“They’re going to try it in every Western state,” he said. “These anti-hunters will stop at nothing.”…
http://www.rgj.com/story/news/2015/02/17/critics-try-ban-coyote-hunting-contests/23525621/
by Jeff DeLong, RGJ
Critics of coyote hunting contests hope to ban the controversial practice in Nevada, insisting it amounts to little more than wanton slaughter of wildlife.
Hunters counter that it is a legally protected sport that may help keep in check a soaring coyote population increasingly posing threats to livestock, pets and people.
Don Molde of Reno and Fred Voltz of Carson City have petitioned the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners for regulatory changes that would outlaw contests awarding cash or other prizes for killing coyotes.
Molde, of Nevadans for Responsible Wildlife Management, moved to change Nevada regulations after a “coyote calling contest” was conducted in the North Valleys outside Reno in December, generating controversy and drawing national media attention.
“Somebody has to do something. These contests are outrageous,” Molde said. “It is the willful killing of wildlife just for the fun of it. It’s just not right.”
Across the West, the coyote is classified as an unprotected animal. They can be hunted without a license or permit, shot on sight, and there’s no limit on the number that can be killed at one time.
Last December’s coyote call in the North Valleys was a small affair, with only 10 coyotes killed, according to organizers. Others are huge. During the 2013 World Coyote Calling Championship in Elko, 110 two-person hunting teams killed more than 300 coyotes.
Jason Schroeder, a heavy equipment mechanic who organized December’s contest, called controversy over the event unjustified and predicted efforts to ban such contests in Nevada will “never fly.”
“They are entitled to their opinion, and we’re entitled to ours,” Schroeder said. “The law says you can hunt coyotes on public land and that’s what we’ve done.”
Coyotes clearly pose a mounting problem, Schroeder said, adding that three dens of coyotes are now living on his Lemmon Valley property.
“Coyotes are moving out of the wild and into town,” he said. “Coyotes are biting people right now. They are attacking people’s animals.”
But hunting contests are not an effective method of controlling coyote populations, said Camille Fox, executive director of Project Coyote, the organization that successfully petitioned the California Fish and Game Commission to ban coyote hunting contests. California law still allows hunters to shoot as many of the predators as they wish year-round but outlaws the awarding of prizes.
Fox points to studies indicating that coyote hunts have only short-lived effectiveness at best in controlling coyote populations due to the animal’s natural resiliency. Other non-lethal steps can protect livestock and other animals from coyotes, including better fencing and use of guard dogs, she said.
Hunt contests should be outlawed simply as a matter of decency, Fox said.
“Like dogfighting and cockfighting, killing contests are an archaic tradition that really should be left to the history books,” Fox said. “We’re increasingly seeing a backlash against these contests. I do think the American public is fairly outraged by this practice.”
Rick Gipson, who shot his first coyote at age 6, is observing the debate unfold from his home in Boise, Idaho. Gipson has participated in numerous coyote hunting contests over the years, including three world championships like the one held in Elko in 2013.
“The contests are getting larger and the take is getting larger but it’s not getting close to controlling them,” Gipson said, adding that the contests account for a only small percentage of coyotes being killed.
Coyotes are trapped, poisoned and shot from the air by government hunters, yet numbers continue to grow, Gipson said.
“These animals have survived persecution for 200 years and they’ve flourished,” Gipson said. “We’ve been doing this for decades and we’re not even coming close to slowing them down. They just keep coming.”
The successful ban in California and proposals now being discussed in Nevada and New Mexico are bound to be followed by other states, said Gipson, describing the effort as part of a larger anti-hunting agenda.
“They’re going to try it in every Western state,” he said. “These anti-hunters will stop at nothing.”
Fox acknowledges the proposed ban will likely face steep opposition in Nevada.
“It’s not going to be an easy process there,” she said.
Maybe so, said Molde, who said he wants the discussion to occur in any case.
“This board of wildlife commissioners is not going to get into this unless they are forced to,” Molde said. “Either way, we get them on the record.”
COYOTE CONTEST BAN PROPOSAL
WHAT: Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners.
WHEN: 8:30 a.m. March 20.
WHERE: Sierra Building, Room 198, Truckee Meadows Community College, 7000 Dandini, Blvd., Reno.
Exposing the Big Game 
Reblogged this on Wolf Is My Soul.
Coyotes Part of Healthy Wildlife Ecology: Stop Killing Them Stupid Hunters and Ranchers:
Coyotes: Good for and Natural Part of Wildlife Ecology, So Stop Killing Them: Cattle, Bison, Hares & Coyotes Ecology: Utah State University research sheds light on wildlife and cattle on public rangeland (Henry Mountains) in Utah. Ranchers were complaining about competing with bison for grass (on public land) when it was hares that ate almost 3 times (34%) as much grass as bison (13%), while cattle ate 52% of the public land grasses. Guess what controls the hare population: coyotes. Ranchers brightly concluded that the state should stop killing coyotes. Utah has been on a campaign of killing coyotes. The real problems are ranchers, hunters and wildlife agencies not understanding wildlife ecology as it pertains to coyotes, and about everything else for that matter. Ranchers and farmers and hunters have declared war on wildlife since the dawn of civilization. In the recent times, it is ranchers, farmers, hunters encroaching on wildlife with their “entitlements” and complaining about wildlife competing with them, on public land! Ranchers on public land should not complain about wildlife or displace it, or ask wildlife services to kill wildlife for them. Ranchers have this sense of entitlement and sense of specialness, like hunters and trappers, and little understanding of wildlife ecology. The wildlife agencies also need to focus on ecology and their “management” mentality of working for hunters and ranchers; instead of focusing on target animals versus wildlife ecology. Between ranching and hunting and trapping and agriculture and wildlife agency mismanagement, balanced wildlife ecology is severely stressed.
Coyote and Wolf Jihad, Trophy Hunting, Trapping, Game Farming, Animal Farming (AKA Ranching)
Utah has hired professional shooters to kill coyotes and have killed over 7000. And coyote killing and wolf killing contests have occurred in ID and are proposed for Montana and elsewhere. It seems like a violation of public trust for state and wildlife agencies and BLM and national forests to be allowing, condoning, mass killing of wildlife for entertainment or to drive down populations which is probably counter productive. Idaho and New Mexico and other states have had killing contests of wolves and coyotes. It seems that the federal agencies and state agencies are out of control and out of sync with the general public and are just working for ranchers, farmers, hunters and trappers. What do contests like this say about the human race? Major elements of us are as barbaric as ever. It does show that major elements of the human population are, my opinion, subhuman. Looking at what humans are doing to animals around the world and to the environment points to the Anthropocine Extinction. Half the world’s mammals have disappeared in the past 40 years animal farming, aka ranching, continues encroachment at an alarming rate eating up more and more wilderness. It is an absurd concept that man has “created God” in his own image and elevates himself above the rest of the animals on earth and puts himself at the center of the universe. Mankind is a disease of the Earth.