Ramblings and Such From Hunting Coyote

NDA's throw a wrench in things sometimes don't they Coyote Shadow Tracker. I might think about it someday I've enjoyed living my life and doing the coyote control. You get to experience somethings that are hard to explain, things that others don't get the chance to and somethings that are hard to believe even would happen.
 
lotehunter ; a lot of it depends on where you are and what you are doing. I don't count coyotes taken from the helicopter because they are counted by the pilot as his kills, I normally don't count pups taken out of the den or a heavy female. I once called and shot a heavy female that had thirteen pups in her so if I count them that's 14 coyotes with one shot. If you are the gunner in the plane and are covering the ground crews of several different areas, you might get 100 coyotes in a day, but you are covering more miles than anyone person could in a week, on the ground. When you are doing coyote control in the same area year after year you hope that your daily average goes down with the years spent showing that you are doing your job well. I took 4 dens of pups in one day that had 26 pups in them but only counted the six adults from those dens. Yes, that was a onetime thing and a milestone for me! I did onetime call and kill nineteen adults in one day in a new area that nobody had hunted them in years, another milestone day for me and another once in a lifetime happening, and milestone moment. When we have those types of happenings, we deserve to feel proud of ourselves for it. For the most part it was part of doing coyote control work but still I had and have proud feelings from my accomplishments, as the average coyote caller and hunter doesn't get the opportunity to do them. Share some of your exciting moments with others please.
 
There are a lot of homesteads here where people could get a section of land deeded to them for living on it and proving it up as they called it. So, as you travel around you will find remnants of old homes still standing here and there. Up in the mountains there is a cabin that was built on the corner of four sections, it has a room in all four sections and if you could find the history of it you would most likely find that a man, his wife and a couple of their sons had staked a clame on a section each and build the cabin so as to improve each section. A room in each section, and open-air kitchen for summer use between two of the rooms. In another place along a nice creek there is a large field stone fireplace and foundation standing but the cabin burned down in the twenties. several of them about the only thing you will find is a wood cook stoves remnants and an apple orchard. These apples are not overly sweet or very large, maybe two inches in diameter, mostly greenish yellow with some red on them and blackish spots on them. They were good cooking apples and keep pretty well, dried or in an airy area of a root cellar. You will also find the remnants of a root cellar in most of these old homesteads. Most of these were bought by other landowners during the depression when the people decided to give up living in poverty and move somewhere that they might find work, food, shelter and clothing for the family, along with not having to work hard from day lite till dark and die younger, or watch your kids die because you couldn't afford food or there wasn't any medical attention close enough to get to in a day or two. A lot of people around here died during the Spanish Influenza pandemic in the early 1900 hundreds. One case that I was told of early in my life was one woman that lived on the mountain with her husband, their kids were in town for schooling. They lived about 35 miles from town in a little cabin had a few cows and some hay meadows some chickens and a barn. most years they were snowed in from November till sometime in April. He got sick in early November and died she buried him in a snow drift till spring thaw when she could get to town for some help. I have to say the people that lived here at that time period were some very tough people and lived a hard life that so many of us today couldn't even begin to imagine. South of town there is an old foundation laid out of stone native to the area. close by is a small grave with stones laid up to form a date 3-5-53 a little distance away is a shrine, built like what you will see in Mexico for the Catholic's to warship. When it was built, I have no clue was it 1853 or 1953 built by Bask sheep herders that lost a child or was it from an earlier fur trader that was a Jesuit. The present landowners don't know I've asked them about it.
 
