Heres an interesting conversation from my response to this thread that showcases the mentality of predator killers: Keith, If you want the world to think that hunters are conservationists or have ethics, actions like this make you look like a hypocrite. Its ridiculous to attack an animal for doing what it must. We may as well kill fellow humans for eating -- thats basically what you are suggesting. True conservationists like Aldo Leopold Foundation realized the value of predators long ago. This coyote is providing a service. You have no idea the condition of the fawn prior to the coyotes successful hunt. It could have been dead, dying, diseased, abandoned or had some other genetic issue. The role of predators is to refine their prey such that those that are fittest survive. Ethical hunters respect the coyote as a peer and an equal. A fellow hunter that, with no tools save their teeth and senses, manages to eek out a living while under increasing pressure from every direction. Suggesting that people should share if they want to shoot the coyote on the spot is simply reprehensible. It discredits you and everything you say you stand for. You should be embarrassed by this post. It is inflammatory, ecologically insensitive, and an embarrassment to anyone that hunts ethically as a source of sustenance and not for fun or trophies. A post does not in any way reflect the oft-claimed reverence that hunters have for what they kill. Casually blasting another living creature just because is sociopathic and callous killing. It is barbaric. It is abhorrent. You should be ashamed and retract what youve said. You should also learn more about the ecosystems you claim to preserve and appreciate so much. If you did, youd realize just how crucial coyotes are to healthy landscapes and how damaging (and totally ineffective) it is to act like hooligans with guns. PS: it doesnt showcase your ethics (REFERRING TO OP KEITH WARREN that started this horrible thing) that this photo is stolen from a professional photographers website without so much as a mention for attribution: robpics/Wildlife-Full-Gallery/i-Lb2Xd8G Wildlife Full Gallery - Rob Mauro (robpics) Coyote with fawn, Mission... ROBPICS.COM Like · Reply · Remove Preview · 4 · Yesterday at 11:54am Response from one super intellection fellow: Shawn Pinnt (https://facebook/shawn.pinnt?fref=ufi) You sir are a dipshit. Colorado has lost 60 percent of our deer herds to overpopulation of predators and coyotes are tied neck and neck with mountain lions on the worst killer. They stopped trapping here and with that said, every one who loves wildlife for hunting, sightseeing, photgraphing should raise concerns over the issue. Like · 1 · 7 hrs David Mills Coyotes are considered nuisance animals and are legal to shoot and kill! They are over populated in most places, because they have no predators above them in the food chain! My Reply: Shawn Pinnt... Im a dipshit because the deer population in Colorado has dropped by 60%? Are you seriously blaming coyotes? From your own Denver Post Photo ( denverpost/outdoors/ci_26326126/colorado-hunt-mule-deer-population-declining-wildlife-officials-dow) (btw, Im a Colorado native myself) the report cites encroachment by people as the single biggest problem. We are eating their habitat and theres not a damn thing in the world reproduction can do about that. Once habitat is gone, its gone. You arent going to pack more deer into less space unless you also want to feed them. Why not blame the 40K deer per year that hunters take out like clockwork? Thats vastly more than coyotes take. In fact in every case where it has been measured, its humans, not predators that put the back-breaking pressure on prey. Furthermore, your old normal is nothing even approaching normal. Weve been playing god with predators from the moment white people set foot on these shores. Before we got here there were plenty of wolves, plenty of deer, plenty of everything else! Deer populations ebb and flow as do their predator species. Its called dynamic equilibrium. Wolves, bears, big cats, coyotes, the whole slew of critters with teeth and claws co-evolved with everything they eat. We are the ones that dont play fair. We are the ones that kill with impunity at a distance. Your perspective on nature is so laughably, unbearably small, its a wonder how you could ever comprehend the nature I see. So get off the coyotes back, not a one of them has taken your deer -- as if any one of us is ever entitled to these things in the way that people like you compulsively take them.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Nov 2014 06:43:28 +0000