Evergreen State hunters interested in helping the whitetail deer herds north of Spokane (while driving Seattle-area animal rights advocates bonkers) should use this weekend to zero in their varmint rifles, because – according to a flyer circulating across the Internet – a month-long “Coyote Derby” is about to open with a Weatherby Vanguard .223-caliber rifle and scope combination being the grand prize.
A huge number of Western Washingtonians drive the 300 miles each fall from Seattle, Tacoma, Everett and elsewhere along the I-5 corridor to stalk whitetail bucks, so pay attention!
Yes, it may rub those Queen Anne Hill animal rights activists the wrong way, but according to the flyer and an organizer of the event, the motive is almost noble. Dubbed the “Balance for Wildlife Coyote Derby,” the event runs Feb. 1-27 and is sponsored by the Northeast Washington Wildlife Group and the Stevens County Cattlemen’s Association. It is the cattlemen who are putting up the grand prize, and there are other prizes available.
This column recommended essentially an open season on coyotes here when we offered a ten-point alternative plan to the proposed merger of the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife with the Parks Commission. That proposal set off quite a discussion on the Hunting Washington forum. This column will probably ignite another.
Due to the worst fawn survival in late history. Tough winters and high predation has resulted in all time low deer herds. This Coyote derby will help bring the predator prey ratio more in line with our deer herds. Your participation in helping save Fawns would be truly appreciated!—Balance for Wildlife derby flyer
The event has a permit from the WDFW, according to coordinator Freddie Giannecchini of Chewelah. A former hunting guide, he is a member of the Stevens County Fish and Wildlife Advisory Committee. He told this column that he has watched the whitetail deer herd deteriorate in recent years from predation, hunting and poaching.
“We’ve asked the department to extend the black bear season, and allow a second bear permit, to try to take down the number of bears,” he said. “Since they quite hound (hunting) and baiting, the bear numbers are just astronomical and they are taking a lot of fawns also.”
He advocates antler restrictions in northeast units to bring back the buck-to-doe ratio, but the WDFW and Wildlife Commission won’t agree. There is a 3-point minimum for whitetails in the Spokane area and southern units, and Giannecchini says the agency treats Stevens County like a “cash cow.”
“Stevens County is basically the cash cow of the WDFW for deer tag sales,” he asserted. “There are restrictions everywhere else, but everyone that doesn’t get a buck where they live can come here and kill anything with an antler on it.”
He was particularly critical of a current proposal to raise license and tag fees, suggesting that continually raising fees will drive away, rather than recruit, hunters with children, who will be future hunters.
Item #6: Remove the license requirement for shooting coyotes. Hunters should be encouraged to reduce the coyote population “one animal at a time” year around to reduce predation on game species from rabbits and hares on up the chain. It will save some house cats, too.-From 'Ten Point' alternative to WDFW/Parks merger
“The future of our hunting is our children,” Giannecchini said, “and these idiots can’t get it through their heads. We told ‘em look, you’re raising the fees, keeping the youths at a certain price, but mom and dad pay the (full) price and if they don’t buy a tag because it’s too expensive, they won’t hunt, and they won’t take their kids hunting…You’re destroying the sport.”
To help the herd, the one step that locals can take is to cull the coyote population, he explained. The derby is for coyotes in Ferry, Stevens and Pend Oreille counties. There are check stations at Camo’d arrow in Chewelah and Clarks All Sports in Colville during store hours, the Deer Park weigh station and Suncrest Zips at Highway 291 and Lakeside Drive 2-4 p.m. on Sundays and the Springdale Store on Sundays, 6-7 p.m.
MEANWHILE, perennial anti-gun New Jersey Democrat Sen. Frank Lautenberg this week introduced three anti-gun bills that, according to his press release, will keep guns out of the hands of criminals and terrorists. Lautenberg knows better than that, but this is the kind of language that makes the rubes believe these measures will actually do something to fight crime.
As this column has consistently noted, gun laws do not deter criminals from getting firearms. Laws against murder and mayhem haven’t stopped domestic terrorists and loonies from building bombs or committing mass shootings.
