Received an email this afternoon that Senator Gelser removed her chief sponsorship from the bill. This email is public record. Please send letters of thanks and praise to Senator Gelser for responding so quickly to concerns about Senate Bill 723.
Thank you for following up! It’s been a busy day and I was planning to direct message you to see if we could move this discussion to email as I was afraid I would miss things on Twitter, where my feed has been taken over by a debate about vaccines.
I appreciate that you raised the concerns you did about SB 723. I was visited in my office and also received a number of letters asking me to sign on to legislation to prohibit a specific kind of coyote hunting contests. I saw the photos and video, and found it to be disturbing. I remain concerned about that practice on a personal level.
However, based on your letter and that of others I realized that I am missing a great deal of information about the hunting and fishing community, predator management, and events and strategies. While I still oppose the cougar hunting contest, it is clear that this bill is much more broad and spreads into areas about which I lack sufficient information. As a result, I have withdrawn my name from the bill and am no longer a sponsor. I can’t justify being the sponsor of a bill about which I cannot answer all of the questions. There is a process that goes through, so the website may not immediately reflect that. It appears that it requires the approval of the Senate President to have my name removed.
I am happy to pick up this conversation later as the bill will be heard in the committee on which I serve. I’m interested in the topic generally and do hope there is a way for it to be more narrowly tailored to the problem it was described as trying to solve. In the mean time, I do need to send notes to my constituents to whom I indicated I would sign on as a co-sponsor so that I can explain my decision to them. I hope you will bear with me if it is next week before I can pick this thread with you back up. However, if you have urgent questions that need to be resolved right away of course you will immediately have my attention again.
Finally, I have never and will never introduce or support legislation based on who has put it forward or campaign finance. That’s not really my style. In this case, I signed on because I was moved by the photos and the description of what sounded like a very cruel and indiscriminate process. It was my error to not step back and learn more before I affixed my name to the bill that was brought by my office. I do not fault the proponents of the bill for this—I should have taken more time to study before I agreed.
Thank you for the part you played in helping me see my error.
"Prohibits person from organizing, sponsoring, promoting, conducting or participating in contest, competition, tournament or derby that has objective of taking wildlife for prizes or other inducement or for entertainment."
When news began to spread about the bill, the fishing community reacted to the threat that tournaments and derbies would be outlawed, removing many annual events statewide that fund everything from conservation projects to rural preschools. Given the history of Kate Brown's education record as governor, Alsea's rural preschool will probably take any help it can get from a recent fishing derby in the area. The Alsea Sportsman's Association also holds an annual fishing derby that funds conservation projects that the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife doesn't have in their budget.
As a resident of Corvallis, I reached out to Senator Gelser on Twitter. She seemed unaware of how the bill would effect competitive fishing, and even offered to seek amendment of the bill to exclude fishing tournaments.
Hi Randall, This bill was intended to stop coyote killing contests. I was surprised to learn the impact on fishing. I will seek amendment.
Upon further review, Senator Gelser discovered that the text of the bill would not apply to competitive fishing events, and was quick to point out that:
In the bill's definition of wildlife: “Wildlife” means amphibians, reptiles, feral swine as defined under State Department of Agriculture rules, wild birds as defined under State Fish and Wildlife Commission rules and other wild mammals as defined under commission rules.
What the Oregon Outdoor Council called a "Ban on Fishing and Hunting Derbies" is more aptly an attempt at halting coyote tournaments (according to Senator Gelser). However, the text of the bill could be expanded to other hunting competitions as well. Some examples that I speculate could be included under the text of this bill include the Sport Shows Heads and Horns Competition, Burnt Woods Big Buck contest, Sportsman's Warehouse Big Game photo contests, even the magazine I write for, Northwest Sportsman's Browning Photo Contest. All of them fit the bill's definition for wildlife and the objective of taking it "for prizes, other inducement, or for entertainment."
