More coyotes trapped last fall than previous year

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The five members of the Carrabassett Valley Trappers who caught 83 coyotes in the fall are, left to right: Dave Miller, Gordon Blauvelt, Matt Landry, Steve Rankin, and Jerry LeBeau.

CARRABASSETT VALLEY – Last year about this time five members of the Carrabassett Valley Trappers reported in an article that the five had trapped and tagged 70 some coyotes. They had taken the coyotes in the early canine season in late October of 2010. This effort helped to reduce damage to livestock and wildlife (deer in particular).

This last year’s (2011) take during the same time frame resulted in the five individuals tagging 83. The period trapped is the special canine season that runs two weeks before the general trapping season and deer hunting season. The five trappers were Dave Miller, Gordon Blauvelt, Matt Landry, Steve Rankin, and Jerry LeBeau.

With approximately 2,000 licensed trappers in the state, if each caught just five apiece, the benefits to our deer herd would be tremendous. With the current condition of the deer herds in western, northern, and downeast Maine, recovery is about impossible with the current level of predators.

These predators that prey on deer-size mammals include bears, bobcats, and coyotes; with coyotes being the most prevalent and damaging. At present, the deer numbers are so low that with the level of current predation deer recovery is impossible. This is because the number born and surviving to adulthood is less than that taken annually by the predators.

Trappers, houndsmen, and hunters together with effort can reduce the predation by coyotes to a level where recovery is possible along with proper deer wintering area management and the lack of back to back bad winters.

The loss of our deer herd has resulted in a tremendous impact to our states economy and in particular that of rural Maine. Deer hunting alone was a multi-million-dollar business to the state. In recent years we have seen a great reduction in the number of out of state hunters. The majority of those same hunters (at their own admission) now go to New York, Pennsylvania and other destinations to hunt. They say, why hunt in Maine when there are so few or in some areas no deer anymore.

– Submitted by Dave Miller of Lexington Township, Maine

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48 Comments

  1. You could trap every coyote in the state, nation, world and that won’t save Maine’s deer herd. Protect their wintering areas and you’ve accomplished something. The rest is just bragging and hot air.

  2. So Kippy is “upset” about this,,,(as many other folks will be)

    One thing that has become very clear over the last few years is that the Bambi crowd is emotional without the facts,,

    The Deer that are eaten ALIVE are not Bambi,,
    And these Coyotes are not Fido,,,,

    We’ve messed with our wildlife now to the point where our deer cant survive,,,
    If we keep letting the coyotes thrive,,,You might wonder why your dogs and cats haven’t come home also.
    These things get bolder and bolder and will soon be looking in your windows at nite…

    Too late to turn back now,,Trap as many as you can.

  3. It turns my stomach to think of the pain involved in this “achievement.”

    Pain for who? These are coyotes, not humans!
    I can’t imagine this agitating anyone other than PETA and it’s apologists.

  4. I have a great respect for hunters. Not for killers. Baiting traps, luring the animal into a trap, letting it chew it’s leg off trying to escape and ultimately shooting it has nothing to do with hunting.. When Man messes with a keystone specie-like the coyote-killing the adults so they cannot model behavior to their young-the specie reacts by procreating earlier and expanding their territory. Perhaps The Bulldog will report on the other side of the issue.

  5. If Dave Miller had his facts straight, his post would be less annoying. I always ask, but never get an answer. When will there be open season on all the poachers who take at least half as many deer per year as are taken by those with permits during the legal deer season? Dave always neglects to mention poaching in his diatribes. His buddies would probably frown on that, I guess.

  6. Ed, do you have a dog? If so, throw it in a trap and look into its eyes as the trap snaps shut. While your doing this remind yourself ” no pain going on here, right Fido ?”

  7. I’m for coyote manangment, my husband and his friend trap in east Bangor for one week in Oct. and in one week they take 45 – 50 coytoe, do you realize how many coyote the are. You MUST thin them out, it’s so important to everyone who enjoys the great woodlands of Maine. Rabies, distemper, and mange will run rampant if you I brace the Bambi ” Live and let live” .Be real people, Walt Disney is for children.

  8. Coyote trappers’ logic: kill animals so they will stop killing other animals so that we can shoot them instead.

  9. Believe in karma, anyone? Humans are considered to be over populated and can cause harm to others… Gonna start trapping them too?

