Evening star., 1898-05-21
NOT A REDEEMING FEATURE
The Coyote Well Deserves the Contempt Of
All Mankind.
Preys on the Ranches of the West
Fleet Of Foot and Very
Treacherous.
From the San Francisco Chronicle.

| Yellowish gray of fur sharp of eye, fleet
of foot. el coyote drifts past your vision IN
| the wide sweeps of the Nevada west, bear
| ing-so the Indians will tell you-the souls
of the dead. Yet no term Of opprobrium is
| so instantly and Indignantly resented by a
| Piute as the name coyote"
| One cannot wonder at it, either, for it
| seems of all the sneaking, Sinking four
| footed creatures of the animal world none
! so merit the contempt of mankind as these
little mongrel wolves of the plains.
Generally speaking, find in the
| least attractive creature some trait COM
manding our respect, but the coyote seems
without redeeming characteristic which
might make MIN other than he is-almost
! the most despised of the animal kingdom.
| Coyotes are the sheep and cattle mems
ever-watchful foe. There is no band of
| sheep that is not continually trailed by the
| camp followers and, though rifles and
strychnine used with good effect on
them yet they do not seem to be entirely
efectual in Kidding the country of the ma
rauders. In one night a herder may lose
forty or fifty sheep through the quick
work CT two or three of these little tawny-
skinned fellows of the plains, despite his
watchful care, despite the dogs constant
guarding.
Many are under the mistaken impression
that coyotes only attack animals that are
young or very small. They will kill cattle
as readily as sheep if they find any weak
ones, or If they can take them al a disad-
vantage. AT such times they do not attack
singiF' but in small packs; though they are
sehefaiy seen alone or in pairs it being
uilusuai TO observe more than two or three
together at any time. Still, l can instance
d pack or eleven that one morning trotted
away from a close corral, where through
the previous night they collected drawn by
the continuous waiing of some seyenty-five
or hundred freshly weaned calves. The
coyotes had been attracted by the inces-
SAINT bawiing and had stayed about irving
m IN VAN TO effect an entrance until daylight
bringing men to feed the we,nIip,r.
frightened them away.
Following a Man.
Not long ago there was a report of cov-
otes following a wounded man who for
three days and nights, crawled along =
lonely trail. He had bee thrown from his
morse the fall resulting in both legs being
broken. For forty-eight hours he had n,,n
ed himself along as best he co;11d Inv ,b,
tiu OF ms arms, dragging his crippled legs
M oush the aust OF the trail that led to
me. me nearest settlement. When found he
was nearly dead from thirst and exhaus-
uon and told that had it not been for the
coyotes which continually snapped AT him
ne would have given up long before R,Ii
Mneh ne became quiet the snarling pack
gathered about him, and only bv striking
at theln could he keep their savering laws
or. The horror of it all urged him on with
renewed strength to reach the point yhera
he IVES found.
Every winter trappers working alone. tbo
rivers OF the sage-brush localities of the
west eaten many of them, though it doe,
NOT seem TO lessen their numbers to anv
appreclable extent And the endurance cf
the coyote IS marvellous If hy chance tha
trap catches but d small portion of his
loot, very likely he will twist round and
round and round until he cuts himself loose
leaving his self-amputated toes as evidence
OF MS former presence when ~ I'm, h,
trap sprung in the morning
hides II taken in the winter and well
tanned. make beautiful soft roDes but no:
strohg. Ihey tear or split easily. TrapperS
snip them to the larger cities of the mid
die west. where they bring but from 80 cents
10 VI per skin. In the majority of cases
Where they are obtained the scalps brin.-
Jo cents at the respective county seats
mere has been much compiaint-perhaDs
Well Srounded-that trappers getting many
scaips Where the bounty is low, sell them
10 such places as offer a higher bountr
ana In many places s. is paid.
Fleet of Foot.
When ell coyote goes trotting away in
that slow, swinging gait that presently
breaks into the easy lope which is So de-
ceiving as to its speed,.it seems to be a lit
tie animal, not difficult to oyertake But
you will meet with some violent surprises
II you attempt to race one unless YOU are
sure of the capabilities of the horse you
are riding. The coyote assumes a look of
supreme indifference-will perhaps, turn
around ard leisurely survey you until as
sured that he is in a verify pursued-then
there is a startled backward glance sud
den, lurching. sidewise twist, firt of the
tail. and el coyote fiattens himself and
stretches himself out in a race that you
VIII need the help of whip and spur to win
Faqueros often riding thu range for cattle
give tnem race, and not infreuuently
catch them with a deity thrown RATA
then. following out the cowboys Idea of
fun, the animal will be earmarked and
branded with the brand of their OUTFIT
ana turned loose, 20 be seen and recog-
nlZed many time thereafter.
FL coyote Is good long-distance runner.
remember a morning at Queen City, near
the Oregon line, in Nevada, when i was
awakened at 6 o'clock by the baying of the
Well-known McCIrdy pack-twenty or thir-
ty imported fox and deer hounds-as they
were turned loose to follow the scent of a
coyote that had passed in the night But
though the little gray ghost of the desert
was fleet of foot, he had company that
could not only keep up his pace but over
take him; for young McCurdy, in camp
twenty miles away, saw the pack pass in
pursuit at o'clock that morning Aud fur
ther up the valley others saw the dogs go
by-the famous Cap in the lead-and stilI
others witnessed, before 10 o'clock, the COW
ote run down. The little fellow had given
them long chase but good pack was too
much foc even his endurance
coyotes Will flea al the sight of thor
oughbred hound, but they are often seen
playing with the nongrel ours that infest
the average Indian camp. And dogs of
mixed shepherd and coyote blood are not
iEfrequently noted.