We here in the United States tend to isolate ourselves and like my brother seem to think that life only happens to ourselves instead of to everyone else in the world . Life happens to each and every one of us and often it's not very pretty when it does and that is when we tend to be the most kind to the others around us then we tend to go right back to isolating ourselves and ignoring the fact that others may be having things in their lives that aren't very good such as with Neals friend with Parkinson's . At times I have tried to visit with others and they get uncomfortable or mad then make rude remarks but that's ok because that is the way that they deal with things in their own lives .
Ramblings and Such From Hunting Coyote
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Memorial Day weekend is when I typically took my most coyote and dens . The adult coyote and pups are getting their voices tuned up and doing the sunrise serenade's so just listening would tell me where they were living . With in a couple of weeks the pups will be moving out of the dens and camping in the sage brush here moving around with the adults and living closer to the food base . If you are having problems with livestock losses it's an easy time to find the problem coyotes as normally it's because they are feeding pups . Taking the adults now without taking the pups for me means problems down the road as the pups won't die on their own at this time but often they will be adopted and raised by other adults that then will start killing livestock to feed them . Yea I know I've been told I'm a heartless b34/';d for killing pups but I learned that if I didn't it caused me more problems in the end and a lot of hard work . If the pups aren't adopted they learn to be cautious and are harder to take by fur season as well as being smaller due to lack of food by scrounging for them selves . I've often heard people tell me they had a well educated coyote that was snare smart , trap wise and had learned to not come to calls only to find when I killed it that it was a small pup of the year that was extremely cautious and had brothers and sisters that were the same way from living on their own after the adults had been taken . I lived and learned from my mistakes and the mistakes of others . I think it's an experience that I wouldn't trade for any amount of money . I've scratched my head sat and thought about what I was doing wrong , or right , and worked hard to learn from these problem coyote , that were so often created by a person trying to do what they could to help themselves raise their livestock only to end up calling someone to help them in the end . All the while having the best of intentions just not quite the knowledge that they needed at the time but were willing to learn of it from others for the most part . There are some out there that aren't that way but that's just life they will always struggle wondering how come they can't get it done and laughing at others for being the way they are . I just smile and leave them alone till they bother me and often they just don't seem to realize that I have laughed with them shook my head and let them struggle their own way instead of helping them solve their problem because they wouldn't listen and learn any way . My brother is one of those people I still love him but don't bother trying to help him as it would just be a waist of my time , energy and breath . We all know these people they are a part of our lives always have been and always will be unless we become hermits . Well I've got a fence to paint so will get off of my soap box you all have a safe , happy and healthy holiday weekend . It became a federal holiday in 1971 if memory serves me well . Dave
Today it's wet chilly and windy here . We are all of 44 degrees with wind gusts up to 55 mph driving the cold rain side ways . I kind of think that most critters are hanging out some place in out of the wind and rain some nice draw facing east as the wind is coming from the west up under a cut bank or with some junipers or pines growing . We need the moisture but not as badly as some other places so I'm glad to be getting it . At 4500 feet altitude we seldom get warm rain but at least it's rain and not snow like they are getting to our west at the higher altitudes . It will be a couple of days till the gumbo dries up enough to get out and hunt some coyote so a well needed break for the control guys . Some of the ranchers are asking the guys to avoid some pastures now as they are lambing and don't want the sheep bothered now . But at this time a lot of snares are out and you run the border fences hard keeping the coyote out of the sheep and new lambs as well as calling the pine ridges and badlands draws and such where there aren't lambs and sheep or new calves most of the calves were born by the end of March here . I'm glad I got my fence done before the weather turned wet and windy so I can set and enjoy watching the rain and wind from inside . Now I just need to protect my small garden from freezing we normally have 45 frost free days where I live I don't think we will have that this year .