  10. Jim……..
    No, I don’t have a dog and never will, but if I did have, I wouldn’t be throwing it in a trap. Nor would I throw in my cat, wife or any one of the kids.
    A coyote isn’t anyone’s pet any more than a squirrel is. I’ve shot thousands of squirrels out of my bird feeders to protect the birds and allow them plenty of food. I also am not afraid to kill a coyote or many coyotes to protect the deer and allow myself the food and sport they provide. As far as the suffering goes, I hate to see someone’s pet suffer and I really hate to see a human being suffer, but animals don’t bother me much, it’s a cruel world and suffering is going to happen.
    Also, I’m not much into looking into a dog’s eyes, whether he’s struggling in a trap or laying by his dish. It just seems weird to me.
    Some folks seem to have a hard time understanding the difference between “mammals” and “Humans”. The same folk sometimes have trouble with “pets” and “animals”.
    To each his own.

  11. My friend Fred Norris, who lived up near New Vineyard used to trap these coyotes and he used to tell me about what that these animals had to endure until he would arrive on show shoes and shoot them in the head with his 30-30. He got quite a few of them too and he would always come around and show off the pelts that he stretched out and put salt on to dry out. It took a few years and old Fred came to not like the trapping anymore because he got to feeling so bad for all of these animals and what they had to go through before he made them die. He told me about the look in the eyes of a coyote, how they would look right at him with those black eyes when he came to kill them and how he couldn’t do it anymore.

  12. Are you aware that hundreds of animals are trapped with foot hole traps annually in this country and in others and transplanted to areas where they have been eliminated from? Others are trapped for research and testing, then released into the wild unharmed. Many trappers are hired for capturing wild animals in various regions to stock into other areas and states. Modern trapping is not what it once was, as traps have changed over the years and are more efficient and humane than ever before. There is ongoing research on traps that are animal specific called Best Management Practices (BMP’s) that is an international effort.
    Are you aware that every lynx incidentally taken in foot hold traps has been released unharmed. Our government hired trappers to trap endangered and threatened species in the current war zones to ensure they will survive the wars – bet you didn’t know that. Trappers are also currently under government contract in the islands off Alaska removing non-native species that are threatening the extinction of rare seabirds. Certain wild animals need to be managed to prevent diseases harmful to them and others that are harmful to man. Are you aware that beavers cause millions of dollars of damage annually in Maine to roadways and timber lands and that it is so bad that in some areas the animals are currently being shot instead of being harvested as a renewable resource, as are other fur bearers. Maine currently licenses and employees trappers for Animal Damage Control (ADC) work and the federal gov. also has trappers working in Maine for ADC work.
    As far as poachers goes – we hate them as much – or more than you do. I have turned in people in several states, and have never taken a single penny offered under their programs set up to encourage people to report poaching activities.
    And yes, coyotes are only one part of the deer herd problem. It involves mismanagement of deer wintering areas, bad winters, elimination of mast crops, poaching, and predators. The current condition of the deer herd in three regions within the state is so low that the coyotes are killing the deer faster than they can reproduce – therefore recovery is impossible until the coyotes are reduced. Coyotes are also starting to take young moose, contrary to what some arm chair professionals say. The coyote has spread north through the Maritime’s and crossed the ice into Newfoundland where they are currently decimating the woodland caribou. It must be remembered that our northeastern coyote is not the same one running around in the southwest.
    If you want to see another side of this coin Google – Coyote Attacks.

    Considering some of the above (and there is a lot more), I don’t think we trappers are the evil demons some of you perceive us to be. I also think the sportsmen (hunters) and people have a right to know that trappers are a key component to the recovery of our Maine deer herd which “was” a 200 million dollar a year industry in Maine. But, every one has a right to their opinion.

  13. Trappers don’t shoot fur bearers with a 30-30 (it damages the hide so it has no value), they do not salt the hides (fur buyers don’t buy them that way), and the coyote do not have black eyes (I’d question what Fred Norris was really trapping).

  14. Are these people all vegetarians? How about the pain the chicken or steak on the supper plate endures. Give me a break. This is a legal regulated activity.How about fishing lets close that down also,the poor fish. these people should pack their bags and head for New York City

  15. Don’t let that picture fool you.Trapping coyotes is one of the most difficult forms of trapping.The dogs have a keen sense of smell and a poorly set trap will be avoided. Add snow and the possibility of frozen ground to a dirt set and it gets even more difficult. Modern coil foothold traps have offsets and padding that help keep the animal from fighting the trap and must be checked every day. They’re used by wildlife biologists as well. Deer numbers in the northern WMD’s are too low. Culling the coyote population by trapping and maintaining deer yards is effective in reversing this trend.

