By Josh Sheldon
Sun Outdoors Writer
Predator management is a majorly important tool for anyone attempting to protect and sustain healthy herbivore populations. Some people view them as brother fox, coyote or wolf, while others see them as vermin. It surprised me as to the reaction I received by local hunters, after simply mentioning coyotes eating deer a couple of columns back.
It's understandable how a person’s image of predators differs so drastically from person to person. I haven't written a column on the topic thus far, but expect this one to open the granola flood gates. I have received a few hate mail letters from confused animal lovers, and expect several in reaction to this column. It seems the least educated rabble rousers make the most noise these days. I guess it's just a sign of the times.
On the topic of species hate mail, coyotes have taken the prize. It's a known fact among hunters that coyotes do more damage than good when trying to operate a wildlife management program. For this reason, many hunters hate coyotes and would like to see the outright extermination of the species. Hunters like myself recognize a coyote’s place in our environment, but only when kept at a reasonable carrying capacity. If at any time that number is exceeded, measures need be taken to prevent damage to the other wildlife.
The problem is uneducated folks in government keep changing the rules, and making new ones that don't reflect an acceptable management program. As for our state, opening season on coyotes year-round is the most sound management tool. If it's deer we want to protect, we must reduce the number of fawns killed. A spring season would be the only way to do so. Many states have done this and have reduced their numbers, while not endangering them as a species. At this point, the extermination of coyotes would be idiotic, nearly impossible, and would also reflect a negative management program.
Why do hunters have such a problem with predators? The answer is easy, it's competition and the resource they provide. Our ancestors purposely exterminated predator populations as a way to increase the amount of food in the form of herbivores. Humans then took over the role of top dog. The fact that predators provided only fur, competed for food, spread disease, and threatened the safety of humans, livestock, and pets sealed their fate. As farms began to collapse and people headed to cities, brush lots were created. This habitat change was perfectly suited for the propagation of predators. First to appear were fox, followed later by coyotes, bear, fisher, and bobcat. Reports of cougar sightings are starting to pop up all over the place. The state denies their presence, but my guess is that won't last much longer.
The majority of messages I received were hunters writing about dwindling herbivore populations. I can agree with them!
After only 10 years with coyotes present, the turkey population was nearly decimated where I hunt, and the deer population is less than a third of what it was in the past. Predators reproduce based on available food. This goes on until they eat up nearly everything around. Then they starve out, the herbivore population rises because of a lack in predation, and the whole process starts over again. That's how nature works.
As humans, we are able to protect herds through management. Nature on the other hand uses the drawn-out painful predation and starvation method, which is a much more harsh style of population control than we use. Humans have compassion, which is the root of the problem and the solution. Some humans choose to humanely harvest animals, while nature and anyone protecting use the leave-them-alone mindset, couldn’t care less about or shield themselves of the suffering incurred. The fact is, when anti-hunting groups succeed, animals will starve as an end product.
The sad infiltration of wildlife departments by anti-hunting groups has also been identified as a possible huge problem. By lobbying, threatening lawsuits, and speculated outright payoffs of law-making officials, they set out to destroy our beloved way of life. This has been made apparent with the re-enlisting of northern states wolves onto the endangered species list. They set a carrying capacity, when it was reached, they upped it, and when that number was reached, they re-enlisted them.
The only thing done here was break down 100 years of herd management. These herds produce food for humans and aid the states by producing billions annually. The fact is that hunters, landowners, and farmers can produce mountains of negative information, in relation to predators in the vicinity of humans. While the only leg the “antis” stand on in the wolves’ favor is flubbed up research done at Yellowstone National Park. The unnatural zoo-like environment, devoid of hunters caused all the issues the wolves were said to have solved in the park. They wanted to claim this huge rebirth of an environment, while the study was flawed to the hilt.
Overgrazing by overpopulated ungulates was a direct result of human mismanagement. Had they allowed hunting, the animals would act more natural and avoid highly hunted areas, like the waterways they said the wolves had repaired.
“Animals are pretty” just doesn't cut it in the natural world. We have to manage with human, livestock, and pet's lives in mind, followed by the economic value and food produced. This should be the guideline to game management. The sad fact is when anti-hunters succeed, the exact opposite happens. Predator management is essential in sustaining populations. It prevents the rollercoaster-like population fluctuations of a hands-off environment. We are human, we are here, and management must be done, so when is the prime time for predators? Whenever you see one, is the answer. You rarely see them, so take the shot that presents itself. Seasons still dictate the legality in our state, so deal with it until it changes.
Good wishes and don't let the fur get pulled over your eyes.

Questions or comments may be emailed to Sheldon at sheldonsoutdoorbusiness@hotmail.com.