Monday letters: If you want people to kill coyotes, offer a serious bounty

Giving out a $1,000 lottery prize for killing coyotes is the most ill-conceived wildlife management practice of which I’ve ever heard — a “lottery” spin on our natural resources.

There are 20 million acres of hunting land in the state; the chance of hitting one of a dozen tagged coyotes is more than remote.

S.C. hunters already take 30,000 coyotes annually while in pursuit of other game. It’s ridiculous to think that a hunter who would not otherwise harvest a coyote would now take one on the chance of cashing in on a $1,000 tag (one tagged coyote per 1.5 million acres).

Get serious about this situation: Offer a $100 bounty on every coyote, and pay for it with a $20 per year increase in hunting license fees. I doubt many hungers would complain.

This story was originally published March 13, 2016 at 5:44 PM with the headline "Monday letters: If you want people to kill coyotes, offer a serious bounty."