Tribune editorial: Unproven bounty program is coyote ugly

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) l-r Utah Division of Wildlife Resources predator management specialist, Jeff Cowlishaw, Tyler Peterson, 13, and his father Kelly Peterson watch as predator control program manager Xaela Walden documents coyote remains brought to her by the Petersons who shot the coyote in Box Elder County last week. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources predator-control program provides a $50 incentive for hunters to kill and properly document every coyote that they kill in Utah. Despite its success, the program is getting an overhaul to reign in criminal abuses and obtain better data to help officials assess what the program is accomplishing in terms of protecting mule deer and controlling predators. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources has announced reforms to the program that pays bounty hunters $50 for killing coyotes in certain areas of the state. The bounty comes out of the Mule Deer Protection Act, which was passed in 2012 to reduce the predation of mule deer so hunters will have more to shoot.

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