# Coyote Calling Contest/Derby



## Snowgooser (Mar 28, 2008)

I am gathering some info on starting a coyote derby up here in Canada. Out local Kinsmen Club is looking for a new fund raiser and I thought it might be a hit. Is anyone on here an organizer or know and organizer who's brain I could pick? Thanks.


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## kingcanada (Sep 19, 2009)

there can be a few problems associated with such events. one man who would know how to make one go right is Dan Thompson, the predator call maker in Rawlins, Wyoming. i don't have his phone # on me, but i bet if you searched for Dan Thompson calls or "red desert howler" something would come up on the web. good luck!


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## Fallguy (Jan 23, 2004)

snowgooser

PM sent.


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## saskcoyote (Dec 30, 2006)

Well, snowgooser, so you want to start a yote derby? Good luck with you racking up 200 yotes a year from here on in when you let loose every idiot your part of the country to mess up what you and I agree is top-notch yote territory.

I'm not a fan of derbies because I think it diminishes the sport; guys racing around, doing whatever they have to do to 'win', POing landowners, throwing any pretense of ethics out the window.

I like to think those of us who call do so because we enjoy the challenge of outwitting a very worthy adversary, not because we need the money from hides -- or bounties like we now have in Saskatchewan which will bring out the worst in people who'll run them with snowmobiles. Derbies are no different.

I applaud you looking for a fundraiser and all rural communities like the ones in which you and I live depend on these fundraisers for everything from fixing up the local skating rink to putting in playground equipment to sending a disabled person for treatment. But come up with some other fundraiser, not a yote derby.

Saskcoyote


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## Snowgooser (Mar 28, 2008)

Saskcoyote;

That's why I was gathering info because of the stuff you mentioned. My biggest concern is the landowners. I would hate to be involved with something that hurt landowner relations. I wanted to talk with the RCMP too about issuing lie detector tests for the top teams because of the snow mobile issue and shooting off the road. I was also toying with the idea of trying to have check points so that everyone isn't crammed into one area. It may never get further from the question phase. I agree whole heartedly with every scenario you mentioned. I guess I am hoping for one of those perfect situations that you have teams of true predator hunters and not idiots. And as a side, with the bounty we aren't even in the same range as last year with our numbers. I think I have killed 51 so far and my partner has killed 4. It is ridiculous. I am going to a whole new area tomorrow and hopefully there won't be truck tracks and beer bottles there!!


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## kingcanada (Sep 19, 2009)

here are some things to think about. i only participate in a small tourney twice a year. big ones mean big money and that brings out the cheatin'. the only big one here i would ever consider is the "Elite" run by Dan Thompson. great effort is put into making sure that it is strictly best caller/team wins. it is by invite only. cheating and lack of ethics? let me list a few that i know of. a certain famous hunter won a title or two by having large tracts of completely unbothered land set aside. some successful teams always have a few coyotes with a paw conveniently blown off (trapped). some teams will have "drop points" to pool their take and split the winnings later. some will hide a few dead horses or cows where nobody else can find them. two guys i know of will run a draw on each side with atv's and run coyotes out the end and blaze away with ar-15's until the dog is dead. they will chase again if needed. this is just a small list of crap that people will do. snowmobiles are not as big of an issue here. in our terrain you have to be a world class rider to do any good at it. it's very dangerous. it is not right when a team has the best weekend of their career only to be beaten by cheaters. yes, i am soured on derbys in general. specifically because of unethical slobs that have ruined them.
saskcoyote is spot on about ruining the hunting too. i like the little "fun hunt" i participate in, but the proliferation of these hunts has really hurt our area. putting 50, 60, or more teams out for a weekend really educates a tremendous amount of coyotes. think about it. i have observed that often, when you kill a coyote, another witnesses the act from a distance. put 60 teams out there and say they average 3 stands per day where a coyote is shot/shot at. figure on the escapees and witnesses. you may educate 500 dogs that weekend. do you really want that? what happens when the event is a success? other events pop up. get to the point where there are 1/2 a dozen or so each winter. see how many dogs are smart now. this is where we are here in my area. you have something very special. don't mess that up. i remember when our red desert was almost that good. it was real close. now we have the contests, dvd's, tv shows and a lot of unemployed oil workers. pressure is unreal. the aerial gunning has been brutal too. 
i would suggest an ice fishing derby instead. all of the ice fisherman are out punching holes in the lake every weekend anyway. and fish don't have much of a memory!


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## Snowgooser (Mar 28, 2008)

I am really glad I put this out there. I am seeing what experienced callers have to say about a subject I knew virtually nothing about. I think the idea of a derby where you have the right guys competing legally and ethically is a just a dream. I really never thought that the cheating at this level. I figured if you advertised a calling contest that is the type of people you would attract. Very sad to say I was obviously wrong. And Kingcanda the ice derby is the other fund raiser that I am researching, I agree fish have no memory. Thanks for the input.


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## kingcanada (Sep 19, 2009)

glad to help. i really wish that the reality of contests was different. they can be fun.


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

saskcoyote said:


> I'm not a fan of derbies because I think it diminishes the sport; guys racing around, doing whatever they have to do to 'win', POing landowners, throwing any pretense of ethics out the window.


 :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :beer:

Couple hundred bucks prize money and "bragging rights" brings out some of the worst people, and the worst IN people.

You may enact and enforce rules to disqualify the cheaters at check-in time, but in the end, they've already been out there all day giving all hunters a bad name.


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## saskcoyote (Dec 30, 2006)

kingcanada wrote:

cheating and lack of ethics? let me list a few that i know of. a certain famous hunter won a title or two by having large tracts of completely unbothered land set aside. some successful teams always have a few coyotes with a paw conveniently blown off (trapped). some teams will have "drop points" to pool their take and split the winnings later. some will hide a few dead horses or cows where nobody else can find them. two guys i know of will run a draw on each side with atv's and run coyotes out the end and blaze away with ar-15's until the dog is dead. they will chase again if needed. this is just a small list of crap that people will do.

barebackjack wrote:

You may enact and enforce rules to disqualify the cheaters at check-in time, but in the end, they've already been out there all day giving all hunters a bad name.

Wow, KC, some of these guys get downright ingenius when it comes to stackin' the deck. Never even heard of some of these tricks. Maybe it just takes us guys in Canada an extra year or two to catch on.  BBJ, you've nailed it. I'm not opposed, in principle, to a derby but in the end, no matter how closely they're policed, there is going to be problems. How do you keep the weasels out? You can't -- and as you say, BBJ, you can catch them at the check-in but by then they've already been out there all day. It's a fact of human nature; when you put a value on something, there'll be those who do whatever they have to do to get that something. Unfortunately, that's the way it is.

Saskcoyote


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## lyonch (Feb 26, 2006)

Snowgooser PM sent!!!


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## Charlie204 (Feb 28, 2009)

I agree with Saskcoyote and Snowgooser. Lets keep the derbies out of Sask.


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