The Wilderness-Sportsman is all about hearing both sides of the issue. With that, we took the time to have a conversation with Rob Erickson, the trapper currently handling the controversial Wheaton coyote job.
First, let me start this article off by saying that everyone needs to tone things down a bit. There’s no need for some of the nasty comments I have heard coming from both sides of the isle. I have received bogus emails and things that just don’t make any sense. At this point it’s important to move forward with a sense of caution in regards to the facts. Remember, this is about what to do with the coyotes, not about hating your neighbor.
When Rob and I talked, we both felt it was only fair for his side of the story to be told. He wanted to set the record straight and I wanted to hear his side too.
Lets go point by point:
The “shooting skunks from a moving golf cart” issue was something he said he never did in Illinois, but engaged in while working other state(s). Rob notified me that in Illinois, you have to have your gun secure and put away when in moving vehicles, and that you cannot fire upon the animals from a vehicle(except in cases of disability permits). He also mentioned that in some other states, this practice was in fact legal.
What happens is the skunks favor the grubs that emerge from the golf courses. He said you can technically use the cart to look for the skunks. Also, he mentioned that road hunting was legal for pheasants in Iowa. And that it wasn’t all that uncommon across the U.S.
The next issue was the matter of stunning the coyote with a baseball bat. According to Erickson, the practice of knocking out the coyote with a bat and then going behind the animal to break its neck is known as “cervical dislocation”. According to Erickson, the animal is already knocked out, not “stunned” or “dazed” but fully knocked out. He made a good point as to why would you go behind an alive animal? It would be too risky. Erickson told me this method is approved by every trappers association in the nation.
While some would still not approve(myself included), It’s more humane than breaking the neck of an animal that is still “with it”.
To further round off that point, Erickson said he didn’t/doesn’t practice that regardless, and was simply asked by the interviewer what he would do if he could not use a gun.
One of the last major issues was the foothold trap scenario. In an earlier article from another magazine, it was inferred he had out 100 foot hold traps on any given day for coyotes. He emphatically denied this, saying he respected the animals way more than that. He indicated these might be the traps for all the animals he monitors, but not specifically coyote. Erickson told me that he only had four foothold traps out in Wheaton and was monitoring them incredibly closely. His tone was sincere and I believed him.
He also mentioned just how fast he got to the trap sites despite living 45 minutes away from them at times, and how he would not let a coyote go too long. For example, he does his best to get to a foot hold trap within 30 minutes once he gets sent an email from a remote camera. He indicated by law that you don’t have to get there so fast but that he cares for the animals and doesn’t want them to suffer, seeking to euthanize or move them as fast as possible.
In one example, he was awoke at 3 AM to an email alarm and drove to another suburb to check a foot hold trap. He got there at 3:30 AM, only to have another foot hold trap go off in another location, which he then immediately traveled to and arrived onto the scene at 4 AM. From there, he went home and slept, only to be woken up at 9 AM this time to go check a foot hold trap. By law, you only have to check once every 24 hours. After arriving on the scene at 9:30am,, he went home again only to be woken up at 12:30 to go secure a trap forty miles away. This demonstrates to me a sincere eagerness to not let the animals suffer.
In his observations, Erickson told me that there may be several people “feeding” or placing feed in their backyards which are causing the coyotes to approach humans. He feels this is what causes the habituation and ultimately his response to the situation. In fact he seemed to implore and stick on this point. He wished people could be fined heavily so they would not feed the animals.
Erickson also told me he has stopped numerous people from “taking things into their own hands”.A specific example would be anti-freeze. People think the coyotes will drink it, but they don’t. All the other wildlife does though which causing a large poisoning of animals. He feels that by taking a few of the coyotes in a precise, controlled fashion, he can save most of the coyotes and other animals from suffering.
During our conversation and after, I felt Erickson was sincere and spoke with passion.
One of the key points he mentioned is that the Wheaton coyotes he caught are being euthanized with a .22 firearm to the head which is a swift way to die. I think this is an interesting revelation because none of the papers really went into this.
While the Wilderness-Sportsman may disagree with the killing of coyotes of any form, I think Erickson is sincere in his beliefs, and I’m glad he got to tell his side of the story on this site.
I also think it’s important that everyone really take things down a notch during this controversy.
We are all people in the end trying to do the right thing in our own way.
UPDATE:
Under very extreme circumstances, the DNR may write a permit for shooting animals form a moving vehicle although the DNR Captain I spoke with today said it would be “an extreme situation” and “unlikely”. That doesn’t mean it couldn’t be done though. Something to consider.
Also, Rob wanted me to post this photo in an effort to maybe prevent people from feeding wild animals. Some of you may find it a bit harsh so I made it smaller and in link format. It is a photo of a recent Wheaton coyote which was sick from mange. This is one of the four coyotes Rob has taken in the Wheaton project.
Rob asked to show it so people could see the kinds of animals he was taking. He does indeed target the sick ones. Also, he made the observation that it is very possible this sick coyote made it through the winter only by being fed by humans or was habituated to humans.
I have to say it’s been an interesting learning process the last few days. I’ve learned considerably more about trapping from Rob. This may irritate some of my readers, but as I’ve always said, the truth is more important than anything else.
