king' s outdoor world - Index

king' s outdoor world - Hunting Illustrated Magazine Dec/Jan 2008 - Coyote Crazy! - Index

Seasoned hunter and trapper Walt Earl discusses his K-9 theory to a crowd
at one the many predator/calling seminars he does throughout the year
the taking of the prey (a coyote is no
match against the wolf), the will to
live is shown here through common
sense.
My decoy dogs are broke
off of getter guns, cyanide, by
placing a red pepper capsule in the
barrel of the gun and letting my dogs
pull the baited barrel. The gun blows
the pepper into the dog’s throat and
most dogs will not pull a getter again
as the memory of what caused the
discomfort to them is etched into
their brain, a second chance at the
will to live.
Canines that have been
caught in traps and then escaped by
losing a toe or a whole foot will be
very alert as to where they put their
remaining feet and will know to dig
traps out of the ground and turn them
upside-down. Even the cleanest trap
and set will be detected. To me, this
is one of the sharpest instincts of the
will to live.
I have seen coyotes, while
being hunted from a super cub or
helicopter, dive into holes or brush
thickets and then stay there until they
feel it is safe to come out. These
coyotes know every hole, rock pile
or hiding place that will save them
from harm and most fi nd it quick.
I feel that coyotes who behave in this
manner have been burnt with shot or
have had a close call before - here again
is the will to live.
Other coyotes that I have
seen from aircraft, and I would say
this includes most of them, just take
off running and don’t seek cover. The
coyotes that behave this way are most
likely not native to the area and have not
been hunted by aircraft.
The most amazing will to live
that I have personally dealt with was
a coyote that took me 2½ years to
kill. The coyote had toes missing
on his right front foot and the whole
hind foot, pads and all, missing on
his left hind leg. I would fi nd this
coyote’s tracks in the snow and mud
all year long. I hunted him from the
super cub and saw him often, but
he always outdid the plane. In the
chopper, he always found rocks or
cover. I would set traps using every
set possible and he would go around
them. I would set snares in places
where he traveled. I would later fi nd
his tracks and make sets and, almost
always, he would push my snare to
one side and go kill a lamb anyway.
I set leg hold traps under my snares
and, still, he would fi nd another
place to get in and kill lambs. I
found, after a light snow, that he was
jumping the fence in a low spot, so
I gang set traps in the area where he
landed on the ground (gang setting is
putting six or more traps in a small
area). The coyote quit jumping the
fence in that spot.
Two different times I found
where he and his mate had a den of
pups and I worked hard to get him
but, when I used my dogs, he just
left the country and only the bitch
came in. I shot the bitch and cut
out her rectum and other parts and
set them in the middle of a low bush
December/January 63