The folks in Delaware are no more enlightened about co-existing with Coyotes than their counterparts are in the Great Lakes and Rocky Mtn States as it relates to co-existing with Wolves..........With at most 100 Coyotes in the state, the Delaware Division of Natural Resources wants to allow hunting and trapping from November thru February............There is no concern that Coyotes breed in late Jan and Feb and that pregnant females will be killed..............There is no positive outlook on the fact that Coyotes would provide excellent rodent and small mammal control for farmers......There is no understanding that Delaware's forests are denuded due to lack of Carnivores(and overabundance of deer)........... That the Coyotes are in their State now because the Wolves and Pumas that used to call Delaware home were blasted into oblivion, thus allowing Coyotes to march east to attempt fulfill some of those extirpated carnivores ecological roles................All you hear is fear,anger and outrage that the Delaware woodlands will come alive again with some wildness,,,,,,,,and thus cause farmers to have to be more vigilant with their livestock and hunters to become more skilled so as to compete effectively for their bounty................Will we ever mature as a society and allow all of natures creation to walk the earth beside us?

Delaware's wily way around

 coyote problem

Written by

James Fisher

delawareonline.co

DOVER — State officials
in charge of writing 

the guidelines that will govern
 coyote hunting

 and trapping made it clear
they are not aiming 

to eradicate the canine

“Some
folks 
are
 going to 
value this animal for

 its ecosystem functions.
Others don’t want
any of them here,”

 said Joe Rogerson,

 a game biologist with
 the Delaware Division

 of Fish and Wildlife. 
The state’s forthcoming 

rules, Rogerson said, 
will aim to manage coyotes,

 but not wipe them out.

Several people who spoke
 at Wednesday’s

 public hearing, held to
 take comment on

 proposed hunting and
trapping changes, 

asked the state to go further.

“I would like to see us do
whatever

 we can to eliminate the
coyote,”

 said Bob Walls, of Milford,
 a rabbit hunter.

Hunters and farmers have 
spent years pressing

 state lawmakers and
environmental officials to 

open the door to a hunting
and trapping season 

for coyote, much like the 
deer-hunting

 season.

Lawmakers from Kent
and Sussex counties

 tried to pass a bill two
 years ago that would

 allow coyotes to be
shot year-round, as a

 species deemed “not
 protected” by any 

conservation laws.

That effort’s supporters
 said they didn’t 

expect to eradicate
coyotes in Delaware,

 but it was still an
 outcome they’d be fine

 with. “I became
 concerned this was a 

predator we didn’t
need in the state of 

Delaware,” Rep.
Dave Wilson,

 R-Bridgeville, said
 last month of

 his push to legalize
 coyote hunting.

That approach failed
 to pass in the

 Legislature in 2011.
So in 2012, 

many of the same
 lawmakers succeeded

 in passing a bill directing
 state to draw

 up a managed coyote
 hunting and trapping

 season, which the
 Department of Natural 

Resources and Environmental
 Control is doing now.

The department is proposing
to allow four

 months of coyote hunting,
from November

 through February, and a
 trapping season

 lasting from Dec. 1 to
March 10. All the 

surrounding states allow it.
Virginia has

 the most liberalized rules,
 allowing 

year-round coyote hunting
and trapping.

Rogerson said biologists estimate there are 50
to 100 coyotes in

 Delaware, and that roads crews pick up one
or two specimens 

a year after they’re struck and killed by cars.
 Coyotes took their

 time coming east of the Chesapeake Bay and
 south of the canal,

 with Delaware one of the last states to
 document their presence.

Hunters at the hearing said rising coyote
numbers in nearby states

 were culling so many deer, it was more
 difficult to track does and

 bucks, and they worried that would happen
 in Delaware. Farmers 

fear coyotes could menace livestock –
 or people.

Rogerson said coyotes will eat discarded
 garbage if they can get it.

 But he said coyotes almost never prey on
 humans, with only about

 five attacks a year recorded across the
country. “Technically, you 

should be more concerned about a domestic
 dog than a negative 

encounter with a coyote,” Rogerson said.

Delaware Action for Animals’ Cathy Rash
argued against any coyote

 hunting or trapping season, saying they
 keep deer and rodent 

 populations in check.