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Camp Crook, SD coyote calling contest Jan. 14 & 15

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Liberty Belle

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Camp Crook is having a Coyote Calling Contest the weekend of January 14th and 15th. Registration will be at the Corner Bar in Camp Crook Friday, January 13th between 5pm and 8pm and the entry fee is $50 for each one or two person team.

Day money will be paid both days and for overall placing. No dogs, aerial hunting or ATVs and while there are no boundaries for hunting, you must have permission from the landowners before you hunt.

For more information call Clint Zolnoski at (605) 375-3707 or Ryan Cordell at (406) 972-4406.
 
Sorry I took so long to answer your question NR, but I really have no idea and since no one reports predator kills to anyone but the predator control pilots (and rarely to the government trapper) I don't think there are any statistics available.

Because my son is a director on the predator board we do get a list of kills and the damage the predators caused from the game and fish, but, like I said, very few of the kills are even reported to them, at least in this area.

How about up there? Do you have stats on that sort of thing in your area?
 
We receive no compensation for them so not many reported-I was just wondering if it wouldn't be cheaper to compensate ranchers for their losses and let them control their own coyotes. It can't be very cost effective having helicopters and planes flying around shooting them.
 
We don't receive any compensation either and since the livestock producers tax themselves to pay for the aerial predator control, it's highly unlikely that game and fish is going to start poring money into the predator control boards. Actually, we get way more bang for the buck paying the predator control pilots than we do paying salaries for the GF&P trappers. Dollar for dollar, the pilots are much cheaper and more efficient.

Heck, the state doesn't even compensate us for the damage done by the game animals they own that graze in our pastures, destroy our hay, wreck our vehicles and tear up our fences. You've probably picked up on the fact that the less we have to do with game and fish, the happier we landowners are.
 
You've asked a question that I have wondered about myself lately. Although I know that the pilots cost us a heck of a lot less than the state trapper does and the pilots get a lot more predators, I don't have the current figures to show you. I asked my son to drop off his records from the last predator board meeting so I can answer this for both of us. Stay tuned.
 
Okay Northern Rancher, I've got some figures for you. I thought the easiest way to illustrate what our predator control costs are is give you what it costs us per predator killed by both the predator control pilots and the government trappers.

The Predator Control Board paid our pilot $67 per predator killed last year. I came up with that figure by dividing the money the board paid the pilot by the amount of predators killed. The pilots get $75 an hour for hunting and we tax ourselves to pay these pilots.

Now coming up with the cost of the GF&P was a little harder because the latest statement for the animal damage control fund from the state that I could find was for 1997. In 1997, our trapper in Harding County cost us a little over $49,000 and I expect that, since these figures are almost 9 years old, the cost to us has gone up. However, these were the latest figures I have so I took that $49,000, divided it by the number of predators killed by the GF&P trapper THIS YEAR and came up with a cost of $325 per predator killed, a huge difference of $258, even given the fact that I was using a much smaller cost than what the cost in 2005 would be. This money comes from state and federal taxes.

The biggest cost to the livestock folks in the county caused directly by this trapper hasn't been the outlandish difference between what a dead predator costs when he kills it as opposed to the aerial pilots. This trapper refuses to work with the predator control pilots from our county and, thanks in part to his sneaking around behind the scenes with a rouge pilot friend of his who was a GF&P contract pilot who wanted our main pilot's job, he got our pilot grounded and dragged into federal court on a trumped up charge. While our pilot is back to hunting, using both his airplane and his shotgun the feds conficated and later returned, the other pilot has just gotten out of jail after serving a felony sentence for almost beating his second wife to death. Nice friend GF&P had there.

That little escapade caused the population of predators in the county to explode, cost our pilot a pile of money to defend himself, and caused some darn hard feelings in the county that will never go away. And GF&P refuses to transfer him out of the county and let us have someone who will work for ALL producers and with all of the pilots. Small wonder we just love em, huh?

That's pretty much it. What are your costs per predator for whatever program you have up there?
 
Geez I know if the starving cowboys got a couple hundred buck a 'yote up here they'd be 'controlled'. Are they hunted in the winter much and who gets the hide revenue. I'm thinking maybe fire the works of them might be the best bet. Those pilkots will supply a plane and their labour for $75/hour that is pretty reasonable though.
 
your figures are somewhat misleading. are you only counting coyotes or all critters. Most also have to control skunks, coons, oppossum, mink, beaver(which can be a huge prob) wild dogs...the list goes on and on.

oh ya....didnt the guy with the plane get in trouble for shooting on the wrong land....kind of like trespassing? I dont know entire story but i think that was the case. Maybe you could shed some light on that LB
 
Anybody hear what whole coyotes are worth this year? I bet a $40-$50 bounty would clean up the problem. Oh can't hunt on lock out land. There is always something to get in the way of a plan. :cowboy:
 
yep......I have some friends who used to go coyote hunting out west often......They havnt because of the lockout. They figure no hunting is no hunting. Maybe they should call the landowner because of what i have been hearing the lockout is pretty much over as it was a failure. Matter of fact, i believe there was a poll given to the legislative reps and only a very small minority would support taking away powers from wardens to go on private property whenever.
 
