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Rewatched a little of the commission meeting. Mr Peek’s synopsis of the current state of affairs in the fur market was interesting. It seemed a couple of the commissioners were ready to take the gloves off on coons and possibly skunks/opossums. Mr Lauber said Iowa was in the process of potentially going year round with coon seasons. I know South Dakota has tried some different approaches with mixed results. Also see Nebraska has a new bill to establish a bounty program that pays $10 a piece for up to 50,000 predators annually.
Any thoughts on where this is headed in Kansas? If the fur market is in turmoil and trapping is dying more each year why not move coons, skunks, and opossums to more of a coyote management structure? I don’t see the point in protecting them anymore by closing their seasons, especially during nesting months. Sec Loveless said habitat is the best defense, though commissioner Gfeller shot back that maybe we have to accept the habitat is what it is at this point and do something about predator numbers. Sounds like they’re going to try something?
Kb, I buy the habitat in some places but what about places that have not changed ie, National Grasslands. Plenty of water, grass, grain, grasshoppers but numbers have plummeted in all wildlife in that 300k+ acre area. Another 5 sections of conservation easement with unharvested milo and silage with fallow weeds. Still can not get a bird up off of it. I hate to say it but it seems everytime someone needs an answer for poor numbers they us the word habitat. What about the places that have not changed, what is the reason there? My best guess is water, but at the grasslands there are hundreds of overflowing windmills. Puzzling isn't it.
Macro vs micro? Even a place as big as the grasslands is small in comparison to the whole range… if numbers of most everything is declining in the entire Great Plains region it would make sense that it would decline at the grasslands as well
Monitored populations of vertebrates (mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish) have seen a devastating 69% drop on average since 1970, according to World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) Living Planet Report 2022. Populations in Latin America and the Caribbean have fared worst, with an average decline of 94%. Global freshwater species have also been disproportionately impacted, declining 83% on average.
The report identifies several key drivers of biodiversity decline including habitat loss, species overexploitation, invasive species, pollution, climate change and diseases. It also calls on policymakers to transform economies so that natural resources are properly valued. As biodiversity loss and climate change share many of the same underlying causes, actions that transform food production and consumption, rapidly cut emissions, and invest in conservation can mitigate the twin crises.
“The world is waking up to the fact that our future depends on reversing the loss of nature just as much as it depends on addressing climate change. And you can’t solve one without solving the other,” says Carter Roberts, president and CEO of WWF-US. “Everyone has a role to play in reversing these trends, from individuals to companies to governments.”
“These plunges in wildlife populations can have dire consequences for our health and economies,” says Rebecca Shaw, global chief scientist of WWF. “When wildlife populations decline to this degree, it means dramatic changes are impacting their habitats and the food and water they rely on. We should care deeply about the unraveling of natural systems because these same resources sustain human life.”
Several years ago a study on Prairie Chickens was done in SE Chase County. I believe it was done by KState students. They monitored the nesting of the chickens. A lot of it was done on land operated by a rancher friend of mine. I don't remember the exact numbers but this close. According to the rancher, of the 20 nests monitored only 2 or 3 actually hatched. The others were destroyed by predators. The main culprit was the coyote. Of the 17 or so nests that were destroyed coyotes were responsible for all but 2 or 3. Coons and Skunks were responsible for the others. I assume coons, skunks, and possums would be the main culprit for quail. However, that may not be the case.
Nests will be destroyed when there's no grass to hide them. Ranchers are to blame, ovwrgrazing and yearly burning. KSTATE proved it with a ten year study. Think of how many prairie grouse species fed settlers heading West, before anybody was around to trap or shoot predators.
Personally, I think you have to take into consideration at what predators/acre are now compared to what it was 100 years ago. No comparison.
There is always a carrying capacity for habitat, but we have manipulated that carrying capacity for personal satisfaction/gain. Whether it be cattle or focusing on one game species… there has been a shift in carrying capacity and created a domination of what species use that habitat, and lessened the diversity. I have read so much on this, it makes my head spin sometimes. I don’t know what’s right or how to quickly correct it, but…
Pretty much everything listed above has contributed to the decline, not just one thing or one group of people, in my opinion.
Edit - Humans in general… yes. We’ve found a way to screw up a lot of things. Sometimes with good intentions.
I think we’d all agree humans have altered habitat worldwide and affected many species. The US alone loses 1-1.5 million acres of farm ground every year depending on what you read. The total amount of developed land worldwide each year has to be massive. Not surprising at all some species aren’t at 1970 levels. But as I eluded to with Mr Gfeller’s comments, in Kansas anyway, maybe in the short term we have to try things other than preach to landowners about changing their practices. That takes time. Loosening the reigns on predators so some species have the chance at a little relief under current conditions seems like a no brainer to me. Not sure it’ll make a huge difference either way, but there’s damn sure too many coons.
