Hunting
Winter’s Tracks
As I slowly hunted my way through the farm, I came upon several tracks in the snow. I quickly realized that I was not the only hunter in the woods. It was not the tracks of another flintlock hunter, but those of a small pack of coyotes.
I have always been interested in hunting coyote but never really devoted a lot of time to it. Fellow Ridge Runner, Brian Oleksa and I have started a yearly tradition. We take a weekend in February and hunt coyotes at his camp. We have been doing this for three years now but have yet to bag a “yote”. We have had some encounters but no shots fired. It seems that with each year, we gain a little bit of knowledge and get a little bit closer to getting a shot off.
Coyotes seem to be getting more attention lately. Pennsylvania is looking into offering a $25.00 bounty on all coyotes killed inside the state’s borders. I am not sure if this means there is a coyote numbers problem or what their impact has been on our deer herds. I would feel safe in saying that surely something is amiss if the state is offering a bounty on the coyote.
With the deer season coming to a close here in Pennsylvania, many hunters are getting ready to put away their guns. Why not keep them out a bit longer and match wits with the wiley old coyote? If you are anything like me, more time in the woods is always a blessing.
by:
Cory Mennett
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