A humane plan to save white-tail deer

To the editor:
    Coyotes in Maine can be 80 percent exterminated in two full years using secret federal live trapping techniques, similar to the Clayton Lake Lynx Live Trapping program. These will be combined with a special night hunting season in June and July over bait with bear-baiting guidelines.

Photo contributed by Judy Sherman of Oxbow Non-resident hunters will need a guide and licensing fees will be determined by the state. Young coyotes hunt with the mother in June and July, and you can take the entire pack with a shotgun. More coyotes will be killed in June and July than in the entire rest of the year combined. It would be the most exciting and rewarding hunting experience possible on a warm summer night. Federal live trapping uses a chicken in a protective cage at the end of the live trap. There is no pain or injury to live predator or live prey.
    Open screens in the live trap and cage face each other and the rest of the cage is shaded with a waterproof top. We will biologically improve this technique drastically. We will catch a male and a female rabbit from the area and put them in a 4 foot x 4 foot x 2 foot cage at the end of the live trap to safely breed and having a good time while they capture the coyote. A screen on the floor of the rabbit cage for excrement is necessary. The mother and baby rabbits will be put in a holding pen until the young have some chance of running with the predators. A two-day supply of food and water will be in the cage, but they will be tended every day, twice a day if possible. Coyotes will be dispatched with a 22-magnum. In June and July, the live trap will be set near the night hunting bait sight out of the line of fire; thus you will be catching coyotes while the smell of real rabbits keeps drawing the predator in to the bait.
    What are the biologists doing to the coyotes they are accidentally catching in their live lynx traps? I was told by a game warden that the coyotes are being tagged and released alive. That really helps the Clayton Lake deeryards disappear quicker! This must be reverse biology!
    Is this how my tax dollars are being spent? Who is checking up on this? The state of Maine biologist talked to me on the telephone and listened to my plan and evaluated it. He said, “I would catch a pile of young coyotes, but it would have no effect on the deer being killed in the deer yards. One big coyote does most of the killing for the pack, and there would be no effect by removing a bunch a young coyotes.”
    I replied that in three years, thousands of young coyotes removed could be the largest coyotes in the yard and therefore be the main killers. “Why wouldn’t it have a direct effect on the killing of the deer?” I asked him. But he stuck to his guns and said the young coyotes wouldn’t have any effect on the killing of the deer in the deeryards.
    Then I asked why the Feds use a 72-inch live trap to catch only puppies when they could use a raccoon live trap instead. He admitted that you would also get some adults in the traps, but once again, it would have no effect on the amount of pregnant does killed in the deer yards because of the One Big Dog hypothesis. In fact, you will get most of the young coyotes and a lot of the adults. They just can’t walk away from breeding rabbits. The live trap would also emit a dying rabbit call every 20 minutes, 24/7.
    As you may or may not know, game wardens can no longer shoot coyotes while working for the state of Maine. They can only shoot coyotes on their own time from their own vehicles. Does anyone understand why? If anyone can improve or disprove any part of my plan, please let me know. We need to perfect coyote removal.
    Biologists say that 75 percent of coyotes must be killed every single year just to keep the pressure off the deer population. Live trapping is painless and all non-target animals are released alive. I believe that painlessly controlling coyote numbers is the most humane way to do it, and even coyotes deserve the most humane removal process that works to protect the rabbits and the white-tailed deer. Any suggestions are welcome, especially ideas for improvement! Two hundred live trappers in northern Maine should gain control in two full years with live trapping, and a June and July night hunt with bait guidelines for safety.
    Ultimate deer feeding, highest possible nutrition, “unlimited quantities for free.” (have tree pruner, will travel).
    Any smart animal lover should go into deer yards on the edges and cut 10 percent of the bottom limbs off the large cedar trees (limbs deer can’t reach even in deep snow) and when they are on the ground, stick the butt end in the ground so they stand up.
    Manual or power pruners: no harm, no foul and the cedars will grow taller and faster with increased value. Always get landowner permission and most will be happy with free pruning. Deer reach six to eight feet standing on their rear legs, so add to this the snow depth you would expect in a bad winter and prune above that.
    Safety: always go armed to shoot coyote or protect yourself, but always have at least bear spray. Coyote attacks are on the rise, one in Canada this week.