As someone who has recently taken up coon hunting, I am not in favor of making it a year long season. Trapping maybe, but not running dogs.
I’m not a fan of running coyotes dogs all year either, but I doubt that’ll change.
Once something is allowed, it rarely seems reversed.
A possible answer might be to eliminate a few billion humans?
I'm talking 150 -200 years ago before there was anyone to trap predators. There had to of been millions of them. It's proven that game was so plentiful, grizzly bears, lions, and wolves were all common on the plains. There were also millions of prairie grouse. The reason: plenty of habitat and few men. Roadways kill millions of varmints every year, and they sure as hell didn't have cars or roads 150 -200 years ago. I'll say it again, ranchers and new farming practices have eradicated the chickens. End of story.
Get rid of failure piles and the coon population will fall.
Did you expect any less of me?
That’s exactly my point Jason, but…
so does mowing lawns. The overuse of fertilizer and pesticides on lawns is mind boggling. Farmers are more aware of the dangers than most suburbanites… at least that’s been my experience. With variable rate technology fertilizer use has changed drastically in the ag world. As a farmer who loves wildlife I’m very aware of it, and have big plans/dreams in the future if I can ever afford to make it happen.
Counties mowing road ditches
Farming ditch to ditch
Acres and acres of asphalt, pavement, and concrete
The list goes on.
It’s just like the issue with the strip pits in SEK. Some have been reclaimed, some left. Now over the last several have started actually draining pits because of a safety issue next to roadways. Some want them left for deer/fish habitat, but those pits sure weren’t here 150 years ago. I went to one meeting and there was some pretty heated argument about saving that habitat, I get it and support it, but in reality none of it was natural. We screwed up that landscaped and it turned into GREAT deer Turkey habitat… not so much for other native species.
We all manipulate the landscape.
I also believe Kyle is 100% dead on. We’ve now tree’d and killed 4 coons in our few short outings. Side note - I’ve skinned 2, my son has this idea of making a coon skinned hat for him and for his grandpa to take back to Poland. I know they are a fatty animal, but I guarantee you their faces have been in feeder tubes all Fall and Winter. Greasiest critter I’ve ever skinned for sure.
A few years after the local quail population plummeted, I decided to get rid of as many coons as possible in order to help the quail. This was before I realized corn feeders contributed to disease in deer. I bought a trapping license and put out three corn feeders on three different properties. I placed live traps and game cameras at each feeder. I found that coons are pretty smart. My camera showed a lot of coons at each feeder, but after catching 3 or 4 at each location they would not go in the traps. Realistically I was not good enough to make a dent in the population.
About the same time I had an uncle that counted over 30 coons at his bird feeder one night. He offered a cousin of mine $5.00 for every coon he could trap at the bird feeder. I told him he better get out his checkbook because that cousin was a good trapper. He got three and they quit coming to the bird feeder.
Could you put out a feeder then sneak in with a spotlight and an AR?
Need more of these two guys in KS. Be Still provided the 2 min. news story (see link). A little bit of work sure can provide a big benefit to our local wildlife.
I have trapped close to 50 coons, opossum’s, and skunks this season. I have nearly eliminated them on the 20 acres that my house is on. I mostly did it to protect my free ranging chickens, but I have no doubt It’ll save some nests this spring, too.
No doubt Jason. Looked up their farm on OnX and every parcel has significant habitat features they’ve constructed. Doesn’t look like a small hobby type operation either. Need more of them indeed.
Nice work Kyler.
One thing I've wanted to try for several years and haven't gotten around to it is calling coons during the day with an electronic caller. I've watched quite a few video's on it and it looks almost easier and more fun than calling in coyotes.
Yep and a good thing about that Travis is you can eat the meat off of the coon as well. Saves money from having to buy too much beef from the store.
I would figure the yotes will beat the coons into your set-up every time. Guess you shoot them first and keep on a call’in…but will a coon come in if a yote already has and/or has already been shot? Inquiring minds want to know!
Don't you call coons with a fight sound near their den tree? I wouldn't think it would be that conductive to bringing in yotes but I don't know. Would it matter? I thought most deer hunters killed yotes first and foremost, above all else?
Calling them from Den tree's works very well and its a blast. Most of the time they are out of the hole in 30 seconds sometimes less if there is a one in the Den. Often times multiple.
Most fun you can have huntin coons in the daylight.
