Next weekend we’re going to add a new annual tradition to the F-Troop Camp calendar, a late-winter coyote hunt. Gary and Brett Peterson, Todd Puleo, and I will travel up Friday evening, and Brad Isles and possibly one or two others will arrive on Saturday. Gary has crafted a new rifle for the occasion, a .243 caliber, for its long range flat shooting. He has also acquired some predator-attracting audiotapes to play out loud in the woods to try to lure in one of those crafty old wild dogs. We’ll hike in before daylight deep into State Game Lands 86, climb the mountainside, and post in full camouflage, then broadcast our wounded rabbit and other calls. We’ll hunt both days of the weekend, since coyotes are one of the few animals legal for hunting on Sunday.
     I’ve read several articles on coyote hunting, and all writers agree that our chances of killing a coyote are not good, because of the animal’s keen senses and extreme wariness. Even if we’re lucky enough to take a coyote or two, we’re not going to make much of an impact on the general population. Americans, especially western Americans, have been trying to eradicate these livestock-haunting and fawn-killing predators for 150 years with little success. Still, we’re going to give it a try. We do have one coyote kill in our camp record books, a big male that Billy shot four years ago on the opening day of deer season. Maybe we’ll add to that record, but if not, at least we’ll experience a winter weekend outdoors in the big woods.
     Good luck out there. And have a great week outdoors.    

~ Don Feigert, 2-18-08