A new philosophy is being established for how our country’s wildlife is being managed. Hunters and the NRA have always had a monopoly on decision making in this arena. But this is now changing, as explained in this article below. More environmentalists and non-hunters are entering the controversial conversation, and they want to rely on nature, in all of its glory, to balance itself more naturally, rather than massively killing predators. Please add your voice and support to the numerous organizations listed which are opposed to “managing” wildlife mostly for the benefit of hunters. I’m posting this as a follow-up to Walkaboutlou’s article on slaughter hunting. Press the long link below the photo to read the article which was published in Outdoorlife.
Coyote Yipps 
Nov 09, 2022 @ 18:18:18
A long time coming… thanks for posting this, Janet.
Nov 09, 2022 @ 20:42:35
It’s good to hear that more people are appreciating the natural order.
Nov 10, 2022 @ 01:31:52
What is missing from the article is the way to fund the new order.
It will take a massive increase in taxes to fund the wildlife programs of the 50 states as well as the federal wildlife refuge program. I am also worried that there will be fewer people who will make an effort to get out and come in contact with wild animals. Less contact will mean less knowledge and an increase in detachment from the natural world. It has been my experience that the more contact one has with a species the less one is interested in killing individuals of that species. This lack of contact is a serious problem as our society continues to become more and more urban. Cell phones and video games are no subtitute for the real world!
Nov 10, 2022 @ 05:44:34
So:
You use a bow and arrow to kill (as you stated in a previous comment), which is about as heartless as it gets.
Without the hunters, you “fear fewer people will make an effort to get out and come in contact with wild animals”? You need to know that there are many people who enjoy the wilderness and are not destroying it, including campers and photographers who appreciate the animals alive, not dead. We don’t need to have direct contact with the animals — they should be left alone.
And you believe that funding the wilderness and its conservation is a problem without the excise tax on guns. Really? You certainly don’t sound like the optimist you describe yourself as. Of course they/we will find funding! I would say it’s totally immoral to fund wildlife conservation with a tax on what’s used to slaughter them. Kind of like a tax on tobacco to cure cancer, or a tax on oil to combat global warming.
Nov 11, 2022 @ 02:22:22
Oh my! You obviously have never killed with a bow. Of all the ways an animal can meet it’s end in the wild, an arrow is probably the most humane. A gun is not as humane as an arrow.
If you want to imagine suffering think of being eaten while you are still alive or hanging from a barb wire fence with your back legs twisted in two of the wires for days! I have personally seen the latter a number of times. I once came across a sheep with it’s face ravaged and its eyeballs hanging out from an attack from some species of predator.
That is the way of death in the wild. When will people finally realize that humans are part of nature and as such, are predators just like coyotes or wolves?
Perhaps it is time to stop hunting and fishing. The human population is out of control and wild animal populations, like the native americans of an earlier time, are being deprived of their habitat at an increasing rate. Extinctions are accelerating and we are destroying the ability of the earth to sustain our own species. Homo sapiens, like any other species, can become extinct. Optimistic? No mam. I don’t see the human species continuing to exist into the next century. We were warned back when I was in college almost 60 years ago. I remember one of my professors giving a lecture on the effects of overpopulation. A girl in the audience stood and said he had no right to tell her she shouldn’t have children! The professor said calmly, “I am not telling you that you shouldn’t have children. I am tellling you what will happen if you do.” If coyotes were to become extinct we would be the ones to mourn, not the coyotes. They will just continue to do the best they can for as long as they can. Most humans I think are doing the same. I close this message with the words of a song I know: “I thank the Lord I wasn’t born no later than I was!”
My advise to people like you is what my mother used to say, “You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.” As Ghandi said, “Be the change you want to see.” Hate and venom is not the way although it seems to be the norm these days.
Nov 11, 2022 @ 14:12:28
You are good at getting off topic. Regarding bows and arrows: “wounding rates can be high, the time to death can be prolonged and animals remain conscious while they die from massive blood loss”. It results in “significant pain and suffering for the animals”. https://kb.rspca.org.au/knowledge-base/why-do-some-recreational-hunters-use-a-bow-and-arrow-and-is-this-type-of-hunting-humane/
Nov 10, 2022 @ 15:01:40
I think it is of note that wolf-watching alone brings $82 million from tourists into the Yellowstone area. It would appear there’s plenty of money to fund wildlife programs. People are not staying home , buried in laptops, as some would claim. Wildlife watching is highly profitable, while leaving wildlife to benefit themselves and our ecosystem.
Nov 11, 2022 @ 02:36:11
$82 milllion is not much these days. Here is the kind of money we are talking about doing away with:
“Fishing and hunting are long-standing institutions in the United States. Not only are they hobbies enjoyed by millions, fishing and hunting are important contributors to the country’s massive outdoor recreation economy. Consumer spending on outdoor recreation contributes $887 billion to the U.S. economy, employs 7.6 million Americans and generates $125 billion in tax revenues. More than $63.1 billion in retail spending can be attributed to fishing and hunting, while the two industries employ nearly 483,000 Americans, with salaries and wages of more than $17.8 billion as disclosed in the Outdoor Industry Association’s 2017 report The Outdoor Recreation Economy.”
As for myself, I , like most people, don’t have enough to afford a trip to Yellowstone to watch the wolves. Unfortunately most of our increasingly urban population could care less!
Nov 11, 2022 @ 14:05:08
As I said, “outdoor recreation” includes so much more than hunting: https://www.ibisworld.com/us/bed/total-recreation-expenditure/88211/. I think we can do without the hunting/killing portion of it, and find new sources of revenue/funding.
Nov 11, 2022 @ 14:32:20
Can we go back to your usual coyote blog?
Nov 11, 2022 @ 16:24:56
Yes, let’s do that. Thanks, Melinda!
Nov 11, 2022 @ 19:52:32
Good idea! I preferred learning more about coyotes than conducting a useless debate!