Animals and birds in nature and their instinct to protect their young is amazing.
Some chatter on the main forum of grizzlies, black bears, skunks and mtn lions dying from bird flu. Maybe the coon situation will take care of itself?
My buddy and his grand daughter called in this group from a den near Bucklin and what they thought was a "fox" ended up being a rare golden colored coon (wasn't albino)
Wow I’ve never seen one that color before. That is pretty cool
Only seen 4 coons like that in my lifetime. Would give anything to get one and get it tanned. Seen 2 roadkills in past years. Both were within 1/4 mile of each other. Didn't have a furharvester license, so I didn't pick them up. I called my brother and by the time he got there they were already gone. They were on the road out front of the KDPWT in Pratt.
Didn’t know they existed but that is cool
Very cool, Mike! Quite the trophy for that little girl!
I had a high school classmate whose dad ran coonhounds all the time. He shot one and had it tanned, that was a light cream colored one. You could just barely make out the rings on its tail and the mask. Said it wasn’t an albino, either.
Pretty sure that's a mountain lion!
Grin!
Very cool… don’t think I’ve ever heard of color phases in coons! I’ll have to ask the local coon hunters if they have ever killed one.
I’ve never heard of a coon that color.
I have always heard them called "cinnamon" coons
I would stuff one of those.
I've only got 80 acres and know it doesn't translate to larger tracts. When I bought it 2 years ago I stopped any grazing on it. First year I killed 30 raccoons. The grass got pretty tall and I cut some cedars and locusts for brush piles.
I had 3 fawns and a doe killed along the river last spring which I assume was coyotes but could have been bobcats too. Also usually find at least the remains of one turkey about every trip. Despite the huge numbers of coons I have had anywhere from 15-25 quail each year on the place. I love quail hunting but refuse to hunt them other than killing 2 the first year. I would agree that if there is cover, there is a much better survival rate for them.
I also think the coon numbers are out of control. And I see a lot of bobcats and know they can't be helping the turkeys. Anyway, it is worth a lot to me to hear the bobwhites whistling in the spring and the gobblers thundering off. Hoping we can all figure out ways to help them.
As I've said a hundred times, unless your neighbors are killing coons, it doesn't help. I've never killed a single coon on my 80 in 12 years, and I consistently have more quail than any 80 I've hunted in my entire life. Best year was 3 coveys and I had tall bluestem next to sunflower plots. It's all about habitat.
Probably not but I find it good therapy lol. Here is to a good upland hatch this year. My 80 has a hundred or more cottonwoods lining the river. Great den trees for wood ducks and a huge number of coons.
Recent coon competition in central Missouri. 991 taken in one county. Two others yielded 468 and 155 in nearby counties. Organized in the name of saving eggs. Can’t tell me that doesn’t help some. Hope to see a few of these in Kansas before long.
I'm sure it will. Do you know what happened with the furs and carcasses?
That’s what I was about to say. I sure hope it was cold enough that day but by what the people were wearing I’m sure they got the coons processed before the meat ruined.
You would think that it saves some eggs and plus it gives you something to eat so I would guess that’s a win win.
I do not. Came across it on the social media and don’t personally know anyone involved.
Dang…and not a redbone or black and tan in the pic anywhere? C’mon Mizzou hunters giv’em some pub! Dan and Anne would be rolling over in their red fern graves!
be still do you really think they ate the coon meat?
Being 2023 Tom a semi educated guess would tell you there was probably some meat wasted there.
Just looking in the crowd though it looks like there’s a few Coon eaters. I bet the tall grey haired man standing in front of the white door got him some and possibly his granddaughter he’s talking too. Good chance the shorter grey bearded fella standing to his right skinned some as well. That short wiry guy standing out front right under the white trim of the garage door on the right side. Now by the way he’s standing and by the way the dog is staring at him he can’t hardly stay still. You know he can’t wait till the pic is done so he can pull his knife out.
If I was there, there would have been a lot of coon meat wasted, if you expected me to eat it. ?? Yes I have eaten it. No I don’t care how you can cook it to make it taste phenomenal. If you like to eat it, have at it. I sure think there hunters helped the ground nesting bird population.
Render it into a years supply of dog food for someone with hounds.........they have to buy it by the pallet load:)
I think if you time when you target coons, opossums, coyotes etc. You can effect the populations you are wanting to help.
Say you give them hell in march, april, may, when birds are nesting and fawns are dropping, then yes it will help.
By june and july, will more move in to take their place, yes. But you've helped the next generation through their most vulnerable phase.
"If I was there, there would have been a lot of coon meat wasted"
Me and you...........nasty!
