Saw an interesting thing today. About 2:30 in the afternoon as I was driving on a very well traveled 2 lane in the city limits, a coyote crossed in front of my truck. He crossed from an thicket next to an overgrown field marked for development and was headed straight for a new subdivision that is still under construction, although there are a lot of occupied homes, maybe 40, and of course carpenters, utility personell, etc. all around. So, me being me, I had to turn in and see just where the heck the coyote was going. I spotted him walking through someones yard and he seemed to be pretty comfortable negotiating the neighborhood with no real concern about cars passing by, etc. As he moved into a area that was un-mowed with 12" grass and weeds, I spun the truck around to get in front of him. He had no problem with me being there and in fact seemed completely relaxed as he got closer to about 45 yards. At that time he found a rodent and started doing that pouncing thing they do until he flipped a rat into the air a couple times and down the hatch it went, then he continued on with his hunt. By now I'd been watching him for about 10 minutes, and took off to finish my errand. On the way back, about 30 minutes later, I turned into the subdivision on the off chance of spotting him again. At first he went unnoticed, but on my way back out to the two lane, I spotted him cruising the edge of some high weeds right next to the main road leading into the developement. Now I'm only 25 yards away, stopped the truck to watch him and he never even looked in my direction, but just kept right on hunting for rodents. Crazy huh?

Interestingly enough, the other passers by were either oblivious to his presence, or were simply as uninterested in him, as he was with them. Maybe it's a daily event that they're all used to?

^^^

I bet the other drivers think it's some kind of domestic dog.


Probably no shooting allowed, but what about a bow?

Of course you know that if it hasn't happened yet, it will. Some of them occupied houses are gonna start losing some pets. You might get to play the role of "Quint" in the movie Jaws. Now what happened to old Quint in that movie

Actually, while the subdivision is in the city limits, the acreage adjacent to it is not. I have permission to hunt that ground and have killed quite a few coyotes there. Fewer and fewer each year as urban development keeps encroaching on my hunting grounds. I called it yesterday afternoon with no customers. I guess he was either full by then or had moved out of ear shot? who knows?

I'd heard through the grape vine that folks living in and around there had been complaining about the coyotes. I can only guess as to whether pets have gone missing due to predation....but I wouldn't be surprised. I didn't realize until yesterday just how bold these urban coyotes have become in our area. Legal or not, if I lived there and saw one cruising, I'd pop him with a .22 out the window.

Here's one I killed over there a couple years ago where the new homes now stand. Just look how brazen he is! He's not even wearing a helmet!!!!

Yea Red, he looks (looked) like a trouble maker. We live out in the county and coyotes have been a problem. I'm sure we lost a couple of cats to them. I would pop them out in our woods with my .22 mag The grey fox moved back in so I think the coyotes are under control in my neck of the woods right now. The fox are beautiful and pose no threat to our cats and I not only leave them alone, but enjoy watching them. I was in the backyard one time and a big red tail came swooping through the woods and latched onto one of my cats. It picked Bobo...the wrong cat to latch onto. It was an unbelivable fight. It all happened so quick, I wasn't able to help old Bobo out. Feathers were flying and that hawk turned and ran for a take off...But Bobo pounced on him again. More feathers and fur flew. The hawk finally broke free and flew away. Bobo had a plug of flesh missing from his shoulder where the hawk first hit him. I suppose he sunk the talons in and with Bobo's twisting, pulled the meat away. The wound was almost perfectly round and the size of a silver dollar. We also have had a Great Horned owl living in the area and hunting our woods. Even Bobo would not have a chance with one of them. Them neighbors are lucky to have you thinning out the herd Good shootin'

Mike, I was driving on Smelting works road about a week ago just leaving class, so mid-day around 1:00, and one just ran across the street and slowed down to a walk after unning in front of me! I don't know about the huntability of that area, but thats pretty urban rigt there too. There are a couple fields around, but near 159 and Frank Scott Pkwy is about the last place I'd think to see a coyote . It was pretty well fed too, with a very nice looking coat on it. I first thought it was a loose pet, but the closer it came, the more obvious what is was!

