9 Comments

The article doesn't answer whether or not this "hunt" had a purpose other than killing. Was the population in need of being lessened for a legitimate reason?, was the North American Model used?

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As river otter only natural predator, coyotes are smallmouth bass friends. We've opened an insane can of whip ass on our rivers and creeks. I enjoy seeing coyotes, but know enough based on the otter example that things can get way out of balance.

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Fair comment. My primary intent was to give context to the whole situation, and I did opine that, if challenged, these contests are probably vulnerable from a policy standpoint. Without talking to the participants, it's tough to say if just killing coyotes to compete in the contest was the primary motivation. A whole lot of coyotes are definitely killed as part of an effort to balance wildlife populations, but you throw in the contest and it gets muddy. My best guess is some folks would have hunted these coyotes regardless and some were "hunting" to just participate in the contest. Thanks for reading, and for commenting.

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Nuance matters. I wish these hunters would go after the river otters depopulating our rivers of bass.

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Ha! I think we’re a ways away from otter contests… But more seriously, you’re not the first person I’ve heard mention otters impacting fish populations in rivers.

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HS is a terrorist radical group google the president income,google there expenditures for the year you'll never give to them again ! Humane society of America scam

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Definitely worth researching the group to see learn who they are, what they do, etc. Thanks for reading.

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Well-written article, Ben.

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Thank you Al!

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