Mule Deer Fanatic

Since this site is about mule deer, not coyotes, it is a stretch to quote coyote stories. Nevertheless, I have to do this because anyone who kills coyotes not only saves mule deer, but also deserves respect. I think you will enjoy the stories.

These stories come from arizonahuntingtoday.com:

A recent blog by Desert Rat “Predators Killing Pets” reminded me of an incident I had a couple of years ago.

I was sitting out on the patio cleaning my Ruger 1B (http://www.rugerfirearms.com/index.html) when I heard all this screaming and yelling coming from the neighbors backyard. They are good neighbors, mind their own business, and are just very nice people. The only drawback is that she is kinda opposed to hunting, not a bleeding heart type and not vocal about it, but she is opposed to it. She also raises chickens, ducks, and has three little dogs, very little dogs. I joke with her all the time that I would like to use them for catfish bait, she doesn’t think it’s funny. Anyhow I look over to see what all the screaming is about and to my surprise I see a coyote trotting out of her backyard headed in my general direction but going up the hillside, not running hard, just kind of an easy trot. Now I’m not surprised to see a coyote as they visit our place on a fairly regular basis, but what surprised me was this this one had a little white mutt clamped firmly in his jaws. I quickly slapped a 117 grain 25.06 Sierra Game King BTSP (http://sierrabullets.com) round into the chamber and placed the crosshair of my Weaver GrandSlam 6-20×40 (http://weaveroptics.com) on an opening I thought he would be coming through. As he came through I touched off a round thinking that if nothing else it would cause him to drop the dog and run off. Much to my surprise he did drop the dog as he tumbled ass over teakettle dead as a doornail. When I finally got to the dog he was covered in blood and had several deep puncture wounds and I’m thinking he isn’t going to make it, should I just him out of his misery. I look back down the hillside and see our neighbor running up toward us, stumbling and crying for her little dog. She is in a real frenzy by the time she reaches us and wants to get the dog to the vet in a hurry. I was going to tell her that the poor thing didn’t have a snowballs chance in hell but thought better of it. We picked up the poor ragged, bloody little thing and headed to the vets office. Well that was about two years ago and that pesky little mutt is still around, much to my surprise. She still thanks me every chance she gets and has told me on several times how much she appreciated me saving her dogs life – then she added “Did you really have to kill the coyote, couldn’t you just have scared him into dropping my dog.” Some people just don’t get it.

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As some of you know we live in the SE Corner of Arizona and within spitting distance of the US/Mexican border. We all are affected by the masses of illegals coming through our pourous border and with the US governments refusal to do anything substanial about it. It has had a dramatic effect on all of us here on the border and although you don’t probably see it on a daily basis it has had an effect on all the tax paying citizens of America. However now it is really getting personal, and I don’t mean them turning on our water and letting it run all night, or cutting our fences, or even using our backyard as a bathroom. One highlighted sentence in the Arizona Hunting Regulations states: “Homeland security issues along the international border may affect the quality of a person’s hunt.” I recently purchased a new AR, developed some loads for it and got it shooting -1″ MOA at 100 yards. Decided that this morning it would get it’s baptism under fire. Loaded up the truck before daylight and set out for one of my favorite spots. Pulled into the wash, hid the truck best I could and hiked a short way up a little knoll. Set my “improvised” Whirling Woodpecker (www.outfoxedproducts.com) out about 30 yards hurried back up the knoll and turned on the FoxPro. I couldn’t have been there for more than 5 minutes when two Border Patrol Agents came tiptoeing up the dry wash. I stood up and wavd then started walking down to them. They wanted to know what I was doing in the area, don’t know why I said what I did but I was kinda pissed-off that we now have to explain what we (US Citizens) are doing on the border. I told them that as far as I was aware we still lived in a free country and I could do as I well pleased as long as I wasn’t breaking any laws, which I wasn’t. We had a bit of a stare down and they then told me that this was a favorite passage way for illegals and I might be considered in the obstruction of them (Border Patrol) doing their duties. I gave them a smirk and walked back to the truck and left the area. On my next stand, about 5 miles away, I set up same as I had before. After about 10 minutes I spotted a coyote about 500 yards out coming straight into the call. Put the AR up and got ready, at about 300 yards he stopped and sat down. I knew he didn’t smell me as the breeze was coming from him to me. After a minute or two he got up and trotted back the same way he came. It was then that I heard some sounds in the canyon below me, you guessed it — about 6 or 7 illegals making their way down the canyon. I packed everything up and headed home. “Homeland security issues along the international border may affect the quality of a person’s hunt.”