Hunt Clubs to Control Coyotes

June 1, 2007 - Reducing the coyote population in West Virginia may not be as easy as some people think.

Five years ago, Oceana resident Doug Prichard saw his nephew's dog mauled by a pack of coyotes. Since then, a coyote hunt club he founded has expanded into 20 counties and claimed more than 2,000 coyote pelts.

Now, Prichard wants state and county financial aid to expand the hunt club into all 55 counties.

But a biologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture says that to reduce the state's coyote population, hunters would have to kill roughly 37,000 animals every year for at least 30 years.

That is based on estimates that put the state's coyote population at roughly 50,000.

State and federal governments have programs in place to kill coyotes that prey on livestock, and at least two West Virginia counties have their own bounty program.
Reprinted from KVVA-TV

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