I was out deer hunting one time Miissippi, when I heard something running through the woods in my direction...I got ready. Then I saw it was two large coyotes travelling together, and I shot one of them with my .270.
Reason I did it? Because I always heard coyotes were destructive to the game. It was an instinct shot. Didn't think about it 'till later. I felt like crap killing an animal just to be killing it. It was a large coyote, about 4' from head to tail, and the most beautiful wild animal I'd ever seen. Only one I ever shot, and the only one I ever will shoot.
I shot a beautiful large Bobcat in those same woods, about 3 years earlier with a .243. Why? When I was out deer hunting?
Boredom?
Need to kill something?
Impress my fellow hunters and friends?
A lot of people would think what I did was a service to the property. I don't feel that way. I feel those critters have more right to be in those woods than I do. They live there all the time, and I'm the intruder. There's probably not that many of them this far east. I know the Black Bear is protected in these parts.
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I'm not a treehugger. I understand how coyotes pose a problem out West, and shooting them is a humane method of control. Also, there is a use for their fur, so it's not a complete waste.
I guess it's the way I was brought up in a hunting tradition from an early age to respect nature. I learned from my Dad, my Uncle Clyde, and from my cousin Mike, who is part Indian.
I believe one of the most important decisions a man makes in his life, aside from marriage, is who he hunts with.
Les