm not worried about our dogs. They're big and never left alone outside. As for our two cats, they already stay close to the house, never venturing farther than maybe 100 meters. At night, we lock the up in a "cat shed" that I built specifically for them. During the day, they can escape bad weather or predators through a small door positioned about 4' off the ground.

Around here, I don't think coyotes are a problem. They definitely could be, but so far I haven't had any issues with them. I just leave them alone.