bounty

[kc0myy]

I was talking to my teachers today and he said that the state might put a bounty on yotes. He said they were thinking about it. Just want some feedback about it (if it is a good or bag idea ect.) thanks Jusin

[Pistolero]

I think that it is a bad idea!! I do not like the idea of bounty's for any animal. I think that they should leave well enough alone.

The bill # is HF0868. You can go to this link and enter the bill number for more information:

http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/

I will be contacting my legislators and telling them to vote NO!

[psegriz]

I could be wrong on this but my understanding is that it just allows the counties to put a bount on them.

I know quite a few farmers that have lost a number of cattle already due to them. A friend last yr lost 7 calves out of less than a hundred. Seems to me that's a problem.

With the bounty system I doubt it'll do any good. I think all it would do is pay those that shoot them in deer season a few bucks to pay for shells. I don't think that most counties have funds to encourage people to go out and get any more than they happen to run across. They would be better off hiring people (trappers) to just go out and trap the extra critters and then they'd know what it'd cost (salary + expenses)and the job is gettin done.

Bounty systems work if they pay enough that a person can make wages. Problem is then ya usually have so many out doing it that the county can't afford. Some sort of an insentive/project has to be done to reduce thier numbers and the general hunting public ain't gettin it done. I don't know of any land owner around that don't shoot them on sight and they are continuing to over populate.

[BLACKJACK]

Theres an interesting article in the Startrib today about the proposed bounty. Basically the DNR and wildlife folks are saying that bountys are not effective, that it will just be paid out to people that would be out hunting coyotes anyway. They even went so far as to say that coyotes are better to have around than foxes and raccoons, the coyotes prey less on nesting birds like ducks and pheasants, and they will help keep fox and raccoon populations down.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against coyote hunting, I'm just paraphrasing what was in the article. In fact I think its good to shoot a few, it keeps them from getting so tame and used to humans - I've had some howling less than 1/4 mile from my house. I also wonder what effect a high coyote populations has on deer and fawn mortality. Seems like I saw a lot of does without fawns last fall.

[HC Eye Hunter]

I really don't think a bounty is the answer either but if a bounty is being looked at as serious as it appears I think they should keep the price per yote down with a not so attractive dollar amount. I also agree that the guys out hunting them now clould really care less about a few extra bucks. The major concern about bounties in our parts is the competition with yet more hunters.

I am also aware of the yotes killing fox phylosophy and though true don't think for a second that yotes are not taking pheasants. Can you imagine how much grub it takes to keep something the size of a coyote going?! It's alot more than a fox and a fox is a better mouser. And a coyote has a helluva nose, can you picture what that critter is like in a slough full of pheasants? Heck, my dog catches her share of pheasants and she's not that good!

In a past life I used to take care of coyote problems for ranchers and over that time I saw many things that the beloved coyote was responsible for. During calving season coyotes would come in and take calves "both newborn and tagged" without fear! So if you are seeing a decline in your fawn pop. as we are out here than I have to think the coyote has more to do with it than people give credit. With the gestation of the coyote happening in the spring, feeding on a fawn is probably real attractive.

[Rost]

I agree that a bounty won't really affect who is hunting coyotes and where. We've already learned that it would take a lot more than $10 per coyote to make hunting them profitable.

I also know that it is tough to thin out a coyote population. Coyotes will reproduce according to what their environment will allow them to. In other words, if food is plentiful, so will the coyotes. I recently read in Outdoor Life Magazine that you would have to kill 75% of a local coyote population to have any effect on next years numbers. And we, as hunters, don't come close to that.

I say just keep on hunting them. If this bill passes and your county decides to have a bounty, great! A couple extra bucks for beer.

[The Grebe]

Here's a question or 5...who gets to keep the critter once the bounty is paid? Who pays the bounty, the state through the county...( hey, that is really poetic!)? Does the state take it? Does the hunter get to keep it and sell the pelt if it is worth selling? If I kill it or trap it in your county, can I sell it in mine?

I suppose all this stuff will be ironed out, as there has been bounty systems on stuff before and I'm sure it has all been addressed previously.....has'nt it?

[Cooter]

All a bounty is gonna do is help pay for some of my shells and gas. You ain't gonna thin em out much. We pound em every year and there are always plenty the following year. We have noticed far less mainge and sickly ones though - helps keep em at healthy numbers. Lets look at history and see how effective they were out West at getting rid of em. Waste of money, the bounties are.

[Cooter]

As far as hiring trappers, cripes how many would it take for a serious reduction in just one county? And then they move in from the next county, or multiply after the trapping program is finished. Gotta accept them, they're here to stay.

[psegriz]

Yea they are here to stay. After rereading my post I wasn't real clear. The point of hiring the trappers would be in cases where they are causing damage to pets, livestock and such.

[BLACKJACK]

From what I read, the wildlife pros feel that fox are harder on pheasants/nesting ducks because they have a small range and will hunt an area more intensely where a coyote pair might have 20 square mile territory. They say that if you have coyotes, you'll have less fox but I know that I've seem both in our area. I've also wondered about the fact that if my lab can criss cross a field and jump the pheasants, you'd think a fox or coyote could do that every night. Its a wonder we have any ducks or pheasants at all.

[The Grebe]

You got that right...Coyotes are not going to be eradicated, no how, no way.