Today, U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced a package of three common-sense gun safety bills that would ban high-capacity gun magazines and keep deadly weapons out of the hands of criminals and terrorists.—Lautenberg press release
These bills are Lautenberg’s response to the attempted murder of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the slaying of six people including a federal judge and 9-year-old child earlier this month. One of Lautenberg’s proposals is a ban on large capacity ammunition magazines, a companion to anti-gun New York Rep. Carolyn McCarthy’s HR 308. Naturally, the anti-gun Washington Post published a knee-jerk editorial supporting the measures.
One presumes Lautenberg is compelled to claim his bills will disarm the bad guys because to acknowledge that “My legislation is not going to prevent a single determined nut, terrorist or hardened scumbag criminal from killing you or your family if they want to, but it will inconvenience honest citizens because I want to discourage them from buying guns” would be too much candor to expect from a career politician who has labored for years to castrate the Second Amendment.
Lautenberg and McCarthy would probably suffer cardiac seizures if they knew that a bill to legalize the use of suppressors on firearms in this state is now winding its way through the Legislature, with bipartisan support. It’s been legal to own these devices – frequently mischaracterized as “silencers” probably due to too many James Bond films – in Washington State for years. You can even put them on a gun. You just can’t shoot the gun with the suppressor attached. How dumb is that?
No one spoke against legalizing the use of suppressors and a half-dozen supported their use at a Wednesday hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sen. Tim Sheldon, D-Potlatch, is one of the Senate bill's four sponsors.—Kitsap Sun
These devices, called “cans” by their advocates, could greatly reduce noise complaints at gun ranges in rural areas that have gone suburban in recent years, and help cut down on range noise at indoor ranges like those in Puyallup, Tacoma and Bellevue. Another legitimate, and logical use of these devices would be by hunters in populated areas, including the San Juan Islands, Whidbey Island and other places where humans are encroaching on wildlife and where hunting is legal.
The bill would require that suppressors be legally documented, as required by federal law. People in more than 30 other states use these things legally and without incident. It makes no sense at all that Washingtonians can own these devices and even display them on their firearms, but not take them to the gun range and actually use them. Changing the law and dropping the use prohibition is a common sense solution to a problem that should not exist.
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Comments
On the Issue of the Deer, it is a sad state of affairs to get a heard out of balance for any reason, as the quality of the Animals suffer drastically, I don't know if you have witnessed a yarding due to the lack of food or the appearance of a park like condition of the trees where deer have ate tree branches up as far as they can reach. All of these factors lead to the predation of the heard by predators that now have a weakened prey to work on. Over population is nearly the same in reverse as now road kills are the common occurrence. If there is not a method by which man by proper regulation can effectively keep their wild animals in a good balance ratio, bad things will happen. Look at the events in California where the Coyotes have killed people’s pets, drug off young children and some I understood were killed. This was and is because of the lack of proper management, like it or not it is a necessary process that must be done and not interfered with.
Kelly:
I have not HEARD of anybody being dragged off in California by coyotes. A couple of people have been killed by cougars, however.
The deer HERD in N.E. Washington may or may not be in dire shape, but reducing predation by killing coyotes is a good step.
Gee Mr Workman- How can I question the Editor Of GUN WEEK right? I am a gun owner but I am in favor of reasonable gun control legislation. The NRA has gone way out of their way to block any Legislation involving guns. The same tired old arguments put forth by the gun lobby ie question gun laws must be anti 2nd amendment or question pigeon shooting in PA must be anti hunting is ridiculous and irresponsible. You NRA nutjobs will do these things at your own peril- people are sick and tired of the obstruction. Oh by the way- your coyote persecution arguments are as lame as your views on gun control. Coyotes rarely even eat livestock and deer fawns- test after test shows when you open the coyotes after they have been "managed: shows rodents and small animals in their stomachs! But hey you're the Editor of GUN WEEK so what to wildlife biologists know right? Stop the hillbillies from poaching instead of use coyotes as a scapegoat
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