Placeholder Post for OSTA Response.
Spoke for over an hour to OSTA president Keith Daniels.
It has been the position of the OSTA board for the last 4-5 years that coyote trapping should follow the requirements to have a fur taker permit and align with the furbearer season.
However
They did not push for the recently proposed rule change, that was the ODNRs decision. For many years there has been a split decision at the DNR over the rule. The Director decided to move forward with it.
The reason for OSTA support is the reduce negative public exposure caused by untrained hunters using snares and traps to target coyotes. It's their belief that requiring a further permit and thus a trappers ed class will reduce negative issues. They have been instances of deer, pets, and other non-target incidentals. His position is an understandable one. When fluffy gets snared its not the hunters' phone that's being blown up by the news, it's OSTAs.
15 bucks and a self-paced online trapper ed class is a small price to pay for any deer hunter who wants to ethically trap coyotes.
My opinion.
I agreed with a lot he had to say and can understand their position. I made mention thaI i think support could be gained for the permit requirement easier than reducing the season to align with other furbearers. He did make mention again that while they support the proposal it is not something they pursued as they have other more important fights.
The reason for supporting the limited season was again along the lines of public opinion. It's a hard sell for trappers if an anti-group throws out an ad of a dead snared momma coyote by a den with starving pups scattered around her.
One thing he mentioned heavily was unity and understanding. We need to provide a unified front and make appropriate changes to reduce negative public opinion. While I agreed I told him it was going to be a tough sell to deer hunters who view them as a nuisance. By in large the main reason we're seeing deer hunters target coyotes is due to the deer population reduction efforts of the ODNR. Hunters are looking to do whatever they can to preserve and grow what they have and coyotes are an easy target to help rebound their personal deer population numbers.
