Board extends coyote season.

Byline: Mary Anne Magiera

COLUMN: Outdoors

After two public hearings and a public comment period, the state Board of Fisheries and Wildlife has voted to extend the coyote hunting season, overlapping it with the deer season beginning this fall.

The board also added the coyote to the list of 25 species that specially trained animal control officers can remove when it causes problems and reiterated the requirement that all furbearers taken during hunting and trapping seasons or by the control officers must be tagged. The new regulations also clarify the shot sizes permitted for coyote hunting.

About five weeks were added to the coyote season. This year, it will begin the first Saturday after Columbus Day (Oct. 13) and end March 8, 2008. Prior to the recent vote, coyote season was Jan. 1-Feb. 28, with a second segment scheduled for Nov. 1-Feb. 29, 2008.

The first Massachusetts coyote was spotted in Berkshire County in 1957. Others were documented in New Salem in 1958 and in Grafton in 1959.

Today, the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife estimates that about 10,000 coyotes are found in every community except Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. The animal generates more calls from the public to the division and local police departments than any other wildlife species. Most of those calls are driven by concerns about coyotes and public safety or attacks on pets. Since their arrival in the state, there have been only three confirmed attacks.

Responding to both the growing issue of coyotes as problem animals in communities and to increasing numbers of hunters that want expanded opportunities to hunt the coyote, MassWildlife staff initiated a study earlier this year that resulted in the recommendations that were ultimately voted on by the board.

The coyote is very adaptable and an opportunist with the ability to switch its feeding strategy and diet to whatever food type is most available, including small household pets, according to MassWildlife's Web site. Additionally, coyote populations quickly respond to reductions in their numbers - mostly from vehicle hits, disease and, less frequently, hunting - by producing more offspring. They also self-regulate their numbers when mortality is low and there is increased competition for resources.

The new regulations are not an attempt to reduce or control the coyote population. Instead, they are aimed at seeking to achieve a balance between public interests in, and concerns about, the population, Tom O'Shea, the state's assistant director of wildlife, noted when the new regulations were proposed.

The changes, O'Shea said, "continue the division's balanced, science-based approach to managing the commonwealth's coyotes."

Adding coyotes to the list of problem animals, he added, "gives an additional tool to municipalities and land owners dealing with individual coyotes that pose a true problem."

The agency's data shows that the new regulations will not decrease the coyote population. They were not intended to be a method of coyote control, according to O'Shea. "Rather, it is a response to recreational interest and based on the division's value of coyotes as a natural resource."

New hunters need course

Those new to hunting who expect to take advantage of the extended coyote hunt, or any other hunting opportunity this fall, need to sign up now for a basic hunter education course. Massachusetts now requires new hunters of all ages to show proof that they have taken a basic hunter education course to purchase a hunting or sporting license.

The courses are free and available throughout the state. Several will begin in the next few weeks. A listing is available at masswildlife.org, or by calling the hunter education office at [phone].

Basic hunter education courses are about 15 hours long and are usually scheduled over five or six weekday evenings or on weekends. They are taught by volunteer instructors, usually longtime hunters. Topics covered include safe handling and storage of firearms and other hunting equipment, hunting laws and ethics, wildlife identification, wildlife management, care and handling of game, basic survival skills, and first aid.

Nantucket Slammer Sept. 9-11

The 2007 Redbone Large Nantucket Slammer catch-and-release tournament to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation will be held Sept. 9-11 on Nantucket. Tournament events will be held at the Harbor House, Nantucket Anglers Club, and the White Elephant, while boats will depart from the Nantucket Boat Basin.

The event features two days of competitive fishing for bluefish, bonito, striped bass and false albacore - Sept. 10-11- while check-in, captains' meetings, and welcome receptions are planned for Sept. 9. Anglers are invited to participate with or without their own boats and they will be supplied with all necessary tackle and equipment.

To accommodate various boat sizes and styles of fishing, there will be three categories - fly fishing, spin/plug fishing, and trolling/general fishing. Teams of two to six anglers per boat will compete. Prizes will be awarded for the largest and most fish per species, as well as division champion, first runner-up, and grand champion. The cost to participate varies from $500 to $5,000, depending on the option you choose. For information, visit cff.org, or call Karen Kelly at [phone].