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Would predator bounties save turkeys?




Coyotes and other predators take a toll on turkeys.Larry Woody

Coyotes and other predators take a toll on turkeys.Larry Woody

As wildlife officials scramble to find solutions to the state’s declining wild turkey population, Lebanon’s Clarence Dies has a suggestion:

Place a bounty on raccoons, possums, skunks and coyotes which take a heavy toll on turkey eggs, poults and even adult birds. Some believe the proliferation of these predators in recent years is the biggest factor in the turkeys’ decline.

“It’s common sense,” Dies says. “If we reduce the number of predators that eat turkeys and their eggs, we’ll have more turkeys.”

Dies has presented his bounty proposal to the Tennessee Fish & Game Commission, which sets the state’s wildlife regulations. He has been assured it will be taken into consideration.

The Commission has already taken a step toward predator control by extending hunting seasons for racoons and possums and doubling the bag limit for both. Coyotes and skunks could already be taken year-round without limit.

Dies, an official with the Tennessee Fur Harvesters Association, says it won’t help.

“There’s no incentive for hunters and trappers to take more of these animals,” he says. “The fur doesn’t bring enough to make it worthwhile to trap them. During last winter’s fur sale in Crossville, some trappers took their pelts home rather than sell them at such low prices. They’re not going to spend more time and effort trapping more animals if they’re not worth anything.”

Coyotes prey on poults and adult turkeys (and also kill as many as 50 percent of new-born deer in some areas.) Ground-foraging racoons, skunks and possums by some estimates eat 80 percent of all turkey eggs laid.

“Predators become a bigger problem every year because of their growing numbers,” Dies says.

Hunting these animals, like trapping them, is on the decline. Nobody hunts possums and skunks, and although coon hunting remains popular, the coons are seldom dispatched after they are treed.

The hunt is all about the dogs’ skill in tracking and treeing, not about bagging coons.

The only way to encourage the removal of predators, Dies is convinced, is to place a bounty on them.

South Dakota, whose lucrative pheasant hunting industry is threatened by racoons and skunks raiding nests, posted a $10 bounty on the animals. Proponents claim it is working, while opponents question its cost-effectiveness.

Bounties on nuisance wildlife in other states has had mixed success over the decades because of cheating. Coyotes and foxes, for example, can be killed in one state and sold for the bounty in another state.

There would also be certain opposition to placing a bounty on the racoon, the official State Animal.

Dies admits there are hurdles, but proposes “trying it for two or three years and see if it helps. If it doesn’t, it can be discontinued.”

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