September 19, 2009
Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife-Idaho are holding their Fifth Annual Predator Derby. What is this you ask? The purpose of the derby is to see which team of hunters can kill the most coyotes, bobcats, foxes and wolves in a certain time period. The rules: Each animal is worth points: bobcats and foxes are two points, coyotes two points and wolves three points. The team with the most points wins. If there is a tie the heaviest weights determine the winner. There may even be a special prize for the heaviest coyote.
The proceeds of the derby go to their wolf litigation fund.
I found two definitions of sportsman:
1. a person who exhibits qualities especially esteemed in those who engage in sports, as fairness, courtesy, good temper, etc.
2. A person whose conduct and attitude exhibit sportsmanship.
Do either of these definitions describe the actions that will be taken in this derby? Do sportsman have predator killing contests?
Photos: Wikimedia Commons Posted in: Predator Derby Tags: wolves, coyotes, bobcats, foxes, Idaho SFW killing derby, coyote killing contest, protest animal cruelty
Boulder White Clouds Council
Exposing The Big Game
Footloose Montana
Friends of the Clearwater
Lockwood Animal Rescue Center
Louise du Toit
LUPUSLAETUS
Mercy For Animals
Northern Idaho Wolf Alliance (NIWA)
Predator Friendly®- Because Wildlife Matters
Project Coyote
Project: Wolf
The Nature Conservancy
The Ravensong Group
WildEarth Guardians
Wisconsin Wildlife Ethic-Vote Our Wildlife
Wolf And Wildlife Studies: Jay Mallonee (Independent Wolf Biologist)
Wolf Song of Alaska
Wolves in english ! Les loups en anglais !
WWP's Gray Wolf Page
Yellowstone To Yukon Conservation Initiative
Howling For Justice 
this is horrible!!!! I cant believe this is allowed. What can I do to stop this forever?
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Hi Cathlene,
I was pretty shocked by it too but apparently it’s been going on for FIVE YEARS only this year they’re including wolves. I don’t understand how the state of Idaho allows this kind of thing. Isn’t the hunting community always saying they’re conservationists and good stewards? I think writing to IDFG would be a good start and also the state senators in Idaho. It’s really upsetting, the wolves have been through enough and I also feel for the other animals as well.
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Have you wrote any letters you can send my way so I can change a bit, put my signature and send off? (instead of reinventing the wheel) I will send to all board members, etc. I know they want to preserve hunting, but killing for points and killing for food are two different things. How horrible that animals lives are just a point on someone’s sheet.
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Hi Cathlene…thanks for getting the ball rolling and providing contact info. These derbys don’t belong in modern society.
On another note, I am very upset with IDFG for extending the wolf hunting season. Just shows where their thinking is at..It wouldn’t hurt to contact them as well and even the state representatives. People are outraged over this. as well as the derbys.
One thing I learned yesterday that this isn’t the only derby and that there are many more of these “events” out there. Does anyone know of any others?
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Cathlene….I just sent you an email on this.
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This is exactly the kind of thing that I have against hunters–those who take lives without a second thought. This kind of thing also teaches our children weirdo ethics and callusness.
Question: Besides wolves, are all these predators listed as ‘predator status’ in Idaho, so they are allowed to shoot on site?
What century is Idaho living in?
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Hi Leslie,
I think the coyote, bobcat, fox, etc must be listed as predator status because how could they be killing so many of them for this disgusting derby? I’ll have to fact check that but the thing that upsets me the most is what these animals must go through. To take pleasure in killing animals is foreign to me. I can’t understand this mindset and I never will. For some reason some of the hunters in Idaho and Montana have transferred hate towards the wolf. Who knows what’s going on in their heads but this shouild not be allowed in a civilized society.
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Leslie,The only answer I can give you about”What century is Idaho living in?”is The Dark Ages.
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Utterly sick. This is degrading to our species.
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Hi John,
This stuff is so far off the charts I have no words to describe how I feel about it. What is wrong with people?
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I agree with the other comments. People that would engage in such behaviors deeply disturb me.
Question–are unlimited numbers of tickets sold at these events? Or are they limited to a certain number?
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Hi Percy,
To tell you the truth, I have no idea if there is a limit. I linked to the rules but I don’t remember seeing anything about limits. I just found out there are other derbys going on as well but this is the only one I found info on. Extremely disturbing. And now we have IDFG extending the season. Great, so the derby people can chase wolves all over Idaho in deep snow when they’re already stressed this winter.
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I am making calls right now to at least vent I think this is discusting. Im starting with Idaho Sportsman fish and Wildlife.
