Today my son and I were doing a two part goose and coyote hunt deep in the pines.
Not a very logical combination of target species but we mangaged to score both, sort of.
It was a very crappy weather day but any day spent in the big woods is a good day in my book.
We returned to an area where I shot a coyote a few weeks ago and after a vehicle trashing 4 mile jaunt through broken ice slabs in every mudhole, we made it back to where we wanted to be.
Actually, we went a little beyond my favorite spot and we loaded with some BBB steel to look for few honkers first.
While walking the edge of the water I almost tripped over a beautiful but dead blonde phase coyote.
Here he is as we found him.
We poked and prodded and did our best forensics on available tracks and we concluded that he was killed elsewhere and dumped.
His tracks were nowhere to be found and only a few faint, old boot tracks were in the general vicinity.
My opinion on his cause of death was based on the position of the head as we found him. It was completely twisted backwards in an unnatural position.
Of all the animals I have found dead in the woods, either shot or found dead from other causes such as starvation and freeezing, have either had their head laid naturally out in front, if shot, or curled into their body if they died from freezing.
We examined the canine closely and could not find a bullet hole or any other wounds and there was no blood in the snow around or under him. We theorized that he was a pretty old dog based on his tooth wear and losses.
Currently in this coyote/fox permit season, you can shoot a coyote with up to T size fine shot or a muzzleloading rifle during daylight hours and shotgun only at night.
His gums looked diseased and he was missing one upper canine and one lower canine. The incisors were in very poor condition and most were missing. The existing canines were broken and one looked badly diseased.
I have read that their lifespan in the wild can be up to 15 years and I think he might have been getting close based on his dental records.
Here are the pics:
I am going to try and skin him tomorrow and salvage the hide. It is still partiallly frozen and I am hoping that the fur stays intact. I am a life long hunter and a novice trapper and it bothers me to see an animal tossed aside like this with absolutely no part being used.
On the way out we stopped at a an area where I had been hearing geese during muzzleloader season and with a little team work, we managed two Canadas.
We had to go back home and get Hank and Murphy to make the retrieves because they didn't fall as planned.
Hank did the brain work and Murph hung on for the ride.
We just had the geese for dinner, sliced thin in a brown mushroom gravy, fresh Aversa rolls and my homemade pickled long hots.
It was indeed a good day in the woods.
Not a very logical combination of target species but we mangaged to score both, sort of.
It was a very crappy weather day but any day spent in the big woods is a good day in my book.
We returned to an area where I shot a coyote a few weeks ago and after a vehicle trashing 4 mile jaunt through broken ice slabs in every mudhole, we made it back to where we wanted to be.
Actually, we went a little beyond my favorite spot and we loaded with some BBB steel to look for few honkers first.
While walking the edge of the water I almost tripped over a beautiful but dead blonde phase coyote.
Here he is as we found him.
We poked and prodded and did our best forensics on available tracks and we concluded that he was killed elsewhere and dumped.
His tracks were nowhere to be found and only a few faint, old boot tracks were in the general vicinity.
My opinion on his cause of death was based on the position of the head as we found him. It was completely twisted backwards in an unnatural position.
Of all the animals I have found dead in the woods, either shot or found dead from other causes such as starvation and freeezing, have either had their head laid naturally out in front, if shot, or curled into their body if they died from freezing.
We examined the canine closely and could not find a bullet hole or any other wounds and there was no blood in the snow around or under him. We theorized that he was a pretty old dog based on his tooth wear and losses.
Currently in this coyote/fox permit season, you can shoot a coyote with up to T size fine shot or a muzzleloading rifle during daylight hours and shotgun only at night.
His gums looked diseased and he was missing one upper canine and one lower canine. The incisors were in very poor condition and most were missing. The existing canines were broken and one looked badly diseased.
I have read that their lifespan in the wild can be up to 15 years and I think he might have been getting close based on his dental records.
Here are the pics:
I am going to try and skin him tomorrow and salvage the hide. It is still partiallly frozen and I am hoping that the fur stays intact. I am a life long hunter and a novice trapper and it bothers me to see an animal tossed aside like this with absolutely no part being used.
On the way out we stopped at a an area where I had been hearing geese during muzzleloader season and with a little team work, we managed two Canadas.
We had to go back home and get Hank and Murphy to make the retrieves because they didn't fall as planned.
Hank did the brain work and Murph hung on for the ride.
We just had the geese for dinner, sliced thin in a brown mushroom gravy, fresh Aversa rolls and my homemade pickled long hots.
It was indeed a good day in the woods.