Our little nearby town has them as well Jerry. My vet told me last month that attacks on animals brought into the clinic is on a steady rise. She personally feels that many of the small pets that turn up missing are the results of coyote. I heard it through the grapevine that two shooters are being paid under the table to hunt the local golf courses late at night....what a sweet gig

REALLY! hell I'd be happy to get that gig with no pay!


This one yesterday looked a little thin and mangy Jerry.

Oh yea...me too Red. The community is built around a couple golf courses carved into the woods and the area itself is sort of out of the way. The members association is chipping in to pay a bounty for each one killed. No yotes, no cash...sounds fair to me. He would not tell me what the bounty was, but these folks have some pretty thick wallets They have been losing pets and paying vets to fix up other pets that were attacked, but not munched down. Apparently a couple witnessed their cat being attacked and carried right off their own patio while having breakfast and that's what got the ball rolling.

Red
That is what I refer to as a, civilized coyote. Let us know when you take it out.

soon, very soon

When I was a cop up in Washington State we had a couple of coyotes that came into town and was seen running down the ally with poor old fluffy in his mouth and that was the last straw. The Chief of police came to me and said Rupe your a hunter you got a .22 lr. ? Yes Chief I do. He said kill them coyotes. So every morning for about a month I got to go hunting for about 2 hours while on duty every morning. So how cool is that? I had to watch out for houses and the citizens so I had way for the right shot. I finially bagged one of them The other one decided to leave town because we never saw him again. Getting paid to hunt in town. Just doesnt' get any better then that!!!

Yea, your right rupedog...that was another very sweet gig Hope the chief gave you a bonus for bagging the fluffy muncher

Those urban coyotes can be tough to see sometimes. They can really blend in and sneak right under your nose.
Click to view attachment

A yote in sheeps clothing.

Maybe he is just a harmless cross dresser, in that case we should--------still kill it!

I hope you have good hunting.

Has any one heard of the cities with high numbers of White Tail Deer, who have used so called Professional
Snipers to reduce the herd?

One city north of us spent nearly $100,000. on the project. They picked a city park that had a hill for a back stop, then fed the deer in the area for some time. Later they built blinds for four shooters. Using 223's that were equipted with night scopes and sound suppressers. They killed a bunch of deer. The city had it set up so that each deer was tested for sickness. The meat was processed then made available to soup kitchens and home-less shelters.

As has already been said " Now that is a gig I could get into."

Shooter John, I love the collie in the back of the picture! Do you think he can sniff out the oddball?

Several years ago, here in Northern Illinois. Rock Cut State Park was being devoured by whitetails. When the DNR brought it to the publics attention, that the deer had to be eliminated, there was a fight between the county board and the DNR. When the DNR had enough they notified the county that the park would be close and they were going to shoot the deer. They then, through the sheriff's Dept. asked for volunteer riflemen. I thought that would be cool so I applied. After an oral interview and a proficiency test, I was one of twelve chosen from a long list of applicants. I shot deer every night, using bait stations, lights and a 22-250. The novelty soon wore off as it turned into a slaugther. I started to feel bad about what we were doing, but knew it had to be done. The deer did not go to waste, this was before CWD hit Illinois. All of the deer were turned into berger and 6000 pounds of meat was donated to the local food pantrys. A few months later another park was under the gun. I received a phone call asking me to shoot again,but I declined. Today the DNR shoots deer in several Northern Illinois counties in an attempt to stop CWD. These deer go to the dump. Most sportsmen including me, are against this practice.

I don't no what CWD is , but to throw deer meat into the dump is just awful. Why are they doing that instead of giving it to food banks? Am I missing something here? Man that is wrong wasting game meat even if it was just culling, which I don't have a problem with as long as the meat is used. Even as dog food if nothing else.

CWD is Chronic Wasting Disease; it's similar to mad cow disease.

