Sunday, February 15, 2009

Coyote Hunting Contests - Ethical?

A point of contention in the proposed Vermont rule on retrieval and utilization is whether coyotes should be included or not.

Organized coyote hunts provide public service but some hunters ...
Pittsburgh Post Gazette - Pittsburgh,PA,USA
Jim Posewitz, executive director of Orion: The Hunters Institute, a hunting ethics group located in Montana, said that while the number of organized coyote ...

4 comments:

  1. While I don't like the spectacle of these "derbies" I don't think they make a dent on the population of coyotes. The HSUS likes to show photos of the weigh-ins as reason to stop organized hunts. I don't suppose they like it when their kitty cat doesn't come home again because some opportune coyote had lunch.

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  2. Hi Eric...thanks for stopping by www.borderlandadventures.blogspot.com I love to hear about husbands and wives hunting together. It's funny, I was thinking about doing a similiar post (Coyotes). Twice in the last week, I've been out running near our home, and came across single Coues deer legs. Since then, I've been wondering about predator control.

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  3. Jamie,
    Coyote hunting and coyote control are two different things. You hunt coyotes for the challenge and enjoyment of it, with the side benefit of a valuable fur. It is rare that enough coyotes are killed in an area to impact their prey species or their numbers in the long term. So liberal regulations on hunting and trapping coyotes makes little difference in coyote numbers.
    It you want to control coyote populations due to damage to stock or vulnerable wildlife it is a whole different deal. The only method that really reduced overall numbers was the wide spead use of coyote getters, a device that shot poison into there mouths. It not only killed coyotes but all kinds of other critters, plus the remaining coyotes reproduced like mad. A better approach for coyotes killing stock (calves/sheep) is first prevention (fencing, guard dogs, etc) then targeting specific family groups that are doing the damage. Apparently coyotes learn to feed on domestic animals and not all groups do it. So by eliminating the offenders you may get animals moving in to fill their home range that don't cause problems.

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  4. Nothing to day about this resources, just awesome

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