Coyote Hunting

A Minnesota house representative, Torrey Westrom would like to bring back a bit of the old days. He has heard from some hunters that really liked the old days, 60s and early 70s, when they were able to shoot wolves from helicopters. He has introduced a proposal that would allow the hunting of coyotes from helicopters and from stationary snowmobiles.

“I want to bring back something that younger generations have never had the chance to experience,” said Westrom, from Elbow Lake.

The North Carolina Wildlife Commission has a new proposal for the public to weigh in on. Residential areas have had pets killed or injured by coyotes in recent months, so the commission has proposed to allow coyote hunting on Sunday nights, with bows and arrows on private land.

In the next couple of weeks public meetings will be held on how best to deal with the pressing coyote problems. This proposal may or may not come to pass, but it will put the spotlight on managing coyotes.

In 2004 Leavenworth, Kansas city council approved bowhunting for deer in certain areas to help manage the deer/human run-ins. Now on the ballot, to be voted on November 22nd, is a proposed ordinance to add coyotes to the bowhunt in town.

Some residents had contacted the commission with concerns about the coyotes. Those opposed say that the coyotes are not a threat or that domestic dogs may be mistaken for coyotes.

The National Science Foundation gave academia $800,000 to work on smart collars for wildlife. Smart collars will be the next phase in collars, but will be able to do much more than just track wildlife. GPS will be built into the collars, and along with tracking there will be accelerometers to track the animal's metabolic inner life. This will track what the animal is doing, eating, running, sleeping, etc.