An announcement from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) last week left many folks a little surprised and confused — and some angry. The DNR said that its Wildlife Resources Division (WRD) is starting a campaign “to encourage” hunters and trappers to kill as many coyotes as possible between now and August.
According to the DNR, coyotes, which are now in every Georgia county, are non-native creatures that prey upon native wildlife. Hunters complain that coyotes are thinning deer herds, leaving fewer deer to hunt. Killing coyotes March through August — the time when they are raising babies — will greatly reduce their predation, the DNR suggested.
“We want to encourage coyote removal efforts during this critical period,” said DNR Commissioner Mark Williams.
To do that, the DNR is offering hunters and trappers the chance to win a lifetime hunting license for each coyote carcass (up to five per month) turned in to DNR. Coyotes are considered non-native, and thus can be hunted legally year-round.
Word of the DNR’s “Coyote Challenge,” however, isn’t setting well with nature groups. They note that the WRD also acknowledges that coyotes actually may do more good than harm (such as when they eat pets).
“Overall, the coyote is a largely misunderstood creature and despite its nuisance reputation proves to be an asset in maintaining the balance of wildlife in Georgia,” says a WRD fact sheet. Coyotes, for instance, may help control over-abundant deer populations and pests such as rats.
Coyotes, noted WRD, may be filling a crucial, top-predator niche once filled more than a century ago by the red wolf. Now an endangered species, the wolf is no longer found in Georgia because of over-hunting and loss of habitat.
But one thing is clear: Coyotes are here to stay. Hunters will have to accept that they must share the deer with coyotes.
IN THE SKY: From David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer: The moon will be new on Sunday. Mercury is low in the east around dawn. Venus and Mars are in the west at dusk and set about two hours later. Jupiter rises in the east around midnight. Saturn is in the east about two hours before sunrise and will appear near the moon on Tuesday morning.
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