DSheetz said:
There are a lot of homesteads here where people could get a section of land deeded to them for living on it and proving it up as they called it. So, as you travel around you will find remnants of old homes still standing here and there. Up in the mountains there is a cabin that was built on the corner of four sections, it has a room in all four sections and if you could find the history of it you would most likely find that a man, his wife and a couple of their sons had staked a clame on a section each and build the cabin so as to improve each section. A room in each section, and open-air kitchen for summer use between two of the rooms. In another place along a nice creek there is a large field stone fireplace and foundation standing but the cabin burned down in the twenties. several of them about the only thing you will find is a wood cook stoves remnants and an apple orchard. These apples are not overly sweet or very large, maybe two inches in diameter, mostly greenish yellow with some red on them and blackish spots on them. They were good cooking apples and keep pretty well, dried or in an airy area of a root cellar. You will also find the remnants of a root cellar in most of these old homesteads. Most of these were bought by other landowners during the depression when the people decided to give up living in poverty and move somewhere that they might find work, food, shelter and clothing for the family, along with not having to work hard from day lite till dark and die younger, or watch your kids die because you couldn't afford food or there wasn't any medical attention close enough to get to in a day or two. A lot of people around here died during the Spanish Influenza pandemic in the early 1900 hundreds. One case that I was told of early in my life was one woman that lived on the mountain with her husband, their kids were in town for schooling. They lived about 35 miles from town in a little cabin had a few cows and some hay meadows some chickens and a barn. most years they were snowed in from November till sometime in April. He got sick in early November and died she buried him in a snow drift till spring thaw when she could get to town for some help. I have to say the people that lived here at that time period were some very tough people and lived a hard life that so many of us today couldn't even begin to imagine. South of town there is an old foundation laid out of stone native to the area. close by is a small grave with stones laid up to form a date 3-5-53 a little distance away is a shrine, built like what you will see in Mexico for the Catholic's to warship. When it was built, I have no clue was it 1853 or 1953 built by Bask sheep herders that lost a child or was it from an earlier fur trader that was a Jesuit. The present landowners don't know I've asked them about it.
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Life is grand ain't it. Back in the 80's I was hunting mule deer with a couple of guys near Terlingua on a place called the 02. I found this old post foundation and crumbled chimney, old buttons and stuff peaking out of the wind blown dust and in amoungst it all was this coin about the size if a quarter and brass it was. George Wilson Cattle Company, Good For One Drink, Marfa Texas, Still got that little token and think the world of it. Off in the middle of that desert was a spring that come out of a rock outcropping and I decided to sit it out from up on top of that outcropping and watch the water hole. There were matate's and manos all over, holes ground plum thru the big slab rock from Indians of long ago pounding mesquite beans and off in this alkali flat I could see these stones in circles. I went out there and it appeared to be campfire deals 6 or 8 of em, so I dug into it and sure enough down 6" was ashes. Time stands still out there.
 
Sometimes I forget just how good we have it today with all of hackers and people trying to scam others out of their livings but yes, we do have a very easy life compared to what others had in the past. Things from the past last a long time in some environments but time marches on. I had a cat pull an M-44 one time, so I was going up the draw it was set in looking for it when on the side of a sandstone boulder I noticed some chiseling had been done on it two names and the date December 7, 1941. At that time in our history, it was often a matter of pride that the sons of immigrants would enlist in the military and the parents were so proud of them as well as being proud of the fact that they had learned to speak the American language.
 
today we started going through my grandparents house. Lots of memories and many things learned I did not know. My grandfather was in Korea and at Normandy. My father in Vietnam he found this in my grandmother's dresser. She kept it all these year when her son (dad) was in the Army. I brought it home tonight. It will take weeks to finish. His brother died ear before and mom last year. It was hard for him to begin this process. It is something I will never forget



Thanks

Buck
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Never salute when uncovered and the only time you will be uncovered outdoors is when you are handling ammo, no belts, covers or anything in your pockets that you might grab for without thinking at that time. Always remove your cover when you step indoors. Now they ask us to salute the colors and during the National Anthem indoors, uncovered. Times have changed so many things. I served with people that had been in WWII and in Keora as well as being in Vietnam. Most of those people are gone now. Thank you, guys, for sharing with the rest of us. AH bootcamp stuffing ten pounds of sh09 into a five-pound mind. firefighting, military codes and customs, folding and rolling your clothes combat first aid. damage control, and so very much else, that I still do without thinking about it, trying to not be back lite or sky lined. walking quietly, ect.. My clothes are ready to jump into in a second's notice at night just in case, my knife is at hand always unless I'm flying then I feel naked without it and will have sent one ahead of me or will buy one when I get to my destination. Most all good woodsman ship skills that play a part in hunting any animal in about any conditions, some learn and take it to heart but some never do sadly there are still a lot of Macnamara's 100,000 out and about. Sorry about getting on my soapbox I will work harder not to do it again.
 
