If you were hunting big game & came across a coyote..

[GJgo]

..would you shoot it? In Colorado it's legal to take a coyote on your unfilled big game tag, but I always have a small game tag as well.

Last year I had this happen to me twice. Second season I was making a stand with a friend who had an elk tag. Never saw any elk that day, but a nice coyote did come in to check us out. I had a shot with my 610 but didn't take it because I didn't want to miff up his hunt. In hindsight I should have blasted.

Third season I was by myself up on a ridge waiting for an elk and a pack of 4 coyotes came up the ridge, noses to the ground, following my exact trail. I let them get within about 50 feet & decided to stop the party, stood up & yelled them off. They were big & I didn't want a problem. Could have easily shot one, if not more. I went ahead & walked off that stand so I didn't give them a chance to circle around on me down wind, one was being a bit aggressive about leaving- huffing & barking at me. Never saw an elk that day either. I hunt this area all week so I didn't want to scare off any elk in the area with shots, but in years past it's not uncommon for us to get two or more elk over the course of a day or two so I'm not sure it really matters.

 

[hogshead]

Tag a coyote? Around here they are a shoot on sight proposition. I shot at one on the third day of deer season but missed. Then I sat there till 12 thinking I was a real da for shooting and messing up my hunt for rest of day.

 

[exbiologist]

I let em go normally because I don't want to spook game. While archery hunting, that's another story

 

[Ankeny]

I let them go, then come back and call them in after big game season.

 

[jmr40]

Normally I'd shoot. But It would depend on how badly I thought it would hurt my chances at the animals I'm actually hunting. Drop it and leave it until I'm ready to go. Firing a shot spooks animals much less than you might think. The noise made going to the animal after shooting would spook big game much more.

 

[alsaqr]

Unless there is a big game animal in sight the coyote will get shot 100 percent of the time. Coyotes here take one-third to one-half of the new fawns every year.

 

[Tomcat47]

That is for off season for me......and really only when they are a nuisance!

They leave us alone ..... we leave them alone!

The balance of nature in my opinion. But the DNR seems pretty clear on what they think on their web page. (see below)

Here Feral hogs...which have become a worse problem in the past few years.. so bad!, SC does not even have a season on them now. All year is open season.

And DNR now has a task force for just them. Most do not imagine the damage they do, and that they are carnivorous and will kill and eat livestock.

http://www.clemson.edu/extension/natural_resources/wildlife/wildhogs/index.html

But I understand the Coyote thing as well....I will do my share of thinning the problematic creatures (just not during my hunting season) because it helps control disease as with the hogs.

 

[MaineHunter]

Take the shot EVERY time. Thet are devastating to the spring fawns.

 

[TwoEyedJack]

I never pass up a shot on a coyote. However, I have passed on at least two bears. Didn't want to ruin a day of elk hunting. Neither were what you would call trophies.

 

[Hunter2678]

Not during my hunt ...but if Im leaving the stand or blind...yeah. I don't buy into the whole eradication philosophy either on anything except mosquitos, and ticks...

 

[Gunnerboy]

I kill every one i see whether its a pup,grown one or grown one with pups, kill em all

 

[TexasPatriot.308]

I got too many coyotes to worry about getting a shot at another. whether at my deer lease or my house, at night they sound like they are just a few yards away and usually are. I have had em pass right pass my stand, but I aint gonna run off a good deer to shoot a coyote I can usually get a shot at anytime.

 

[buck460XVR]

After the first hour on opening day, the sound of gunshots is so common that most deer don't even pick their heads up anymore......so yes I shoot every yote that comes within range. Did it twice this year during gun deer season. The last several years, Its gotten fairly common for 'yotes to come in to Turkey calls during the spring Gobbler season. Shot one off the decoys one morning after working a tom for almost two hours. My friend chewed me out sayin' now we wouldn't see a bird there all day. With that he picked up his stuff and started up the hill. He got about ten yards and said...."oh s&^%!" The whole flock was still comin' with two nice toms in tow.

