By motomynd
In Native American legend, and in real life, the coyote is known as a creature of crafty intelligence and humor. I’ve been around them enough in various parts of the country to give them great credit for above average intelligence and awareness, but I’ve dismissed much of their vaunted standing as hype.
Now I’m not so sure. Case in point: I have no photos to contribute with this post, and I should.
Some background. In my quest to downsize from the professional camera gear I’ve lugged around my 30-year career, I settled on a 20-ounce wonder—the Panasonic Lumix FZ200—as my one do-it-all camera to keep with me at all times. No, it doesn’t actually do it all, but it has a built-in lens that covers from 25mm ultra wide angle to 600mm telephoto, and it captures true HD video, so it comes close.
My wife and I bought this camera before a trip to California earlier this year, learned to use it on the flight from Raleigh to Los Angeles, and we have carried it with us just about all the time since. We keep it in the car, because you never know what you might see. It is so light I even carry it the three or four evenings a week we walk the country road that runs past our house in rural North Carolina.
In the seven months we have owned this camera I have photographed more than 70 species or birds with it. Want a video of a gobbler doing its mating dance and wooing a female turkey? I have that, taken at the farm next door, this past May. How about photos and video of a barred owl not only out in daylight, but doing its night-time call? I have that too.
Between our resident deer in North Carolina and at our Virginia house I have hundreds of still images, and hours of video, of some 17 different fawns, does, and bucks.
What I do not have is a photo, or video, of a coyote—even though they are plentiful around here. Why don’t I have images to prove it?
This is where the legend of coyote as trickster comes into play.
I have carried the camera on something like 80 trips into town and 100 walks: I have not seen a coyote on any of those outings. I can think of two trips into town when I did not take the camera: I saw coyotes both times. I can think of two walks with my wife when I did not take the camera: We saw coyotes both times. Make of it what you wish, but I’m beginning to wonder if the Native Americans were onto something when they attributed supernatural traits to the coyote.
Have you ever had one of those moments you know will stay with you until you die? One day I was driving into town and took a detour onto a seldom traveled back road. In the field on the left side of the road the hay was freshly cut and put up in large rolls. On one of those rolls, barely 50 yards from the car, sat a coyote! I eased to a stop, reached for the camera which almost always rests in the passenger’s seat, and felt nothing. The camera was back home, on the table by the door, where I always put it—so I won’t forget to take it when I leave the house.
As I watched, the coyote rolled around on top of the hay, stood up and stretched, arched its back, then sat down to watch me watch it. I’m fairly certain it was laughing. Yeah, I will never forget that one, long as I live.
Last night was nearly as bad. My wife and I walked late, between thunder storms, so it was nearly dark when we left the house. No sense taking the camera, because there was little light and it might be ruined in the rain.
A mile from the house we passed our favorite farm on our walking route. There we’ve seen Canada geese, countless deer, several species of hawks, more wild finches, warblers and flycatchers than we can recall, dozens of wild turkeys, and even the only kingfisher we have seen in this area, sitting on a power line eyeing fish in the farm pond.
Last night, in the gathering dusk, we saw only one animal, Yes, a coyote.
Did it run off in a blur? Of course not. It calmly walked away from us, strode up a small ridge, and set in the last ray of evening sun under a lone tree.
It would have been the perfect photo. For the rest of my life, I will remember not taking it.
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Copyright © 2013 by motomynd
| Please comment |
Never gave much thought to it until now. But I have not seen a coyote in the wild. The farm we had in Mississippi, I would find coyote dropping all the time. Never heard them there. They crossed my land without a sound. I had two Mexican Burros, don't know if you know this but ranchers keep burros in order to kill coyotes and wolves that come after their cattle. I also hear them close to the chicken farm down the mountain from us here in CR. Like I said, never seen one live. Good story, good coffee. Thanks Paul.
ReplyDeleteThank you Kono. You raise an interesting point about coyotes as livestock predators. In the Northeast in particular, and in the East in general, our coyotes run larger than those in the West, reportedly due to interbreeding with dogs while migrating across Canada and the Plains. Yet we don't seem to have much trouble with them killing calves, much less taking on adult cows.
DeleteThey are, however, literally death on sheep. When they first crossed the mountains from West Virginia into adjacent counties in Virginia, they allegedly cut sheep production by upwards of 75 percent in just a couple of years. Sheep farmers started running mules and llamas with their flocks, and finally, dogs specially bred for the job, and after a few decades the situation is at least somewhat under control.
Sure enjoyed the post ! Sorry you missed the coyote ! Much luck next time !
ReplyDeleteUsed to see them in the fields , around my house in California. When housing started filing the fields, they moved further out.
