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One fall day while living in the skinny oxygen of the southwest Colorado mountains, I was conversing with a longtime local and our conversation turned to coyotes. I don’t recall why we went there, but we did and more specifically, to the apparent absence thereof. He missed hearing the coyotes sing and it made him sad so many had been killed.
It turns out, he told me, another longtime local had taken it upon himself to rid the one town county of its coyote population. His kill count so far for the year was upwards of 70 coyotes, he had bragged to anyone who would listen. The coyote killer crowed of his hatred for coyotes, that he wanted to see them gone from the topography and that oh by the way, he had also been selling the pelts. (Hatred apparently not preventing him from financially benefiting from the dead coyotes.)
After the winter solstice, I walked down the road to a neighbor’s gathering. Once there I started up a conversation with another neighbor (here in this small hamlet all are neighbors, after all) and somehow our conversation turned to coyotes, how he wasn’t hearing them much anymore and that he missed their presence. I told him of the resident coyote killer and that he could now surely count on an increase in the number of marmots and various other rodents found in his woodpile during the fair months. And I already knew firsthand how much he hated marmots in his woodpile.
Simple Fact: Coyotes help control rodent populations. In a BIG way. Nature’s checks and balances.
Another Simple Fact: Killing coyotes disrupts their social structure and encourages breeding. In many cases, hunted coyote populations can actually increase.
Another neighbor and I were having a sit-a-spell in the too-dang-warm mid-winter sun. She lamented about not having heard the coyotes sing in a very long time and that she missed them terribly. I shared with her all I had learned about our local coyote killer and she became visibly distraught. Reality is a bitter pill.
A while back before my stint in Colorado, I lived for a time in far northwest Montana, snuggled in between the Cabinet Mountains and the Clark Fork River. I lived in an old log cabin plunked into stretch of breathtakingly gorgeous inland rainforest. Every day I watched myriad wildlife right outside the old creaking door, sometimes right there on the splintered porch. Like the time I awoke at 4am to a gangly moose calf tap-dancing on the porch’s weathered wood, ‘Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my ragtime gal…’
During my time in far northwest Montana, I watched –and sometimes this was face-to-face-awfully-close-for-comfort watching– black and grizzly bear, cougar and coyote, elk, moose and deer, fisher and pica. I listened to a particular wolf pack sing in the wee hours. It was heaven.
But I will tell you what, around those parts folks are really into killing things and that was hell.
I did a little substitute teaching at the all-ages schoolhouse the next town over, and I quickly grew weary of listening to kids talk about killing critters. Talk of shooting crows just to watch other crows land near the dead crows, and then shooting those crows too. During rifle season, talk of trying to give away an animal they had just shot because their freezer was already full. Talk of not being able to give away the meat because everybody’s freezers already seemed to be full. And yet folks just kept right on killing things. Late season tags, truthfully poaching, was big there, too.
At this point, folks were not trying to feed their families, they were bored and didn’t know what else to do. Here, hiking the phenomenally scenic trails and majestic mountains without a gun and without the sole purpose of killing something is unthinkable.
After my wolfish looking dog, a mostly white shepherd-husky mix, was nearly shot on three separate occasions for looking wolfish while hiking in USFS trails with me, I knew I needed to leave while we were both still breathing: just too much intent on killing.
And don’t even get me started on Whitehall Montana’s current coyote killing contest: cruel and unconscionable. Disgusting. Sick.
Legally and ethically taking an ungulate for meat –if you eat meat which, I do choose not to– and participating in the entire arduous process should be honored. It certainly bests the misery inflicted on factory farmed animals. But taking it upon yourself to wipe out an area’s population of coyotes just because you like to watch them die (the Colorado coyote killer actually said that) and want them gone? No!
Killing coyotes is not an act borne of duty or heroism, it is senseless and cruel and selfish. It is an act that neither benefits a balanced ecosystem nor the soul of any town for that matter. Coyotes play an important role in supporting healthy ecosystems and their haunting yodels accompany our dreams.
Last night I looked out into a darkness lit from a waxing moon. I looked out just in time to watch as a coyote darted off into a nearby snowdrift. This morning as I walked my dogs, I listened to coyotes yodel. I stopped and yodeled back. I watched as one coyote and then a second, moved off cautiously into the wild beyond. Sometimes they slowed and posed as shadows, other times as creatures ancient and mysterious.
Stay safe! Live long! I called out to them, remaining in place and watching, until like ghosts, they vanished.
Howl Out Loud for Coyotes!
Let the following list of proprietors, businesses, and community members sponsoring Whitehall, Montana’s current coyote killing contest know that celebrating and promoting cruel and senseless killing does not belong – Coyotes Belong!
· Murdoch's Ranch and Home Supply
855-232-9104 | customerservice@murdochs.com
· Ranch Land, Inc.
406-287-3849
· C Kountz Fence Company
406-287-5673
· Shot Gun Construction
406-490-1834
· Kristi and Keelan Wilson
Kristi’s Kiddie Korner Child Care, 406-490-0178
Antler Construction, 406-223-4332
· Toni and Eddie DiDomenico
(Unable to locate and confirm public contact information)
by Stephen Capra, Executive Director, Bold Visions Conservation | 09 February 2025
We live in a time most of us could never have fathomed; a president dedicated to the destruction of wildlife and our wildest public lands, and a Montana legislature wanting desperately to return the State to its 1870s roots with the destruction of wolves as their focal point.