  16. Thalia boy are you mislead, for that matter so is Lisa!!!!! Thalia procreating earlier and expanding its territory has nothing to do with trapping and really does not make sense at all. For one, a coyote does not stick its leg in a foothold trap and then chew it off! And boy doesn’t every trapper wish that they only caught the adult coyotes, the fact is the coyote is the probably just about the smartest animal roaming the woods and getting one to even come close to placing its foot in a foothold is not a easy task at all and takes a very keen sense of the animals habits. Way more juvenile coyotes are trapped than adults because lets face it, kids are just not as smart whether your talking about humans or animals, and its a lot easier to get a juvenile coyote that hasn’t been educated by the foreign odors of a human out placing footholds to get it to step on one, so that pretty much throw out your procreating theory! Lisa, trust me there are WAY more outdoorsman, hunters, and trappers that don’t want to see or hear about any of our deer being poached. Unfortunately in anything in life there a few bad apples (poachers) that give us all a bad name, any myself or any other hunter or trapper I know would be the first to report a poacher if we saw one. I can guarantee that the deer herd is so low in most of Northern, Western, and Down East Maine that there are very few poachers in this area because there just aren’t enough deer around to even make it worth the scumbags time or very easy for them to poach deer in these areas the deer densities are so low. Yes Penny you have a valid argument, the key to keeping our deer herd alive is protecting wintering areas. The problem is its too late for that, almost every deer wintering area across the state has been severely cut off to the point that now our coyotes, much larger than the ones found in other parts of the country btw, are actively preying on our deer herd. Coyotes are a animals just like the rest running around the woods, and when humans enter the mix they need to be managed just like any animal for the health and balance of the overall animal kingdom.

  17. Kippy, It turns our stomach when coyotes run deer down and eat them alive, And that my dear is how they do it!

    Thalia -Coyotes don’t chew their feet off. And they are not a keystone species, They are an invasive species. Not native to Maine , but are now the top predator in the state.And you have your facts screwed up about coyotes procreating.

    Lisa-Amazing that you know pochers so well, Show us where you get the facts on poaching?–you can’t can you!

    Jim-Caught my lab in a coyote trap this year, catch myself in one about every few years, yes it hurts, but we both get over it, and guess what! We still have all our toes and fingers.

    Ogunqit Andy–We want our deer herd back andy.For hunting viewing, and just having them back Thinning coyotes out in and around deer yards is what we can do. We can’t grow the habitat back over night.

    Iona-Like Dave said!

    Dave–Great Job!

  18. Quote from Ed to Jim,,,(in case you missed it),,,
    I’m not much into looking into a dog’s eyes, whether he’s struggling in a trap or laying by his dish. It just seems weird to me

    Now THAT’S just too funny..

    Good One Ed!!!

    The thing is,,,,,,,this illustrates how some people view their “pets”,,,,
    And it “IS” WEIRD….

  19. Good come back Dave. Took the words out of my mouth. Hope some of these people don’t have problem animals on there property, beaver,skunks, raccoon or even mice.

  20. Lisa-
    Think you are onto something. Which is why you are never given a response.

    Dave-
    You obviously have a passion for what you do. Which might be why you can t justify the shooting of a defenseless animal-already lured and then trapped in a “leghold” as a good “wildlife management practice.”
    I am not a vegetarian and while I love NYC, I love Maine even more. Family has lived here for nine generations. How about you?

    Allie-you might be confusing “fact” with opinion-your opinion.
    Might also be why you have such a cavalier attitude about the care of your own dog.
    If you are truly interested in learning exactly what kind of a species coyote are check out:keystoneconservation.com

    Brian-happen to have beaver, skunk, raccoon, mice on my property. In addition to moose, deer, fox and oh yes, coyote.

    Seamus: this fall my dog was almost caught in one of those foothold traps set up by Bigelow–there was no padding-just lots of metal and liquid pheromones that my dog scented and couldn’t resist. Takes a lot of skill to bait an animal….since when do trappers have the right to endanger hikers?

    Gazing: no comment on your lack of compassion save to say I hope your interaction with other living creatures is minimal.

  21. Thalia i will check that out, but I know darn well what our so called eastern coyote are, they’re a mongrel! A mixture of western coyote and wolf.
    And as far as trappers endangering hikers your right. Anything i hate worse is hearing all those poor hikers screeming in agony after chewing off their own foot to escape the horrid animal containment device.
    Show me where anyone has been hurt in a trap other than us trappers getting caught in our own traps!

