Livestock producers are a step closer to receiving financial aid when dealing with predators. Senate Bill 238 asks the state for $300,000 for the Game, Fish and Parks department to expand its aerial predator control services. The main predator producers are concerned about—coyotes. Supporters of the legislation say it’s common to kill more than 25 coyotes a day in some parts of the state, and producers are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars from killed livestock. Emmett Keyser with Game, Fish and Parks was not a proponent or opponent of the legislation but answered questions for the Senate Ag committee. Keyser says hunting is not effective enough to be the only form of control in the state. He says it’s necessary to have both ground and aerial control.
“Certain times of the year are very effective with our aerial control work, at other times it’s really important that we utilize all the ground tools that are available to us as well with traps and snares, M44s and the like. A balanced approach is always the best approach, but we do have an opportunity in the early spring of the year prior to calving and lambing in some areas to really get a handle on the population through these aerial contracts,” Keyser says.
Keyser says as more coyotes are killed, it’s natural for their litter sizes to increase in response to the lack of competition. The only people to show opposition to Senate Bill 238 were USD President Jim Abbott and Charlie the Coyote. Abbott says jackrabbits also need to be added to the predator control list to make it fair.