The first reaction to that article came from my editor.  His question was basically “are you nuts!  We don’t have coyotes in New York.  They’re in Arizona”. 

Wrong oh great outdoors person!  Not only are coyotes in our area, but within a week of that article being written, incidents including an attack on a young child where reported in the areas of Chicago, Detroit and northern New Jersey to name those that I can immediately recall.  And since then, additional reports have been filed in a variety of eastern states including New York.

Those of you who read my articles regularly know that I am not a fan of many of the wildlife management programs practiced in our great state.  To make matters worse, we now have a DEC commissioner who is very adapt at counting nickel deposits on empty soda bottles thrown on the streets of Manhattan, but I have increasingly serious question when it comes to dealing with the real outdoors.

There is an indicator of the problem of reaching a solution to the coyote population in the latest issue of “Outdoor News”.  On page 7, there is an article written by Mr. Brad Sisson entitled “Study Shows Coyotes Right at Home in New York”.  Just below this article (on the very same page) there is a second article written by Mr. Jim Suhr of the Associated Press.  The second article, the one by Mr. Suhr, tracks pretty much along the lines of what I had to say a couple of months ago.  Mr. Suhr is just more polite than I am and certainly more politically correct.

But, it’s Mr. Sisson’s article that I think illustrates the problem.  If you are only half as cynical as I am when it comes to anything that has government money behind it or that comes out of the academic community, you will understand what I’m trouble about.  The first word of concern to me is “study”.  Oh! how I love a good “study”.  Study is a way of saying “let’s not make a decision.  And, please, let’s not do anything about it.  Let’s just……study it”.

Now I’ll admit, to the extent that we really do need to know what we are doing, we need to gather information, digest it and then move forward.  My problem is when a “study” becomes the purpose instead of the method.  For instance, the opening paragraph of Mr. Sisson’s articles says “An ongoing study by Cornell University and the DEC has revealed several new trends within New York coyote population, including a steady growth rate and an alarming increase in the number of incidents involving the much maligned animal”.  “Much maligned animal”?  Is this suggesting that we should open our hearts and minds to these critters?

A little further down in the first column, it says “Overall, there is not a significant amount of recent data available on coyotes in the state.  We hope to gather a large array of information from this study and ones planned for the near future to help get a more environmentally sound picture of New York’s coyotes.” 

What babble!!!!  First it’s an “ongoing study”, then “there is not a significant amount of recent data” and then “we hope to gather a large array of information from this study”. 

Well Cornell and DEC, let me throw you a couple of money and time saving hints.  How about you talk to and LISTEN TO the hunters and trappers of this state.  You know, those people to whom you issues licenses to go out into the woods and hunt and trap.  Those of us from whom you take money every year and then treat as idiots.  Those of us who already know that there are too many coyotes and can probably come up with a list of way to reduce the problem.

Mr. Commissioner, it is difficult for us up here in the wilds of your state to imagine that walking across Central Park to your club for a mid day refresher is considered an outdoor adventure.  Might be considered dangerous, but……!  With all due respect, I would suggest that you open the process to input from those who are directly in contact with the outdoors, those of us who don’t need a “study” but rather should be a part of the study.  I will assure you that if those doing the studying will listen to and accept what we have to tell them, considerable time and a ton of money will be saved and real results will be the final outcome.

I look forward to your telephone call Mr. Commissioner.  Until it comes, I’ll see you outdoors!