Coyotes likely to survive hunters

It’s hard to believe that South Carolina hunters would need motivation from the state government to shoot coyotes. Apparently, though, state wildlife officials believe that while hunters are mowing down more than 30,000 coyotes a year, that isn’t enough to keep the population in check.

As an incentive to deplete the coyote population even more, the S.C. Department of Natural Resources plans to launch a program that rewards anyone who kills one of the 16 coyotes the agency tags and releases. Prizes for bagging a tagged coyote include a lifetime hunting licenses and other goodies.

The theory is that the tagged coyotes will serve as a lottery, prompting hunters to shoot any coyotes they see. But the bounty program, approved by state lawmakers during the last legislative session, might amount to too little, too late.

A similar effort in Western states had little effect on the coyote population. And while bounty hunting might keep the numbers down, it is likely coyotes are in South Carolina to stay.

The problem is that coyotes are clever, adaptive, resilient and resourceful. They eat almost anything, including rabbits, mice, insects, fish, frogs, insects, snakes, fruit, grass carrion and deer.

Unfortunately, they also are fond of family pets and domestic livestock. And once they colonize an urban area, their territory includes residential neighborhoods, where they often root through trash cans and other refuse.

It is understandable why someone who might admire these wild canines from a distance would become totally exasperated by them when they invade trash cans or eat a pet.

Both Carolinas are considered heavy in-migration states for coyotes, especially for packs migrating from the Midwest. While coyotes originally roamed the Western plains states, they now have moved to the Eastern forests and, ultimately, the cities.

Rather than encouraging hunters to kill them, some states trap and relocate them. But while that is more humane, it doesn’t seem very effective.

What’s to prevent them from moving back?

While South Carolina hunters probably will continue to shoot coyotes with or without a bounty on their heads, we hope the enthusiasm for killing the beasts doesn’t get out of hand. It is illegal to discharge weapons in a residential area, and we worry that a bounty hunter taking a shot at a coyote in his backyard might hit something or someone else.

Some experts say that any eradication project is doomed to failure. Coyotes have yearly litters of three to 12 pups, and they probably can multiply faster than hunters can kill them.

In the end, we might just have to learn to live with them.

This story was originally published November 8, 2016 at 5:40 PM with the headline "Coyotes likely to survive hunters."