The "Great" Coyote Hunt

Above, James and Scott. Scott's residence is in the background. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Today was "Elmer Fudd Day" in Jamestown. Only we weren't after "wabbits".

This morning, I joined two neighbors, Scott and James, behind my property on a coyote hunt.

Recently, a coyote has been brazen and approached near the deck of Scott's property. He has dogs at his residence, including a chihuahua, and he fears that the fencing around his yard is not sufficient to keep out the coyotes. I saw one behind my property a couple of morning ago.

Above, the gully and hill across it. Later, a coyote appeared at the treeline on he hill at center. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

So, we set up directly behind my property. It overlooks a gully and a hill across from it. The hill is about 200 yards from where we were positioned.

We started around 8:00 and sat and waited for a coyote to make its appearance. We did see a large jackrabbit on the hill. At around 8:55, we spotted a coyote at the tree line on top of the hill.

James aimed his rife and tried the trigger, but he had the safety on and nothing happened. At the same time, I had the coyote in my sights and pulled the trigger and nothing happened. I forgot to cock the rifle. Then the coyote came down a little from the tree line and it appeared to be looking in our direction. Scott had his electronic predator caller and that may have attracted the coyote's attention.

Above, James after taking his shot. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Then, James turned off the safety and managed to fire off a shot. As he did so, the coyote turned and ran, so James's shot missed.

We waited another half hour to see if the coyote will reappear. He didn't. So we decided to end our little hunt but also agreed to meet there tonight at 7:00 to try again. We may be joined by more neighbors tonight.

Although unsuccessful, it was still a fun time.