Roughly a year after the torture and killing of a wolf put a worldwide spotlight on Sublette County in southwest Wyoming, a county resident said she’s getting death threats over a coyote hunting contest she’s helping to organize.
The Song Dog Shootout, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday in Sublette County, has nothing to do with the torture and killing of a wolf last year in the local town of Daniel, Amy Busselle told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday.
She added that the event isn’t connected to Cody Roberts, as some have suggested.
Roberts is the Daniel resident who reportedly ran over the wolf with a snowmobile Feb. 29, 2024. He then captured the wolf, duct taped its muzzle shut and kept the injured animal alive for hours before finally killing it behind the Green River Bar in Daniel.
The upcoming anniversary of that incident is in no way connected to the Song Dog Shootout, Busselle said.
It’s pure coincidence that the event was scheduled for late February, because that is the best time of year to hunt coyotes, she said.
Trying To Control Coyote Population
The Song Dog Shootout is about local predator control and nothing more, Busselle said.
As they have in years past, residents organized the hunt because the area’s coyote population has boomed, and coyotes are killing pets, livestock and poultry, Busselle said.
“The coyotes have gotten really bad here,” she said. “It (the hunting contest) is nothing more than predator management.”
Moreover, the coyote hunts won’t involve chasing the animals down with snowmobiles or other such practices, Busselle said.
“We’re not engaging in any torture or animal cruelty here,” she said.
Teams of hunters will go out to hunt coyotes in an ethical manner by attempting to call the coyotes in close enough for clean kills with rifle shots, she said.
Anger Over Wolf Killing Reignited
Some people have apparently linked the coyote hunting contest to Roberts and the wolf torture and killing.
Busselle said that one person in particular, Austin, Texas-based social media influencer Jonas Black, has been spreading misinformation about the Song Dog Shootout.
Black last year organized the “Hogs For Hope” motorcycle rally from Austin to Daniel in response to the torture and killing of the wolf, which he named “Hope.”
Because of backlash over the coyote hunt, Busselle said that she and some people close to her have been flooded with angry, and sometimes threatening, phone calls and messages as a result.
“It started on Sunday, with the death threats and intimidating messages,” said Busselle, who works at the Waterhole #3 bar and grill in Marbleton, another tiny community in Sublette County.
“I’ve had to hang out here at the bar to make sure my other bartenders are safe,” she said.
‘Hogs For Hope’ Organizer Weighs In
Waterhole #3 is set to be the check-in point for the coyote hunt. It has become a focal point for outrage, much like the Green River Bar was.
Black has been vocal in his criticism of the hunt.
He posted a video on social media, claiming that the coyote hunting contest was a way of “celebrating” the wolf’s torture and killing.
Black, a dog trainer and animal welfare advocate, has long been involved in activism prompted by the Daniel wolf incident.
The Hogs For Hope rally culminated in a brief standoff in Daniel on May 26, 2024, before Black and his supporters rode motorcycles and drove vehicles through the town.
In his social media post about the Song Dog Shootout, he included photos of hunt organizers and images of a poster for the event, including Busselle’s phone number and the Waterhole #3 address.
He also urged his followers to “call them (the hunt organizers), clog their lines.”
During a telephone interview with Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday, Black said he doesn’t approve of death threats against the hunt’s organizers.
But he remained critical of the event, regardless of whether it’s connected to Roberts or the wolf’s deaths.
“You (Sublette County) are the hotbed of canine abuse for the world right now, maybe don’t throw events like that,” he said.
Black said he perceived ads for the Song Dog Shootout as being deliberately “antagonistic” toward people upset by Wyoming’s predator management policies.
As he sees it, anger over the hunting contest is justified.
“I’m not pro-death threats, but I have hard time having empathy in this situation because the ads were antagonistic,” he said.
Black said that he’s also gotten numerous death threats since getting involved in the response to the wolf killing – and added that he plans another “Hogs For Hope” rally to Daniel this year.
Bad Timing
Busselle said she and other locals were blindsided by the backlash, anger and threats.
Coyote hunting contests are common in Wyoming and across the West this time of year, she said.
“Everything that I’m doing here is legal,” she said.
And if any of the hunters are caught doing anything deliberately cruel to coyotes, “they will be disqualified,” she added.
Wyoming Wildlife Advocates Executive Director Kristin Combs opposes the Song Dog Shootout — and coyote hunting contests in general — but said threats against hunt organizers do nothing to help the cause.
“It’s really disappointing that people are sending death threats. That’s totally disappointing and not something we would encourage,” Combs told Cowboy State Daily.
She added that, regardless of intent, the Song Dog Shootout reflects poorly on Sublette County.
“Sublette County has already had its fair share of negative press,” she said. “It seems like it’s very bad timing. And I wish people would look at the bigger picture of this. This is not who we are as a society in 2025.”
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