In the early 80's I got asked to take care of some coyotes that were eating new calves. I knew the pasture they were in and where the water holes were so hit them first looking for coyote tracks. The tracks were only on one of the water holes and were coming from one set of draws, so I went up those draws first and found a bunch of male and female tracks going up one draw as well as down the draw. I made my set up and let out my locator howls and barks. It was nearly 10:00 in the morning but a coyote showed after the first set and charged my way. It was the male as I suspected by the time of the day. I took him back to the truck then walked back up the draw and located the den. I took a couple of good-sized pups out of it then a couple of runts out of it. When I got thirteen pups out of it there were seven larger pups and six smaller pups, two age groups of pups. By this time, it was nearing 4:00 in the afternoon so I got set up close to the den in some sage brush and decided to use the injured puppy squeals, two coyotes jumped up out of a brushy hillside and froze I shot one and the other ran, so I gave some injured adult coyote squeals, it turned and started back I barked it stopped I got it shot. I got them both gathered up and they both were wet females one older one and one younger one from last year's pups. I got everything drug to the truck and loaded them then opened the females and checked them. sure, enough the lumps on the uterus's showed two different age groups and seven and six pups. It doesn't happen all of the time but sometimes the females that are kept to help with the pups does get bred as well. Sometimes there will be a young male kept to help with the pups and that can make getting all of the ones doing the killing. Snares take care of them usually.
 
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Well with Texas being in a mess I'm going into night vision, gonna stick it on a dpms lr308. Bought an ATN 5x15 off ebay, most I could afford cant go thermal $,$$$. I dont have it mounted as yet but in figuring it out I will say this, tested in hand @7am total overcast, naked eye @ 100yds with a regular rig you could know what it is and make a shot , 200 yds with a regular rig you would have to triple check your target. This ATN 5x15 day/night scope,,looked like 12 noon without the external ir light. I also have some (advertised @1968') binoculars coming in today will report on that as I figure it all out.
 
I'm not getting political but the whole world is in kind of a mess right now not just Texas, most of the United States is. Alright back to coyotes. Over the years I have noticed a few generalities about coyotes as have so many other people. The population of coyotes tends to correlate to the amount of food available to them, a lot of people will say the more coyotes you kill the larger the litters will be, what I have noticed is that the more coyotes you kill the more food left for the survivors, so the better their health is and thusly they have larger litters. I have seen when coyote numbers were lower, and the prey base was also lower that they also had smaller litters. I have noticed that when the prey base was lower that mostly the older females had litters, they were better able to feed themselves due to being more experienced in my observations. Last summer and fall the vast majority of coyotes that I took were males it averaged 4.5 to one male to female ratio. It might just be me but that tells me that any female cycling will have ample suiters, and few will not have pups as long as there is food to keep them in good shape. A guy told me he called in five coyotes and didn't get them to come in they just sat out there and barked at him now and then. I said due to the time of year I figured it was four males and a female in heat. He laughed at me and said you don't fn know that. He got one the next day his brother-in-law got two out of the group all were males. I wonder why I kept good notes all those years? At one time I was supposed to turn in a monthly report, The area supervisor called me and the new guy in one month and handed my monthly report to the new guy and asked him to read it. When he finished reading it, he was asked what he thought. Somebody knows how to kiss a78 was his reply. The supervisor said no that's a monthly report you need to take lessons from that guy and start sending in that type of report. I didn't trust my memory so kept notes daily for myself. In the end after I had been working with the biologist and sending in my reports, he asked me if he could read my journals, as I was going to retire soon, I just gave them to him. He told me that he would put them in the archives with the rest of the journals when he was done some of them from the 1920's. Another thing from my past that I learned in the military.
 

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