State hunters take 442 coyotes during most recent season
 

BOSTON - State officials say 442 coyotes were killed by hunters in Massachusetts during the season that ended in March, nearly double the number taken the previous season.

But last season was five weeks longer in response to years of complaints about coyotes attacking pets and livestock.

Thomas O’Shea of the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, says...

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/reg...00593&srvc=rss

Now if they would just do seals.....:lasso:

and plovers.....http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1.../whistle-1.gif

Broke up a party this a.m. of about a dozen give or take. Couple of cute pups in the mix:nailem:

Why does MA regulate 'yote hunting anyway, they are an invasive species!

Yotes are not invasive, they have always been here. Unfortunately their only natural predator was wiped out in the east, this of course is the wolf. But fear not cause within the next 20 years there will be a good size population of wolves in mass.

Thats 442 short of what the final tally should have been.

yeah but once they are done with yotes, they too will move on to pets. and then be persecuted as well.


humans.. :rollem:

I'm a big animal lover but if predators come around people , that's not natural. In the wild , almost all animals will avoid humans. If they overcome this natural fear of humans because of overexposure and start hunting our pets and attacking children (which has happened recently in MA) , then they should be shot.

I didn't know they had a coyote hunting season but as was mentioned above , with no natural predators , the coyotes will multiply far faster than they would in a normal environment so people restore that balance by hunting them when they get too plentiful or too bold. Even as an animal lover , I can understand and agree with that.

Deer Hunters
 

Everyone who had a hunting license this fall was welcome to shoot one coyote as well. That is the regular season. I do believe that certain licensed individuals can hunt coyotes until midnight, using night vision equipment, in certain areas with large pops. of coyotes

Not true! They are native to the western states but they have only moved east over the last 50 years or so. Many credit the interstate highway system with providing them the pathway.

I could be wrong, but I think NY and MA are the only two New England States that regulate hunting them, everywhere else its as many as you want whenever you want.

TheSpec is dead on.

The coyote (IPA: /kaɪˈoʊti, ˈkaɪoʊt/[3]) (Canis latrans), also known as the prairie wolf [4], is a mammal of the order Carnivora. The species is found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States, and Canada. It occurs as far north as Alaska and all but the northernmost portions of Canada.[5] There are currently 19 recognized subspecies, with 16 in Canada, Mexico and the United States, and 3 in Central America.

They're "moving east in the past 50 years" BECAUSE WE KILLED THEM OFF BEFORE THAT

A certain 'reaper' on Fruit St in Mansfield will be taking a view more

Thought this excerpt my clear things up on the hardinesss of the coyote

Coyotes also thrive in suburban settings and even some urban ones. A study by wildlife ecologists at Ohio State University yielded some surprising findings in this regard. Researchers studied coyote populations in Chicago over a seven-year period (2000–2007), proposing that coyotes have adapted well to living in densely populated urban environments while avoiding contact with humans. They found, among other things, that urban coyotes tend to live longer than their rural counterparts, kill rodents and small pets, and live anywhere from parks to industrial areas. The researchers estimate that there are up to 2,000 coyotes living in "the greater Chicago area" and that this circumstance may well apply to many other urban landscapes in North America.[31] In Washington DC's Rock Creek Park, coyotes den and raise their young, scavenge roadkill, and hunt rodents. "I don't see it as a bad thing for a park," the assigned National Park Service biologist told a reporter for Smithsonian Magazine (March 2006). "I see it as good for keeping animal populations in control, like the squirrels and the mice." As a testament to the coyote's habitat adaptability, a coyote (known as "Hal the Central Park Coyote") was even captured in Manhattan's Central Park in March 2006 after being chased by city wildlife officials for two days.

wikipedia.org

not that I particularly give **** about them.

Not one of you hunters mentioned about leg-hold trapping becoming illegal, and with that the proliferation of ready to eat animals because of that.