Two bills being considered and discussed within the Joint Standing Committee of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, are more than likely going to find their way to the full House and Senate for votes.
LD1045 is a bill to establish a bounty reward for coyotes. Even though this bill is probably headed for a full vote, it has been amended and to me it is not clear as to exactly what the new proposal will be. I’m researching that now to see if I can get the particulars.
This same bill was to increase license fees in order to pay for the bounty program. According to an article in the Lewiston Sun-Journal, committee chair Bruce Bryant seems to have a different perspective on how the state needs to control, if at all, the coyote population.
“We’re not trying to eliminate coyotes. That went out a long time ago,” Bryant said. “But, we’re trying to keep them out of deer yards. This last snowfall didn’t help, because a lot of does carrying little ones were forced back into the yards, where they’re easy pickings for coyotes.”
If it is Bryant’s belief that the biggest problems that coyotes are causing comes from predation within deer yards, can we assume from this that he would be in favor of reestablishing the coyote snaring program? This method of trapping has been raved about by trappers all across Maine as the only effective method of trapping coyotes and at the same time, keeping them out of winter deer yards.
This same thought process of focusing on winter deer yards showed during discussions of the second proposed legislation, LD824
LD824 would have extended the allowable time to hunt coyote to all night all year round but that was amended to extend the night hunting period from January 1 to April 30 to May 31. Not that night hunting has any measurable success in culling the coyote population, I fail to see how extending it one month will do much good. Again, it seems clear that the only means of coyote predator control measures the committee seems to be focused on is within the winter deer yards.
A third bill, LD823, which according to committee chair Bryant was illegally written, would have instructed the commission of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to revise and alter its coyote management program. That bill was changed so as to instruct MDIFW to work with the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine’s Deer Task Force in order to more thoroughly research deer habitat and coyote problems within deer yards, once again focusing exclusively on deer yards.
Once again, Bryant’s comments on deer yards and coyotes.
“We need to work on habitat and, have better control of deer yards. Every year, the problem with habitat is a major issue. It has been that way over the past four or five years. In northern Maine and Washington County, where the deer populations are low due to habitat, coyote predation just adds to the problem. We need to try to have a balance,” Bryant said.
Retired Maine deer biologist Gerry Lavigne, who now works for SAM, says that not only is coyote predation responsible for excessive deer losses, but loss of wintering habitat takes its toll.
In a SAM report last month, Lavigne stated that department studies of deer mortality during the late 1970s and 1980s pegged coyotes as the major source of deer losses in northern and eastern deer yards.
He said that coyotes readily select very young, weak or sick deer, and also prey on healthy mature does and bucks. Additionally, fawn loss commonly exceeds 50 percent between June and October.
Unless predation losses are curbed, Lavigne said deer populations in the areas are likely to remain far below their potential.
I can’t confirm Lavigne’s figures about fawn loss during that time period but everyone knows that winter deer yards are targets of coyotes. At one time trappers were allowed to snare coyotes around deer yards. It was during this time that predation on deer was reduced and population numbers began to show signs of rebounding to more balanced levels. But snaring was outlawed because of complaints from animal rights groups because of isolated incidents of snaring other wildlife.
Before hunters or trappers will go after the coyote in any reasonable amount that would have any effect on the numbers, there has to be incentive. The price achieved from coyote pelts isn’t high enough to justify the hours spent on methods currently allowed to trap or hunt. It’s just not worth the effort. With snaring, the effort was considerably less and the return worth the effort. That’s why trappers did it.
Hunting of the coyote is the same. Unless you have a hunter who happens to get considerable enjoyment out of coyote hunting, there really is no other incentive for hunters to head out into the woods to hunt the wary animal. We don’t readily eat the coyote and the only real value to be found comes from the pelt.
What I don’t understand is what the Sun Journal writes as to what Ken Elowe, current director of the MDIFW’s Resource Management, had to say about coyote management.
…..to effect the coyote population biologically, between 60 and 70 percent – from 6,000 to 12,000 – coyotes would have to be killed annually.
Only 2,000 to 2,700 coyotes are killed annually by hunters and trappers now.
Elowe said trying to reduce coyote populations would be an irresponsible use of public funds.
Somebody has to ask the questions, so I guess that would be me. The first question is, are we now then supposed to do nothing? I agree with Elowe that consensus among biologists is that to effectively reduce populations you have to remove large quantities but these comments indicate someone who thinks doing nothing at all is better than searching for some help. When snaring was in place, how many coyotes were taken annually?
But the biggest question I have concerns Elowe’s comment about irresponsible use of public funds. First I’ll make the comment that I wouldn’t consider monies generated from the increase in licenses to pay for the program “public” funds in the true sense. This money comes from those directly effected by an overblown population of coyotes. This isn’t tax revenue that is being spent.
Now to the question. If Mr. Elowe believes that this is an irresponsible way to spend money, am I to assume that he finds wasting millions of dollars on deer management programs only to watch the deer all be killed off because of too many coyotes not an irresponsible utilization of funds and protection of our investment?
Please! Maine hunters have contributed millions, perhaps billions of dollars by now, toward our wildlife management programs, including whitetail deer. To sit back and do nothing while allowing coyotes to destroy our deer herds because we have no backbone to stand up to a few animal rights extremists, is the biggest display of irresponsible stewardship of license buyer’s money and the citizens of Maine.
I don’t know if a bounty program in and of itself, will effectively curb the coyote problem, nor do I know if extending a period of night hunting will either. But doing nothing really isn’t an alternative. To slow the growth of the coyote is a first step. It seems clear, at least to many people, biologists, hunters and trappers included, that the problems with our small deer populations in northern and eastern Maine come from two sources. One is too many coyotes and the other is lack of adequate wintering habitat.
Are we addressing both of those problems or our we just copping a defeatist’s attitude saying it can’t be done? I know we are doing some to work with major landowners to get them to stay out of deer yards but that is a difficult task. It gets into property rights. The state can’t and shouldn’t force landowners to comply with our wishes but creative minds can come up new ideas and incentives to achieve results.
In addressing the coyote issue, unless someone can come up with another effective means of coyote reduction, maybe it’s time to step up and revisit the snaring program. If we combine that with extended night hunting, a license-paid bounty program and an education program that would help everyone understand that too many coyotes affects us all, this would be a start.
We have been stewards of the forests for too long now to say, “let Mother Nature take its course.” We need to continue with responsible wildlife management and care for our investments wisely. This state and other organizations have spent millions of dollars to protect a handful of animals. Why is it spending a few more dollars to save a declining deer herd so irresponsible?
Tom Remington