Over 70 people attended a public hearing at the department of Fish and Game in Concord last night. They were there to talk about proposed rule changes to wildlife hunting. But one particular issue dominated the meeting…a proposal that would extend the night hunting coyote season through the summer. New Hampshire Public Radio’s Rebecca Kaufman has more.
Fish and Game executive director Lee Perry opened the public hearing on coyotes with praise for the audience.
Track 3
:04 often times in a group like this where we have folks that have mixed ideas you tend to get people criticizing other views and I appreciate the way you handled yourself this evening, unfortunately with coyotes it often gets quite emotional…
And while the testimony was emotional, nearly everyone who spoke held a similar view…
The majority thought extending the night hunting coyote season through the summer is a bad idea.
Several members from the New Hampshire Trappers Association attended the hearing..
The organization’s vice president Frank Shepard says they oppose the rule changes because during the summer months, the coyote pelt is of poor quality and not worth taking.
And Shepard says those are also the months mothers are raising their pups.
Track 4 :42 also they’re apt to have a litter in the den, that means if you take the bitch coyote the pups are certainly going to die a long slow death and if anybody hasn’t seen that before it is gastly
Shepard adds that allowing night hunting of coyotes through the summer months simply sends the wrong message to the public.
And several of the people who testified touched on that sentiment.
Track 12 :13 summer is like the best time in New Hampshire, I think you would all agree
Jennifer Taylor is a resident in Canterbury.
She says she doesn’t want to worry about hunters firing guns while she's enjoying the outdoors on summer nights.
Track 12 :41 how it impacts me, I like the sounds at night, the tree frogs are amazing, star watching on a really clear night, you can take a sleeping bag and sneak down near the fields and watch the stars at night, meteor showers
But Forrest Esenwine, a resident of Weare, says people’s concern about being unsafe on their own land is unfounded.
After all, there there are strict regulations about hunting on private property.
track 14 1:00 they have a big patch of woods, there’s a big patch of woods for their neighbors, they want to go out there at night, well you can cause the law is specific that the only ones that can hunt coyotes at night are the ones that have permission of the landowner
The rule changes are straightforward.
Currently the night hunting season for coyote runs from January 1st to March 31st. The new rule would extend the season until August 31st.
The reason for coyote season at all, is because many hunters say the coyote population is getting too large.
And they say, the deer population is suffering because of it.
Dave Copson has been hunting in New Hampshire for 55 years.
He says he doesn’t support the rule change as a way to control the coyote population.
track 8 1:20 right now when you hear a gun shot during the summer either someone’s getting murdered or poaching a deer, at least we know we got two things we can look at
But Copson encouraged the state to make plans to manage them.
Track 8 :34 now we have a lot of coyotes, a lot of coyotes, I know more guys who shot coyotes this year when they were deer hunting than shot deer, one of my buddies up in Lancaster saw a pack of 15 coyotes, New Hampshire has a coyote problem
However, state wildlife biologists have said that allowing for more hunting is not the way to solve the problem.
That’s because when the coyote population shrinks, biologists say, the animals respond by having more litters.
Fish and Game officials said last night, that in certain areas of the North Country, the deer population is well below the levels they would like.
And they said, along with severe winters and loss of habitat, coyote predation is a factor.
Chair of the Fish and Game Commissioners Ted Tichy predicted more heated testimony at the second public hearing on coyote hunting tonight in Lancaster.
Track 19 1:49 that’s where the original proposal came from, from my constituents in the north country, they said if we could hunt more coyotes at night, right now its in the winter time, its really cold, so nobody goes out at night, when it gets warmer it would be nice to go out more and hunt them, and we might be more successful because we can stay out a little bit longer
The public comment period on the rule changes ends April 25th.
The Fish and Game commission is likely to make a final decision in May.
For NHPR news, I’m RK
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