Montevideo Coyote Trappers (Chippewa Co.)

[Scott M]

While it won't accomplish anything, you might as well cash in on the county paying out...

Minnesota county is first to pay bounty on coyote since 1965.

Tom Cherveny

West Central Tribune

MONTEVIDEO - Chippewa County will be the first to pay a bounty for coyotes in Minnesota since the state ended its program in 1965.

The Chippewa County Board of Commissioners approved a resolution Tuesday to implement a coyote bounty effective Dec. 1. The county will pay $10 per coyote brought to the sheriff’s office from Dec. 1 through April 1 each year.

Chippewa County had been the first to push for the state legislation enacted in the last session that enables counties to administer their own bounty programs for coyotes. Two previous attempts to obtain the legislation had failed.

A coyote brought to the sheriff’s office in Montevideo will have a hole punched in its ear to indicate that it has been presented for the bounty. Only coyotes trapped or shot in the county may be presented for the bounty. Those accepting the bounty will be required to indicate the section and township where each animal was taken.

The bounty recipient will retain the animal and is free to sell its pelt, which is currently worth about $15, according to the commissioners.

The county set no limit on how many animals can be brought in or the number of bounties the county will pay.

Although the first to act, the commissioners at their meeting Tuesday said they expect neighboring counties to adopt the same bounty program and reduce the likelihood of coyotes being brought in for bounties when harvested elsewhere. Commissioners from the counties of Big Stone, Chippewa, Lac qui Parle, Kandiyohi, Swift and Yellow Medicine had met on Oct. 28 in Olivia and voiced support for implementing coyote bounties.

The Chippewa County commissioners said they have been hearing complaints from a variety of livestock producers - both those raising cattle and sheep - about growing predation by coyotes on young animals.

They said they’ve also heard many complaints by landowners and hunters who believe coyotes are preying on fawns and reducing the size of the deer herd.

The commissioners said it appears that coyote numbers are continuing to grow. Coyotes are currently unprotected in the state, and anyone may harvest a coyote at any time of the year. Livestock producers are able to shoot or trap coyotes they believe are preying on their animals.

The commissioners said there are a limited number of people who trap or hunt coyotes in the area for the sport or commercial opportunity. They said Tuesday that they hope a coyote bounty will provide an incentive to encourage more people to harvest coyotes and reduce their numbers.

A coyote bounty has been opposed by others as generally ineffective. Bill Berg, a retired state Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist, has often been quoted stating that years of record-keeping showed that coyote harvest numbers remained consistent when a bounty was offered, suggesting that the practice had no impact on the overall numbers of the animals.

[carpshooterdeluxe]

I'd rather see a bounty on coons, skunks, crows, and fox. All this bounty will do is encourage everybody with an AR or SKS to hack even more out the window of their 4x4 as they rodeo a yote mile after mile.

[koonie]

This is gonna be a disaster. I'm willing to bet well over half the yotes turned in will be shot elsewhere(just my opinion).

I want the yotes thinned out too, since they have really decimated the deer population in Chippewa county.

We don't need to use our tax dollars getting paid out for something like this. If the surrounding counties don't jump on board "we" are gonna be paying for everybody else's coyotes basically.

Simply put. A bad idea with no biological backing. Another waste of our local tax dollars.

[Solaris79]

I could've swore that Swift county offered a $25 bounty in the 90's sometime. I grew up in Pope county just to the north and vividly remember a bunch of people (in the 90's) talking about the issue of how Swift county officials could tell the difference between a Pope, Stevens, Kandi, Big Stone, or any other counties coyote and a Swift county coyote. It was a problem then, and it'll be a problem now.

I did a little digging and I didn't come up with much, except a few hits in old forum discussions from different sites that referenced an article from 2005 during an earlier push by county officials and MN law makers to get a bounty bill passed.

"Both Swift and Yellow Medicine counties had coyote bounties up until the 1990s, when the DNR told them they violated state statutes. At the time, both counties offered $25 a head for coyotes" (Patrick Condon, Associated Press, February 11, 2005).

I know its a moot point, but a bounties a bounty, whether it was state sanctioned or not, so the statement that its (Chippewa Co) the first to offer a bounty since 65 is a misleading statement. Technically, Chippewa county is only the first to offer a "state sanctioned" bounty since the state ended its bounty program in 65. It never ceases to amaze me when journalists print stories that do not reflect the reality of what is or what has occurred.

On a side note, it seems as though Yellow Medicine county is jumping on the bandwagon already too. I'm seeing the same issue's as what occurred before happening again, which is that yote's from all over the state will brought into the participating counties (more counties will likely follow) from outside and the reality of gaining any kind of valid statistics will be fruitless, not to mention all the money the counties and state are going to be out (paying the bounties and the costs of keeping programs going). Now, put the factors of "hunters" who are only concerned with $ and not ethics, morals, or values in the field, well.....I guess I just see many possible problems that could arise from implementing a yoter bounty. A few...trespassing, poisoning (open up a can of worms!), road hunting, etc., and I think issues such as these will only further the void that has grown between landowner and hunter relations and much, much more.

I think there has to be a better way...I admit that I don't know what it is, but thats my 2 pennies worth.

[rbs]

Do you honestly think that a mere $10 is going to make good people break the law and shoot out of windows etc? I can't see it making it any worse then it is already. The only people that are doing this are the bad ones and they were there before the bounty...just my opinion.

[flyfisher03]

Growing up in Chippewa county I can say with certainty that the reason why there are very few deer there is the lack of habitat, not because there are a few coyotes running around.

All it took was a few deer hunters (who may also be board members) to raise enough support for a political body to implement a biological management plan. In my opinion any wildlife regulation should be left up to the wildlife managers and not politicians.