Coyote hunting question?

Before people get the wrong impression of me from this question, let me just state that i love hunting, eating deer fresh off the camp stove, and have never felt any hesitation or remorse when it comes to killing game.

However at Scheels the other day i watched a video of hunters shooting coyotes, and even though i had previously considered hunting them and not had a problem with it, seeing it for real on video just really deeply disturbed and bothered me, because it looked too much to me like they were shooting a dog. I have had several dogs in my life and they have always been very close companions, so it's just naturally imbedded in me to be caring towards all kinds of dogs, so that must be what causes me to be so upset over watching coyotes being shot.

Now believe me i understand why they are hunted and need no convincing there, and i have no problem with, and encourage, it being done.

But my question is, does anyone else feel this way when they see coyote's being hunted?
Wow thanks for all the great answers so far everybody, i completely agree with everything you guys are saying here, and i appreciate hearing your views on this. I think that it's a matter of where i just have to put it into perspective, that these are scum, like hyena's, and shouldn't be afforded any pity by those hunting them.

Public Comments

1. Yeah, but I feel that way anytime I kill anything. It tears me up to watch the deer grow up around the house and then I have to kill a couple come season for meat the rest of the year. Same way when I was a kid on the hog farm.

2. While deer hunting on a friends property this year I chased some coyotes off of what remained of a black Angus calf. They had killed it and dragged it across onto my friends property from the cattle farm next door.

Had I known I would run into this situation I would have gladly killed a couple of them. Coyotes can cost a farmer literally thousands of dollars in lost property.

I do not advocate the "hunting to extinction" of any animal. But predators must be taken and kept at acceptable levels for humans and predatory animals to co-exist.

And anyone who thinks losing a few cows is not a good reason to hunt coyotes is living to far from the land and is a total city slicker nut job.

Miketyson26

3. Dog lover and hunter here too.

I know what you mean. There is a very small part of me that sometimes thinks "they are so dog-like".

But then maturity, and reality, set in and I remember that coyotes, wolves and even feral domestic dogs are dangerous predators whose populations must be controlled to keep them from being a danger to themselves, human populations, livestock and other wild animal populations.

**Please report Skully**.

4. I've had dogs most of my life too, and there's a small part of me that see the yote as a domestic dog, but the better part of me knows it's a nuisance animal that will kill more than it eats. Just like a fox.

5. I just try to keep in mind that there is a reason why they are called varmints and not pets.

6. I might as well get me some thumbs down too...If you love dogs, and you have coyotes around your house, don't let them out at night, for they may not come back...Coyotes are successful predators, because they will pack up, and eliminate any animal they feel is a threat to their food source..That includes foxes, dogs, and cats...Anything that is free ranging, and available is considered fair prey, and they are very efficient in a pack....A rancher in New Mexico told me one time, that after Armageddon, the only two things left on earth will be coyotes and cock roaches...and you know coyotes will eat cock roaches.....If you feel strongly about shooting a dog like animal, then follow your conscious...but coyotes reproduce rapidly, and they have no natural enemy, except hunters...They have now spread into areas where they have not been in over 100 years, and have to be controlled somehow....and hunting is the only control...

7. Doesnt bother me in the slightest killing a coyote... I put animals into 4 catagories, #1 something to eat deer, beef, pig, chicken........... #2 just there, snakes, frogs, most birds........... #3 companions, beagles, german shepard, a black lab.......... #4 worthless, coyotes, prairie dogs, mice and my neighbors poodle --- I shoot worthless animals on sight (well maybe not the poodle) and dont lose any sleep over it!

8. I have shot feral house cats that are farther than one mile from the nearest home to keep them from killing game bird chicks in the spring. I have no problem with coyotes either, aim and fire! I don't believe in poisoning prarie dogs though, a bullet is far more humane.

9. as a child i watched as 3 of these dog looking critters took a domestic turkey.it was one of the most savage things i have ever seen. in a matter of a few seconds they had torn it into pieces. after that morning i have had no trouble separating them from the family pet

10. I leave them alone unless they become problematic. Feral dogs are worse.

H

11. no i don't feel that way myself,coyotes about the only thing we have here that a land owner can hunt year around,we do have wild hogs but there few and far between

12. no

13. I've been calling coyotes since 1973 friend. They are very witty I might add. When I do this, it is me that is now being hunted. They are beautiful as they come in on a trot, the adrineline is flowing and IF I don't mess up, I take the shot. It is a great sight to hear the bullet go "thump" and see the dog fall but at the same time, it was a beautiful animal doing its natural thing. Just like deer hunting, I kill a deer and in an indifferent way, feel sorry for it but still enjoy the hunt. It should be a natural feeling but understandable also.