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Predator Contest?

That sounds interesting. Hope to have my modern sporting rifle together and optics on it by the New Year.


Well so much for my college education...

If any of you SW Idaho boys want to have a friendly contest, I think it would be fun to pick a day in January and do it. I saw more coyotes this year than I ever have.
 
Predator contests I have no problem with. My buddy and I entered a couple when we lived in NV. It was the first time calling and spotlighting at night, (yes it was legal). It is a hoot. A call shy dog will come blitzing in at night for some reason.
 
These contests just started in NM about years ago for coyotes. Ranchers seem to like these contests. They have killed a few hundred coyotes but the contest will probably be outlawed next year.

I like the idea; coyotes are killed, their number reduced (even if its minimal), more people are introduced to predator hunting and it does not cost taxpayers anything.

Not sure why this would not work for wolves, but I guess most on here believe it does not.
 
I know hunters are competitive with each other, but turning hunting into a competition doesn't seem right to me. I guess I feel that coyotes and wolves are incredible animals to pursue and think the black eye we hunters get when associated with contests to kill, make me feel uneasy. I think that it does more harm to us than good.
 
I agree with SS- this does not help the public land hunter-just got this email notice for action.
They Want to Make a Game of Killing Wolves
Tell the Forest Service and BLM No Wolf-Killing Contests on Public Lands
Dear Contributor,
The anti-wolf crazies are smelling blood and now they’ve organized a wolf-killing contest on public lands in Idaho.

A small anti-wolf group in Idaho is even trying to appeal to kids and families as if a body-count, wolf-killing contest is somehow a wholesome thing to do. We’re trying to stop the hunt before it’s scheduled to occur on December 28 and 29 near Salmon, Idaho.

Join us in our outrage in telling the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to not allow the bloodshed to happen. They can stop this game of killing wolves. Tell these agencies they need to reverse course, follow their own rules, and prohibit contest participants from killing wolves and coyotes on federal lands.

If the hunt proceeds, participants would kill wolves and coyotes in a competition for prizes, including cash awards. Children as young as 10 can participate in the kill-fest. And event organizers are expecting up to 300 participants. Imagine the blood they could spill with that many people!

Wildlife killing contest are ethically indefensible events - they are biologically and ecologically reckless, demean the immense ecological and economic value of predators, and teach children to trivialize the lives of animals.

Both federal agencies have regulations and policies that prohibit commercial, competitive events on national forests and other public lands without special permits, but both agencies are allowing the Idaho contest participants to hunt on their lands without complying with federal law.

Ironically, Dec. 28 is also the 40th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, our nation's safety-net for wildlife and the law that brought wolves back from the brink of extinction. We should be celebrating the return of wolves on that date, not slaughtering them for prizes. Demand that the federal agencies in charge of our public lands stop facilitating these killing contests and, instead, comply with their own rules and policies.

Time is running out for wolves in Idaho.

Join us in telling these federal leaders that contest hunts—especially one involving wolves—don’t belong on America’s public lands—in Idaho or anywhere for that matter.

For the Wild,
 
muleguy, just wondering why you got an email from howling for justice? I read the blog from time to time, worst wackos on the planet. mtmuley
 
muleguy, just wondering why you got an email from howling for justice? I read the blog from time to time, worst wackos on the planet. mtmuley

I get news from "Defenders of Wildlife". Lets me know what they are up too. They also made a bunch of money off the predator contest.
 
I know hunters are competitive with each other, but turning hunting into a competition doesn't seem right to me. I guess I feel that coyotes and wolves are incredible animals to pursue and think the black eye we hunters get when associated with contests to kill, make me feel uneasy. I think that it does more harm to us than good.

If how non-hunters perceive things like this is what makes you feel uneasy, I don't think there is much you/we could do to change their minds. Their minds are already made up. To me they view these competitions the same way they probably view Randy's show..."men/women with blood lust glorifying their kills".

IMHO as hunters the best thing we can do is knowing why we hunt and being able to educate those of the importance of it to those that still have an open mind.
 
I don't worry about changing the anti-hunters point of view that would be a waste of time. I worry about giving the well spoken anti hunters ammunition to use against us in their quest to convince the undecided to think with their emotions and side with them.
This unfortunately is the P.C. world we live in. I would love to go down there, harvest a wolf and win enough money to pay for gas. But I won't support something that is hurting us hunters even if it shouldn't.

