VERNON-RE: "Hound-hunting is out of control" [Viewpoint, Dec. 18, 2024] and "Coyotes don't seek to be cruel. But humankind certainly does." [Letters, Dec. 18, 2024].
As a lifelong outdoor enthusiast and safety instructor, I am always amazed at how people are willing to ignore the facts when it comes to these two issues.
Hound hunting has been attacked by self-serving organizations whose only agenda is to control any and all hunting activity here and elsewhere. The isolated incidents referred to are old news and are brought up over and over, as if they happened yesterday and on a regular basis. No doubt there have been some bad actors - I will not refer to them as "hunters" as they are not - but these people have been weeded out as they give the activity a bad name.
The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department has over the years made strides in ridding these types from the ranks of ethical hunters, and the agency have enacted and enforced laws to protect the resource as well as our residents.
No one will change the mindset of the anti-hounding, anti-hunting, or anti-trapping individuals. They have their own way of looking at nature - however, they have no right to force their beliefs on others. Kind of like religion. They have spent plenty of donated money that does nothing to improve wildlife habitat or conserve wildlife, and goes only to push their feelings onto everyone else.
Nature itself appears cruel, and no doubt by human standards it is, but that's the reality. While I actually enjoy hearing the calls of coyotes, I know it's often they are communicating that a hunt is on, which means that some animal is about to be killed.
We are very fortunate to have a Fish and Wildlife Department that sets regulations and seasons - not to give hunters more game to hunt, but to ensure a healthy and diverse wildlife population in our state. I know coyotes get the largest share of publicity about killing deer, but the seldom-mention fact is that black bears are the prime killer of fawns in the spring.
All Vermonters benefit from hunting, trapping, and hound hunting, which all help control populations (or at least they did before pressure from Vermont's own psuedo–animal rights group, Protect Our Wildlife, has rallied legislators to force ill-conceived practices against scientific fact).
Do any of you believe coyotes or black bears are threatened? Please don't the opposition's fairy-tale outlook on wildlife perpetuate poor laws and regulations. Our biologists have to make decisions that are found in fact and science, not emotion.
Don Rosinski
Vernon
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