Human activity like cutting down forests and pushing out predators have allowed coyotes to thrive across the Great Plains. Agriculture sectors worry about losing livestock to coyotes.
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Coyotes – they’re pesky and largely unwelcome across the Great Plains. They can harm livestock and pets, and there are a lot of them. So many so that Kansas has even legalized hunting them using night vision for three months of the year. But now the state is considering expanding the hunting season to the whole year. Calen Moore of the Kansas News Service reports.
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CALEN MOORE, BYLINE: It’s around midnight in rural southwest Kansas. David Hampton stands in a field scanning the landscape for coyotes – or coyotes, as they’re called in these parts. He’s using a handheld night vision device and a night vision scope on his gun. This allows him to hunt in complete darkness.
DAVID HAMPTON: My dad used to drop me off when I was 10 years old in the sticks to go deer hunting. And one thing I am not is afraid of the dark.
MOORE: Hampton goes out a few yards and sets up a device that calls coyotes. It can mimic howls or prey in distress.
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MOORE: Coyote hunting is wildly popular in the Plains states, with wide-open spaces and large coyote populations. In the truck, Hampton says he enjoys the difficulty of coyote hunting compared to other species.
HAMPTON: You’re coming into a predator’s world, you know, and then you’re trying to bring them to you.
MOORE: Kansas introduced a night hunting season for coyotes back in 2021. It lasts the first three months of the year. The hope was to better control exploding coyote populations and give hunters more opportunities. But coyote populations have tripled since 1980, no matter what people throw at them. As the populations have increased, hunters and ranchers are asking the state to consider expanding the night vision season to year-round. Coyotes are incredibly resilient and eat about anything available. They are the most abundant large predator in the country. Geoff Nemnich hosts a show on YouTube called “The Last Stand” where he teaches people tips on coyote hunting.
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GEOFF NEMNICH: Together, we aim to bring you the best predator hunting tips, tricks and tactics right down to the last stand.
MOORE: Night vision is the newest evolution in hunting technology. Nemnich says that he has shot up to 23 coyotes in a single night hunt.
NEMNICH: At night, there’s less traffic, less people out, so the coyotes move around a lot more. So, you know, as a hunter, you can usually have a little more success because the coyotes are just naturally up running around.
MOORE: Kansas is one of the top states that has an abundance of coyotes. Coyotes can cost ranchers millions of dollars across the Plains. The Kansas Department of Wildlife is holding meetings around the state to gather opinions on the night season. From a rancher’s perspective, like Nick Zerr, coyotes are pest animals that prey on cattle from his ranch. He loses money every time a calf is killed.
NICK ZERR: The financial aspect of it is probably – is 750 to a thousand bucks.
MOORE: Zerr would like to see the season expanded to protect livestock during the late spring when calves are born, but not everyone is fully on board. Rural residents and other hunters pushed back against the night season. Tad Kramar strongly opposed night vision hunting.
TAD KRAMAR: As a rural resident, I would find it very disturbing to hear loud gunshots and see bright lights throughout the night.
MOORE: Some law enforcement groups have also opposed the night season over fears of people using firearms at night and the possibility of deer poaching. The majority of Kansans support night vision hunting of coyotes, according to the state’s secretary of wildlife, but the department is weighing the pros and cons. If it approves the expansion of night hunting, like neighboring states Nebraska and Oklahoma, it could happen as soon as next year.
For NPR News, I’m Calen Moore in Liberal, Kansas.
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