Even if fishing tournaments are not included as part of this bill, there are some curious discrepancies about the Senator's logical reasons for specifically banning coyote tournaments. Even some interesting comparisons between scales and fur, but we will come back to that later...
When there is a fishing contest, the fish are used for food. The coyote contests are just about killing coyotes as quickly as possible and without any management plan. It's just killing for sport.
First, let's address the concern that in a fishing contest, fish are used for food. It's important to acknowledge that this is not always the case for fishing tournaments, especially bass tournaments, where the catch is released at the end of the event. This could also be true for any salmon or steelhead derby in which broodstock is collected, spawned, and released. Sure, there are also tournaments where the fish are harvested as food. For example, the Oregon Tuna Classic has donated over a million pounds of food, including the catch from participating anglers, and food purchased with donations to the event.
But the preconceived notion that coyotes have no culinary value is false. Although regulated as a "furbearer," coyote is still legal table fare in the state of Oregon, even if it's a little taboo. In a scene from the Netflix Original Series "Meateater," host Steven Rinella stands over an open barbecue pit cooking coyote for the first time and acknowledges that,
"We humans have complex relationships with canines. Almost too complex for words. To put a piece of their flesh in our mouths is no light matter. I'm approaching this with a bit of trepidation." After a few bites, they begin to compare the flavors to other game animals, and sum the meal up by simply saying that, "On some basic level, meat is meat. It's good if you cook it good."
Many people in the sustainable food movement have turned to wild game for the source of protein. Jeremiah Doughty is a wild chef who has dedicated himself to educating the public on processing and cooking wild game through his business "From Field to Plate," which includes hands more than just a website and social media presence, but hands-on butchering classes. Like many wild chefs, Doughty promotes the ethics of eating what you kill, and using everything possible in the process. Coyotes are no exception to this. When I asked for a recipe recommendation, he suggested trying "Coyote Firecracker Chili."
I personally have no desire to enter a coyote tournament. Then again, I'm not much of a competitive sportsman either. I like to bass fish, but I'm not even interested in doing tournaments that are catch and release. That's not the point though. My lack of interest, my preconceived notions and my mixed feelings about all of this are not justification to prevent other people from participating in these events. A ban would be under the pretenses of an ethnocentric perspective that should not govern this or any other bill.
Author and Wild Chef Hank Shaw is an exception too. While having a reputation for an adventurous palate and trying just about anything, crows, canines, and felines are off the menu for Hank. Shaw says that he would never shoot a coyote, cougar, bobcat, or any other predator unless it endangered his life. In an entry on his blog, "Hunter Angler Gardener Cook," Shaw elaborates on "The Lines We Draw."
"We are fellow predators and view each other with wariness and respect."
Shaw acknowledges and accepts that other people don't share his views, but respects the right of people to kill predators where it is legal.
"While I don't like it, I am not about to impose my moral standard on someone else. Coyotes are almost as clever as crows. While I accept the right of hunters to kill coyotes where it is legal, I will never do so unless a pack threatens me. I know this is irrational. Part of me says I am limiting my culinary horizons by declaring certain foods verboten. How do I know I won't love something if I refuse to try it? Maybe crow is better than duck. Maybe it is, but I am content to never know."
I understand the Senator's concern for management. Coyotes are one of 8 species regulated as "furbearers" that are open season all year. 8 other species have specific seasons, and 5 more species are not legal to hunt in Oregon. It's not evident that the state has any desire at this point to change the course of managing it's coyote populations, and if there's concern of the adverse effects of overpopulation, then killing as many as quickly as possible IS the management plan, is it not?
Hunters often point to the fact that coyotes are "fawn killers," and adversely affect big game animal populations, and there is truth to this. However, coyotes also pose a risk to domestic livestock, especially as we encroach upon their territory. Western Oregon however, which is home to all 7 Democrats who sponsor the bill, is relatively new territory for coyotes. In fact, coyotes were rarely seen west of the Cascades prior to the 1940s.
