Now the farmers are taking shots at coyote. Geesh! Give me a break!
OWH wrote:
Aerial test program fights Nebraska coyotes
OGALLALA, Neb. (AP) - Some farmers and ranchers in western Nebraska are getting help from above in their fight against coyotes.
The help comes in the form of Jeff Wall, a wildlife services specialist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and pilot Jerry Hyatt. The two patrol the skies in a single-engine airplane in a hunt for coyotes.
When they spot the animals, Wall shoots them from the plane.
Wall and Hyatt are part of a USDA test program that gives area farmers and ranchers another weapon against the predators, which wreak havoc on livestock.
Wall and Hyatt are stationed in Ogallala and serve 39 counties, including Keith, Perkins, Garden, Arthur, Hooker, Deuel and Lincoln.
John Hobbs, an official with USDA's Wildlife Services for Nebraska, said the test marks the first time since the 1970s that the federal government has sponsored an aerial coyote-control program in the state.
Hobbs said he believes the program will help fight coyotes, which he said kill more Nebraska livestock than any other predator.
"We believe this thing will succeed, and there's a need," Hobbs said.
There are an increasing number of coyotes and a decreasing number of people hunting and trapping the animals, Hobbs said.
There are several reasons fewer people are hunting coyotes, but a primary factor is the low price of coyote fur, Hobbs said.
Monday, Wall and Hyatt went on their first mission from the Ogallala airport. They were called to a Perkins County ranch where two coyotes were harassing some calves.
Wall and Hyatt spotted the coyotes in some wheat stubble and quickly stopped the harassment.
"We were very successful," Hyatt said of their mission.