ReplyDeleteWould still see them in fields, driving the 99 to Fresno, but few and far between. Teenagers like to take a pickup, at night, and shoot them for sport. Piutes revere the coyote for its stealth and cunning. Sorry, no pictures.
Sharon, you seem to be reporting on when you used to live in California, but you say teenagers LIKE (present tense) to shoot coyotes for sport. Do you think they still do? I wonder whether Paul can comment on that as for teenagers in Virginia and North Carolina...?
DeleteSharon and Morris, predator calling at night has long been a favorite with many hunters. When I used to hunt, I did some myself. There weren't any coyotes around back then, mostly we called in foxes, raccoons, and bobcats. One night my hunting partner and I were using what is known as a "dying rabbit" call (it sounds sort of like a baby crying) and we called in a black bear. We never knew it was there until it charged in between us looking for the rabbit. The bear looked like it weighed somewhere between 250 and 300 pounds, and we were less than 10 feet from it and armed only with .22 handguns - which are best only for small game - so it was an exciting few moments. After looking around, the bear smacked the speaker of the electronic caller, which was broadcasting the rabbit call, and walked away. After that we always carried a .44 magnum handgun as well, just in case.
DeleteIf the people you are talking about are joy riding and shooting coyotes, they would be what we call "jack lighters" locally. We have a lot of other terms for them as well, but the only one suitable for this blog is vermin. That pastime is unfortunately not limited to teens. Where I live in rural North Carolina they mostly drive around drinking beer and shooting deer at night - which is illegal, even in North Carolina, amazingly, and very dangerous. If you are asleep in a wood-sided house, less than 50 yards from the road, and hear a high-power rifle go off in the wee hours of the morning, it is startling - because a bullet from such a gun can easily shoot through a wall and kill someone on the other side.
This used to be a problem only during hunting season: the jack lighter would blind a big buck with a light, shoot it, then turn it in the next day as if it was a legal kill. Now it has spread to all seasons of the year, to the point they even shoot fawns, and just leave them dead by the road. Like I said: vermin.
I lived in Northern Cali. Lake County for 6 years and never saw any there either. The county was settled by sheep farmers and there is still a lot of sheep back in the hills so the sheep farmers may have killed them off.
ReplyDeleteThen again, I lived in Washington State for 14 years and never caught a salmon and everybody catches salmon up there.
Coyotes are prevalent in the Tahoe area. I spot one every week or so (Picture sent to Moristotle). Not well liked because they feed on pet house cats....
ReplyDeleteJim's photo can be viewed here. Nice!
DeleteGreat picture. My sister lives in South Tahoe, and has a desperate time defending her poodle.
DeleteJim, nice photo. Apparently you have to be ready with a camera whenever they show up. Your luck on such is obviously much better than mine.
DeleteOther than Jim, all of you are confirming the coyote legend: always there, seldom seen, never photographed. Bigfoot, without quite so much myth, or so many weirdoes. Jim, yes, let's see that photo!
ReplyDeleteA vote to the contrary. Wile E. spent a summer sleeping under one of my Ponderosas two years ago. His sister raised three pups on the banks of Skunk Creek, one kilo from my house. The Front Range is crawling with coyotes. Bring your camera! You'll want a good telephoto, as they usually stay about 50 meters away. Alas, I seldom carry a camera except on camping trips, so I don't have any pictures either. Oddly, I often don't see them in the back country. They seem to thrive more in the 'burbs, on a diet of Fluffies and Boo Boos.
ReplyDeleteChuck, yes, where coyotes don't fear for their lives they can become quite comfortable and bold around people. And house pets apparently make good meals: Didn't one kill Ozzie Osbourne's dog? Attacks on people are rare, but they did kill a woman in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteIn North Carolina we live in a mix of farm country and small housing developments. Frankly, we can't even make a good guess at what the coyotes eat there. We hear the usual warnings about them preying on cattle, white-tail deer (especially fawns) wild and domestic turkeys, free-range chickens, feral cats, free-running dogs, and so on, yet we have seen none of that. We have lived in the same location for three years, and our "backyard deer" Little Doe is still with us, as are her fawns from this year, and her offspring from last year and the year before. The same two feral cats have also been around those three years, and the neighbors smallish dogs. As are the two opossums that live under the storage shed and the raccoons that make the rounds every night.
A half mile from us a family has a good start on stocking the next ark, yet none of their peacocks, turkeys, ducks, geese, guinea fowl, or chickens have been killed. And our resident rancher says he has never lost a calf. And yet we hear packs of coyotes calling every night at sunset. Sometimes I wonder if maybe we have the only vegetarian coyotes in the world. On the other hand, there are plenty of mice and rabbits around, and I can't remember the last time I saw a skunk or a groundhog, and they were always favorite targets for Upstate NY coyotes.