There are bellies. One wall is decorated with a poster of the cartoon character Wile E. Coyote, overlaid with crosshairs. The game warden is reviewing the contest rules. When the warden is finished and the dinner is over, the competitors hurry out of the lodge, climb into pickup trucks, and head onto the back roads of Campbell County, ready to hunt. These days, however, ranching is in trouble.
Profit margins are thin.
Coyotes, say sheep ranchers, are a significant part of the problem. While in Campbell County, I spend an afternoon on the Iberlin Ranch, where John Iberlin runs 7,000 sheep on 50,000 acres. All my profits are killed off. It doesn't take many coyotes to put you out of business. In response, some ranchers kill as many coyotes as they can.