  22. keystoneconservation.com
    Took me to a site that sell Telecommunications products!

    Cell Phone

    Telephones

    Broadband

    Satellite TV

    VOIP

    WIFI
    HAAAA!

  23. Dave, I am telling you, old Fred and Ron Mund the truck driver used to trap all kinds of critters (fox, mink, rabbits coyotes,) and I know he used a 30-30 but maybe that was to shoot partridge or squirrels. I know he had a shotgun too so maybe that is what he used instead. I guess he could have clonked the coyotes over the head with a bat like they do with those baby seals on the ice in Canada. Do their eyes turn black after you have clonked them and they are dying? Maybe it would be better to use one of those machines that shoot out a bolt into the brain with air pressure like they do with cows and pigs. THUNK. That is a humane (derivative of human?) way to do it. Someday maybe we can do that to us people that are dying of cancer, it would be a nice quick exit don’t you think? Put your forehead right here sir, THUNK, and onto the conveyor belt to the incinerator.

    In a thousand years our ancestors will look back at how we treated animals and think we were all insane.

  24. Ed, I’am sorry if you didnt get the point I was trying to make. By reading your post I got the impression that according to you animals couldnt feel pain- “Pain for who? These are coyotes not humans!” So I was just trying to say that I think a coyote could feel the same amount of pain as the family pet or even your beloved birds (that you must care about with great passion) seeing how you are willing to hunt and kill squirrels by the thousands to protect their food supply. But who cares if the birds starve or die-I mean come on their not humans! Anyways I do understand most people around here live to walk around the woods with a gun or trap in an attempt to rid the woods of evil creatures (or is it for survival?). So you are right “to each his own”

  25. If I was a coyote, Id much rather sit in a FOOT hold trap overnight and die a quick death, rather than freeze/starve to death for months from mange.

    In ME, foothold traps are checked on a daily basis

    Fred Norris probably stopped trapping coyotes because he couldnt make a buck off his 30-30d pelts

    Look at states like MA and CA, major coyote issues, and they dont allow trapping there, hmm

    Im probably wasting my time, some people cant get their heads out, but CONGRATS on the fine catch and I hope you guys get more next season

  26. Thalia- When do hikers have the right to think that they are the only ones who own public lands or private lands open to sportsmen and women !!!!!!???? If you don’t like it then hike on your own private land and not the land that hunting, fishing, and trapping tax dollars contribute more towards than your hiking dollars! If a dog happen to step in a foothold trap than yes at first the dog would be shocked but would calm down quickly and realized its not hurt just held in place and the hiker could very easily open the foothold and let the dog out to go their marry way, but I don’t know of any trapper that wants to see any dog get caught in one!!! The ignorance of some people is unbelievable. Us trappers and hunters ask to use the woods two months out of the year in public areas opened to doing so and our own private lands. You hikers insist those public lands are yours twelve months out of the years, instead of allowing us just two and giving you the other ten!!! Ya, this seems like a fair shake!!!!!! If your domestic dog is so attracted to those footholds, just shows it wouldn’t stand much of a chance out on its own compared to a wild coyote!

    Brian

  27. Isn’t trapping and hunting season like from Sept 1 – Dec 31?

    Also, I think that it is on their “merry way”, as in happy, instead of marry (wedded) as in unhappy.

    I guess this is one of those issues that people are polarized about and there is no changing their mind. Except for old Fred, he changed his mind and stopped. I guess he really thought about it long and hard.

  28. No, Jim…………
    you still misunderstand. I realize that the coyotes feel the pain, as do the animals I hunt. I just simply don’t give a darn. Again, I know the difference between humans and animals and the difference between pets and critters.
    As for the birds, I do protect their food supply from the squirrels. I enjoy watching the birds fly around the yard, I don’t like the squirrels chewing on everything in sight. I do, however like the taste of some of those birds. I got a bunch of partridge this fall that were excellent, we raise chickens to kill and eat, and if I have my way, those freakin’ wild turkeys will be gone soon. I am trying to shoot them and eat them into extinction as we speak.
    As I said before, to each his own.
    Some of you folks need to remember that your thoughts and morals might not be shared by everyone and because something disgusts you doesn’t mean it disgusts me.
    We all gaze into different eyes, I guess.

