I was reading the Pennsylvania Outdoor News magazine and Tom Venesky had a very interesting column and I thought New Yorkers would enjoy reading it. Here are some of the highlights of his column:  Venesky starts out by saying, a proposed law in New York would ban coyote contest hunts, and the animal rights groups supporting the legislation believe the events are harmful to the resource.

The truth is, organized coyote contests have very little impact on the coyote population, and the numbers bear it out.

The largest coyote contest in Pennsylvania is held by the Mosquito Creek Sportsmen’s Association. It attracted 4,419 hunters this year when it was held in February. Participating hunters can pursue coyotes anywhere in the state, but they need to be brought into the club for weigh-in.

More than 4,400 hunters pursuing coyotes during the 3-day event, one would expect that the outcome of the event would put a hurting on the coyote population, but it doesn’t. During the 2023 contest 269 coyotes were harvested for a success rate of just over 6 percent. Considering these coyotes were harvested from all over the state, the contest really has no significant impact on the coyote population. 

Another fairly large coyote contest is held annually in Tunkhannock by The District 9 Trappers Association. A recent 2-year snapshot of that contest showed success rates of 6.5 and 5.9 percent, very similar to Mosquito Creek. 

So, if hunters participating in coyote contests really aren’t that successful, why do they want to ban them in New York? If the animal rights groups supporting the legislation are truly concerned about saving as many coyotes as possible, there are other more significant impacts that can be addressed. 

Rather than putting their money and energy toward a coyote contest ban, why not shift it to raising funds for studies on things like distemper, tularemia, mange and other diseases? Wouldn’t an effort to reduce disease impacts have a greater benefit on the coyote population than a ban on the coyote contests that had a mere 6 percent success rate?

The real motive behind the legislation isn’t based on facts, but rather on emotion. That is the basis for just about every cause championed by animal rights groups. 

Could Pennsylvania, one day, also ban coyote contests? I don’t know, but we are fortunate to have some strong pro-hunting legislators in key positions on the House and Senate Game and Fisheries Committees who would fight hard to make sure such legislation never makes it to the floor for a vote. 

The more the public understands the integrity and value of coyote contests, the less likely we are to witness emotion-based legislation aiming to ban something that hunters enjoy, despite the fact only 6 percent of them successfully harvest a coyote.