Coyote hunting

As I was growing up in and around Ekalaka, coyotes were public enemy number one. Everyone killed them on sight. It was generally believed (and I believe it) that they were a terrible predator of lambs and even calves sometimes. They were shot on sight but they were so skinny and fast that it was hard to get a good shot at them. There was a bounty on them, as I remember it was $15 for an adult and either $5 or $10 for a pup. There was also a bounty on Magpies but I shot at many of them and all I could get them to do was jump sometimes. One thing that people did was dig out a den of coyotes. My dad was considered to be really good at this and often was asked to help.

On my sixth birthday, Dad took me along with him, as a treat, as he helped dig out a den. We went to a man’s house about six miles due west of Ekalaka. I wish I could remember his name. He was a real nice man.

They left me just across the hill from the den. After being there just a short time a shot rang out and I saw a young adult coyote run by me. They had shot and missed him. After what seemed like forever, they came back with a dead mama and a number of dead babies. I don’t remember how many. I was disappointed that I couldn’t go all the way but it was a lot of fun just the same.

After the war, a lot of ranchers got airplanes. My first ride in an airplane was with Richard Yates in his Piper Cub (if I remember correctly). Anyway, they started using airplanes to shoot coyotes from the air with shotguns. Those poor coyotes didn’t have a chance. In my time there, two ranchers got killed in a plane crash hunting coyotes. I think it was Clyde Sandon and Bud Hanson. That was a terrible thing at the time. The coyotes got very scarce at one time. Of course they did use poison on them in the early days sometimes, but coyotes were wily and hard to poison.

Coyotes as a whole are very resilient creatures. There are scads of them in urban areas and then in the suburbs, especially around hills and rivers. They feast on small pets and on trash. I don’t really know much about it but I have heard that there are half-coyote, half-wolf creatures in some areas that pose a particular problem.

When I lived in Bishop, California in the 70s, lots of people hunted coyotes for the hides. They were worth a lot of money then. I found a newly run over coyote on the road one day and took it in to skin it and sell the hide. I put it in my cooler overnight and it stunk so bad that I didn’t want to skin it. I threw it away.

The government did, at times, have a hunter that did nothing but hunt predators. I don’t know what agency hired them but I do remember them.

One of my biggest problems was what to call a coyote. I grew up calling it Coy-ote, two syllables (how do you spell that?). My wife and kids call it Coy-ot-e, three syllables. I hated to hear that at first but finally had to accept it as I am now a Californian. I still call it Coy-ote, two syllables. Now, I do make an exception, the famous Wile E. Coyote, is definitely Wile E. Coy-ot-e, three syllables.

That’s all I can think of about Coy-ote or Coy-ot-e hunting right now so I will say goodbye.