(Chelsea Update would like to thank Rick Taylor for this column.)
I’ve learned a lot in my 20 years as a hunter.
The greatest thing I’ve learned is that most people don’t have a clue as to what really happens beyond their backyard. I don’t mean to be dismissive, but I feel I have the experience to make such statements because I’ve spent 24 years of my life as an anti-hunter.
It takes years of studying the habitat, carrying capacity, populations and animal behaviors to truly know what’s happening in the wild.
Unfortunately, Ann Arbor gets picked on quite a lot because of its liberal leanings. The fact is, I’ve had many Ann Arborites thank me for writing an “Outdoor” column and I’m glad to break that stereotype at every opportunity I’m given.
Did you know that Michigan ranks in the Top 3 states with the most hunters in the country?
This preamble is designed to get readers who oppose my views to objectively think on their own.
“How dare I say such a thing” you may ask? Well, I used to be one of you and what I thought I knew and what I’ve learned over two decades are two very different things.
This story is about coyotes and how they affect our various wildlife populations. Talk to any wildlife biologist and they’ll tell you that coyotes do a fine job of eating mice, other rodents and rabbits – helping to keep their populations in check.
However, coyotes also eat cats, dogs, fawns, full-size deer, calves, sheep and about every other livestock available to them.
Coyotes can even take down a mature moose.
Coyotes typically hunt alone or in pairs and they do sometimes run in packs of six or less. Plus, they are very smart and are not easily fooled – especially by humans.
The coyote is just as smart as a fox but a lot larger so it has to eat a lot more to survive.
Every single farmer that has allowed me to hunt on their land has asked me to shoot every coyote I come across. Why would every farmer want that?
The answer is simple; coyotes kill their livestock, working dogs and pets in general.
I had a coyote come by my hunting stand on Sunday afternoon and I ranged it at 53 yards. I whistled to get its attention and the shot was perfect. The coyote ran 25 yards and was dead within seconds.
I called the landowner and he thanked me and told me that the numerous coyotes on his property had killed many of his barn cats, which control the mice and rats in the hay barn.
I’m not used to killing something that I don’t eat, I certainly don’t plan to make coyote hamburgers, either. But, I’d do it again and probably will if it helps the farmer.
