My father-in-law and I ran a month-long family & friends coyote hunting contest this year. It was pretty much limited to our families, neighbors, and their partner of choice (if they had another friend they wanted to hunt with instead of their kid or whoever) and was done for fun and some prize money. It all went pretty well, except we ended up with some issues from the partner of choice thing.

Our rules simply were take a picture of the downed dog and send it to us. We had them keep tails for a longest tail prize. Everyone was fine, except two people. One was caught by one of our cousins picking up a roadkill coyote. He got punked out and didn't turn it in. Another, who I've since heard plenty of stories about, supposedly had asked some other hunters for their coyotes so he could turn them in. He texted me claiming kills but wouldn't send a picture until a week later. His tail won the longest tail prize, but who knows if it was really from a yote that he killed. He also told me that he spent a lot of time road hunting.

We'd like to make some changes next year, but still keep it fun and relatively hassle-free. First change is that we'll make sure some people aren't invited. We've considered having them bring them to my house to check them in, take a picture at the point of kill with some type of object/tag/wooden block that we issue out at the start of the contest with said item in the picture, cut off an ear or something and bring it in. I'm afraid they'll still have ways around it. Any suggestions?

Don't invite the cheating friends back for next years contest.  Pretty simple.

Already covered that point. You just never know who might try to pull something. Neither were people I would have invited to start with. One was an uncle's buddy and the other was my cousin's buddy.

Understood.  My point was that you already have the answer.

I hope that takes care of it, but you just never know who else might try something. I'm not worried about family or friends with any integrity issues, but you never know who they might invite. I have some friends that seem to hunt 24/7 and kill a lot of yotes. I hate to do it, but I can't invite them in. They'll clean house and take the fun out of it for everybody else.

Issue a token and have them bring them to your house.

MAHA

Figure something to hand out ahead of time like a couple decks of cards from the $1 store, and hand them out ahead of time.

The picture should be of them with the coyote, panned out far enough you can tell the where the picture was taken at, and they can hold the coyotes head up prior to rigor mortis setting in, like this random Google image but with a coyote. That way you can tell a coyote that is stiff as a board probably didn't come from there.  

Yep, cell phone photo like the one above, texted ASAP after the kill so you have a timestamp. Some people make you wonder... I wouldn't be associated with guys who do that crap.. Makes you wonder where they draw the line with more important things.

Above post sums it up. I agree with the picture including the background. My FIL is still adamant about cutting an ear or paw off and turning it in. Not sure how that will help.

This wasn't by chance in the southern IL area was it? Near columbia?

is it too late to enter?  eheheh...the cards thing sounds good....make photo requisites...

Make it about the contest and not about prizes.

We used to do a North VS. South NVHTF Rabbit hunt ever year. Then one year we added some sponsors and prizes. Lets just say that was the last year we had our annual North VS. South.

The crap people would do just to win a few stickers.

This was just around Shiloh Hill/Campbell Hill/Ava areas.

How we do it is at the beginning of the contest each team is given a baggie of ping pong balls that are a custom tie dye pattern which is different each year. After a kill the ball is placed in the dogs mouth and a rubber band is placed around their muzzle so when rigormortis sets in the ball cannot be removed and that also makes sure people cant just find coyotes and place a ball in their mouth due to the stiffened jaw.

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Very nice! I bet that works well.

That's what I'm going with for next year. I like it.

How about similar to what Utah does for hunters wanting to turn in coyotes. You have to mark it via GPS coordinates and bring in both ears/jaw.

Mouth blocks and core temps.
Only two good ways to stop cheating when it comes to predator/varmint hunts.

I have done several coyote contests...Things I have found with that make it tough on "cheaters"...
You GOT to have a "check in"..all hunters are at the same spot at the same time.That way there isnt anyone 6 counties away getting a head start.
Cut PVC pipe with team numbers and the initials hand written by the event organizer and then given out in random,so team has no clue what # they will be.( pvc put in coyotes mouth before rigamortis)
Drop DEAD check in times.Where coyotes are checked and weighed daily( if the contest is longer then a day.)
As for your case...ALL photos submitted MUST have a piece of PVC pipe that you have marked in the coyotes mouth,or something that confirms the coyote with something you have provided.If your face is not in the photo...doesn't count.
Your going to have cheaters,guess its the game of life..

When does that open by the way?

Bite sticks or the balls  are both good ideas, one contest we entered last year you had to take a pic with the team members the kill and a sign with team name time date and county written on it that must be legible.  Pic was  to be submitted via text or email within an hour of the kill,  if it wasn't it didn't count.

It is year round but you have to be registered first in order to turn one in for bounty.

Utah Predator Control Program