Utah Pays $380,000 In Bounty Money For Coyote Scalps In Effort To Reduce Mule Deer Fawn Mortality
By Ben Romans;field and stream.com
In its first year, Utah's General Predator Control Program, a coyote-bounty program intended to decrease mule deer fawn mortality, issued $380,950 to hunters and collected 7,160 coyotes—almost 4,800 more coyotes than average.
In 2012, Utah legislators set aside $500,000 from the state's general fund to finance the program, which rewarded hunters about $50 for each coyote harvested. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) set up 19 stations statewide where hunters could collect payment after submitting a coyote scalp with two ears attached, the lower jaw and a simple datasheet documenting where the coyote was killed. Since the DWR began accepting coyotes for payment on September 3, 2012, 1,055 people participated, though most submitted low numbers of coyotes. Of that number, 60 participants (less than 6%) submitted 25 or more coyotes apiece.
A press release from the DWR says it's too early to know the impact of the program, but since mule deer fawns are especially vulnerable to predators, the agency was concerned only 13 percent of the coyotes killed were in summer ranges where deer have give birth to fawns.
In future years, the DWR will analyze data to determine if there is a correlation between the number of coyotes killed and the fawn-to-doe ratio, and also to determine if the state's average fawn-to-doe ratio increases while the program is in place.
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1 comment:
I'm personally not against hunting done responsibly and making real use of the game killed(i. e. EATING it!) and with respect and understanding of the animals hunted as well as respect for the entire ecosystem. But the problem with a lot of "hunting" now is that it has become more like FARMING--planting crops for deer, baiting/feeding them artificially(and constantly!), investing in "deer stands" that are better furnished than my house, etc., etc.,! Not that any of this is necessarily WRONG, but it does create the same perspective a farmer or rancher has regarding THEIR livestock, where ANY predator losses are not to be tolerated! This is NOT the attitude(in my opinion) that should be developed regarding WILD ANIMALS! This possesiveness over deer often leads to conflicts between competing HUMAN hunters(in incidents I have seen/know about) as well as animal predators! Makes one wonder if deer in North America will, in the eons to come(if there ARE eons to come....)will become semi-domesticated and tended almost like Reindeer in Northern Europe!....L.B.
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