Coyote Video Blowback Is a Reminder That Predator Hunting Still Has to Be Done Right

Predator hunting is legal, necessary in a lot of places, and worth defending. That does not mean every ugly moment in the field gets a free pass.

A video showing well-known hunter Aron Snyder stabbing a wounded coyote has turned into a public mess. The clip was originally leaked to Cowboy State Daily and shows Snyder approaching a wounded coyote, pulling it from brush, kicking it down, and stabbing it. Born Primitive later said the behavior did not line up with its ethical hunting standards and cut ties with him.

Snyder has said the video was from an ice storm in Texas in 2019 or 2020, on a ranch where coyotes were causing problems for cows, horses, and dogs. He said he left his firearm in the ATV, found the coyote was still alive, and made a bad decision in how he finished it. He also admitted the optics were bad for the hunting community.

Here is the part hunters should be honest about: coyotes are not pets, and predator control is not cruelty by default. Ranchers, landowners, deer managers, turkey hunters, and trappers all know predators have real impacts. Legal coyote hunting has a place. So does dispatching a wounded animal when a shot goes wrong.

But the way you do it matters. A quick, clean follow-up with the right tool is one thing. A video that looks careless, sloppy, or performative gives anti-hunting groups exactly what they want. They will use one bad clip to paint every hunter as bloodthirsty, even though most hunters spend their lives trying to make clean kills, recover game, and respect the animals they pursue.

We cannot control every activist headline, but we can control our own standards. Bring the right gear. Make the follow-up shot. Do not turn wounded animals into content. Do not confuse being tough with being ethical. If an animal is still alive, end it fast and clean.

Defending hunting means defending the truth, not defending every action by every hunter. Predator management belongs in the toolbox. Legal harvest belongs on the landscape. But if we want the public to understand that, hunters have to hold the line ourselves before someone else writes the rules for us.