Oh and wolves are hard to harvest that would slow me also.

Anyone care to guess how many wolves will actually be harvested?

My guess is 0 or 1.
 
muleguy, like I said , I read HFJ crap from time to time. I can keep an eye on the antis without recieving emails from them. I can't see a problem with the predator derby. No different than one for fishing and nobody raises Hell about that. mtmuley
 
If how non-hunters perceive things like this is what makes you feel uneasy, I don't think there is much you/we could do to change their minds. Their minds are already made up. To me they view these competitions the same way they probably view Randy's show..."men/women with blood lust glorifying their kills".

IMHO as hunters the best thing we can do is knowing why we hunt and being able to educate those of the importance of it to those that still have an open mind.

It,s the other 80% of those that are undecided about hunting that I'm worried about. They are the ones we need on our side. Im afraid contests like this turn many of those people away from us. Without their support the future is bleak.
 
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I'm all for them. People in these communities could care less what the anti's think and that's how it should be. The wolves are a problem down there as I just heard they hired a trapper to attempt to take out 2 packs in the Frank Church and the elk numbers seem to be down. Could just be that their patterns have changed and they are less visible. Bottom line is if we keep trying to make the anit's ok with things then it won't end until we can't hunt and then they will be happy. And I would be surprised if anyone kills a wolf in those two days.
 
Wild, I too could care less what the anti's think. It's the other 80%. The people who vote, and control what we do. We are not guaranteed the right to fish, trap, and hunt by the US constitution. Some states have protections there for us, but do we thumb our noses at those people that will decide if what we do will continue in the future? Again, the people I speak of, are not the "Anti's" they are the other undecided portion of our population segment. Think about it a little bit. Do we continue our direction, regardless of whether or not in offends people and turns them into "ANTI'S"?
 
It's a fine line I guess, being a hunter and proud of it while trying not to offend anyone that isn't. In my opinion, the other 80 you speak of are more offended by the kind of crap that went on in our local area in the French Basin than a coyote derby. Maybe I'm wrong. mtmuley
 
It's a fine line I guess, being a hunter and proud of it while trying not to offend anyone that isn't. In my opinion, the other 80 you speak of are more offended by the kind of crap that went on in our local area in the French Basin than a coyote derby. Maybe I'm wrong. mtmuley

The latest mailing from Defenders of wildlife.
Dear Robert,​
As you read this, chances are a wolf lies dying somewhere in Idaho. And many more could die in the coming days.
So far, hunters and trappers have killed 173 wolves since hunting season began on August 30th.
Simply put, this means that more than one wolf a day has been killed without even a second thought.
The wolf slaughter in Idaho may take an especially sick turn in the next 48 hours, if plans go forward for a “wolf and coyote derby” in Salmon. Sponsored by a “hunters’ rights” organization, the killing spree will award cash prizes for killing the most female coyotes and killing the, largest wolf.
These are exactly the kinds of extermination era tactics that drove wolves to the brink in the first place!
The war against wolves is raging in Idaho, and Defenders is on the front lines fighting to help protect their future in the wild. But we can’t do this important work without your support!

With your help:

  • We’re fighting in Washington, D.C. to stop the proposed delisting of nearly all gray wolves in the Lower 48. The rapidly escalating killing in Idaho could become the new normal;

  • We’re on the ground in local communities to dispel ignorance and counter anti-wolf propaganda; and to build political opposition to the vicious anti-wolf bills that could come with Idaho’s legislative session in January;

  • And we’re working with ranchers, private landowners and others to continue to lead the effort to implement non-lethal strategies so that wolves and livestock can coexist.
America’s wolves belong to all of us. The reckless killing has to stop.
Thanks for all you do.
Sincerely,
27379.jpg

Jamie Rappaport Clark
President
Defenders of Wildlife
P.S. What our donors are saying about us:
“DOW has been fearless, impassioned, yet reasonable in advocating for the protection of wildlife and natural resources everywhere.”- Therese C., Nevada
If nothing else this type of thing is a money maker for them, and which in turn will be used by them against us.

Mule, talk with your friends that don't hunt and ask them if this sort of thing offends them. I hope it doesn't, but people else where it does, and these mailings prove that.
 
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