Coyote plays fetch.....FOR REAL!

Rod Haydel

Rod Haydel

New member
If I had not seen it myself I would not have believed it. After a wind change at first light and first stand I headed to stand #2 which was again on my favorite piece of property I hunted last week.
Usually I don't put that much pressur on an area but I left a coyote there last week and did not have much time this morning. On the way I see a coyote chasing cattle then they run after him as to say "GET OUT OF HERE", so I ease into the tree line, sit down a watch. He runs a cow to a certain place in the pasture then goes a herds another to the same spot. After he gets 3 or 4 cows there in about a 10-15 yard circle he goes in the middle of them in a non threatening posture and I see him toss something white into the air. It look like a grocery bag. I look through the scope and see that it is a 2 liter coke bottle with no lable. He throws it maybe 4 foot in the air and when it hits the ground he croutches down. His butt is on the ground and front half between laying and sitting while he paws at the bottle but never actually hitting it. After a while these cows lose interest but the coyote seems to get even more aggressive. These cows leave and the coyote again rounds up one more cow but it gets out before he can heard another in there.

After a period he just sits down amost as if pouting, "NOBODY WILL PLAY WITH ME...". Just when some more cows head his way feeding, his spirits and posture picks up but the ranch hands run him off.

I just sat in AWE! Too bad I did not have a camcorder. I do have pics of the bottle HA! but my cords for the camera are at the shop.
 
That would be a neat thing to witness. I don't know what it is about the plastic 2 litter bottles, but my dog loves playing with those things.

Thanks for the story.
 
My dog will play and chew them down to nothing. I do have to remove the screw on top or he'll try eat it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
 
aint never seen anything like that. really would be neat to watch. i love to shoot them dogs but i gotta admit sometimes they are fun to just watch
 
Rod, I had seen this before too. The coyote was playing with a antelope leg though. He was tryng to get some cows to play with him too. It was pretty cool to watch. I had one fall in behind me one time while I was gathering cattle. Followed me like a dog would. He did this for about 2 miles. I talked to him the whole time, didn't bother him at all. The snow was real deep and the only thing I can think is I was cutting a track for him , made it easier for him to walk. I got to a big draw and he went left and I went right.
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Lucas
 
You should have seen if he liked to play catch and toss him a bullet.
Have fun and don't for get the mesican. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
Rod, thanks for the fascinating post. It sure is fun to watch animals and sometimes they surprise us. I don't recall seeing a coyote play other than when they come into the edge of town and bark or howl apparently just to get all the town dogs to bark like crazy about 6:00 am. I watched one coyote sit in sage on the point of a ridge that stuck into town, and he would cock his head to one side and listen till all the dogs stopped barking, then bark again to set them off.

My wife and I watched two foxes play with some yearling Holstein steers one time in a pasture a few yards from the window of a house we were visiting. It was about sun up. The foxes would romp and dash around the cattle and get them to hook at them and chase them around and kick up their heels in a clumsy way, not able to turn as tight as the foxes. It was kind of a ring around the rosy with a big stump in the middle. The foxes would dash close to a steer's heels similar to a heeler dog. Then one of the foxes would jump up on the chest high stump and watch while the other one would get a steer to chase it around the stump. At first the steers seemed to enjoy the play and romp as much as the foxes. The foxes kept it up for 20 minutes, but the cattle got bored and quit.

Like you say, would have loved to had that on video. I've seen whitetails play a couple of times. One July dawn I watched a spike buck and I'd guess his twin sister dash around in a big puddle of clean, rocky bottom river channel and deliberately splash water as high as they could. The game seemed to be to see if one could get to the heels of the other while splashing water as high as possible. The little buck kept that up when the doe quit, jumping straight up as high as he could, striking the water at an angle to jet water high in the air and whirling in the "rain".

Would love to see the coyote play fetch with himself. You got a gift there, to see it.
 
i posted this a while back.i had one playing with my dozer when i was doing some clearing a couple years back.it was like it was trying to herd it up like a cow dog will do.i have a couple of red tail halks that follow he around when i am brushhogging looking for a easy meal also.one of them tried to land on the hood of the tractor the last time i was mowing.scared the crap out of me.
 
Critters are sure interesting. I don't mean to hijack your post but because others have put in some critter stories I thought I would relate this one.

A number of years back I had a piece of property that had a small pear orchard that I could see from my breakfast nook.

One morning I saw a doe and a pair of fawns feeding on some of the pears that were dropping. Suddenly from out of the hedgerow darted a red-fox who ran to one of the fawns and swiped a pear from its mouth. The fawn gave chase and got it back. The doe then tried to chase the fox away but it stayed just out of range. Things calmed down a bit and the fox repeated the snatch and grab with the other fawn. The show continued for about a half hour and then the fox just wandered off. One of the best morning coffees I ever had. It definitely looked like they all were enjoying it.
 
I wouldn't be able to stop laughing if I saw this in person. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
I read this post a couple days, and I keep playing it over in my head laughing. I think I would have a hard time pulling the trigger on that coyote if I watched him do that! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
thx for the story Rod

great write-up with awesome description of coyote behavior

I'm gonna be in Shreveport real soon, and will give you a jingle at the shop

Bringing up some boudin for Randy , let me know if you want any /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

cajun blake {
 
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