Back before there were rules and regs, they used to shoot, trap, den hunt, gas, and poison Coyotes out west in alot of different ways and they tried everything they could think of to get rid of them, including the bounty system.

Did'nt seem to work to good, Coyotes are everywhere, they live everywhere in rural areas and in and around most major cities.

Soften them up in one place and they move to another, only to repopulate the hard hit area after the pressure dies down. Coyotes, Rats, and Roaches are here for the duration!

[Dotch]

ALL bounties do no good? Hmmm, seemed to be a pretty good incentive for eliminating pocket gophers out of the hayfields when I was lad. Sure they'd come back after awhile, but nowhere near as thick. Bought my first wristwatch with the $'s...stimulated the local economy although I suppose we could've done the same thing fixing all the broken farm equipment from the damage caused by the gophers and the badgers that ensued. I understand where the DNR is coming from but think they also need to recognize that having these eating machines running around out here in increasing numbers is not necessarily a positive thing. They have tended to use the "lesser of the two evils" example to death IMO.(coyotes vs. fox, etc.)

We had no coyotes locally to speak of 10 - 15 years ago so this notion that we're moving out into "their habitat" doesn't fit. We have livestock statewide that's getting chewed up by something and let me clue you, it ain't fox, hawks, owls and feral cats. Coyotes won't take a hen off a nest if they stumble across it? Bullcookies. See a coyote, shoot the blankety-blank thing, bounty or not. I'm with Curt Wells when it comes to some wildlife biologists concerning predators. Mention a predator and according to wildlife specialists, they're all innocent bystanders. A hawk or owl I can tolerate but coons, skunks, possums, feral cats and coyotes are at the top of the hit list.

This past December I let the dogs out for their evening potty time. Across the road in the hollow a bunch of coyotes set up a fuss. I commenced to grab my .22 and cranked several rounds off in their direction to let them know they were not welcome. We have sheep and lambs and be darned if I'll sit idly by and listen to someone tell me having coyotes around is a positive thing. About the only positive in it I can see is there may be a .243 in my future.

[cyberamish]

I might be remembering wrong but seems to me that there was a bounty system in use in some MN counties as late as the 70's. I seem to remember that Carlton county (where I hunt) had a bounty on brush wolves ('yotes) of roughly $15.00.

[Dan Thiem]

Happy Birthday Cyber!

[cyberamish]

Thanks.......the big 40 today. Funny I don't feel a day past 70!!

[Cooter]

Better get used to it Dotch, your bullets in the air are only gonna cost ya more. Getting peed don't bother them much. Of course here in Cheesehead land we can shoot em 24/7 all year long. Ain't no bounty gonna help ya much. Gotta do er on your own or with the locals.

[Dotch]

Didn't say the bounty would help in this case if ya read me post but not all bounties have historically been a waste. As far as lobbing lead being expensive, that's why I grabbed the .22 rather than something bigger. There are lotsa 'yote hunters about in these parts, dem w/dog packs and dem w/high powers on various modes of transportation. Not a real motivated lot most of the time however. Only restriction we got here is 'yotes can't be taken w/artificial lights or to run drive 'em or run 'em down w/a motor vehicle. Can see the hunters have thinned the herd in recent years but they don't get 'em all. Getting some additional firepower to assist them probably wouldn't be a bad idea. Dogs on the loose can be an issue too. Like shootin' sparrows & starlings; can thin 'em locally but unless they get waxed by a disease to help us out, they're always there. Can get guard animals like great pyrenees, donkeys, llama's, put up hightensile electric fence, etc. Maybe the DNR would be more in favor of tossing money at something like that since they can't seem to come up with anything better than excuses to help livestock producers. Lotsa questions, very few answers other than to shoot the (Contact US Regarding This Word) things. As I concluded before, accepting something that wasn't here in any number up until 10 - 15 years ago is not an option. Gotta get them before they get me.

[tripper]

Dotch, get that other rifle now because the timbers that the feds. wont let us control yet are on their way south.

[Dotch]

Sounds like a plan. Friends and relatives claim to have seen wuffs in SE MN. Thinking about a .243 because of its flexibility. I could take it deer hunting if I had to. Have about 1/2 mile of clear, open shooting in 3 directions. Any other ideas on weaponry?

Cooter's right and sorry to get so cranked up about this deal. After reading articles in Outdoor Snooze, the Star & Sickle, various local papers last week, and having watched the DNR in action (or is it inaction?) over the years I get frustrated. Coyotes read this: Get your strap on Acme Rocket Pack and roller skates ordered. Bounty or not, here I come!

[tripper]

There are so meny calibers out there that would meet your needs as deer and yute gun. Just a few that come to mind, 243, 25-06, 260 rem, 257 roberts, 270, and meny more. The thing is weather you want to save pelts or not.

[tripper]

I agree with cooter to. I watched a old minning area for a couple years and you couldn't go any place there with out seeing sign of them and then when the rabbits were pretty much cleaned out the yute sign droped way off. Like any animal or bird of prey their numbers follow the food supply.

[Cooter]

Dotch, keep us posted, good luck with those varmints.

[Dotch]

Will do. Have wanted a high-power for a long time. Off the subject, just what kind of dead animal is that on your avatar? Just curious...

[Cooter]

Not a dead animal but 25 pounds of flathead catfish that was later released. Just wanted her mugshot.