Over the years, Coyote hunting has grown to be one of the very much controversial subjects with ranchers losing a lot of money every year due to the losses brought to them by these wild creatures. But what brings these controversies when we talk about Coyote hunting? Well, as these ranchers even struggle to find a way to maintain a reasonable balance of these creatures, the animal rights activists are also keen and pretty much determined to maintain this balance through some other ways which don’t necessarily mean to kill. However, in most states where Coyotes are thriving, the authorities have allowed hunting activities but under some law and the only popular way they are being hunted, is to track down and kill them.
Perhaps trying to regulate the natural population of these animals isn’t the only reason why some of us hunt them. In some occasions, mostly in North America, it is also considered as a sport. Hunting Coyotes as a sport is always seen as a new trend to put older types of hunting into extinction. Some hunters usually engage in this activity just because of the thrill and excitement they get when doing them. Anyway, let’s look at some of the reasons why these animals are being hunted.
Reasons for hunting down Coyotes
- Reduce Fawn killers
This is actually the main reason why many people usually think it is more important if coyotes are hunted down. Obviously, if these coyotes keep on preying at the whitetails, their population can’t grow or better yet remain stable. This is mainly because there won’t be any more fawns that reach maturity to maintain their population.
- Constantly attacking homes and farms
Coyotes are always said to be clever animals making them have the capability of rapidly adapting to their surroundings. This only means that when they don’t have any constant supply of food out there, they won’t be afraid to look for it in our homes and farms. When they do this, humans usually end up standing at the losing end with missing livestock and pets.
- They are disease spreading animals
This is also one of the serious reasons why coyotes are hunted. With their population growing out of control, Mother Nature usually finds a way of countering it with starvation and diseases. The starvation part alone is a nightmare to hunters as this only means that all the animals in the game area have already been eaten. The diseases part even poses more risk to them.
Coyotes are known to be subject to contagious diseases like trichinosis, parvo, rabies and many others. They also might be carrying parasites. These diseases can usually be passed to dogs and then to humans and this can cause serious problems when not taken care of early enough.
- Their fur
During the 70’s and the 80’s, coyote fur was very much popular and was always in high demand. The hunters always focused their attention on this and were pretty much doing very well, unlike these days. However, even though the demand for this commodity has taken a drastic decline, it still has a small spot on the market.
- Coyote as food
As crazy as this may sound, coyotes can also be hunted down as a source of food for the hunters. Coyote meat can be served whether stirred into a stew or when roasted. Actually, this could come as a great reward for the long day’s work of hunting these beasts.
Using Greyhounds for hunting Coyotes
Many hunters usually believe that it is always an ethical practice to hunt down coyotes with dogs. This is because the experience one can get while hunting with dogs is always great, more than just pursuing your quarry. It is always seen as a definition of teamwork when hunters use animals to take other animals. This clearly shows the kind of relationship that exists between human and dogs.
In Washington State, two counties namely Pierce and King made all the laws concerning these hunting activities. This saw the west-side hippies term it illegal to hunt bears and cougars using dogs. This actually gets interesting since in places like Alaska or even northern Idaho, using dogs to hunt bears and cats is a legal activity.
More often, many people who are against hunting will usually say that hunters get an unfair advantage when they use dogs to help them in hunting down coyotes and other animals. However, the bone of contention here is how each of the sides defines the word “fair”. It is always said that using hounds will give you as the hunter a better chance of identifying the age and also determine the sex of the animal being pursued. Using hounds for hunting coyotes also helps in capturing only those animals that have reached maturity and has also fulfilled their biological duty which is reproducing.
The above picture shows a hunter holding a big cougar which clearly brings out the point of hunting only mature animals. The hunted cat above, with no doubt, you can tell that it had already reproduced thus making it a target while letting the smaller ones to return to the environment and continue with their existence. This allows the ecological balance to be maintained in the game. This is the kind of selective ethical hunting that cannot be practiced in Washington.
Hunting down coyotes using dogs, however, has seen many challenges facing it and with many cases being filed against it, the final verdict is yet to be known. For now, all we need to understand is that not all of the hunters usually carry out these activities just because they hate coyotes or something. The main purpose here is to control their population just like the rest of the animals in the wild. Using the greyhounds happens to be the safest solution in this case. It might have its disadvantages but surely it serves it purpose. If there could be any other way in which this can be done without any blame games, then it better be done fast otherwise, their population might increase and go out of hand. Before we realize this, it may have been too late and we might even face a bigger problem than we thought.
