I read a comment just the other day and it made me just have
to answer. The person was talking about
why shoot coyotes because the person shooting them is not going to eat
them. This is just one of many
different views on why coyotes should not be shot. I just happen to take the opposite view on
whether coyotes should be shot or not.
1. There are a
very good predator and not only kill young deer but adult deer regularly. Contrary to popular belief they kill
perfectly healthy animals.
2. They kill
farm and domestic animals daily. Besides
Owls, Coyotes are the top predator for domestic cats and small dogs.
3. They carry Rabies, Mange, Distemper,
Heartworm, and others. Yes, these
diseases are transmitted to other domestic, wild animals easily, and even
humans at times.
4. It stimulates the
economy one dead coyote at a time. Their
pelts can be sold for decent money for both the hunter and fur dealer. Fuel, vehicles, firearms, clothing, footwear,
calls, etc. are purchased and used.
5.
By killing coyotes it actually increases their birth rate or "Natality",
so in a way killing coyotes will increase their population potentially. How can it be bad when shooting them
increases the numbers of offspring and increases the opportunity to kill
more. It is a situation where actually
everyone and everything wins. Well not
everything wins…the dead coyotes would have lost I guess.
-Ron Oules
Rory,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your reply to my comment on the other post and this post. I want to reiterate that while I may disagree with you, as a fellow hunter I completely respect your decision to hunt coyotes.
I would also challenge the statement that coyotes kill deer regularly. This seems misleading. If you will check out this link it explains the situation far better than I can:
http://www.deeranddeerhunting.com/biology/coyotekill
Coyotes only seem to represent a real threat to deer populations in the Northeast, not the Northwest where you live. Additionally, ethically speaking, killing coyotes to stop them from killing deer seems to imply that deer are livestock which we hunters are entitled to. I look at coyotes as fellow hunters. If they kill a deer it doesn't bother me anymore than when I hear a gun shot on my neighbor's property when I am in my deer stand. I'm perhaps a bit jealous but I don't feel like a deer has just been taken out of my freezer (I also wouldn't kill my neighbor to prevent him from taking deer I want).
I’d love to see the research on killing increasing natality rates. That seems counter-intuitive to me but I’m not a biologist.
The economic justification i.e. pelts seems the most persuasive to me, but trapping isn’t for me.
Rory - I should also give you this link:
ReplyDeletehttp://ordinary-gentlemen.com/blog/author/mikedwyer/
This is where I write. It's not all hunting related but you pick through for the outdoor stuff. There is a piece I wrote on the ethics of killing coyotes recently.
I cant say as for killing deer but as for killing antelope, I have personaly seen a coyote pulling an antelope fawn from the mother as she was giving birth, I did have a rifle and had to wait until the coyote was clear but I did shoot it but it was to late for the fawn. Our game wardens here in Arizona encourage hunting and shooting every coyote you see, especially in the antelope areas. Coyotes populations have boomed here since the ban of traps on public land so its up to the predator hunters to try and keep their numbers within reason
ReplyDeleteI see nothing wrong with taking a coyote. If they are native to an area and not threatened, it does no harm. If they are non native where you live, than they do not belong anyway.
ReplyDelete