San Marcos Record, San Marcos, TX

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  • The coyotes were hung up carefully and individually. (Photo by Gerald Castillo) Gerald Castillo

    Coyotes
January 8, 2009

Grisly sight

Hanging coyotes from fence serves no purpose, outgoing county agent says

By Anita Miller

San Marcos — Motorists along Ranch Road 12 — and their passengers — were met with a rather grisly sight on Tuesday.

The carcasses of about a half dozen coyotes had been carefully and individually hung up by their rear feet along a stretch of barb-wire fencing in a practice that, while common decades ago, is no longer considered politically correct.

“I discourage that practice immensely” when dealing with landowners experiencing coyote predation problems, said soon-to-be-former Hays County Extension Agent Bryan Davis.

In his old office to pick up a few last belongings on Tuesday, Davis, headed for a new job in San Antonio, said Texans with valid hunting licenses can shoot coyotes if they are taking livestock but stressed that such a public display serves no purpose.

“In West Texas where I grew up, when trappers would kill them and throw them over the fence it showed other neighbors they’re having a coyote problem,” Davis said. “But we need to be very sensitive to the urbanization that’s occurring here” and the fact that families and school buses travel Ranch Road 12 every day. “Let’s say you are a school bus driver — how do you teach those kids what that represents?”

Davis has worked regularly with landowners with coyote predation problems since the early 1990s and admits they are a problem, particularly at this time of year and given the long-standing lack of significant rainfall.

“As dry as it’s been those animals are looking for food and water sources,” he said. “Tanks and a lot of water sources these animals have been going to are drying up. Because of the dry conditions and time of year they’re looking for food.”

He added that coyotes can also have young pups to feed this time of year.

Given those two factors plus the urbanization of large areas that were formerly rural, Davis said it’s no surprise more and more people are having problems with coyotes.

“These animals are having to adapt, and they are adapting extremely well. They learn people take out their trash at night for pickup the next morning, so they’ve become trash dogs.”

Keeping trash inside until morning, and never leaving pet food outdoors, can discourage coyotes from returning.

Davis noted that any shooting must be done in accordance with state and local laws. He noted that any discharge of a firearm within the city limits is illegal.

And as for hanging carcasses up on fences, Davis said that can create problems beyond political correctness. “I can see where buzzards and other animals that prey on dead animals might be brought in.”

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