Several years ago there was a trend of using thinner snare cables . The snare salesmen were talking about how if you used a 1/16 inch cable and their micro locks the coyote didn't notice them as much as they did the heaver cables . And so as would be expected by people that had been snaring coyote for a while we had a bunch of coyote running around wearing parts of snares . I caught , called and shot a few with others snares on their legs , around their necks and mid sections . As we know a coyote seldom stops fighting for it's freedom ( maybe that's why I identify with them so well I want freedom as much as they do ) they will pull on a snare or trap as hard as they can , they will roll , like an alligator I've seen on tv trying to break free , they will jump and pull fighting as best they can to get loose from what ever it is that is holding them . So when we look at their teeth we see they are designed to shear things and a thin cable isn't much of a problem for them to chew through . I've seen where they were caught by the neck or even the mid section just back up pull hard on the snare and start chewing on the cable till they chewed it in half then run off with a new piece of jewelry . So after studying and playing with as well as talking with several others I settled on foot hold traps with 18" of good kink less chain , not the dog chain that some sellers put on their traps , with a swivel at the trap frame in the middle of the chain and at the end of the chain . I also put three links of a larger chain so I could double steak my trap when needed and I did it most of the time just as insurance because I caught too may coyote wearing others traps . No trap comes ready to use they need turned and prepared for use . With snares I've written a lot on them here already and what length I like , the reason why I like it for use here the thickness of cable I preferer and why I preferer it coyote just don't often lay down and stop fighting for their freedom . I had a guy call me one day , he had permission to hunt antelope on one of the ranches that I worked on , he started out accusing me of not checking my snares as often as I should I asked him where this coyote was . He told me and I had been there the day before he said there is no way because it was swelled up and was stinking he said . So I asked him what was the high temperature today , 100 he said , then I asked him do you understand that the coyote fought the snare and died from over heating in that kind of temperatures so then it started to decompose right at the time it had died and that it was probably only alive in the snare for a few minutes before it died . He called b33 s560 so I went over and picked him up took him out and showed him what I was trying to tell him . After I showed him what I had been saying then explained it again at the site he could then understand what I had been telling him . Some of the soil was still moist that it had dug up on the bottom side of it . It had jumped the fence then went under the fence and went over the top of it again and was hanging on the back side of the fence like it should have been . Summer time is not the time most people go out after coyote but when you are there for control work you do it 24-7-365 or 366 days a year if it's a leap year . We have a 72 hour check law here mainly because of the distances we have to cover on some of the ranches . When you are talking 60,000 and larger you are talking several miles of fence and numbers of pastures that need checked every trip out I normally put 30,000 and more a year on my truck just hunting , calling and snaring or trapping coyote so then checking all my equipment on a three day check kept me busy . Mike finally saw what I had been saying an over heated coyote begins to smell bad in just a few minutes on a 100 degree day heck they don't smell that good at anytime of the year .
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This Memorial Day I took the time to reflect on our military personnel past and present . I sat and watched it raining sipped on my coffee and just thought about those that have served and those that have given their lives for those of us here so that we can live the lives that we do . I don't know how life in the military is today just how it was when I was in . Not one of our fallen was ever left alone by themselves after they were recovered . We spent 4 hour watches on Honer Guard in the branch I served in some one was with them 24 hours a day . Dress blues with spats an M14 full dress in honor of what they had given for those of us that remained behind . Times and peoples attitudes have changed since I was in but we still have those that are willing ready and able to serve I will show them the respect that they deserve . I will honor my country and show respect to it's symbol the flag of the United States of America I will salute it covered or uncovered ( with or with out my hat on for those that haven't been taught what covered means ) . Please show respect for our country and others if you feel the need to protest something please don't do it by showing disrespect for my country or it's symbol tell us what it is that you wish to try and change but be respectful of our country and what it stands for . We live where you can say things that are bothering you and still be respectful while doing so . I will not thump on my Bible but I will tell you what I believe in and my country with all it's faults is one of them and the Old Testament is another . Now back to coyote hunting .
Bucklowery
Well-Known Member
nealm66
Well-Known Member
I meet a lot of soldiers in my current job. Young and older. Always a good experience. I met a sniper, I also met the guy that does the current sniper training. They seemed very humble from my experience. Definitely not bragging type, more the opposite. The sniper was a red headed young man that I would suspect would get carded if he went to buy some beer. From my understanding, the current sniper training involves a huge amount of fitness and endurance. It's always interesting to hear where the best place in the world they've been. I've been around a number of guys that have been through some bad wars like Vietnam and Korea etc and I think it messes them up a bit. My dad was in the Korean War and he drank a lot and got isn't a lot of fights at bars
Bucklowery
Well-Known Member
Yes and the others that did make it back lost some things and brought back some things they did not take with them. My dad was there for about 8 month I believe in country. He only missing a pinky finger but enough shrapnel he is a little heavier now. With memories that don't go away even if you want them too.
