That is a honest question, and it is one I have thought about. I watch closely over my flock when they go out at night...never alone. I lock my cat up. I look at it for the price to pay to live in the middle of nature, and I take precautionary measures. I have asked my neighbors about this as well: one who raises chickens has a Great Pyrenees....has never lost a chicken, and another who raises cattle for 35 years has never lost a calf. If I raised sheep/cattle, I would get a jenny. It happens, and I have seen videos of coyotes stealing small animals....I don't see a reason to try to kill them all which is what will happen under the current laws.

 

I think you may have a slight misunderstanding of the current laws. Current laws aren't trying to kill them all, which I'd assume you know. Instead they have declared coyotes a pest species, which places them on a year-round open season for hunting and harvesting. And that's not just an open-ended declaration. Fish and Wildlife is cyclically going back and evaluating coyotes, trying to put estimates on their numbers, and reviewing whether or not they should still be listed among their pest species. This isn't unlike the way that certain states or counties are labeling Bradford pears and burning bush as invasive plant species. It's not because they want to eradicate Bradford pear trees or burning bushes from the earth. It's because they have begun to proliferate to the point that they're starting to overtake forests and choke out certain types of undergrowth.

 

Similarly, coyotes have proliferated too much and are wiping out parts of the natural food chain....like quail and woodcock in particular. The average litter size for a single female coyote within the contiguous United States is 7 pups. And with other large predators like bear, wolves, and mountain lions declined to the point that they have been, coyotes have become grossly overpopulated in the last 150 years, and have additionally expanded their range quite a bit from their indigenous range. Coyotes, for example, had never occurred further northeast more than parts of Pennsylvania and Maryland, and weren't found much at all in much of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida. Now they are found widely across the entirety of all the US states with the sole exception of Hawaii.

 

With coyotes' population size and expanded ranges, they have had a large negative impact on nature in North America, and they need to be checked. At this point in time, declaring a year-round open season on coyotes doesn't put them anywhere NEAR to being in danger of being wiped out.

I think you may have a slight misunderstanding of the current laws. Current laws aren't trying to kill them all, which I'd assume you know. Instead they have declared coyotes a pest species, which places them on a year-round open season for hunting and harvesting. And that's not just an open-ended declaration. Fish and Wildlife is cyclically going back and evaluating coyotes, trying to put estimates on their numbers, and reviewing whether or not they should still be listed among their pest species. This isn't unlike the way that certain states or counties are labeling Bradford pears and burning bush as invasive plant species. It's not because they want to eradicate Bradford pear trees or burning bushes from the earth. It's because they have begun to proliferate to the point that they're starting to overtake forests and choke out certain types of undergrowth.

 

Similarly, coyotes have proliferated too much and are wiping out parts of the natural food chain....like quail and woodcock in particular. The average litter size for a single female coyote within the contiguous United States is 7 pups. And with other large predators like bear, wolves, and mountain lions declined to the point that they have been, coyotes have become grossly overpopulated in the last 150 years, and have additionally expanded their range quite a bit from their indigenous range. Coyotes, for example, had never occurred further northeast more than parts of Pennsylvania and Maryland, and weren't found much at all in much of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida. Now they are found widely across the entirety of all the US states with the sole exception of Hawaii.

 

With coyotes' population size and expanded ranges, they have had a large negative impact on nature in North America, and they need to be checked. At this point in time, declaring a year-round open season on coyotes doesn't put them anywhere NEAR to being in danger of being wiped out.

 

 

ha ha...you said...nevermind...

CWB, i have probably greater than a slight misunderstanding of the current laws. :whistling: However, I do realize they are treated as pests and vermin, and in many senses they are. However, not that we can turn back the hands of time, but mankind has over-developed, over-farmed, basically wasting nature, destroying habitat, losing species then having to kill the ones that the species lost used to kill. We throw away food, pay people NOT to plant...insanity. So please overlook me while I rant and complain.

Just had a conversation last night. If you knew taking a shot at a coyote may screw up your deer hunt for a while, do you still take him? Answer was 100% yes.

 

I actually don't. My hunting time is limited anymore so I won't mess up my hunt to shoot a coyote.

We hear them at night but I don't think Mr. lawildcat has ever seen one roaming while he's out hunting. We have seen tracks and droppings though.

Well, in the grand scheme of things, they have no natural predator here except us. Without that check, I think you'd see an increase that would be alarming. With that in mind, I whack the ones I see. They are the one animal that I don't do anything with. However, a winter cape is pretty cool and I've thought often of tanning one.

Well, in the grand scheme of things, they have no natural predator here except us. Without that check, I think you'd see an increase that would be alarming. With that in mind, I whack the ones I see. They are the one animal that I don't do anything with. However, a winter cape is pretty cool and I've thought often of tanning one.

 

I used to hear of people selling their skins/fur. Is that not common anymore? I have heard of people using fox fur, didn't know if coyotes would work as well to.

 

As far as doing anything with them, a friend of mine who is a pretty strick, "you kill it, you eat it" type, tried to eat the meat one time but just couldn't do it. He said the taste was just too bad. He has heard of people using the meat from ferral pigs to make dog food so he has thought about trying that.

I used to hear of people selling their skins/fur. Is that not common anymore? I have heard of people using fox fur, didn't know if coyotes would work as well to.

 

As far as doing anything with them, a friend of mine who is a pretty strick, "you kill it, you eat it" type, tried to eat the meat one time but just couldn't do it. He said the taste was just too bad. He has heard of people using the meat from ferral pigs to make dog food so he has thought about trying that.

No chance I try that. None.

Me neither. Yuck.

I have a buddy who traps in NC and he sells the coyotes. Sometimes he gets $50 or so for the pelt if it is perfect. He actually mounted one in a resting position and has it in his living room. It looks cool but startles me sometimes when I walk past it.

I have a buddy who traps in NC and he sells the coyotes. Sometimes he gets $50 or so for the pelt if it is perfect. He actually mounted one in a resting position and has it in his living room. It looks cool but startles me sometimes when I walk past it.

 

How much work is it to get the pelt from a coyote? In other words, too much work for $50?

I think he sold the whole carcass and let the buyer do the work. Seems like he said a red fox brings a little more money.

I think he sold the whole carcass and let the buyer do the work. Seems like he said a red fox brings a little more money.

 

Oh, that seem like a no brainer to do then.

Absolutely understand the need to thin these guys out.......but for some reason, seeing a "dog type species" go down always seems to bother me a little....

 

With that said......hopefully the 14 pointer visits my line of sight Saturday

I shoot everyone I see along with several other types of varmints that eat eggs of turkey, quail, etc.. I went outside the other evening and it sounded like 50 of them from all sides going back and forth yelping. As soon as deer season ends I'm investing in better calls to hunt them. If nothing else it's more time in the woods where I could stay all day if given the chance. Nothing like being in the outdoors.