Why I Hate Them
 

And love them at the same time. Well, there are other attributes I like about them but this picture is not one of them. The date/time stamp is wrong. It was taken this past Sunday, the day after the close of our rifle deer season closed. During deer season I heard more accounts of hunters seeing coyotes than I can ever remember hearing before.

What's to love about coyotes?... Not one thing in my opinion!

And it's NOT because they're taking down a trophy buck!

They will kill and eat ANYTHING they can, including your best bird dog or your aging Lab let out just before bedtime to empty his bladder and sniff around the dooryard before coming in for the night. This happened to a good friend's 11 year old black lab - one of the best waterfowl dogs in Essex Co. a few years back.





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Your picture reminded me of something I think about from time to time...two days ago I was in a climbing stand and a covey of birds gathered under me in the late afternoon sunshine. Eleven little beauties, very social, peeping and chasing each other about happily as they ate acorn fragments. These are my favorites among all the residents of my farm. Yesterday I took the dog and VH down there and shot two of them. Together with two more I got this morning they will go on the grill tonight and I am happy to have them. The coyotes Coopers Hawks and I have much in common. And I may be the worst of the bunch, having a grocery store just five miles up the road.

Dean, I do not disagree. I do love the fact that they are free, wild, and smart. But just so I do not get labeled a coyote lover, I'll shoot every one that gives me the opportunity.

This past summer I saw a trail camera photo of a coyote carrying what appeared to be a very dead Jack Russell terrier, collar and all. What's to love?

I have 3 young friends that are true outdoors men, Very good deer and turkey hunters, The oldest about 19 was attacked this past spring by a coyote while turkey hunting. It slipped up from behind jumped over his shoulder and grabbed him by the leg cutting his leg. He grabbed it and threw it off and it ran before he could shoot. He had to take the rabies treatment. They will attack people also. This is the second time that I know of them attacking people.

One of my cousins and her husband were attacked by a coyote while they were turkey hunting. A good coyote is a dead coyote

About 15 years ago when there were still wild quail on a farm I hunted here in SE Tennessee, my Setter and I were standing on the edge of a fence row in an overgrown field. Two coyotes came out of the brush across the way from us and I watched them as they hunted as a pair thru the overgrown fields of that farm. It was interesting to watch, they were way out of range of my 20 gauge, but I wondered, and still do, if they aren't part of the reason the quail population is all but gone in my area.

I wonder if that buck had been wounded during the rifle season? I will bet he was. And if thats not wolf like hunting behavior i will eat my hat.

Pure speculation Steve...

How would you like your hat done?





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Reggie, a coyote would not be out of range of a good 22-250 or 220 Swift. I don't know what the coyote situation is at my new home, but it won't be long before I find out.