Quote Originally Posted by Tim_T View Post
Predator numbers are way up and I would hardly say there is an overabundance of small game with the exception of squirrels.

Also I am not sure if more deer in Kentucky are killed by vehicles but the may be when you consider that there is only a certain time of the year when you can hunt and car season is open year round. Do you by chance work in the insurance business?
The wife is in insurance in the Louisville area, and constantly getting deer strike claims. But since deer season is only a few months long and only 110k deer where taken, well tele-checked, it is safe to assume more deer are killed with vehicles than with weapons. I'm sure there is a report that can be pulled or made that would prove or disprove my assumption, but I don't know where to find it. I have read that same statement in many magazines, so who knows where they got their info.

But where are you getting the number of predators? The only natural predators that I can think of that are still in Kentucky are bobcats. Mountain lions are few and far between, bears are more herbivore than carnivore, coyotes are not native to KY, they spread here from the west when we wiped out all the wolves. Granted coyotes are abundant, and do make a dent, but considering the amount of small game that is out there, coyotes do little. Squirrels are everywhere, Rabbits, Deer, the Elk are going to soon be rampant. The only real predators, are feral dogs and cats. I know there are Hawks, eagles, snakes and other small predators, but there is no predator that really fills that small/medium to medium sized game animals.