  29. Maine Man- You assume to know how an animal would prefer to die, congratulate those who are killing them and say that they starve to death from mange? There are no words to adequately describe the circumlocutions of your thinking.

    Brian-If your reading for comprehension-you will find what I wrote was: my dog wasn’t attracted to the trap-it was attracted to the bait.

  30. Dave-
    Just wondering: do you and your fellow trappers also hunt coyote? And if so-how many hunt coyote using dogs with radio collars?

    If you believe-as you stated-that “due to predation deer recovery is impossible”- why do you continue to trap?

    And to reiterate: I have great respect and admiration for hunting and responsible hunters. I also believe to kill for the sake of killing under the guise of “management” is criminal. Though it will probably be in a higher court those who are guilty of this will be tried.

  31. Lonah, I apologize for not paying more close attention to my typing and giving my response a once through reading before submitting. You are correct I misspelled “merry” along with a couple other mistakes, but the point was still made clearly enough. Trapping season for coyotes is roughly the last week in Oct through the end of December, with probably 90% of the coyote trapping taking place during the end of October, because the ground usually starts freezing up around the beginning of November making it very difficult to trap successfully.

  32. Don’t ask me for the facts as you won’t believe me. Ask a wildlife biologist. I don’t see your point in defending poachers. That said, it’s true that the foot hold traps aren’t particularly cruel. I wouldn’t want to be caught in one and then shot the next day, however, they are not to be confused with snaring a coyote around the neck, which is cruel. I’m glad that is now illegal. Hope it stays that way. There is open season on coyotes, plus the trapping season. I think moaning about them all the time takes the focus away from all of the other issues impacting the deer herd. It makes it harder to take you seriously.

    Let’s not forget what was done to the wolves and mountain lions and how that impacted the ecosystem. (Think: coyotes…)

  33. you tell um clayton, there killin deer left and right,talk about cruel have you ever seen a pack of yotes tear apart a deer limb to limb while the deer was alive,,,its really gut wrenching.

  34. In 1967 we stopped hunting deer in the Eustis area and hunted ducks on Flagstaff instead because the deer herd was so slim due to harsh winters and coyotes. If your dog was domestic dog was caught chasing deer you had to chain them up or at your risk they would be destroyed if they were caught again. Destroying your pet was not a nice thing to do but people did it regulary. Often a pack of domestic dogs would be chasing deer but they were really just chasing the lead dog.Sounds like the same thing is happening here. Everyone wants to be the lead dog and get the last yelp in. Sounds simular to politics or media hype at the coffee shop retoric.

    I saw my first coyote kill on Chain of Ponds in 1967. A group of my friends were snowmobiling and came upon a pregnant doe who had been run down on the ice by a pack of coyotes and eaten alive staerting at the hind quarters and left her there still alive. Likely ran off when the snowmobiles came.

    Since then I have seen many carcases in the woods durng the winter and do my best to support the remaining deer by logging some of my land and creating twitch trails that deer can run on to get away from the coyotes and other preditors and natural fees from the tree tops

    Hunting has been a long tradition with those of us who lived here all our lives. So has eating lobsters which we have no issues with throwing them alive into boiling hot water.

    The coyotes are moving south because the deer and rabbits are getting sparce. They now have an appetite for cats, domestic dogs, goats, sheep, etc. If they were killing your pets and you knew it would your feelings about trapping them change?

    I expect to hear rebuttal for some of my comments but I have spoken my feelings and will not be drawn into the endless debatethat is ocurring. We ahve a coyote problem here and perhaps instead of killing them the group against it should spend some time live trapping them but then where would you release them?

  35. Perry! trapping and releasing a coyote would be pointless as the predator would just be a problem somewhere else.

  36. Thalia’s comment
    Dave-
    Just wondering: do you and your fellow trappers also hunt coyote? And if so-how many hunt coyote using dogs with radio collars?
    Curious as to why you ask this? Are you against the use of an electronic tracking device, or just don’t like hounds chasing coyotes?

    I’ve hunted a few over bait and find it almost usless as to taking coyote in numbers. The Webb River Sportmans Club held a coyote hunting contest last winter. The winner Leo Pepin of Stratton won the event with 9 coyotes taken. Leo stated that he’d spent 40 hours watching from a blind for every coyote taken.

    Hunters with hounds do much better if the conditions are in their favor. Crust and the lack of snow isn’t good, deep soft snow is.

