Ethics?

Lungbuster

Lungbuster

New member
I read a post about spring hunting and it got me to thinking on when some Coyote hunters quit hunting for the year. Since there are really no seasons on coyotes to regulate when a person has to stop hunting it boils down to a matter of personal preference.
To some people it may be a business decision, fur in its prime equals more money?
Others it may be a matter of ethics.
So whats your opinion?
Do you hunt them all year? and why?
Or do you only hunt them a few months out of the year and why?
Thanks.
 
I usually quit hunting coyotes in March and don't start again until mid-August. Personally, I don't own stock that needs protecting and don't like the idea of young starving in the den. That said, I have no beef with folks that do hunt all year. It's a personal decision. I like having as many animals as possible to call in late summer, early fall.
 
I stop in March myself, well I stop shooting in March. I film and call all year.

I wont hunt in the spring or summer unless it is control work. I myself dont like to leave pups in the den. I dont have a problem with those who hunt all year though. It just a matter of what each person desides to do.

Brent
 
No need to hunt all year, I'm not protecting against predation, or ADC work. I don't like the thought of pups dying in a den from dehydration. Doesn't make much sense to me to take one in the summer that might yield four or more in the fall. Too hot anyway. I use the off season for load development, target practice, and other spring varmints like ground squirrels or rabbits.
Blaze
 
I'm qutting in March. I see no sence in killing a coyote if you can't use it for anything i.e. fur sales. If a rancher called and had a problem coyote I would help him out. Also I don't see any sence in letting a bunch of pups starve to death.
 
We have a season that ends Feb 28th every year in Arkansas...I would stop shooting then anyway....makes more for the fall...and as has been said, pups need their Mommies /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
I would normally stop in march, Fortunately theres a cattle guy that dad works with who's cows are just about to calve and he wants the coyotes thinned out. So for right now, I don't have to stop. Which is good cause I need to get at least 2 coyotes for body damage testing on a couple of different rounds. The only thing that stops me is the thought of pups in a den dying cause momma aint comming back home. Theres no furmarket here cause as far as I know the DFG says you can't sell anything takin under the authority of a hunting license. Which is just fine by me cause I'm not shooting them for fur, I'm shooting them to shoot them, And who knows, someone somewhere might get a deer cause I shot a coyote.

t/c223encore.
 
In Florida where I hunt, the coyotes specialize in newborn fawns at this time of year. I guess it's a matter of perspective. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Kill the adult coyote and have the young die in the den or kill the adult coyote and have a few more fawns survive.

They stop us from all hunting on public land about now and then we have a one month turkey season in the spring we can use to kill yotes on public land.

After that they get a rest until October-November due to lack of seasons and you can't even possess a firearm on public lands here without a season, so I guess they get some free time.

Our yotes are so hard to hunt anyway I don't think that managing them by allowing them a rest in the spring and summer is going to change the population much anyway. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Our deer herd is always low on public land and in the last few years, since we started seeing a lot of coyotes we rarely see does with 2 fawns and often don't even see them with one. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Besides... Who hunts coyotes in Florida? There are just a handful of us.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

$bob$
 
I shoot coyotes all year. I'm not doing it for their fur, so I don't care what kind of coat they're wearing when they die. I do it for fun. I enjoy calling and killing coyotes. The farmers that I get to hunt on enjoy me killing them as well, I doubt that they care any more than me about pups starving in a den.

Jerrod
 
Thanks to this site and a few people here who's opinion I value, I've been quitting around March unless I get a call to hunt a problem area. I will be going this spring some with a gov trapper to learn what I can. To me it's cruel to leave pups in the den, if you kill a pair I believe you should take care of the den as well. If you're just hunting for fun try something else, there's a difference in problem coyotes and just a high number of coyotes. If a coyote is healthy and reared right they usually pose little problem, if you wound one or they lose their parents but still survive they will live the easiest way they can which means around houses with chickens and such and you helped create the problem coyote. That's just a theory of mine for what it's worth but I have no right to tell someone else how to live or hunt.
 
Uh Oh... I smell a big fight coming... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

I don't really have a dog in this race but every time you kill any female of a species you've killed a mother. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Some people have a problem with that and some don't. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

$bob$
 
“G” Swokshooter you are sure a class act!! Why don’t you tell us all about how many calves and deer you save and how your farmer buddies want them all dead. LOL Oh and how terrible coyotes are and that the only good coyote is a dead one cuz there predators and all. LMAO

Q,
 
Oh never mind. Some mind the idea of pups dying in a den, some don't. I guess I don't. Thanks for being so classy there, Q.

Jerrod
 
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I don't like the idea of pups starving to death and I want coyotes in the fall/winter with good pelts. Call me a wus but I just hate the idea of some critter suffering like that because I just wanted to kill something.
 
Good topic and I think you will get different answers from different areas. Coyotes kill 50% of the deer fawns in my area and our deer yard all winter and are very vulnerable to coyotes. I only hunt coyotes from late october to late februaury or mid March but I will kill every yote I see as a target of oportunity. I am a fur hunter but also want to protect the few deer we have here. We used to protect the deer by snaring but the antis took that away. Killing a pair of adult coyotes in the early spring is killing an entire family which is great for the deer. By spring, the coyotes have picked a home range and by killing these two territorial adults, you are protecting all of the fawns born in that territory. Coyotes have a different role here in northern Maine and they have major impacts on our game populations especially deer. Coyotes in other areas do not prey on wintering deer as much and have less of an impact on them. I think if coyotes didn't have such an impact on the few deer we have, I wouldn't shoot them as a target of chance. I always try to harvest all furbearers when prime but I will kill a yote when not prime.
 
I don't have anything in this but my nose but oh well. I believe that ethics on the pups dieing alone are determined by circumstances. i do feel bad about the little pups dieing in their den after someone has killed their parents but do to my circumstances it is justified. the places that I hunt are being hunted because the coyotes are a problem to other wildlife. where I live they are heck on deer and rabbits which both i really like to hunt . yes its sad about the poor pups but that just what has to happen sometimes.
 
I stop hunting at the end of March. Bobcat season ends March 31 and the coyotes are denning up. Let them propagate so that we have something to shoot in the fall. Time to go fishing anyways! Don
 
Just an observation from my area, we have a deer research center here and I asked one of the guys about coyote predation, they actualy did a study and found zero predation from coyotes. This was a limited area and I'm sure your area will differ but maybe not. All I know is biologist know alot more than me. A little off topic but just like bigfoot stories legends and rumors get passed along everyday, while proof is a little harder to come by.
 
Tom,

Here it's fairly common to meet hunters that have actually witnessed coyotes taking fully grown deer. They see it from their deer stands.

I've seen one take a yearling before I had a chance to stop it.

Wildlife officers encourage us to kill every one we see. Biologists are at wits end to figure out what to do.

Almost all the coyote scat you see has deer hair in it.

It ain't rocket science to figure out what's happening to our deer.

Some areas my be different.

$bob$
 
I quit at the end of March,It is starting to get rather warm.I can't see causing coyote pups to starve and die a slow death,when I can make it so quick in the fall and winter.I want to have some really dumb coyotes to call in during the next fall and winter also /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif( I need all the help I can get /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif).And besides that there are plenty of PD's to take up the slack of hunting in the off months.I also have to catch up on all my honey doos I have neglected during my calling months /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif.
 
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