Jan. 21--AMANDA, Ohio -- The volunteer fire department in this Fairfield County farming community holds the typical fundraisers, including its annual fish fry, chili cook-off, fireman's festival and chicken barbecue.
It also has a coyote hunt.
The Amanda Township Fire Department's annual coyote drive is scheduled for Saturday.
Coyote hunting is a tradition in the township, about 35 miles south of Columbus. Neighboring Saltcreek-Tarlton Fire Department, just inside Pickaway County about 10 miles from Amanda, held its annual coyote drive earlier this month.
The mutual-aid departments have developed a friendly rivalry over the years over which one bags more coyotes, said Amanda Township Firefighter Cody Jackson, who is helping to organize the hunt.
It's free, but hunters donate $5, or whatever they wish, for the hot lunch served at the firehouse. And they buy raffle tickets. Organizers already have raffled off a muzzleloader, and the winner of the raffle on hunt day will receive a $300 gift card from Ohio Valley Outdoors, one of the sponsors.
Firefighters hope to raise more than $700 this year, said Shawn Steinschreiber. He and Jackson are co-chairmen of the department's coyote-drive committee.
The event raises money to buy gear for the 30-member department, thins the coyote population and helps livestock farmers, Jackson said.
The Humane Society of the United States opposes coyote hunting. The organization recommends that livestock farmers use other methods to chase away the animals. These can include 8-foot fencing topped by a "coyote roller" that stops the animals from gaining a hold to scale the fence, roofed and enclosed chicken housing, and dogs, donkeys or llamas to guard livestock, said spokeswoman Lynsey White Dasher.
Karen Minton, the organization's Ohio director, said she was dismayed that fire departments raise money by hunting coyotes.
"We would encourage them to find a more-humane method of fundraising," she said.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the Ohio Sheep Improvement Association, however, encourage shooting and trapping coyotes to control the population.
The animals are abundant in Ohio and nationwide, and are the scourge of farmers raising sheep, goats and cattle.
"There are coyote problems in every county in Ohio," said Roger High, executive director of the sheep association. "The No. 1 reason that people don't get into, or (do) get out of, the sheep industry, is predators -- coyotes, primarily."
Coyotes are not endangered or protected, and they may be hunted year-round in Ohio. Coyote hunts are usually held in the winter because that is when the animal's fur is thickest. Some hunters sell the pelts or take the coyotes to a taxidermist so they can be mounted on a wall at home.
The hunt is called a coyote drive because hunters carrying shotguns arrange themselves in a large square and drive the coyotes toward the middle. The hunters work in coordination, some walking in a straight line "pushing" the coyotes out into the open, so the others can shoot at the animals. The hunters wear bright orange and establish "safe shooting lanes," so that they do not accidentally shoot one another, Steinschreiber said.
@MaryBethLane1
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