In article .com,
jcomeau_ictx wrote:

On Jun 20, 2:04 pm, FragileWarrior
wrote:
Animals cycle. If you don't have many coyotes this year, you'll have a lot
of other animals, ie: rabbits, etc. Next year you will have a lot of
whatever feeds on the animals that didn't have enough natural predators
this year.

Understood. I'd like to get some idea what caused the downtrend this
year. There just aren't any other predators I know of which could take
the coyote's place in the local ecosystem, especially with regard to
rabbits. Until my crossbow skills improve, I'm afraid the jackrabbits
and cottontails are just going to proliferate until every green thing
is turned into pellets.

Prey and predator cycles are interrelated. We get a big boom of
bunnies every seven years here in Alaska. Bunnies boom, then the
predators boom. Then they all crap out while populations rebuild.

Coyotes and wolves will control the number of pups born in a
particular year, depending on the level of their food source.

If the food source (protein base) is really low, the alpha bitch in
a wolf pack may only have two pups. In a fat year, she'll have a half
dozen or more.

Everything is connected to everything else. Pull on one thread and
you pull on the whole system.

Jan in Alaska
beef cattle rancher

PS: The only predators on our ranch that kill our calves are the
neighbor gal's dogs. The wolves, coyotes, black bears, brown bears
and various raptors & corvids (except for magpies) don't bother our
calves. We keep a .25-06 hanging in the barn for dogs.

Ah, since this is the gardening group, my brassicas are enjoying
our hot weather. It was 78F. here yesterday. Insufferably hot.
We're hoping for better weather soon. And a little rain.