A blanket of snow covered the ground as a group of hunters, bundled up from the cold, gathered around a scale in a Northern Nevada parking lot.
One by one, dozens of freshly killed coyotes were weighed, their blood streaking the snow. After being weighed, their bodies were tossed into the back of a pickup truck.
The January 2023 event was a coyote calling contest, one of more than a dozen held throughout the state each year. The competitions reward participants with prizes — sometimes thousands of dollars — for reaching certain targets such as killing the most coyotes, or snagging the largest.
At least 150,000 coyotes are thought to live in Nevada. They live in the state’s most remote areas, preying on rodents and roadkill. But they are highly adaptable and have a high tolerance for humans, and also call agricultural and suburban areas home. In those more urbanized areas, they prey on livestock and household pets.
Viewed by many to be pests, coyotes are listed as an “ unprotected ” species in Nevada. Coyotes can be hunted year-round without a license, and there is no limit on how many can be killed.