Maine wildlife biologist Ron Joseph wrote a Letter to the Editor<\/a>\u00a0in the Bangor Daily News suggesting the snaring program emerged thanks to timber industry lobbyists, whose campaign contributions swayed Legislators to vote against protecting deer habitat and instead allowed hunters to kill more coyotes. <\/p>\nThe initiative, Joseph said, removed many coyotes in some locations, but cost the state $680,000. Snaring was discontinued in 2003 in part because federally protected Canada lynx, bobcats, fishers, bald eagles, deer and even hunting dogs fell victim to them.<\/p>\n
The state continues to fund a predator management program in more than 50 deer wintering areas, resulting in 297 coyotes killed per year, at an average cost of almost $52,000, or $174.62 per animal, since 2011.<\/p>\n
Coyote hunting opportunities abound<\/p>\n
There isn\u2019t much standing in the way of hunters who want to kill coyotes. Maine law allows coyotes to be hunted or trapped, and their pelts sold with few species-specific restrictions.<\/p>\n
Daytime hunting of coyotes is permitted year-round. Coyotes, along with raccoons, are the only game animals that can be legally hunted at night during an 8 1\/2-month season. <\/p>\n
Coyotes are also the lone exception to the state\u2019s wanton waste law, which makes it illegal to leave an animal that has been wounded or killed in the field.<\/p>\n
But recent changes in the law have been favorable to coyotes. In 2019, the state changed the law to allow killed coyotes to be gifted to other people, who may then register them and use or sell the fur, rather than discard the carcasses.<\/p>\n
A bill, LR 192, An Act to Restrict the Daytime and Nighttime Killing of Coyotes, will be introduced in the Legislature this session by Rep. Lynne Williams of Bar Harbor\u00a0that would prohibit all coyote hunting from April 1 to Sept. 30, Vistein said. Such a law would be a concession to animal activists and conservationists who want to take hunting pressure off coyotes.<\/p>\n
More Mainers are advocating for coyotes<\/p>\n
Biologists and conservationists, along with some hunters, hope that a better understanding of coyotes may create a greater sense of public tolerance and acceptance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re clearly the most maligned and misunderstood animal, I think you could objectively argue, in this whole country,\u201d said C.J. Dirago, an avid deer bowhunter who enjoys harvesting venison. It wasn\u2019t until the pandemic hit that he began reading up on coyotes. \u201cAnd that just didn\u2019t make sense to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The real estate planner and consultant now wants to focus his career on conservation issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a deer hunter and as a Mainer who\u2019s an outdoorsman, to be able to offer a different story about this animal, which helps balance the ecosystems when they\u2019re present, is important,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
For example, coyotes that prey on deer help lower the population, which limits the spread of deer ticks and Lyme disease, Vistein suggested. <\/p>\n
When Master Maine Guide David Kelso of South Paris began working at a coyote research center, it changed his perspective on hunting the animal.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter being able to go in the pens and play with them, I got so I could not walk up to one in a trap,\u201d said Kelso, who has hunted coyotes.<\/p>\n
Kelso still believes some coyote harvesting is needed and suggested hunters not shoot those that appear to have mange, which he said infects and kills more coyotes than hunters ever could.<\/p>\n
The coyote debate will continue. More education about how they live may dispel some misunderstandings, but hunters\u2019 perceptions that coyotes kill the deer they\u2019re targeting will keep playing a pivotal role in forming public opinion. <\/p>\n
Coyotes are here, and Mainers have to learn to live with them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a species that has demonstrated that it\u2019s here to stay. It\u2019s not going anywhere,\u201d Webb said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Editor\u2019s note: This story was originally published in January 2023. There\u00a0are few things that frustrate Maine deer hunters…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401419,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[36154,1757,9371,79,201],"class_list":["post-401418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-coyotes","tag-evergreen","tag-explain","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Pile-of-coyotes-600x450.jpg\")
From 1985-2002, coyotes could be killed in Maine with the use of snares, in addition to hunting and trapping. This group of hunters, including (from left) Steve Ladd, Greg Gallant, Bill Harmon and Allie Ladd, is shown with 88 of the approximately 130 coyotes they took during the 2001-2002 season. Credit: Courtesy of Allie Ladd<\/p>\n![\"YouTube](\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/2HkoOCAfv6c\/hqdefault.jpg\")
<\/p>\n