Field Update January 13, 2008. 1) Permits are here, but this is bittersweet news; 2) Amazing news: Coyote Walnut is 50 miles away. Update on Walnut on Jan. 15.
1) Permits are here, but this is bittersweet news
On Friday January 3, 2008 we received our permits, which finally allows us to legally trap and radio-collar coyotes. However, the permit is only for one year (2008) and needs to be renewed every year. This is in contrast to my request for a long-term or life-long permit that I requested. While renewing permits every year is not a big deal (since issuing a life-long permit can be problematic) I am nervous that there will be continuing issues with us getting permits in the future. If that does happen, I can guarantee that I will make a very big deal next time we don’t get renewed permits since we explicitly said that we are intending to do a long-term study. Read the letter from Mass. Division of Fisheries and Wildlife here . I would definitely say that we are on a short-string – in other words, if we do something wrong or don’t publish enough (despite having the most professional publications of any research team in Massachusetts’s history) we might not get renewed permits. (And remember, we already have approved protocols through Boston College, a major university, allowing us to do this research)
It is amazing to have to go through this process since the very same organization (Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife) currently allows these social animals to be shot in unlimited numbers by anyone who wants to from October – March.
In addition, the division currently allows just about the most liberal deer hunt in Massachusetts’s history (at least since colonial times) with 2.5 months of hunting allowed and virtually anyone who hunts can get a permit to shoot does and fawns, as well as the traditional bucks (males). Because driving deer (i.e., having people push/flush them out of their bedding areas toward people waiting on deer trails to shoot them) is legal, many groups of hunters on the Cape (as well as elsewhere) literally shoot any deer they can, sometimes wiping out a local group of deer (I must note that this practice also angers many hunters, especially bow hunters, that love to observe deer as well). That is where the phrase, “If it is brown it is down,” comes from. It is so angering for me, as a devote wildlife watcher, to know that deer numbers in and around the town of Barnstable are very low, likely only about 3-4 per square mile, excluding the Sandy Neck area. In fact, in much of my study area, a mere sighting of a deer is an unusual event since so many of the does and fawns are likely killed during such drives. By killing these females deer numbers aren’t spreading/colonizing to other parts of the town, hence there are quite a few areas with very little (or no) deer activity in the town of Barnstable. Yet, there is no on-the-ground field research documenting the need to have antlerless deer hunting. I will say it bluntly: There should be no antlerless deer hunting on lots of Cape Cod until deer numbers build up to a minimum of 20-30 deer per square mile in most parts of the Cape, which currently is not likely the case.
Yet, my research team repeatedly has to justify why we are doing research on these same creatures (we used to actively radio-collar deer as well) that can be shot and killed so liberally. To get to the point: My issue is that there ought to be a simple form that researchers fill out explaining what research they are planning on doing. Then we simply go do the research just like how someone goes to a town natural resource office to buy a hunting license. How can an organization possibly justify allowing such liberal hunting of a species yet make it so difficult for people to conduct research on them? But at least we have the permits, for now.
2) Amazing news: Coyote Walnut is 50 miles away from Centerville (where he was born) in the town of Hingham about 10 miles south-southeast of Boston. Update on Walnut on Jan. 15 (read below, under the map).
Last November (2006), the day after we captured a fisher at the Marstons Mills/Centerville line, we captured a 30 lb pup named Walnut (click here to see pictures of his capture. Note: you need to scroll down a bit on the page ). He was about 7 months old and was almost certainly the son of Cake, an old female that I have tracked in the area for years.
Walnut stayed with his mother (in his natal range) through January 2007 then started to explore surrounding areas in February. It was classic pre-dispersal behavior displayed by a young animal. Interestingly, he spent about a week in Raider’s pack’s range (the large territory to their immediate east). This included a couple days in Hyannis and at the very edge of very developed areas by the Kennedy Skating Rink.
On February 23, 2007 I picked him up in Marstons Mills very close to route 149 and near Mup’s home range by the Marstons Mills Airport. The next day, he was gone. For the next 10 months I would routinely dial up his frequency when I found other coyotes, especially his mom Cake. But I had no luck finding him… Now I know why.
Last week I got a nice email by a gentleman who saw a collared coyote where he hikes. The one problem was this location was near Boston in the town of Hingham so I had no idea who it could be but Walnut was the first coyote that I thought of since he was the last of a half dozen or so that has disappeared from my Cape Cod study area.
Yesterday (January 12, 2008), I drove up to Boston and stopped in Hingham on my way. Sure enough, when I drove and got to World’s End Reservation, Walnut was indeed there. At 5:30 PM (well dark out), I got a strong signal and he was clearly active. Unfortunately, I didn’t see him before he traveled NE deeper into the reservation. But it was definitely Walnut and I had similar frequency issues with his collar (switching a half frequency when the temperature changed).
Looking at a map (see below) this distance is 50.7 miles from where he was born. That is straight-miles away and does not include the probably non-linear route that he took (including swimming the Cape Cod Canal or traveling over the Bourne or Sagamore Bridge). Pretty amazing story… However, it will be interesting to see if Walnut sticks around in the Hingham area (there is plenty of woods in a number of reservations) or if he continues to disperse to new areas.
See the map that I created below of Eastern Massachusetts:
Update on Walnut on Jan. 15. I talked with James A. White, the man who initially spotted Walnut and kindly contacted me. It turns out the week before I located Walnut (see above), Jim saw him with a smaller, darker, and more bold coyote. Jim took pictures of this coyote from about 50 feet away. It was likely a female coyote and it seems that Walnut may have found a mate. Why he went 50 miles north to Hingham is anybody's guess but it seems like he might have been successful in possibly starting a family. With coyotes having saturated Massachusetts during the past 10-15 years, it isn't easy for a young coyote to find a vacant territory as most have already been claimed. Furthermore, if Walnut does indeed settle there, I will be able to track him occasionally. Thanks again, Jim!!!
