An old buck

Source.

Not bad for West Virginia.

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Coyote checking out the scent post

I made a little scent post for the trail camera a few days ago. I used red fox urine with a bit of coyote gland lure rubbed on the top.

Miley offed a gray squirrel the same day, so  was put near the post.

And a coyote did come by last night

I think it’s a small female, probably a darker gray one that the big dog coyote I’ve been getting on camera.

Eastern coyotes have wolf and domestic dog ancestry and vary quite a bit in appearance. The one from this summer is a bigger animal, probably pheomelanistic, clear sable.

This one is wolf-colored, but clearly lighter-frame. My guess is this is a bitch.

***

If you’re wondering why I removed the camera, last Sunday I was sitting on that rise where the coyote clearly reveals herself in the video.

My sister’s fiance wanted to go out coyote calling from my dad’s new tree stand. I got to play around with the e-caller when I got a response.

His iPhone managed to capture a bit of the cacophony:

Source.

The stand is pretty deep into the woods– maybe 50 yards or so.

I’m sitting on that rise in the old pasture at the edge of the woods.

About two minutes of howling go on, and I start to hear the brush cracking all around me.

There is nearly a full moon out, and it’s clear enough that I can see some things.

But not the thing that is crunching leaves 30 feet in front of me in the access road!

I hear a bark and then something retreating back.

I shine my flashlight into the darkness, and there is a wolfy coyote standing not more then 45 feet from me!

It’s not the one in the video, and it’s not the same one I’ve been getting on camera all summer.

It’s heavily sabled and stoutly built.

It stands there for about 30 seconds before slowly slinking back into the brush.

Yeah. I’m getting on them on camera now.

I’m getting hooked!

 

 

 

 

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Deer in the late autumn gloom

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