ND Game & Fish Working to Connect Coyote Hunters and Livestock Owners

It’s pretty easy to cut down the electronic age we live in. “Kids these days spend too much time
on their phones.”

Yet, there’s no shortage of examples of how outdoors electronics have improved not just the
safety but also the efficiency and enjoyment.

I can get along just fine without my phone when I’m outdoors. But there’s always a flip side.
Go back to the first ice fishing blue box flashers. While the old school ice anglers resisted, I’m
guessing they’ll think back and laugh at their resistance to change. No doubt it made life on the
ice more successful.

Electronic communication has helped in so many other areas. One of the most obvious for me
currently has been helping connect furbearer hunters with livestock producers and landowners
with coyote depredation.

In an era of instant communication, some might suggest it’s a little antiquated. While I can
understand the need for instant connection to emergency services with the safety of a 911 call,
a simple online connection at the convenience of each party is all that’s really needed.

Most landowners know if they’ve had coyote problems in the past it’s likely again this winter
and most coyote hunters know well in advance they’ll be looking to hunt coyotes.

This winter, the North Dakota Department of Agriculture and the North Dakota Game and Fish
Department have reopened the Coyote Catalog to connect coyote hunters and trappers with
landowners who want fewer coyotes in their areas. The Coyote Catalog is an online database
similar to the one the Game and Fish Department uses to connect deer hunters with farmers
and ranchers.

NDDA officials estimate livestock producers in North Dakota in some years lose more than $1
million each year to coyotes. At the same time, coyotes are a popular furbearer species for
hunters and trappers.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services should be the first contact for landowners
experiencing coyote depredation of livestock. Landowners can sign up on the NDDA website at
nd.gov/ndda/coyote-catalog. Required information includes county and contact information.

Hunters and trappers can sign up at the NDGF website at gf.nd.gov.

Periodically throughout winter, hunters or trappers will receive information on participating
landowners, and they can then contact landowners to make arrangements.

Although the Coyote Catalog does not guarantee a good match for every participating
landowner or hunter, it has great potential to focus hunting or trapping pressure in areas where
farmers and ranchers are experiencing coyote depredation problems.

Anyone who registered for the Coyote Catalog in the past must register again to activate their
names on the database.

The Coyote Catalog will remain active through March 31, and then start up again next winter.
Like any project or program, we understand it’s not for every landowner and not all hunters but
in this day and age it’s another useful tool to help bridge the gap and work in the direction
mutual goals.