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GO BACK| January 8, 2010 - Big Wildlife Calls Eastern Oregon Coyote Killing Contest |
"Fourth Annual JMK
Coyote Calling Contest" to be Held in Burns Over
Weekend WILLIAMS, OREGON - Today, Big Wildlife called a
planned coyote killing contest in eastern Oregon "senseless" and "utterly
barbaric" and urged state officials to halt the event. According to an
advertisement by one of the contest's sponsors, Shooters Services Unlimited
(SSU), the "Fourth Annual JMK Coyote Calling Contest" will be held this
weekend at the JMK Farm in Burns, Oregon. The contest, which drew 32 hunters
last year and awarded $6,000 in cash and prizes to participants, will allow "two
man teams" to kill as many coyotes as possible. A representative of the ranch
told Big Wildlife this morning that there is no limit on the number of coyotes
that can be shot over the weekend and that hounds could also be used during the
contest. The representative said, "The more coyotes killed the better" and noted
in year's past hunters have "bagged" more than 40 coyotes at the event. Contest
rules posted at the SSU
website said, "A prize will be given for the largest coyote." Additional
sponsors of the contest include: Ty’s Predator Calls, Bowtech, Leupold, Critter
Call, Allpredatorcalls.com, Predator Sniper Sticks, RC Outdoorworks, Powder
River Predators, and Great Basin Sporting Goods."Coyote calling contests are all about killing for cash and kicks," said Brian Vincent, Communications Director for the Williams-based wildlife advocacy group, Big Wildlife. "These contests promote killing as blood lust entertainment. Such events have no place in a civilized society." "Coyote calling contests" in which contestants compete for prizes to see who can kill the most coyotes in a specified period of time are found across the west and midwest. According to the Humane Society of the United States, which monitors such contests around the county, these deadly competitions are even spreading into the east as coyotes move back into territory from which they were driven by hunters over a century ago. Small towns and local motels often promote these killing competitions as a way to attract visitors. Contestants usually use two basic techniques, both involving mechanical, commercially manufactured calls to attract coyotes. The first is to imitate the cries of coyotes in distress, and the second includes imitating a downed prey animal, usually a deer or rabbit. Coyotes then come to investigate what they perceive to be a fellow coyote in trouble or a possible meal. Waiting for the coyotes is a two-person team of hunkered-down, camouflaged killers a shooter with a high-powered, long-range, tripod-balanced, scope-mounted rifle, often equipped with an electronic range finder; and a spotter using binoculars to search the countryside for any signs of a coyote on a mission of mercy or in search of a meal. In some cases several hundred coyotes can be killed in the course of a three- or four-day contest. How many are wounded by the difficult, long-range shots that are usually necessary - and left to wander off and die slow, painful deaths - is something contest aficionados never talk about. "What compels a person to lure coyotes with a fake distress call, then shoot the animals just for 'fun?'" asked Vincent. "This isn't 'sport.' Its senseless killing for the heck of it." Coyote killers like to brag that they are protecting farm and ranch animals from predation. But this is just a smokescreen to disguise what they are really doing: killing for amusement and prize money. There simply are not enough predators killed in a concentrated area during such contests to have any impact. Big Wildlife said there are better ways to safeguard farm and ranch animals from coyotes that don't involve cruelty. For example, installation of electric fencing, strobe lights, and use of guard animals, including dogs and llamas, are especially effective methods for protecting domestic animals.
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