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SFW-Idaho Contacts
Nate Helm – President Treasure Valley Chapter
208-899-3122 Contact: Drew Dayton
nate@sfwidaho.org 208-250-9988
Scott Allan – Board Member Kuna Chapter
208-420-2427 Contact: Brian Knox
scott@sfwidaho.org 208-922-9218
Jack Oyler – Board Member Pocatello Chapter
208-420-1233 Contact: Sean Mottishaw
jack@sfwidaho.org 208-221-7246
Roger Blackner – Board Member Magic Valley Chapter
208-880-3400 Contact: Ken Enslinger
roger@sfwidaho.org 208-420-1571
Doug Palmer – Membership/Fundraising Teton Valley Chapter
208-316-3633 Contact: Vern Woolstenhulme
doug@sfwidaho.org
Sean Cluff – Marketing/Fundraising
208-697-3167
scluff@sfwidaho.org
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I am have made some contacts trying to get others to help turn this raping around. I am posting the Idaho Wildlife Fish and game link and the Derby rules and registry here for anyone interested in actually doing something about this.
http://www.sfwidaho.org/SFW/Idaho_Predator_Derby.html
Click to access 5th%20annual%20Predator%20Derby%20Rules%20and%20Registration.pdf
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Cathlene….I’m actually going to be posting something tonight on the Derby issue and the season extension. I’m working on both right now. We have to get the word out on this!!
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It’s obvious to all, that you folks don’t live anywhere near the western part of the United States and you want to dictate everyone else’s world, educated or not. First you have no idea what the status of the coyote, fox, or bobcat is in the state of Idaho,you also have no idea what the reintroduction of the wolf has done to the west. You sit in your city apartments and masqurade as educated outdoor advocates,and try to force your tofu ideas on the people who actually live here, that’s what is truly disgusting. These contests have no effect on the predator population, what is having the biggest effect on the population of these predators, is the utltimate predator “the introduced, nonnative Canadian Gray wolf”. If you disagree, simply look at the coyote population of Yellowstone Park, down 70%. Scietific fact.. if hunters harvest 75% of the coyote population in an area, by the next summer the population is again back at 100%, check the facts. You folks have been sold a bill of goods, the introdution of the Canadian Grey wolf to the lower 48 is similar to introducing starlings and crab grass. Hunting as we know it will never put the wolf back on th endagered species list. Instead all of the wolf prey species will become endangered. If you disagree go back and reread your history books, see how
Lewis and Clark faired once they left the plains, other than bison and wolves, game species were in short supply. Just because you don’t hunt dosen’t mean you have no impact on the outdoors and wildlife, note that the next time you drive hours through farm land that was once wildlife habitat. We all leave a foot print. The people who for years have fostered and taken care of wildlife either through hardwork or financing have been sportman, long before it became VOGUE. And barring a total decimation of native species from the introduction of nonnative species, we will be here long after it’s out of VOGUE.
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Charles, I am sitting here eating my tofu in my cabin in the GYE. No, I am not a hunter, no, I don’t live in ID, but I do live in Wyoming and observe wildlife. And your argument that the ‘Canadian Grey Wolf’ is ‘non-native’ is just such bunk and not scientific at all. Same Genus. Same species. You might as well say that elk are not native as they were primarily a plains species and are not found hardly at all in the archaeological Native American records in the GYE.
You make a good point though about coyotes. People have done just about everything to eradicate the coyote for over 100 years, without success. Bring the wolf into the picture, and you now have natural control of coyotes. That goes for Mountain Lions too.
I liked, though, your discussion on Lewis and Clark.
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Well Charles where to start:
“It’s obvious to all, that you folks don’t live anywhere near the western part of the United States and you want to dictate everyone else’s world, educated or not.”
I hate to break it to you but I’m a Montanan and have been involved in wolf issues for twenty years. BTW, wolves dispersed on their own to Glacier National Park long before they were reintroduced to Yellowstone and Central Idaho in 1995, look it up.
“First you have no idea what the status of the coyote, fox, or bobcat is in the state of Idaho,you also have no idea what the reintroduction of the wolf has done to the west. You sit in your city apartments and masqurade as educated outdoor advocates,and try to force your tofu ideas on the people who actually live here, that’s what is truly disgusting. These contests have no effect on the predator population, what is having the biggest effect on the population of these predators,”
I absolutely do know the status of the coyote, fox and bobcat in Idaho but that doesn’t make it right to hold contests to kill as many of these animals as possible for points and prizes.
“what is having the biggest effect on the population of these predators, is the ultimate predator“the introduced, nonnative Canadian Gray wolf”. If you disagree, simply look at the coyote population of Yellowstone Park, down 70%. Scietific fact.. if hunters harvest 75% of the coyote population in an area, by the next summer the population is again back at 100%, check the facts.”
The ultimate predator is not the wolf it’s man. We’re not talking about the coyote population or whether it’s stable, we’re talking about grown men running around the woods blowing away animals for fun. It gives hunting a bad name and it’s certainly not in the sprirt of good hunting stewardship.
“You folks have been sold a bill of goods, the introdution of the Canadian Grey wolf to the lower 48 is similar to introducing starlings and crab grass. Hunting as we know it will never put the wolf back on th endagered species list.”
