IOWA BOWHUNTER SPRING 2024

DNR NEWS SPRING ISSUE (Cont.)

old saying - we do what is easy and accessible and in this case coyotes eat what is easy and accessible. The majority of coyote diet is mice, has been and always will be. If fact some studies show up to 90 of the diet is small rodents. What studies also show is that when fawns are on the ground for the first days of their lives they can be “easy and accessible.” This is the main reason why does leave their fawns unattended. This is an evolutionary response to protection of the young deer. What deer biologist also know is that healthy deer populations tend to have their fawns all about the same time. This technique foods the system and coyotes cannot take advantage of these vulnerable fawns for a very long period of time. When deer seasons and population become askew the fawning season is draw out over a longer time frame and makes more fawns available to coyotes. Once the fawning season is over the coyotes will shift quickly back to rodents because they are easy and accessible. Coyotes can also have an impact on stressed deer during the winter time. Deep snows are crusted snows may hinder movement of deer while coyotes are

still able to hunt successfully and take advantage of this limited opportunity. Hope that answers the question and please send me another. EHD - The Iowa DNR annually looks at the range and distribution of epizootic hemorrhagic disease in Iowa and around the Midwest. With the extreme drought we have all been experiencing this year people have been calling the office wondering how bad it was going to be. It appears that the drought and hot weather did not show a marked increase in most parts of the State. This may be because the drought happened early and many of the midges breeding areas were too dry. We did see an uptick in reports later in September. To date we have had about 230 suspect reported cases and a few confirmed cases (we do not test every animal submitted). Most counties reported only a small number of cases, however it does appear that southeast Iowa seems to be the area with the highest outbreak. EHD tends to show up in one area of the state at a time and it can be several years before it will show up in that area again due to some immunity build up in the whitetails.

Suspect HD Reports - 2023

Worth

Lyon

Osceola Dickinson Emmet

Kossuth Winnebago

Mitchell

Howard Winneshiek Allamakee

1

Sioux

O’Brien

Clay

Palo Alto

Hancock Cerro Gordo

1,876 Total Reports (11/24)

Floyd

Chickasaw

6

4

Fayette

Clayton

1 130

Plymouth

Cherokee Buena Vista Pocahontas Humboldt

Wright

Franklin

Butler

Bremer

2

3

6

6

2

Buchanan Delaware Dubuque

Black Hawk

Webster

Woodbury

Ida

Sac

Calhoun

Hamilton Hardin

Grundy

3

3

6

1

8

7

1

7

13

1

Benton

Linn

Jones

Jackson

Tama

9

Monona

Crawford

Carroll

Greene

Boone

Story

Marshall

7

4

9

7

15

3

1

5

6

2

Clinton

4

Cedar

Poweshiek

Iowa 69

Johnson

Harrison

Shelby Audubon Guthrie 4 34 50

Dallas

Polk

Jasper

13

9

24

44

2

22

3

Scott

1

Muscatine

10

Mahaska

Keokuk Washington

Pottawattamie

Cass 31

Adair

Madison Warren

Marion

11

13

47

24

9

55

129

2

Louisa

52

HD Reports 0 1-15

Mills

Montgomery Adams

Union

Clarke

Lucas

Monroe

Wapello Je erson

Henry

1

48

21

35

29

20

48

36

68 163

Des Moines

20

Freemont

Page

Taylor

Ringgold

Decatur

Wayne Appanoose

Davis

Van Buren

Lee

24 120 182

30

54

5

6

1

5

16-30 31-60 61+

22

The county mortality reports help serve as an index to outbreak intensity & do not represent a total mortality estimate.

18 IOWA BOWHUNTERS ASSOCIATION

www.iowabowhunters.org