Coyote Rule Change

[Johnsfolly]

As BH stated these are populations that need our control. The tenant of conservation as opposed to preservation it to remove some from the population to benefit all species. Coyotes are one of the main predators of fox as well as many game animals over their range. I personally would prefer to know that a relative few are being harvested to maintain a healhy population than to have animals dying due to disease or starvation. 

[tjm]

I doubt "recreational" hunting has any impact on coyote populations in Mo. The season has been open year round for as long as I can remember and we had a bounty in place for years.   Yet we have more coyotes now than 30 or 50 years ago. Studies in other states show that annual removal of 70% of coyotes will result in no reduction in overall numbers, partly because the survivors are more successful at recruitment and partly because of migration from adjacent areas.

I  do remember that in the bounty years there were no German shepherds left in this county.

[tjm]

21 hours ago, BilletHead said:

Just remember the daylight deal April first to the fifteenth. 

And the shotgun only part during deer season.

[Basfis]

I’d like to night hunt coyotes with lights in mo

 

 

[BilletHead]

4 hours ago, tjm said:

And the shotgun only part during deer season.

        During daylight hours I think you can hunt them with your deer rifle if you still have a non used deer tag. Lots of hunters also shoot furbearers that have not opened yet during deer seasons,

BilletHead

[BilletHead]

  Another deal to share,

     The BilletHead has a friend, yes contrary to belief I have a few . This guy has been a friend for along time. He is very talented and a fast learner. He has not been trapping very many years. Got a picture at the end of trapping season. He did this on two farms. If I remember right a thousand acres on each farm. He mainly targets the coyote and then he makes a few cat sets. The coons on the right and the foxes are I guess you would call them a bycatch. He does his fur right. I sold mine green. He fleshes and stretches. Then sends the fur to auction. I fuzzed out he, his daughter and grandchild from the photo. Thought you guys may like to see this. Think we need more coyotes? Are any of you this good? 

   BilletHead

[tjm]

Ton of work in that picture.

Yep, it does say using deer hunting methods in daylight only,  I missed that part out of disinterest I guess, hunting coyotes has always seemed a waste to me; either of time that could be spent trapping or of fur not prime.

[Chief Grey Bear]

On 2/18/2018 at 8:03 AM, BilletHead said:

       I will debate and address this with you Chief,

 I know why you like the coyote Chief and from what you had I understand but they are not all like the one you had. Yes the canine in the wild has it's place in the ecosystem but it has nothing but man to control it's population other than disease from over population. You are very fond of the MDC and the job it does as I am too. The MDC in it's infinite wisdom sees fit for a season and no limit on shooting them. Do the BilletHead's like the Coyote? Yes we do and sleeping on the screened in porch all winter we listen to them all night long. Do I trap and call them like I used to? No, but I do not see anything wrong with those that do. It is a fact they prey on stock. Taking some out keeps everything in balance. We don't want them in numbers like in other places. They go to war with them in Texas I have seen that when bow hunting hogs. Government hired trappers to control them. They still put out cyanide cannons down there to kill them and anything else that happens to take the bait blowing a lethal dose in the face of the animal. When I made a trip to Wyoming to bow hunt antelope on a large sheep ranch I was told to shoot every coyote and red fox I had a chance to. Never got that chance but did see many numbers of them.  Your passion is not different than the guys who want their fish protected. Take a few out is OK and if the population gets low they will be protected. Are you old enough to remember when season was closed for a few years on fox here in Missouri? I do and it opened again. Coyotes are one of the reasons we don't have many fox in places. They kill everyone they can. Predator control is a good thing. 

  BilletHead

As I'm sure you suspected, I'm not going to agree on all points. I will agree that the Coyote is an apex predator. But nature provides for that. And nature did it for hundreds of thousands of years before the European settlers arrived. Nature keeps in balance. It's man, in his infinite wisdom, that's knocks it out of balance. 

Pedator control is a feel good justification to problem created by man. It's also more of a chest thumping competition. How much skill does one really need to sit behind an electronic call? 

Coyotes also receive a ton of undeserved blame. There is zero data to support the notion that they are detrimental to fawn production. There is volumns of data that will point to rodents, small furbearers and birds as the main diet resource. 

Although walk into any doughnut shop on Saturday morning and every biologist in there will tell you different. There are far more fawns lost to farmers cutting hay. 

And the same goes for the loss of turkey and quail nestings. Skunks, coons, possums, and hogs are far more devastating. 

Now I will concede that there has been an increase in coyotes over the last few decades. And a couple of things have  perpetuated that. One has been the decline in trapping. And that decline is also contributing to the increase in population of the skunks, coons and possums. 

Other than bobcats and foxes, the coyote is one of the few predators that routinely feed of the smaller furbearer. 

I probably wouldn't have near the problem I do with it but the vast majority of the carcass are left to rot.