So how do we change this? If there is one thing republicans have taught us, it is that you must have a vision along with the patience to see it through.
Currently, Representative Paul Fielder (R) of Thompson Falls has devoted himself to the torture and destruction of wolves. Period. For the past three or four legislative sessions, Fielder has pushed for numerous house bills with the aim of destroying Montana wolves as well as grizzly bears. He is likely behind the republican talking points on so-called ‘hybrid’ wolves in Montana, wolves more savage and with larger teeth.
Trapper and trophy hunter Montana Governor Gianforte, is busy making similar false claims. Collectively, the governors of Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana have made it clear to President Trump that he must delist wolves across the country. The sooner the better. Colorado Congresswoman and Representative Laura Bobert, coupled with her strong desire for the slaughter of wolves, has a bill aimed at delisting wolves nationally.
Billings Representative (R) Jodee Etchart brags about the “[Wolves], smoke a pack a day” bumper sticker on her car. This callousness is unacceptable, she needs to hear from all of us!
How did this all come to be after the release of wolves into Yellowstone in 1995? Even before their release, ranchers were up in arms and many in the conservation community foolish enough to think they could work with livestock interests. While thankfully some ranchers understand that they can co-existence with wolves and other wild predators, far too many behave that it’s like the civil war; their predecessors eliminated wolves, and it is an insult for the government to bring them back. Those wallowing in such ignorance only feel emboldened by the fool currently running our country.
Project 2025 is eager to sow the seeds of destroying wilderness and key wildlife species, think apex predators like wolves and grizzly bears. They have garnered the support of rural livestock producers, their communities, and those enjoying the largess of government subsidies. Yet they also take every opportunity to bash Big Government. And simply, democrats have squandered their power to allow for wolf recovery, while those like former Montana Senator Tester worked to delist wolves in the northern Rockies for his reelection hopes and personal gain.
What must change?
It begins with conservation groups aligning and collaborating in their fight for wolf recovery. Without this cooperation, wolves will not have a united front working hard for them. Some groups compromise, others refuse to collaborate or cooperate. Major conservation groups use wolves as fundraisers, making money off the backs of wolves.
In Montana, legislators need to hear from us all year, every day, week, and month. Democrats must pick up more seats to slow the energy that is pushing for the eradication of wolves. Those same democrats must agree to support sustainable wolf recovery, and we will seek out those republicans willing to do the same. We must all be willing to meet with representatives following current legislative sessions and demand far more for the 2027 session. We must work to elect those who can bring real protection and change.
This cannot be a partisan fight! We must bring both republicans and democrats to respect and support wolves in the wild. It will not be easy, but we can succeed.
We must demand that Fish, Wildlife and Parks allow wolf stamps to be sold to raise funds for non-game species like wolves, as they do with other special interest stamp sales (for example, duck stamps).
In Montana, we must use the example New Mexico is setting as they work to revamp their own Fish and wildlife agency by stopping slush fund appointments, demanding more conservationists on the commission, and to protect not remove wolves. If we work hard, we can do the same in Montana by 2027.
Nationally, wolves are losing to the mythology of the cowboy and the falsehoods promoted by sportsmen’s groups such as the NRA, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and the Foundation for Wildlife Management. Now more than ever, rural America has the strongest voice and anything related to protecting wildlife and wild land is spun as woke.
We must understand we are at the spearhead of years of work by those efforts such as Project 2025. They are a direct threat to national monuments, national parks, public lands, and agencies designed to protect wildlife and wild lands. This is part and parcel of the Sagebrush Rebellion which began during the Reagan administration and empowered radicals to push for the destruction of anything to do with sane and sustainable management of public lands.
We are living in a time where hatred is viewed as strength, but we have choices. We can cry and bury our heads in the sand, or we can fight like hell! We must go to Washington DC to lobby and continue to push both parties to be strong on wolf recovery. We must think long-term and show representatives what that looks like.
New national monuments must be created protecting apex predators and the wild lands needed for wildlife connectivity.
We must not pander to ranchers while also increasing their subsidies. It means spreading the word that grazing livestock on public lands is not a right, but a privilege. It means that when livestock is permitted to graze on public lands, predators should not be allowed to be killed and that non-lethal predator deterrents are required, such as range riders, fladry, and livestock guardian dogs. These need to be the requirements for grazing privileges!
We must create a vision of how western states will look when wolves are thriving on the landscape, continuing into perpetuity. Healthy riparian areas, healthy ungulate herds, the trophic cascade in action! People, not wild lands or wildlife, need to be restricted. We must educate all Americans about the importance of wolves, dispelling the myths and lies. We must show them the joy of wolf packs, the tenderness of a family unit, that wolves are successful in their hunts 15% of the time if they are lucky, and do not kill for sport or to waste prey.
We must also show the dark side if wolves are again allowed to teeter on the brink of extinction. Disease, destroyed riparian areas, the absence of birdsong and wolf howls. The list of destruction goes on and it will not be the first time…
Saving wolves is the fight of our lives! We must be ever more vigilant and vocal – we must demand that wolves be protected. We must confront decision makers and lawmakers, and work to change the one place that remains closed, their hearts.
Our love of wolves will be contagious, it can prevail. We must plan for the long game, be in it for the good fight, and put our hearts into every action we take to save wolves and allow them to thrive.
