Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1902-08-21

sly old coyote, VINO would draw the
hunters away from camp and then
adroitly hasten there and make off
with toothsome chunk. The coyote
knows how to employ decoy, and
many ranchman or settler tells of
times that he has been allured out to
shoot a peculiarly noisy coyote, who
not only escaped, but permitted an
other coyote to get fowl from the
roost during the chase.
The coyote is a wag, also, and, like
most wags, he is timid Some people
who do not know him call him a
sneaking coward That is one reason
he is SO unwisely and generally dis
pissed. But the coyote is sensible
enough to know that he is no match
with his scant 80 pounds, and with
out claws and heavy jaws, against a
man or big beast. He must use
artifice to earn his livelihood, and he
can only escape destruction by out
whiting mankind. Many generations
of contact with men has made him
remarkable beast.
Curiosity is prominent character
istic of the coyote. Monkeys and
chimpanzees have the same marked
trait The cowboys, soldiers, miners
and hunters on the frontier all tell of
the uncomfortable curiosity of the
| coyote. II stampede of cattle oc-
ours on a plain, dozen places of
vantage are likely to be occupied at
once, by coyotes, all sitting on hind
legs, like so many Interrogation
points, while they watch the scene of
the believing, cavorting cattle with
deep interest. When the stampede
becomes so fierce that cattle are
knocked down and tramped to death.
the coyotes howl, even in the daytime.
at the prospect OF big meal off the
fresh meat while the cowboys have
gone miles away with the maddened,
prancing herd.
Among the only bits of humor in
the folklore of the Indians of the
southwest is story about a great
spirit coyote that once had a jack
| rabbit served it, but the coyote was
| already so full of food that it would
eat no more. The fun is in the fact
that no living coyote ever declined to
eat. The coyote seems to have a
creed that he must not even dream of
having had enough to eat. His main
object in life seems to be the salts
faction of an abnormal appetite. and
to this end he directs all the cunning
and audacity of his nature. In the
dawtime he sinks off to some retired
| cave of copse of trees and sleeps. but
at night joins his neighbors in search
of food, which usually consists of live
prey or the offal of the settlements.
The remains of the hunters or camp
er's supper are a tid-bit to secure
which he has been known to follow a
party for miles, Impelled by hunger.
, or laboring under a mistake as to his
palatability he will even enter a tent
| and make off with a shoe or a sock
or the trousers of the luckless occu-
pant
When coyote goes off on forag-
ing raid by himself, and is so lucky
as to catch an unsuspecting sheep or
calf out for a moonlight stroll. he
Will first suck the blood of his victim,
and then, dragging the carcass to a
shady and unfrequented retreat. will
devour the choice morsels at first.
Before he has finished he will gorge
many pounds of the most substantial
parts, until he resembles a sack of
coal on four spindling legs. A coyote
has been known to eat his weight in
meat in day and night. Not a
particle of the coyotes feast is ever
allowed to go to waste, for when he
is stuffed he will snatch hold of the
remnants of the carcass by his mouth.
and, throwing the flesh across his
back, will start for the family abode.
where the rest of the family may eat
also. Hunters tell of having found
coyotes so gorged and heavy with
food that their distended sides made
it impossible for them to enter their
burrows and holes. Jack-rabbits are
the principal food of coyotes, and
both animals are provided with mus
Giles of locomotion that are marvel
Gus. There are few things in nature
as swift as coyote following a Cali
fornia jack-rabbit across a plain.
fleeing jack-rabbit can easily make a
mile minute for one or two miles.
1t is really too bad that people de-
nounce the coyote as a sneak because
of his hang-dog look" said Henry
Bowles. a well-known hunter. rBut
you must remember that nature did
not build the coyote on the plan of a
fighter-as panther, bear or wild
cat. He has no weapon of defense
but his few sharp teeth, and he is thin
and wiry. So he has to use strategy
and craftiness to get his living. What
most folks call sneakiness is only
slvness or shyness, because he is so
eyerlastingly prosecuted He has
more wit than any animal in North
America except the fox. and when oc-
casion demands he will fight like a
tieer for his family knowing the
odds against him. H. T. Griswold
in New York Evening Post