Coyote bounties may not bring down population long-term

With coyotes appearing more and more often in the southeast, many RMs have put out bounties to stem the tide.

Those usually come in at $20 for a set of four paws, with bounties able to be claimed by anyone.

That can include farmers looking to keep pests off their land, or hunters who happen to spot them while they're out.

Wildlife Allocation Specialist with the Ministry of Environment Travis Williams says that won't work for a long-term solution.

"It's understandable that livestock producers are frustrated by the losses they're seeing from coyote predation, but while coyote bounties will cause population declines with increased hunting, the decline tends to be temporary. After significant periods of population decline, the coyotes who do survive tend to produce larger litters."

It'll also be difficult to determine just how effective the strategy is short-term without more info.

"Tough to stay how much uptake on the bounties in that area and how large the populations are in those areas before and after the bounties take place. It'll be tough to predict what that will look like, but it has happened in other jurisdictions that populations do rebound quickly after a sharp decline in population."

The best solution for farmers right now is to make sure they've got all the info on what they can do.

"The thing that we promote is working with SCIC's Wildlife Damage Compensation Program for people who are experiencing losses. There are options too, like working with predation specialists for people who are experiencing serious losses from predators. There's always an opportunity to work with local trappers to remove problem animals."