I was out one evening on a small hill in the middle of a large valley locating coyotes for the plane. I howled some sets of locator howls, two howls, two barks and another howl, then wait a couple of minutes and repeat them. I had a couple of groups answer me one was way off in another ranchers place so I called the plane and got it on the ones that were on the ranchers place I was working for they got the adults and saw the den by the pups running in it. I got there and took the pups from it then called the rancher and told him that we got those coyotes taken care of and about the other coyotes. He called me the next morning and told me the other rancher would meet me that evening. We met and the guy asked me where I had been when I heard them, I told him, and he looked at me and said that's at least two miles away can you make them talk again I think you might be mistaken as to where they really are. I told him that I would try to. We got set up and I started howling. Pretty soon a pair of coyotes started howling barking and being really loud and aggressive. He looked at me and said I've never heard a coyote act like that, I looked at him and said have you ever howled at a coyote when you were within a few yards of the den? He said I want to get the plane in on them I said okay, do you want me to take the den? I will get back to you for that when I can get the plane. Later that evening the first rancher called to tell me I have the plane lined up for the morning, to get that other pair you told me about down on the other place, then they want to go out to the ones you found on so and so's he called me and was kind of excited at how they reacted to you. I told him dam man that's thirty miles apart. Well, okay I'll work on so and so's till you can get there after the first ones. I got out the next morning and located the first ones the plane got one but the other one holed up on them, I got there at the hole set up two smoke cartridges and shoved them in the hole put my coat over the hole, I don't like to set next to the hole when I do that but I did this time. Pretty soon the plane called and told me that they had taken three adults on the other den and that the rancher was at it with the area supervisor and that I should go over there when I could. I pulled the female out of the hole and her pups were with her she had four and was only a yearling herself, the pups were just starting to turn tan from the chocolate brown they are as newborn, so I figured them to be two or three weeks old. I headed out to the other den met the area supervisor on his way out and he gave me the ranchers rifle and water jug, told me right where the den was and that the second rancher told him it was right where I told him it would be. I got down there and we were wiring pups out when from behind us a half-grown pup ran past me and tried to get in the hole the rancher was wiring in, he pinned it with his right foot, and I grabbed it by its neck behind the ears, pulled my 22 revolver out and took care of it. The second rancher said I wondered why you always wore that your kind of a cold hearted bastered to kill a pup like that and laughed. these pups were half grown so they were probably over a month old maybe a month and a half. The male and one of the females were older maybe three years old but one of the females was only a pup from the year before.
