In February 2023, our investigator went undercover at a contest in Mendon, Illinois, where participants slaughtered at least 405 coyotes over a 45-hour period for the chance at $15,000 in total prize money. At the end of the gruesome event, a young boy carried the lifeless bodies of coyotes torn apart by bullets from AR-15s and other high-powered rifles to load them onto trucks.
Many of our killing contest investigations have documented young children playing among the dead animals on blood-soaked ground, and it’s not uncommon for kids to take part in the killing. It's one of the most disturbing features of these utterly depraved events.
If HB 2900 passes, Illinois would become the first Midwestern state to outlaw these kill fests, and the 11th state overall, following New York and Oregon, which passed bans last year. We have gone undercover at 14 killing contests in nine states since 2018, shedding light on the horrific disregard for life displayed—even celebrated—by the participants.
Revulsion toward wildlife killing contests is an area of common ground both for Americans who hunt and those who don’t. Many hunters and wildlife management professionals across the country have called out these money-driven competitions as unethical and unscientific, serving no wildlife management purpose. They’ve expressed fears that the egregiously unsporting behavior exhibited at these contests is inflicting irreparable damage on the reputation of the hunting community. They’re right.
The Mendon event’s organizer was Nuggets Night Vision, a manufacturer of night vision and thermal optics devices often used during the competitions. The high-tech equipment, which can cost thousands of dollars, completely overwhelms the animal’s natural ability to escape, flying in the face of the core hunting ethic of “fair chase.” Competitors lure animals into gun range with electronic calling devices that mimic the sounds of coyote or fox young or prey in distress, and then shoot the animals with AR-15-style weapons often fitted with night vision and thermal imaging scopes. They never stand a chance.
Coyotes, foxes and raccoons, the most common victims of killing contests in Illinois, are highly intelligent and social. They are native to the American prairie and offer a variety of benefits to their ecosystems and our communities, including spreading seeds and boosting plant and animal biodiversity. Those who see them as pests may invoke population control as a justification for wildlife killing contests. But this doesn’t stand up to scrutiny: Randomly killing them will not reduce their numbers, minimize conflicts with farms, or increase game species such as deer or wild turkey for hunters. The best available science shows that indiscriminate killing causes coyotes to proliferate and increases attacks on farm animals by disrupting the coyote pack structure that naturally regulates their behavior. These animals deserve more than to be gunned down in competitions for frivolous prizes.
A recent poll by Remington Research Group found that 73% of Illinois residents want to ban wildlife killing contests, while a similar national poll found that 80% of Americans oppose them. The competitions are a disgrace to communities across Illinois and the 39 other states that have not yet banned them.
If you are an Illinois resident, you can contact your state senator to urge support of HB 2900. If you live in the U.S., you can urge the passage of a federal ban on wildlife killing contests. It’s time to make wildlife killing contests a thing of the past.
Follow Kitty Block @HSUSKittyBlock.