SOURCE: COOK COUNTY, ILL., COYOTE PROJ. & S. GEHRT, OHIO STATE UNIV.
In recent history, coyotes attacked two young girls, ages 7 and 9 in separate incidents in southwest Portland last fall. Unfortunate incidents like these have been on a steady incline in urban areas of Western Oregon since the 1980s. In a Nature.com article, Bill Ripple, an ecologist at Oregon State University in Corvallis says, "the coyote's arrival will have unpredictable effects on other species in the ecosystem.
Still, many will likely view predator management as wasteful, and competitive events as barbaric. However, these private events play a role in management that saves the state from having to develop programs out of it's own pocket. And that's where things come full circle, and offering prize money for the best predator "managers" comes back around to comparisons between animals with scales and animals with fur.
The Northern Pikeminnow bounty fishery does just that, and this year will have paid out over a million bounties on the native fish in an effort to reduce predation of salmon smolts. You can track historical pikeminnow bounty data at pikeminnow.org which shows that 108,309 bounties were paid out on pikeminnow in 2018 alone. These bounties are paid out by the Department of Fish and Wildlife. In fact, the payscale is $5 per fish for the first 25. Then it goes to $6 per fish for 26-200, and $8 per fish from 201 and up. The payscale resets for bounty anglers annually. In addition to bounties set for various quantities, there are tagged fish in the system that fetch $500 each. They are tagged with both a spaghetti tag and a PIT tag, so that even if the spaghetti tag falls out, the PIT tag can still fetch an additonal $100 bounty. Last year's top angler scored a $70,000 paycheck. Do the math here.
Now ask yourself what's different about an incentive bounty on scaly predators with fins that are not (typically) revered as quality table fare and a privatized bounty on coyotes, which seem to fit the same mold? Both ARE managed for their role as predators that target populations of fish and game animals that are harvestest for food. The Humane Society of America is not after bounty anglers killing hundreds of thousands of pikeminnow in the Columbia River, but they have been vocal opponents of pinniped management in spite of serious predation issues that threaten endangered fish species.
Senator Jeff Golden (D - Ashland) told reporter Elise Herron of Willamette Week that being approached by the Humane Society influenced his decision to support this legislation.
"I didn't know about the practice before the Humane Society came to me early in the session. After reading up on these competitions, I decided to become a sponsor."
The Humane Society claims that "during wildlife killing contests, hunters compete by killing as many wild animals as possible." This is a dramatized statement. Even most of the contests operate on a set bag limit, and the winners are declared based upon weight, not quantity. They also claim that "no wildlife management purpose supports these contests," but a year long open season on coyotes is clearly a management decision, and private events that are held, bought in and paid out on their own are much more practical than involving the state to pay out bounties as a form of management.
Lastly the Humane Society claims that "some animals are sold for their fur, but most are discarded and go to waste." The problem with this claim is that is already against the law. Coyote hunters are required to purchase a furbearer permit in addition to a hunting license, which for a resident is $25. A resident furtaker's license is $53 and a non-resident furtaker's license is $395. In order for a furtaker to make use of the hides collected by those with furbearer permits, a tournament is an efficient collection point. Furbearer regulations set by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife also state that:
"It is unlawful to waste the pelt of any furbearer except when
authorized by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife."
Perhaps enforcement of existing laws would eliminate the issues of "waste" that legislators and the Human Society are concerned about.
Please contact your local legislators and ask them to withdraw their sponsorship for Senate Bill 723. While the intention of this bill may be directed at coyote tournaments, the text is simply too vague and broad beyond it's intentions. It also opens the door to banning other competitive tournaments and derbies, many of which, like hides being turned into purses for auction, fund charitable causes.
Senator Sara Gelser
Democrat - District 8 - Corvallis, Albany, Philomath, Millersburg, Tangent, and unincorporated parts of Linn and Benton County