Here's some info: http://www.cwd-info.org/index.php/fuseaction/about.main [cwd-info.org]

It is a debated subject if CWD can be spread to humans. Some say yes some say no. What is known, is that the prions that are found in the brains of infected animals can not be killed by heat. Creutzfelt Jakob Disease, which is a disease that humans get, is very similar to Mad Cow Disease and CWD also has prions in the brain. it is a rare disease, but cases are on the rise. In the countys that have CWD, during hunting season all deer are tested by the DNR. It is then up to the hunter to look on the DNR's web site to find out if your deer is infected. It takes about two months to get the results.

I drove through one small park a couple years ago and stopped counting deer along side the road after I reached 100 in about a 1.5 mile stretch, in March during daylight hours. They were mostly payed no attention to me or my vehicle...IMO there were too many.

When the numbers get to the point that they need to be culled, I would consider them vermin, not game animals. I'd have no problem with them being disposed of in what ever way is necessary. I can understand why someone would not want to participate it the killing...however, someone needs to do it. I'd volunteer for it once and if it became too unpleasant, would not do it a second time. So far, it hasn't bothered me to kill prairie dogs in volume, maybe I'd view it differently?

Biggest surprise to me is that you were allowed to use a high powered rifle here in IL Rich. What distances?

I have a farmer here that needs deer killed. He is trying to get me approval from the state to take antlerless deer year round on 2 farms. The 1st step is complete which was to fill 30 deer tags from the state during the week long deer gun season. All 30 tags were filled by that Thursday legally. I would be able to take them with whatever I'm using for groundhogs at the time they come into the field. I would carry my 357 Marlin for this. If I don't feel right doing it then I won't do it the following year. I can do as I wish with the meat as well. Which would probably be nothing more than using the backstraps & creating a bait pile for other critters.

Red
Only twent two cal. center fires rifles were allowed and slugs guns I tried the get the biologist to let my try out my.375 H&H but it was a no deal. Shots were taken between 100 to 150 yds. Depending on the set up. I'd say the avgerage shot was 100 yds. for guys using rifles. Guys using slugs had differemt set ups and closer shooting. All the bait stations were carefully set up by the DNR using helicopters and people on foot to check bullets path and back stop. We could not shoot anywere we wanted. The deer had to be within a certain distance of the bait, which was marked with reflectors. Some had larger areas then others. Each night there would only be three to four shooters in the park. We would take turns shooting. The guys not shooting that night would come out to the bait stations and pick up the dead deer, bring them back to a building were the biologist was. They would then gut them out and the biologist would do a number of test on them. One of which was to count the number of festus in the deer. All shooters had two way radios. We could not shoot any bucks unless permission was given by the biologist. Because of my performance the first night. I was the only rifleman that was allowed to shoot every night. Twenty six head shot deer.

Nice shooting. I think I'd pick the 223 from my rack. I imagine the 22-250 does some serious damage to a deer noggin at 100 yards though.

We seem to have a very healthy deer population down here. While their numbers are ever increasing, it doesn't appear to be too overpopulated just yet, so I doubt we'll be seeing anything like that right away.

I just sent my '08 application off yesterday. For our first choice, we chose the park north of here where I counted all those deer before. They only allow 50 firearm hunters in so chances of getting drawn in there are slim.

Red
At the time I was shooting Hornady's 55 gr. SX bullet. Big nasty exit. No suffering.
Good luck with you application.

Thanks.

Actually about 10 years ago now, my hunting partner and I drew in there the very first time we applied. Unfortunately, he took seriously ill and we never hunted that year. In fact he's never hunted since.

Since then, we (another buddy and I) have applied several times and so far haven't been lucky enough to get picked. This might be the year?

I live on the California Central Coast and last week a coyote tripped the night light in my backyard. I live in a suburban area on the edge of country that is wilder. There's a coyote in a nature preserve in the middle of town too--he comes down out of some old government land and goes through the neighborhood garbage. Unfortunately, with prohibitions on shooting projectiles in town, not a lot I can do about it...