Thanks
Buck
Thanks
Buck
Afghanistan and Iraq were this generations Vietnam . Vietnam was my generations Korea . Most of the people that I served with were as you say quiet professionals . Time lets you build some scars but does not heal all wounds you get better but you don't unsee or undo somethings are there till you yourself pass on . Our country and people are better at listening and understanding today then in my day for the most part . Some people need a lot of help to get through what they saw did and went through I feel for the people in Ukraine life is hell for them from now forward . I still to this day will give a coin to those that I feel can use a kindness . I carried one from August 1975 till a couple of years ago I gave it to a young man that got torn up by an IED but was still working for a living as a mill wright traveling on a turbine overhaul crew . He cried shook my hand went to his tool box and gave me a delta force coin . For those of you that don't know you place the coin in your right hand and give it to them when you shake their hand . I was given mine in Hong Kong in the dive locker of the Sammual Gompers by Two guys that I served with they were UDT it was silver and when I passed it on you could just tell that it was a coin worn smooth . Buck shake your Dads hand for me and say thank You .
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A couple of days ago I was visiting with a friend of mine that I put an AR15 side charging in 223 Wylde together for . He dressed it up with a thermal scope and a suppressor . He's been using it as he was checking yearlings at calving time to snip coyote . He learned pretty fast that depth perception was a problem with night vision equipment so then he added a set of thermal binoculars with ranging capabilities for that . I put a 20 " barrel with a one in nine twist for what he wanted to shoot . A 15" hand guard . Adjustable gas block took a few of his rounds and test drove it cleaned it as I broke it in for him and got the gas block adjusted . That changed with the suppressor but he's gotten that taken care of again . It turns out that he likes the side charging as much as I do . He said that he likes the adjustable butt stock I put on it as well but normally leaves it set were he found was the distance for his length of pull . I set it up with a cheek riser for him as well and being a side charger that isn't in the way . I also put an accuwedge in it to help with making the two receivers more stable together . He likes the way it turned out for him and does pretty good at saving his brass and loads for it . As he learned night vision has a problem with telling what the distances are I'm pretty sure that's a problem for every one though .
When people are just starting out doing control work the hardest thing for them to figure out is to not bother the pups at the den till they have taken the adults . Myself included in this . I intentionally set out to find the dens with pups in it . But then I didn't know not to bother it till I called and took the adults . It took me a while to figure out that by tracking I could get close to the den know where it was but not exactly have it pin pointed then use that to my advantage to call in the adults . The reason I was looking for the den was because the adults were killing lambs . They were killing lambs to feed the pups but I saw more then once that if I killed the pups and not the adults that the adults would act like they were exacting revenge and kill a lot of lambs in the first night or two after the pups were taken . So then it became clear to me that I needed to take both the adults and the pups in pretty much the same day . I learned that the old dog would be out at night when the pups were young and that the female would be home with the pups during the night for the first couple of weeks . They would talk to each other in the morning when getting back together . She would go out to feed and drink and be back in the after noon . So then if I got there around 6 or 7 in the morning or later in the day I had a better chance of them both being home . I could then set up within a quarter mile or less but not right on top of the den and use my coyote talk to call in the adults then go take the pups . When I got too close to the den the adults would often sneak out and then bark and short howl at me trying to lead me away from the den . When I got a call that some one had killed the adults but didn't know where the den was then that was a lot of work finding the den unless the pups were old enough to talk . If the pups would talk they would tell me where they were by just listening for them near day break or around 8 in the morning getting them to talk . There were a few different ways I accomplished this . Howls that weren't aggressive , a siren and even using puppy squeaks and squeals loudly . When they would answer to some of those sounds I then knew where to find them . Coyotes being a social animal and raising pups being in their nature I found that often when the plane or chopper would kill the adults but leave the pups other coyote would adopt them . I found that if one adult got killed the remaining adult would find another adult to help them with the pups especially if it was the female that had been killed . I found that when the pups were older if you killed one of the adults that the other one would move the pups often a long ways away from the kill site if you didn't take the dead one away from there . Coyote have a complex social life at first glance it may seem they are kind of loners but in reality they communicate with the others in their area will help when needed to raise the pups even of other coyotes . If you take the time and study them you can start to see a loose knit type of tribal existence being lead by them . When one group of coyotes howls does it start a chain reaction that carries from coast to coast now as the sun raises or sets ?
DMP25-06
Well-Known Member
That is an EXCELLENT question .
I know that when our local group begins to howl , if it is somewhat quiet here in my location on the outskirts of Fort Worth , Texas , I will usually hear distant howling , some 4 - 5 miles to the west of my home a few minutes later .
nealm66
Well-Known Member
Curious around here they don't seem to be packed up like they used to be. I remember in the 70's and 80's they were thick as flies. Seems to be plenty of natural game for them. Probably more now then there was then with the extra houses popping up knocking out what used to be hunting ground for some. Elk seem to have migrated in as well. Pita for some. Game department gave the neighbor some rubber bullets of some kind to shoot at them. They pop out of the timber onto the highway and do some spectacular damage to some non local vehicles that don't know better
