Scott Wrestles A Coyote My best friend is an interesting guy. Scott was a very determined youngster and never gave up on anything he was trying to do. No matter how crazy of an idea it was. He had a Honda50 that we would ride around on to go hunting and check the traplines. Sometimes it would break down on his way over and he would push that thing the whole way to my house (about six miles of gravel roads) so we could fix it. One winter his brother, Kenny, came home from the Navy on leave. He wanted Scott and I to take him rabbit hunting because we knew the ins and outs of every woods, ditch, and open field in the county. It wasn't a problem because Scott and I hunted all the time, day and night. I believe that might have been around the time of our great trapping partnership. Scott had talked to a big farmer in one of the counties adjacent to us and aquired the trapping rights to decent size ditch that was on this farmers property. We partnered together because I had been in the trapping business a little longer than Scott and had been able to build up nice cache of extra equipment. We told Kenny that we could taking rabbit hunting after we took are of some things. Scott helped me run one of my traplines so that I could get done faster. After that, we picked Kenny up and set off on an adventure. We went back in our woods and didn't see much of anything. We went to my grandma woods and kicked around some bruch piles that we were sure would have rabbits. No luck. Kenny was getting pretty frustrated with us at this point. He said "You guys know where the damn rabbits are, you're just not taking me to the right places." We laughed, and swore that these were good spots. Scott proposed that we go over to my uncles place and check out his woods. We pulled into the barn lot of my uncles farm and unloaded the truck. My uncle was outside feeding the sheep. He told Scott that he heard Scott was in the trapping business these day. Scott said he sure was and that he heard my uncle was loosing a lot of sheep because of Coyotes. My uncle told him that he had Coyote traps back by the fish'n hole next to woods. He told Scott that it was too darn cold to be out and that if Scott ran his coyote traps for him he could keep whatever was in them. Scott thought this was like winning the lottery. Who knows what would be back there, Coyotes, Fox, who knows. So we climbed the fence and went back to the woods to go rabbit hunting. It was a bit of a walk to get back there. We hunted all over that woods and didn't find anything. We even went to the next woods to check it out. I think we might have saw one, but Kenny missed it. Anyhow, it was time to go back so we walked along the ditch that ran into the fish'n hole. This was where the traps were supposed to be. We checked all of them but one. It was up on the bank of the fish'n hole. The whole time Scott was reminding us that my uncle had said Scott could have whatever was back there. At that point in time fur prices were pretty good and a Coyote or Fox pelt could bring a decent chunk of change. We approached the fish'n hole and Scott say a Coyote standing on the bank. Sure enough my uncle had caught one. We got up there and Scott was already telling us that he was going to buy a new pair of boots with the money. Kenny who didn't know anything about trapping asked if we should shoot it. Scott said "Hell no, are you a dumbass? A shotgun will mess the pelt up." Scott and I hunted around for something to use as a club to dispatch this varment. The fish'n hole was a little ways from the woods so we couldn't really find anything good. Scott evenutually found a piece of an old rotten fence post. Shortly after this he removed the coyote from the trap. He draped it over the back of his shoulders like a scarf with the front and back legs dangling in front. It was starting to snow and Scott was bragging about how warm he was with the coyote. Now we had walk around the fish'n hole which was frozen over. Scott didn't want to walk all the way around it because the coyote was so heavy. Kenny and I said, "Do what you want, we're walking around it.". Scott began to walk down to the ice. He took a step onto it and told us that it was frozen enough to walk on. Kenny and I ignored him and continued to walk around the fish'n hole. Scott went further and further out onto the ice, taking each step ever more gingerly. He almost go to the center when Kenny and I heard this loud crack. We looked at Scott, he looked at us. By the look on his face we could tell EXACTLY what he was thinking. He was going to outrun the crack and run to the other side. Turning back was not an option for Scott, he was headed to the otherside with this coyote and he would be damned if he had to turn back. We saw the crack in the ice racing towards him. It was almost sureal. One of those moments that happens in the flash of a second, but that you can replay in your mind in slow motion. He took about one step and wham! He fell through the ice with the coyote. Then, the coyote that was supposed to be dead, came alive. It started growling and biting at Scott. There was quite a comotion going on as they wrestled in the ring that was created after they fell through the ice. Kenny and I fell down laughing. I laughed so hard I almost shot myself when as I fell on my shotgun. Scott finally made it out of the water and up to the bank. Kenny and I were there to jokes like "Ya, that coyote was keeping you pretty warm.". Scott was pissed. Man he was pissed. We walked up the lane back to my uncles farm. When we got there, we told my uncle the whole story. He couldn't stand up he was laughing so hard. Scott got madder and madder. My uncle kept joking, "Maybe you'll catch him again and then you'll learn to walk around the pond." Finally looked at us and said "Damnit, get in the truck." Kenny and I got in the truck, and Scott tore out through the plowed field toward the fish'n hole. He said "Damit, I'm gett'n that coyote before he gets away and I'm not gonna walk back there." Even though Scott was freezing and wet from head to toe, he wanted to save face and get that coyote. We made it across the field and back to the coyote. Scott shot the coyote and then swam out in the water to retrieve it like a dog would retrieve a duck or a goose. I'll tell you, it was pretty funny because it was in the middle of winter and snowing like crazy. After he got the coyote we jumped back in the truck and head back to my uncles farm. We were about in the center of field when Kenny and Scott started arguing. Kenny broke Scott's concentration and he got the truck stuck down in the furrows of the plowed field. Now we're all arguing. The ground was frozen but not like a permafrost, only the top of the soil from frozen. Underneath the frozen layer was pure mud. We didn't have anything to use to dig us out. We tried to push it out and gun the engine, but that only made the hole bigger. Finally Kenny came up with the brilliant idea that we need to put some stuff under the tire to get some traction. We put some trash from the truck under there, but it wasn't enough. Finally Kenny said put that damn coyote under there. Scott said, "Hell NO, we are definately not doing that." Kenny said, "Well we don't have anything else. Scott refused to do that, so he decided to take cram his shirt and coat down there. We tried to push it out using the additional traction, but no luck. Then Scott threw his boot and hat down there, still no luck. I told Scott, "Hell you lost one boot down there, you might as well try your other boot.". He through his other boot and socks down there. It got ground into the mud just like the other stuff. At this point we were about out of traction material because Scott was about out of clothes. Kenny said he wasn't going to walk up to house and ask my uncle for help because he wasn't the one who got the truck stuck in the furrow. Scott and I walked up to the house, but my uncle was gone and nobody was home. This was about a half a mile walk. Scott was pissed. I told him that I had an aunt that lived up the road about a mile. We could walk to her house and ask to use her phone. We started walking. Finally when we got to my aunts house. She asked us what we doing because she didn't hear our truck pull in the drive. We said, "Just hunt'n. Do you think we could borrow your phone for a minute." She said "Sure thing." and then looked at Scott and said "I don't know much about hunting but aren't you supposed to where shoes or something.". Scott just hung his head and didn't say anything. He called my dad and asked him if he could bring the D21 down and pull us out. This was very painful for Scott because he knew he would owe my dad big for this one. Before negotiations began Scott volenteered to pitch 3 or 4 loads of horse manue for my dad. This was tactical mistake as it tipped my dad off as to how despretely we needed his assistance. After it was all said and done, we had to clean out every horse stall in the barn. I think he was watching "GunSmoke" on TV so we had to wait a little bit before he brought the D21 down. We walked back down to my uncles farm and he pulled us out with the D21. Scott never sold that coyote pelt, he tanned the hide and made a nice hat out of it.
Copyright © 2000 Matthew Dean |