your figures are somewhat misleading. are you only counting coyotes or all critters. Most also have to control skunks, coons, oppossum, mink, beaver(which can be a huge prob) wild dogs...the list goes on and on.
What is misleading about my figures? I counted all coyote and fox, which is only what the predator control district taxes it's members to pay for. The only other nuisance animals the state trapper got here were a few beaver. Do you think those few beaver justify the $258 dollar difference between what the trapper costs us and the pilots cost us? We don't and we'd be more than happy to ship him elsewhere where he could trap beaver to his heart's content.

oh ya....didnt the guy with the plane get in trouble for shooting on the wrong land....kind of like trespassing?
Yeah – for shooting a wounded coyote that ran through the fence onto the rival pilot's land. Maybe you think he should have just let the coyote die a slow death instead of putting it out of its misery?

The rival pilot's neighbors will never forgive the jerk for not only stopping the hunt after the rival pilot flew at the predator control pilot in an attempt to force him down, over their land, I might add, but for knowingly leaving that batch of coyotes alone because he knew that they were killing the neighbor's livestock.

Three separate neighbors lost livestock to those coyotes, the rival pilot knew they were killing and did nothing to stop it because he was fighting with all of them too. Like I said, he's a real sweetheart.

I have some friends who used to go coyote hunting out west often......They havnt because of the lockout. They figure no hunting is no hunting. Maybe they should call the landowner because of what i have been hearing the lockout is pretty much over as it was a failure. Matter of fact, i believe there was a poll given to the legislative reps and only a very small minority would support taking away powers from wardens to go on private property whenever.
Tell your coyote hunting friends to stay home if they have the same mindset you. We've had our fill of folks who act like our land is their land. It's not, and acting like it is will only get you in big trouble out here.

How is the lockout a failure? We don't have to put up with either hunters or GF&P, we control who is on our land, and we take care of our own predators. We haven't lost a thing even if the legislature never passes a law protecting our property rights.

Hunters, on the other hand, have lost some of the best deer and antelope hunting in the state. The lockout looks better all the time and most of the folks I've talked to who are involved with it will never again open their land to free hunting unless those protections are passed.

We don't have to deal with slob hunters or Conservation Officers who have no respect for private property rights. You just mind your own business and we'll take care of ours.

Life is good.
 
I bet it's kind of hard to check fencelines and boundaries hen you are in hot aerial pursuit of a 'yote.
You know that and I know that. Maybe you can explain it to SDhunter.

You wouldn't think shooting a wounded, sheep killing coyote would be a problem anyway, even if you didn't like any of your neighbors or the pilot. Looks like having one less coyote to worry about would be a bonus for anyone with livestock. Not for this charmer though.
 
We'd call that little situation a gong show up here lol. Maybe the only 'yotes they are killing are collaterall damage when they miss each other lol.
 
Same mind set as me? that hurts. I only asked questions. I have NEVER trespassed. (knowingly anyway, got lost in the black hills once deer hunting) I do understand what you said about the wounded animal and i do believe the critter needed to be dispatched asap BUT if you dont have permission, you dont have permission. One time i shot a deer that got onto some land i didnt have permission to go on and those people never let anyone hunt. I asked anyway and told them the critter was hit and was going to die and was told no. If i would have went on that property anyway and got that deer i would have been prosecuted, weather i asked them or not. a wounded animal is not permisson to trespass. Heck i know for a fact of some landowners that have went out after a hunter hit one that got onto their land and collected the animal for themselves and thats fine, as long as the animal gets dispatched humainly and hopefully dont go to waste but again, no trespassing without permission is just that, just like hunting lockout is a hunting lockout, whether it is gophers or elk. hunting is hunting. no trespassing is no trespassing. What would you do if i shot deer on your neighbors land with permission and the thing got on your land and i didnt have permission and went in and got it? Would you prosecute or look the other way since the critter is suffering and all and needs to be dispatched quickly and humainly?
 
oh, and the hard to see the fence lines when in the airplane deal, that is true i would bet, dont know for sure since i am not a pilot but if he uses a shotgun, he has to be pretty close to the ground and that fence should be pretty dang fisable, i think the way the law says is "ignorance is no excuse" and if i was in that airplane i sure as heck think i would know where my boundaries are.
 
hunting lockout is a hunting lockout, whether it is gophers or elk.
Sorry old fella, but it's OUR land and we set the rules, not you, not Big Muddy from Canada, and not the GF&P. WE DO!!!

If we say no hunting of game animals, but you can shoot all the varmints you want as long as you have our permission, that's the way it's gonna be. You don't like it? Tough. Learn to live with it and mind your own darn business. :twisted:
 

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