Canis Lupus is the native here. They were here long before you or your ancestors ever set one toe upon this land. The elk and wolf have existed together for thousands of years and if it wasn’t for the wolf the elk wouldn’t be the animal it is today. If the feds and agriculture hadn’t teamed up to wipe wolves off the western landscape we wouldn’t have had to reintroduce them in the first place. Read Predatory Bureaucracy: The Extermination of Wolves and the Transformation of the West, by Michael Robinson. It details the century long persecution of the wolf by man. Many of the sub-species that once roamed here are extinct!!.
The wolf has a positive effect on the environment it inhabits. When the wolf was extirpated from Yellowstone, the elk over browsed the aspen and willow trees because they became complacent without their top predator. Now that the wolf is back they’ve dispersed the elk away from stream and river beds. The aspen and willow have returned and with them have come the songbirds and the beaver. The overhanging trees provide shade for fish and provide them with insects that fall from their branches. Aspen ecosystems are some of the richest song bird habitats in the world.
Wolf kills also provide food for eagles, coyotes, ravens. etc.
“Instead all of the wolf prey species will become endangered. If you disagree go back and reread your history books, see how Lewis and Clark faired once they left the plains, other than bison and wolves, game species were in short supply”.
Not sure what your point is here but man is the one that pushed the bison to near extinction. Humans are the ones that trap, poison, shoot, snare, kill wolf pups in their dens and gun animals from the air. Do you know how many animals Wildlife Services kills in the name of agriculture every year? The numbers are shocking!
As for elk, their numbers are up, way up. In Montana alone, elk are up 66% since 1984. And I really hate to break it to you Charles but this isn’t all about you or hunters. That’s the material point. Some people want to view wildlife, not kill it and we have the same rights you do, you don’t own our wildlands. We resent our wildlife being killed so a few groups of people can have their way with our wild places.
“Just because you don’t hunt dosen’t mean you have no impact on the outdoors and wildlife, note that the next time you drive hours through farm land that was once wildlife habitat. We all leave a foot print. The people who for years have fostered and taken care of wildlife either through hardwork or financing have been sportman, long before it became VOGUE. And barring a total decimation of native species from the introduction of nonnative species, we will be here long after it’s out of VOGUE.”
Conservationists are not going away. We intend to continue to speak out for wildlife. Hunters aren’t the only group of people that have contributed to habitat protection. The Nature Conservency and many other groups like them have purchased land to provide wildlife corridors for animals such as the grizzly who is now moving out of the mountains and Rocky Mountain Front onto their native plains. This success is due in part to the actions of conservationists.
I’m surprised as a hunter you would condone something like the Predator Derby. I don’t hunt myself but I have friends that do and none of them believe holding contests to kill as many animals as possible for points and prizes is in the spirit of hunting traditions. Sorry but there is no real defense of it in my mind..
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Oh, and one correction. When Lewis and Clark left the plains, there were no Bison to be found. They were dying for Bison because it was a lot of meat with less effort. There were deer in them thar hills though.
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Thanks Leslie……I’m so weary of repeating the same stuff over and over again. It feels like Ground Hog Day…lol.
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Nabeki,I got on a website that suggested that anyone that is not for this derby to get in contact with NRDC,Natural Resourses Defense Council and complain (nrdcinfo@nrdc.org).I hope this helps.
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Thanks Rita….I will definitely check out the link. I hope more people speak out about this AND the extension of the wolf hunting season!!
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I am stunned that something like this exist. You always hear hunters going on about how they cherish,respect and value the wildlife but this seems to be the exact opposite of respecting the wild in my opinion…
I absolutely do not mean to bash all hunters with that statement though,as I’m sure there are some who oppose of this as well.
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Hi Arctos,
I was stunned by it too, my thoughts exactly. That’s why I appealed to hunters to speak up about this because I think most hunters would not approve of this behavior. I have several friends who hunt and I KNOW they don’t agree with thiis. Apparently there are other derbys like this one. The SFW derby has included wolves this year, sorry to say.
I listed Idaho contacts to write or call on the front page of the blog. Also the extension of the wolf hunt to March 31 is wrong IMO, it goes right through wolf mating season. Since alphas are the one’s wjp mate, alpha females could be killed, with the loss of pups and distruption of the pack.
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[…] Derby’s or contests held solely to kill as many predators as possible in a certain time perio… […]
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“The cruel wild beast is not behind the bars of the cage. He stands in front of it.” Axel Munthe,1857-1949
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So true Rita and so sad.
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Sean Cluff (208-697-3167) or scluff@sfwidaho.org
He is also a sponsor – he owns Grubbin BBQ with his Wife. They do Catering at grubbinBBQ.com and sean@grubbinbbq.com – no street addy but that’s the phone number and email
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HI Todd,
Thanks for the heads up. I’ll put the info on the contact site for the Predator Derby. I’m glad to hear from a hunter who is speaking out about this. These “Derbys”…..to kill predators for points and prizes, are disgusting. I have friends that are hunters who DO NOT condone this.
There are two more dates for the “Derbys”.
Dec. 11th-12th…Treasure Valley
Jan. 8th-9th…Twin Falls
I urge everyone to continue to protest the Predator Derby’s.
For the wild ones,
Nabeki
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