Friday, November 29, 2013

Coyote Chases Cougar

I have seen coyotes chase foxes, and bobcats chase coyotes, but I have never seen a coyote chase a cougar! What a sight this must have been. My guess is that the coyote had a serious territorial issue with that mountain lion, and was willing to die to defend it.

Click on the image or link below to view the video.


Happy Hunting!

Monday, November 25, 2013

Western Whitetail article: Reticles

My new article for Western Whitetail has been released for a while, I just forgot to post the link here. It is called "Reticles" and is all about - you guessed it - scope reticles. How to use mil-dots and standard duplex reticles for range and size estimation, and how to choose the correct reticle for your situation. You can read the article in full by clicking here: http://www.westernwhitetail-digital.com/westernwhitetail/fall_2013#pg56

You can also find an advertisement for my company, Independence Training, on page 27.

Happy Hunting!

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Coyote Clinic Graduate Drops First Coyote

One of the Coyote Clinic Graduates shot me over a text message last week with this message and this picture:

"Finally got a coyote. 85 yards. Straight through the chest. Only problem is I'm supposed to be deer hunting."


I shot him back a message asking for more details, and got this this response and another picture of the closeup shot in the chest - nice shot!

"Called him in. Was sitting for deer and a herd of cattle shows up. Decided to blow on the call a little."


Fantastic! He must have remembered what we teach in Coyote Clinic: where there are cattle, there are coyotes.

Excellent job, Brice!


Happy Hunting!


Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Coyotes Attack Man on Mower - are they getting bolder?

Here's an interesting story where 4 coyotes attacked a man, seemingly unprovoked, while he was on his riding lawn mower: http://fox8.com/2013/11/01/residents-warned-of-pack-of-coyotes/.

Coyote attacks on humans, especially those that are unrelated to rabies or starvation, are becoming more common, and the number of involved coyotes is also increasing. Whereas you used to hear about a single, or maybe a pair, of coyotes attacking a small child in a backyard or a playground, now there are attacks such as the one in Ohio (linked above) where 4 coyotes attacked a grown man on a lawnmower in broad daylight.

A coyote trots across an urban road while a child plays in her yard in the background.

In areas where coyotes are rapidly spreading, such as the midwest and the eastern states, there is little being done to stop them. Hunting is more difficult and less productive in the thicker forested areas and underbrush of states east of the Mississippi River, and in some cases the coyotes have been breeding with eastern wolves, making them larger and more aggressive. Combine all of that with a small prey population and more dense human populations and you have a potential problem.


Coyotes in a subdivision in Littleton, Colorado.

Even here in the western states coyote overpopulation is a problem. Damages to antelope and deer populations are easily seen and we certainly have our share of attacks, though with our large open spaces and greater prey populations, the attacks are rarely food motivated. My point to all of this is that the need for predator population control must go well beyond hunting, which accounts for a VERY small percentage of the overall control effort, and people have to get serious about self-protection as well as management of animal populations. We're stewards of this planet, after all, and we're human beings with opposable thumbs, for crying out loud - so we'd better start acting like it. You can cry for the animals if you'd like, but they won't stop eating you just because you care about them.


Happy Hunting!