Video: Deer Herd Fights for Survival Against Coyote Pack

Tines Up TV recently released a video that recorded an extraordinary face-off between a herd of mule deer and a large group of coyotes in southern Utah. Guide Eric Chesser had been following several large elk bulls when he saw that a pack of predators had singled out a deer fawn and was in pursuit. The elk looked on as the deer herd confronted the coyotes in a desperate battle to save one of their own.

http://youtu.be/qBKSvgf4CMA

For the last several years the number of coyotes in Utah has been rising. In addition to pushing competing predators like foxes closer to urban areas, many hunters and ranchers find these animals detrimental to wildlife and dangerous to come upon in the wild. The state recently introduced a bounty program at $50 for every confirmed coyote harvest. Wildlife officials fear that the predators will be the final straw in what appears to be a declining mule deer population, which is already grappling with bad weather and scarce food.

Hunters and trappers have since then turned in over 6,000 coyotes.

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