Rachael L. Houchin
M.S., Texas Tech University, 2005
During 2000-2002 turkey survival across the 4 sites was about 50%. Coyotes were the most frequently cited predators of Rio Grande wild turkeys during the first 3 years of our study, identified in 147 out of 313 (47%) predation events. We wanted to further study the impact of coyotes on adult (>1 year old) and juvenile (6 months to 1 year old) Rio Grande wild turkeys in the Texas Panhandle and Southwestern Kansas, by examining and comparing relative abundances and food habits of coyotes at our four study sites. To estimate relative abundance of carnivore species at our study sites, we used scent stations as our primary method and scat surveys as a secondary method to corroborate scent stations. We examined the food habits of coyotes at our study sites through scat analysis, using scats collected from our scat surveys. Proportions of prey species were expressed using percent of scats (POS) and percent of occurrence (POO). Diet composition of coyote scats (n = 374) consisted of 27 prey types, primarily small mammal species (n = 11) and vegetation (n = 8), followed by large mammal species (n = 3), medium mammal species (n = 2), avian species (n = 2), reptiles (n = 1), and insects (n = 1). Prey occurrences were primarily small- and medium-sized mammals. The most common prey occurrence across all sites and seasons was Eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus), identified in scats at all sites. White-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus), deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus), and hispid cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus) were the most common prey types in the small mammal prey category. We detected avian species in 12 coyote scats. Turkey was <1% of all food items.
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