Georgia, like so many other states, already employs a year round hunting season on Coyotes..................Now Georgia Officials have upped the ante further on this misguided persecution paradigm by instituting a special GEORGIA COYOTE CHALLENGE which is underway currently and running through August..............The incentive to hunters is that if they kill the most Coyotes, they will be awarded a lifetime State hunting license.................Berry College biology professor Chris Mowry's voice is not being listened to as he puts forward the scientific fact that THE MORE WE KILL COYOTES, THE MORE COYOTES WE END UP ..........The scientific literature is definitive on this wildlife paradigm and one of the top Coyote biologists on the east coast,our friend and Massachusetts based Jon Way revealed the following researching Coyotes on Cape Cod in 2009---------"Following the death of the Centerville, Mass. breeding male, two other radio-collared Coywolves(a young male from the original Centerville pack and a young female from a bordering pack)shifted their respective territories to overlap the majority of the original Centerville pack’s territory"........................ "These two groups were the same size as the original pack (three or four individuals each) but occupied smaller territories(5.28 km2 and 12.70 km2) within the previous pack’s territory",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,. "The combined density for the two new packs was estimated at 0.33–0.45 individuals/km2 or 2.2 times greater than the former pack’s density and was 2.5 times(0.38–0.50 individuals/km2) greater when accounting for the slight(12%) overlap between the territories of the two new packs"......................... "Our results suggest that local Coyote/Coywolf density (i.e., at the pack level) may increase following the death of the breeding male of a given pack, probably because of the reduced (or lack of) protection of territorial boundaries"................... "This finding has particular relevance to Coyote/Coywolf management programs aimed at reducing local densities via removal of individuals from these populations"

https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=http://www.northwestgeorgianews.com/rome/news/local/coyote-program-angers-berry-professor-state-offering-incentives-to-reduce/article_f9593e28-0242-11e7-a551-2317c2ddda24.html&ct=ga&cd=CAEYBSoUMTQ3NzM1NjQ4NDQzMDUyOTE2NTEyGmY1MDlhNmI0NGUzZGM2ODk6Y29tOmVuOlVT&usg=AFQjCNG1xafLLlY6mObsPAuRH0ByixHGww

Coyote program angers Berry professor; state offering incentives to reduce coyote population

Berry College professor Chris Mowry is howling mad with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources for its spring and summer initiative to reduce the coyote population across the state. The Georgia Coyote Challenge started March 1 and continues through August.

Hunters will earn an opportunity to win a lifetime hunting license from the DNR.

“From a scientific perspective we believe that removing predators is not a good idea; it disrupts the balance of the ecosystem,” Mowry said. “Secondly we feel like it’s inhumane. There is already open season on coyotes year-round.

Mowry said coyotes have essentially filled a void left by the removal of red wolves from the Southeast.

Area participants in the DNR’s Coyote Challenge must bring coyote carcasses to the regional Game Management office, 2592 Floyd Springs Road, Armuchee, from Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Participants can submit up to five coyotes for five entries in the drawing in a single month.

“To incentivize people going out and killing coyotes just for the chance to win a prize of a lifetime hunting license, I just don’t agree with,” Mowry added.

DNR Region I Game Management Supervisor Chuck Waters said the hunts may help focus attention on taking coyotes during the time of year when they have the most impact on other wildlife.

Mowry, who has directed the Atlanta Coyote Project from Berry College since 2014, said no one really knows how large the coyote population has become.

Eastern Coyotes can be black, brown, blonde and gray

“Predators, when left alone, will control their own populations,” Mowry said. “It appears to us as if it’s just an attempt to raise deer numbers. There’s no good data that indicates that is the case, and do we really need more deer?”

Waters said there is ample evidence linking the impact of coyote predation to fawn survival.

“There is also documentation of their impact on eggs from turkeys and even sea turtles,” Waters said.

Coyotes exist in every county across the state and have adapted to virtually every type of habitat, according to the DNR.

Mowry said coyotes have essentially filled a void left by the removal of red wolves from the Southeast.

Area participants in the DNR’s Coyote Challenge must bring coyote carcasses to the regional Game Management office, 2592 Floyd Springs Road, Armuchee, from Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Participants can submit up to five coyotes for five entries in the drawing in a single month

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http://easterncoyoteresearch.com/downloads/PackDensityDoubles01_09019_Way.pdf

Coywolf,Canislatrans×lycaon, Pack Density Doubles

Following

the Death of aResident Territorial Male

2009

We studied a subset of four radio-collared individualsthat were a part of a largerstudy documenting Coywolf (Canislatrans× lycaon; Eastern Coyote) ecology in an urbanized landscape (Cape Cod, Massachusetts), and report on the territory of a typical pack of 3-4 animals.

 Following the death ofthe breeding male, two other radio-collared

Coywolves(a youngmale fromthe originalCenterville pack and a young female froma bordering pack)shifted their respectiveterritories to overlap the majority of the original Centerville pack’s territory. These two groups were the same size as theoriginal pack (three or four individuals each) but occupied smaller territories(5.28 km2 and 12.70 km2) within the previous

pack’s territory. The combined density for the two new packs was estimated at 0.33–0.45 individuals/km2 or 2.2 timesgreater than the former pack’s density and was 2.5 times(0.38–0.50 individuals/km2) greater when accounting for the slight(12%) overlap between the territories of the two new packs. Our results suggest that local Coyote/Coywolf density (i.e., atthe pack level) may increase following the death of the breeding male of a given pack, probably because of the reduced (orlack of) protection of territorial boundaries. This finding has particular relevance toCoyote/Coywolf management programs aimed at reducing local densities via removal of individuals from these populations

JONATHAN G.WAY

,BRAD C. TIMM, and ERIC G. STRAUSS