Last night, Son # 4 flew up the driveway in his pickup. I went to the door and he passed off wigglie #7 “Can you watch him a minute?” as he was heading back to his truck “I have to kill a coyote, wife is in the shower.”
“Go ahead, whatever” I called back to the dust left in the driveway. Wigglie and I headed for the toys.
Twenty minutes later he returned with the story.
One of our part time employees, let’s call him Matt, was in the field beside our house mowing hay. He called Son #4 and said “there’s a doe out here acting really strange. She’s standing in the field and doesn’t want to move”. They talked about it a minute or so.
A second call came in “A coyote is out here too and he’s all curled up and he’s not going anywhere either”. That’s all it took for Son #4 to jump into action. He grabbed his pistol and the wigglie and headed up the road.
After the wigglie drop off he drove out to where the mower was and jumped on with Matt. He rode on the platform on the outside of the machine.
When they crested the hill, sure enough there was the doe. She would walk away a few feet and come back. She was real nervous but wasn’t running away like she should.
When they got close to her he saw that the coyote was up and started to move away. So he took a shot at him, which he missed and then the coyote started to run away. He fired off a few more shots, missing again.
They walked over to where the doe was standing. She kept coming back to the same place but when they got too close she walked away.
They found her newborn fawn, torn apart by the coyote. A little buck.
The poor mama was grieving for her dead son.
The coyote was trying to finish what he had started.
It was so sad.
It just reinforces my opinion that “the only good coyote is a dead coyote”.
I asked Son# 4 why he didn’t take a different gun. He said the only gun he had in the house was his pistol and the others are here and there was no time to get them. I think Farmer will get his .220 swift out and at the ready.
Coyote season in Michigan is July 15 – April 15. There is a note though - Coyote may be taken on private property by a property owner or designee all year if they are doing or about to do damage on private property. A license or written permit is not needed.
The coyotes are getting braver all the time. We see them close to the barns, hear them all around us. There are chickens running around, cats all over the place and the new calves are in an open area barn. So, the coyote can have a smorgasbord at the farm.
I had one that was getting a little too friendly on my morning walk. I was not in any immediate danger, but I was slightly uncomfortable.
A few years ago a neighbor told us they killed over 100 coyote in a 5 – 10 mile radius.
I say “atta boys, go get ‘em.”
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| This was the revenge of the chickens. Farmer and Son #2 shot this coyote behind the barn the day after Christmas a few years ago. |
