Residents of Alabama are now legally allowed to kill Cayotes during night time.
The horrific act can now be carried out because of a new legislation that was signed by Alabama Governor Kay Ivey.
The new legislation is going to allow Conservation Commissioner Chris Blankenship to establish a reason for hunting feral hogs and cayotes during night time without needing to have a hunting permit.
Before the new legislation, hunters were required to have a permit so they could hunt cayotes and feral hogs at night time.
The permits were issued to landowners and individuals that have been delegated to hunt such animals.
Right now, anyone that wants to hunt only need to purchase a $15 license instead.
Matt Weathers, the Chief of Enforcement with the Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division, said that the new permit is going to make things easier for hunters and the staff of the division.
Weathers said in the press conference:
To this point in our state, those who wish to hunt feral swine or coyotes during night-time hours have to get a permit that is only issued to landowners. Those landowners can list friends, family or delegates on the permit to take those animals at night for crop damage, property damage or livestock damage. This is done through special permitting through the local WFF District Office. It represents a new hunting activity for the state, and it will enlist as many as 200,000 hunters in this fight against two insidious predators. So, a new hunting activity; that’s a good thing. You have more feral swine and coyotes being removed from the state; that’s a good thing, too. It’s a win-win.
According to Weathers, depredation permits will still be available to landowners who want to go with the previous process.
Local authorities said that cayotes are understood to have a significant impact on white-tailed deer populations.
They are effective predators of whitetail fauns, said the WFF.
Chuck Sykes, the director of WFF, said:
We don’t think this is the silver bullet. We’re not saying going hunting at night is going to eliminate the hog problem, because it’s not. What we are doing is giving people more opportunity to remove more pigs and coyotes if they choose to do so. It is another tool to reduce the number of predators. Predator control is a big buzzword right now. We’re giving you the opportunity to do what you think is best to manage your property.
This year, the hunting for cayotes at night will start on July 1 and will end until November 1, 2021.
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