 

[ChefJeff1]

I wouldn't waste a deer or elk tag on a coyote. This fall I was deer hunting and saw a Coyote. I think he was hunting the same herd of deer that I was. I was successful and he wasn't. He did probably get some guts for lunch.

 

[Brad5192]

Shoot them

 

[theicemanmpls]

With my luck? If I shoot the yote, the deer upwind of us is spooked, and I go home empty handed.

I will let my presence known to the coyote so he leaves town. He lives another day.

I am in the woods to hunt deer not kill predators.

 

[Weedy]

Well obviously we humans are ENTITLED to all the deer, why should the coyotes get any, right? I mean, the coyotes can just go to the supermarket and buy a box of Pop-Tarts or something instead. Just shoot 'em all and leave the carcass, buzzards gotta eat too!
Makes me sick that people can be ok with that. Whatever.

 

[BigN]

I'd shoot it since I'd rather go coyote hunting than deer hunting anyway.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

It sucks you have to blow a game tag to get rid of a nuisance animal...Where I live they are far game anytime. I'd shoot it and not worry about the shot bumming up my deer hunt.

Shooting coyotes for sport doesn't bother me a bit. They are relatively new in my area and the toll they are taking is obvious on other game animals. We don't do alot of coyote hunting, but snare the heck out of them.

 

[DM~]

I shoot every one i see!

I've shot a deer leaveing it where it falls, 10 mins later more deer come out, so shooting a coyote sure doesn't hurt a thing.

DM

 

[GJgo]

To clarify, shooting a yote "on your big game tag" does not void your big game tag in CO. As long as you have not yet harvested your big game & punched out your tag, you can shoot as many coyotes as you want on your big game tag & still shoot your game.

From the responses it seems 'bout 50/50. In my experience elk spook a lot easier than deer, and they're hard enough to get your cross hairs on that I opted not to take a chance on a yote I didn't feel like skinning anyway. Tough call though, I have to say..

 

[jbkebert]

Two years ago I set my new record. I arrowed five yotes from my treestand during the archery deer season. The kept coming into fawn bleats. One day I busted a yote with an arrow. Not fifteen minutes later I ended up sticking a arrow in a nice 5X6 buck.

Even with a rifle we have had deer step out within minutes after a shot. Doesnt seem to really bother them. That is why they are prey animals. They ain't the brightest at times.

 

[Tomcat47]

The poll is heading toward 70%

Can not really say I agree with kill em all. Management of wildlife is a balance no matter what part of US you are in. They are a nuisance on one side, yet they serve an ecologial balance on the other.

Also my particular take on the Coyote, and not bothering them during my Hunt, brought me to this realization....I have not actually seen a lot of Coyotes while on a hunt!

It is when as a group we set out to manage them that we achieve the necessary impact, as opposed to just shooting random sightings.

Plus around here, it is at late evening that we gain the advantage, because they are more nocturnal. (SC Allows night hunting of the Coyote, and that is where an impact can be made)

This sounds like unfair or sport hunting, however the Deer population has declined in SC by 30% since 2002! A Coyote reproduces in late winter, they have a 63 day gestation period, and produce 5-7 pups per litter.

That is why we call it what it is Management. @ Jbkebert I also believe bow season is a good time to do some management! I see more during bow season myself, and I think that is when gun season comes along they go into the nocturnal mode after the guns start going off.

 

[Armored farmer]

I have had a live/let live theory with coyotes. Kinda enjoy seein' 'em.
Lately we see several 'yotes and fewer deer. I got a .204 and electronic call/decoy, to see if we can thin out the song dog population.

 

[rcmodel]

I had a very mangy coyote run right through my turkey decoys and almost right between my legs three years ago.

He needed to be killed to end his suffering.

I had him dead to rights coming in, and going out.
I let him go, because I had turkeys talking right across the creek from my set.

I still wish I had of shot him and spooked the turkeys, just to put him out of his misery.
But I didn't.

rc