If you're like me, there's nothing more concerning that spotting a bunch of coyotes running around your property when it comes time to do a card pull on your game cameras, knowing how much damage they could do to your healthy, promising deer herd. While it's true that plenty of deer, including some big bucks, are killed by these predators every year, it's a bit of misnomer to believe they kill everything. We probably don't give deer their due credit for their willingness to survive an encounter with these predators.
As evidence of that, we present this amazing trail camera footage. Here we see at least two coyotes on the hunt for a meal when they spot a quality 10-point buck and decide to make their move. Even through the camera only capture a little bit of the actual attack, we're able to see enough to know the deer is far from helpless, as it lowers its head, switches into survival mode and sends the two predators running for the hills. And, later trail camera video proves the buck did in fact survive, seemingly didn't suffer any injuries.
While there's no question this property probably needs a little predator control, at least these hunters can find some peace in the fact their herd won't lay down for any coyote, and seem to have no problem doing some of their own management. More than likely, these coyotes bit off a bit more than they could chew when they decided to attack a buck that was this healthy, and they'll likely think twice before choosing a prey animal to target. However, footage like this does go to show these life-or-death struggles regularly play out in the woods, but humans rarely see them happen. We're fortunate to have trail cameras these days to show us what really happens in the woods we love to hunt.
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