Wildlife hunting contests are no longer allowed on Oregon’s public lands.
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission voted late last week to prohibit contests aimed at killing large numbers of coyotes and other unprotected mammals native to Oregon.
The contests, which are popular among some Oregon ranchers and hunters, involve teams of participants paying an entry fee and competing for cash and prizes by killing as many animals as possible in a specified time period. Hundreds of animals are typically killed over a few days, according to the Humane Society of the United States. Prizes are awarded based on the number, weight or size of animals killed.
Organized hunting derbies have long drawn the ire of wildlife advocates who say they’re a blood sport that’s cruel and inhumane. Participants use night vision, bait and electronic calling devices to attract animals with sounds that mimic prey or the distress calls of pups.
“Wildlife killing contests are motivated by financial reward and are grossly out of step with the principles of fair chase, modern, science-based wildlife management, and responsible stewardship,” Kelly Peterson, the Oregon senior state director with the Humane Society of the United States, said in an email to The Oregonian/OregonLive.com
Proponents of the tournaments say the contests help reduce coyote populations in rural areas, protecting livestock during calving season.
They’re needed, “and it makes no sense to ban them,” Harney County Farm Bureau president and rancher Rusty Inglis told The Oregonian/OregonLive.com about the contests. “They’re a good management tool to help control the coyote populations, [which] do extensive damage to livestock in our county.”
The Harney County Farm Bureau has sponsored the annual Harney County Coyote Classic, held in the Burns area since 2014. The event was last held this past winter.
Multiple wildlife-hunting tournaments have been held in Oregon in recent years – though, as they’ve faced more criticism, they have increasingly become low-profile, word-of-mouth events.
In the last 4 years, more than 1,000 coyotes have been killed in hunting contests in the Harney County Coyote Classic, according to the Humane Society, which has collected social-media and law-enforcement accounts of the contest.
In 2020, for example, the event drew more than 400 participants from Oregon and neighboring states and killed 255 coyotes over a two-day period, according to the Humane Society. Winners took home $100,000 in cash and prizes.
Other hunting contests in Oregon have included the Lake County Coyote Calling Derby, also last held this past winter; a coyote hunting tournament organized in December 2018 by the Young Farmers & Ranchers, a program of the Oregon Farm Bureau; and the JMK Coyote Hunt in Harney County, last held in 2014 and halted by a lawsuit.
The Oregon Farm Bureau says it was opposed to the ban because it believes the Oregon Fish & Wildlife Commission does not have the authority to regulate where, when or how many predatory animals can be hunted or trapped — that authority lies with the Oregon Department of Agriculture.
Inglis pointed out that coyotes are an economic threat to ranchers, who have slim profit margins. They lose plenty of calves to weather and disease and can’t afford to lose more to predators, he said.
“The ranchers over here, they’re not out to wipe coyotes off the face of the earth,” Inglis said. “If you could walk in their shoes and find a calf that was dragged away from her mom, half eaten alive, maybe you would understand that ranchers really have compassion for animals.”
Scientific studies have concluded that mass killing of coyotes does not reduce coyote-livestock conflicts. To the contrary, wildlife tournaments break up coyote packs, encouraging coyotes to breed more and leading to increases in livestock deaths, according to the research.
A growing number of states have already banned hunting contests, including New York, New Mexico, California, Colorado and Washington state.
Oregon’s new ban does not restrict ranchers or hunters from shooting coyotes and other animals, including when they’re a threat to livestock. It also doesn’t prohibit hunting contests on private land.