    The new GPS electronic tracking collars are Ideal in dog retrieval. You know right where the hound is and alot of what he’s doing

  37. An interesting discussion as I knew it would be when I saw the photo of coyote pelts. I was a game warden during the late 60’s and early 70’s when the northeastern coyote extended it’s range into Maine and soon became established throughout the area. While they seem willing to survive on whatever food is conveniently available to them, from berries, birds, frogs and various small game there never has been any doubt in my mind that this animal is a major predator of our whitetail deer. They are very capable of killing healthy adult deer , especially in the winter months and I suspect that they prey heavily on fawn deer in the spring. I have seen a pronounced decline in deer populations since the coyote arrived and suspect that they are the controlling factor of the deer population at this time.

    It has also been my observation that any attempt to control their population has had little effect. A healthy well fed female will produce several young each spring and will successfully raise them to full sized young adults by the fall trapping season. In the past the State of Maine paid significant bounties on bear, bobcat, porcupine and even on lynx with little effect on controlling populations. I took part in a major effort to control the red fox population in central Maine during a rabies outbreak in the early 60’s. It involved trapping and extensive use of poison baits – it seemed to reduce fox populations temporarily but they bounced back within a year ot two. During periods of high fur prices when harvests were high it seemed to me that fur bearer populations remained stable. While I agree that a coyote trapped in the fall will not be around to kill deer in the winter I seriously doubt that trapping will have much long term effect in controlling their population. I rather suspect that trapping will tend to take off surplus animals and tend to keep the survivors well fed and healthy.

    My comments are not intended to be critical of the practice of fur trapping or of those that choose to trap. In my experience you will not find a group of more knowledgeable woodsmen that really do have the best interests of wildlife at heart than the Maine Trapper.

    I realize that I have not outlined a solution to the matter of deer predation by coyotes in Maine. The coyote is well established in the environment and will no doubt be around for many years, Wildlife predation is not pleasant to contemplate in many respects but it is and has been nature’s way and perhaps we will just have to accept and learn to live with the situation that we have.

  38. Hey I remember Warden John Shaw, Probably we never met, but I think you must of coverethe Roxbury, Byron area. Waren Adams and Vern Molton also were around about the same time.
    A couple guys from Roxbury had the job of setting out the fox poison in the area.

    As for controlling coyotes goes I had a conversation with a biologist that said man had been killing coyotes in the west for a 100 years and it did no good. My statement back was that they must be some stupid people out there if they had done it for a all that time with no results, and kept on doing It.
    I’d already read alot about their efforts in the west, and they did learn that the place for coyote control was where the coyote was doing the killing. Out there it was the calf and lambing season.
    Alaska has learned they can have a large wolf population along with a big moose or Caribou herd, but if the wolf population gets too big and reduces the moose down so low that they can’t regain their numbers, Then It also has a negative effect on the wolf–In the end the wolves and the moose exist with few of each. Once man thins the wolf out and controlls hunting and the moose regain their heard size then more wolves can also be had.
    During Maine’s snaring program around the deer yards. tagging stations down east were showing an increase of deer being harvested. Once the program was halted the stations went back to lower numbers of deer being tagged.
    Deer can only lose around 35% of their herd annually. Anything less and their numbers keep declining. On Anticosti Island In Quebec with the harsh winters, deep snow, and poor feed ( Mostly spruce trees)they lose 30-60 percent each winter. Yet the island has plenty to hunt and always a sizeable herd.–The reason for this is that the Island HAS NO PREDATORS.

  39. Nice catch boys, keep up the good work. Deer hunting in Lexington this year always opened and closed with a chorus of coyotes. With the poor cutting practices, deer yard into smaller lots and in deep snow the coyotes hone in and murder them en masse. In the deep snows of 2-3 years ago, I was snowshoeing from dead deer to dead deer and the coyotees would have eaten 25-50 % of each one.

    It is unfortunate that ignorance reigns in some of the comments above, but hunting and trapping always stirs emotions in the crowd that prefers it meat to be killed and processed by someone else after it lived its existance caged.

  40. You can hunt in the State of Maine every day of the the year except Sunday. The seasons depend on what spieces you are hunting. Trapping is another subject. The general trapping season ussually runs from Nov 1 to Dec 31. Exceptions are the early canine season,last two weeks of Oct, plus a early beaver in the northregion. But if want to get technical, you can trap every day of the year and alot of people do ,even without relizing it or know it. Mouse trap, rat trap???, How many of you set live traps to protect your gardens? do you release them alive. Probably not. If you do where do you let them go. someplace where they are going to be a problem for other I’ll bet.

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