This time of year a rifle goes with me when I bow hunt because you never know what may show up. This morning I had a really big 8-point and a nice ten chasing does and stopping to eat corn every few minutes. the big 8 even bred one of the resident chow-hound does inside of 20 yards from me. It was a cool thing to witness, but it did feel a little like an invasion of privacy. I kept resisting the urge to shoot the buck - with a 21" inside spread and heavy antlers he was tempting. The turkeys came in and began to gobble up all the corn, and one of the young toms decided to show his strutting skills. The older toms didn't like that, and a loud bunch of angry purrs erupted as nearly 20 males chased each other around the fenced-in feeder. There was quite a few jumps and spur kicks landed on the young guy, sending feathers flying. It was quite the kerfuffle. Just after the deer left the pen and the turkeys were beginning to drift off, I spotted a coyote peering from the brush on one of the senderos. It crossed quickly, so I picked up my new rifle. He crossed the second sendero before I was ready, but when he hit the third one at 110 yards I was all set. The 6.5 PRC barked and the dog dropped mid-lope. The bullet had entered low just behind the front elbow and exited just ahead of the far leg. He was broken-hearted (literally). The deer and turkeys all just froze and looked around. The turkeys were like "should we go back and eat the rest of the corn?" and here they came to finish what they had just left. The deer went back to chasing and things got quiet for a minute. Then a buzzard dropped from the sky and landed above my coyote. Then a pair of Caracaras landed nearby. They were followed by three crows and a few more buzzards. Since the deer had left I decided to go lay claim to my prize before they pecked a bunch of holes in it. I was surprised at the weight of the dog. It was stocky and muscular, with a blocky head and scars all across the top of his nose. This was an alpha. The hide would be good for tanning, and I was excited to get a photo and then skin him out. The only downside is that coyotes have plenty of fleas ...and they share.
ON the drive home I could feel a few passengers crawling around the edge of my cap, but as soon as I got the hide submerged in water and Dawn soap, I got myself in the shower and shampooed every inch of the professor to make sure no passengers would survive to hitch a ride to the office. Now the hide is clean and waiting for salt after work, and I have a few projects to knock out before 5:00pm.
