king' s outdoor world - Index

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

PHOTOS: AUTHOR
64
A collection of traps used by the author over the years as a government trapper
cedar. I then set four traps around
this bush. The coyote never came
back to the pups or the area. Almost
always, if the female glands are set
in a bush and traps are set around it,
the dog will be in a trap the next day.
I have used this type set many times
and have had good success.
When I fi nally took this
old trooper out it was by accident.
I was coming back from being out
on horseback with my dogs for fi ve
days; I had been checking on bands
of sheep while doing predator work.
I pulled up on the edge of a butte
that had some trees for shade. I got
off my horse, man it was hot, and
decided that the dogs, my horse and
I could all use a rest after our long
trip. I walked over to the edge of the
butte and sat down to look this old
dog’s area over. I had called from
this spot many times, but it was to
no avail. I had never had a coyote
even answer me from this spot. As
I sat there looking down into the
HUNTING ILLUSTRATED.com
coulee below, I noticed a movement. It
was a coyote and, as I watched, I knew
it was him. I had watched the old dog
with binocs many times and I could
tell by the way he hobbled and limped
that it was my elusive ghost. I couldn’t
believe what I was looking at, the tables
had turned. He made a mistake and I
was in the right place at the right time. I
turned my aimpoint on and, as I settled
the red dot on him, I almost had second
thoughts of dropping the hammer on
him. He had given me more trouble than
any other coyote and he had managed
to elude the super cub and the chopper.
He had eluded my sets, he didn’t act
like a coyote should when pups were in
danger, he had no protective acts toward
his mate when she was in danger - he
had earned my respect. But, as he came
closer, I could see he had a lamb leg in
his mouth. To me, that was like rubbing
salt into an old wound. I put the dot
back on him and squeezed the trigger.
My dogs were up and looking, and the
old grey dog never knew what hit him.
Some of the coyotes I have
harvested over the years have made
me a fi rm believer of the will to live.
One coyote, I have pictures of him,
had one hind leg missing from the
knee joint down. It was healed over
and he could run about as fast on
three legs as a four-legged coyote
could. This coyote became a calfkiller
and would grab a newborn calf
by its umbilical cord and rip open
the stomach. He would only eat the
liver and then leave the rest to the
magpies. I used my dogs on this
coyote and, after three times of him
getting away, I was able to stop him
from anymore calf killing. I was on
horseback and the dogs trailed him
for over a mile before he made a
stand in a small ledge of rocks. As
I rode up, he backed tighter against
the rocks and was giving the dogs
quite a battle. Once he saw me, he
charged past the dogs. I swung off
my horse and grabbed my rifl e out of
the boot. I had only one shot and I
got lucky and hit him. He rolled and
the dogs were on him before he quit
rolling. I couldn’t believe my eyes
when I looked him over and found
his hind leg missing. There were no
more calf losses that spring on the
ranch.
Another coyote I shot out
of a super cub was a true example of
the will to live. When the pilot fi rst
spotted him he thought it was a large
rabbit. But, as we fl ew closer, we
saw that it was a coyote. It hopped
like a rabbit; it never straightened
out its hind legs. The pilot made
a pass and I missed. As he banked
the cub around, the coyote stopped
and watched us come back in. He
started hopping again and this pass
I hit him and put him down. The
pilot asked if I wanted to land and
look the coyote over to see what was
wrong with it. Well, heck yes I did.
Besides, we had been airborne for
over three hours and old Ma Nature
was calling and she was serious.
We landed and walked over to the
coyote. We examined it and found
that his back was curved and it