Sponsors of a monthlong coyote hunting contest planned for February canceled the event. Series11 sporting goods store and the Weston Rod & Gun Club in southern Vermont cited a lack of interest in a posting on social media.
Meanwhile a different coyote hunting contest, for the weekend of February 10 and 11, is being sponsored by the Green Mountain Houndsmen Club in Franklin County, according to Protect Our Wildlife, a Stowe-based nonprofit.
The Stowe organization is one of several animal rights groups pressing Vermont lawmakers and state Fish & Wildlife Commissioner Louis Porter to ban coyote hunts on the grounds that they promote senseless killing of animals that no one wants to eat.
Green Mountain Animal Defenders circulated a petition to ban coyote hunting in Vermont and called the Series11 planned hunt a “killing spree.” The petition, on change.org, had attracted almost 8,000 signatures as of Thursday afternoon, although many of those were from people who live outside Vermont.
Opponents of coyote hunting contests have also asked Vermont landowners to post their property to prohibit all hunting as a way to pressure the state to take action against the coyote contests.
Series11 sells guns and other goods in Londonderry. A message posted on the store’s Facebook page Wednesday said the hunt was canceled due to lack of participants. The decision had nothing to do with pressure from activists, according to the posts on the page.
A man who answered the phone at Series11 Thursday said only four people signed up. He declined to give his name and reemphasized that protests against the hunt played no role in the cancellation.
Supporters of the hunts say they reduce coyote attacks on Vermont’s deer herd and help keep the thriving coyote population from spilling into residential areas where the animals sometimes prey on cats and dogs or scare people.
Vermont has an open season on coyotes, meaning they can be hunted anytime.
Critics say that’s cruel and that coyotes are often killed in a particularly brutal fashion, including being clubbed. “I don’t think there is any animal that is treated more terribly than coyotes,” said Brenna Galdenzi, president of Protect Our Wildlife. “There is a deep hatred for these animals by hunters and they are just treated without mercy.”
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Mike Covey obviously doesn’t understand what a victim is. Hint: it’s not the hunters.
Any heritage that embraces hate and victimization has no place in a modern evolved society.
Coyote contests are unnecessary cruel bloodsports killing for thrill that serve no purpose in our society, these contests are Not hunting, Not management, Not Conservation, just ignorance and hatred wanton killing with no respect toward A Species,
Stop this sickness
I will never understand the mentality behind the senseless slaughter of any animal. It is beyond comprehension. There is simply no logical justification for for these contests. Period. Im a 6th generation Vermonter who vehemently opposes the wanton waste of our precious wildlife.
These killing contests are nothing more than a sanctioned lynch mob. Someone claims they eat coyote and it tastes like lamb. I’ll pass, thank you. But if so, good for you. At least you’re utilizing the animal; however, you are vastly outnumbered by those who simply like to get out there and pick off as many ‘yotes as possible. Just because it’s fun. It’s obvious that the objections to the whole concept of these “contests” have hit a nerve; because now the self-described “sporting conservationists” are comparing themselves to oppressed minorities. Wow. What’s next? #MeToo4Hunters?
If genocide is deemed an unacceptable and barbaric act in today’s society, then so is any type of “contest” killing.
I grew up in a world where the norm is to coexist with my fellow humans, despite their differences with respect to race, ethnicity, gender, age, religious beliefs, sexual preference, etc. So it’s just natural for me to extend that same cooperative spirit toward our wild cohabitants. Including predatory organisms.
A study on radio-collared coyotes showed they ate mostly groundhogs, mice, berries. While some showed no interest, some fed on fawns until they were a month old when fawns could outrun them. Every adult deer the coyotes killed was already severely injured (i.e., by car collisions and would have died anyway). Since coyotes and foxes tend to be competing species, foxes tend to live closer to humans and coyotes try to live further away. If people let their pets out without fences then predation is just one of many risks they may need to face. My parents never thought about fences and all of our cats were hit by cars, though we lived with dense wildlife populations. Providing security is a responsibility of every pet/livestock owner. Hunting coyotes is generally not ethical hunting. Most are killed after being run by packs of hounds; pitting one animal against 6 hounds. No animal can outrun a pack of hounds. It is cruel and inhumane. We have all seen pictures of panic-stricken coyotes in leg-hold traps being taunted and bullied with rocks. Not ethical hunting. Coyotes don’t have complex thoughts to know why we are treating them so, why we are using them as live bait to draw the rest of the pack members when they hear distress calls, so we can shoot them as they come out of the woods. Landowners have one option: Post. Sometimes this does not always work as hunters walked between our no hunting signs to shoot a coyote hounds were mauling on our front lawn, 30 feet from our house. So if you have ethics and morals post your land until Vermont says no to all blood sports. Fight for these animals against brutality until we have only ethical hunting in Vermont.
Sadly, when the opposition feels under attack, they resort to misinformation and scare tactics. I have made it quite clear that if someone is to eat meat, that hunting a turkey, deer, duck or other game animal, is much less inhumane than eating factory farmed meat. Protect Our Wildlife does not oppose subsistence hunting if the animal is killed as humanely and quickly as possible, with the utmost respect for the life taken. That is not the case with coyotes.
POW has opposed Mike Covey on various issues related to trapping and we will continue to do so. As a trapper, he is desperate to garner support from the hunting community by convincing them if limits are placed on trapping, a ban on hunting will be next. That would be laughable, if people didn’t actually fall for it. {Warning: don’t fall for it.}
Wildlife advocates have urged landowners to post their land in protest of poor wildlife policy that allows such depraved activity. Landowners still have the right to allow hunting by permission only, but it keeps the likes of those who participate in killing contests off their land.
Coyote killing contests that offer cash and prizes for the biggest and smallest coyotes is something we should all be able to come together and oppose. It’s bad for wildlife and it’s bad for Vermont’s image.
Thank goodness that this contest hunt was cancelled and that it drew so few participants – these contests should not be considered hunts, and anyone who respects fair chase and other aspects of ethical hunting should oppose them. The fact that another contest is in the works is evidence that the F&W Department and the state legislature must act to prohibit these archaic excuses for entertainment (they’re certainly not wildlife management). They’re bad for wildlife and bad for the image of Vermont (and hunting). While they’re at it, they should show some respect – and understanding – for the wily coyote and create an actual season, closed while the animals are bearing and raising young.
Great news that the first coyote killing contest noted has been canceled! Hopefully the one scheduled for February 10th and 11th will be as well. I can’t believe that Fish and Wildlife allows these barbaric contests to take place. Killing for fun is morally wrong and these contests should be banned . It is equally barbaric that F&W allows an open season on these animals.
Posting ones land is an individual land owners right. It always surprised me that the same people that exult the virtues of state rights, libertarian values, individualism and non interventionism, are all of a sudden up and arms about individual tax paying land owners posting their own land to prevent strangers from killing wildlife on their property. But hypocrisy is always on the menu when it comes to killing animals. Killing coyotes for fun is morally, ethically and mentally wrong. We are society of laws. And we have to have laws to prevent the worst of humanity from acting out their repressed carnal instincts. Until the Fish and Wildlife Dept can see past their profit motive, we have to take action by posting our land. There is no better motivator than a senseless thrill killing contest of coyotes for someone to POST YOUR LAND to prevent this from happening.