1st ever coyote and she's a BLACK one! WOO HOO!!

How do I convey my incredible elation as I sit here and look at all the pictures we took this morning of this absolutely stunningly beautiful coyote which represents our very first ever?

Of all the great deer I've posted over the years in various bowhunting forums, I don't think any of them have brought a broader smile to my face as I sat down to share the story with my online friends; I'm literally still beaming with joy over the trophy we discovered this morning.

Here's what we saw as we approached our set, which is incidentally the same one we caught our red fox in before I had to pull my sets in advance of an out-of-state business trip last week.







Last year when we began trapping, I invested in as nice a Nikon DSLR as I could afford at the time to take catch pictures; my only regret this morning was I didn't have a camcorder with me to capture video of my son doing a victory dance after he saw we'd caught a coyote... he was absolutely on cloud nine!



We've caught gray fox, red fox and bocats before... but he REALLY wanted to connect on a coyote. What a beautiful specimen for his very first one!







They huffed and puffed, but couldn't get the big, bad wolf off the ground. She was just shy of 30 pounds:

 

WOWZA!!!!!!! Thats a beauty Greg! Can you say full body mount!

I'm so bummed, I wanted to start trapping this year, went to buy a license and they said I needed to take a trapping class! I'm going to take one this spring and be set for next year! I'll still take the ole' .204 out here in a couple weeks! CAN'T WAIT!

 

Man from a distance that looks like a Timber dog.

 

Cool looking yote.

 

Thats a Big 'Ol Yote... that will make an awesome mount too... If you go that way with it. Congrats! I wouldn't have any problem Dispatching a Yote...lol

 

Very cool! I'm still looking for my first coyote, but hopefully at the end of a gun.

Full body mount planned?

 

Very nice coyote! Very nice! Gonna be expensive to full body mount that, though LOL :D :p but it will look great in your oldest son's bedroom .

 

This is an awesone looking yote. I've seen a couple black ones, and that one has a way better look than the ones I;ve seen. Congrats

 

Thanks, gang; appreciate your kind comments.

As beautiful as she is, I just can't afford another big mount this year as I'm heading to pick up my antelope in the next day or two, and my wide 8 is in queu as well... if I wasn't trying to keep Momma home so she can be a full-time mother to our boys, there'd been no question but I made the tough decision to skin her out so I can have her tanned. She'll still look beautiful on the wall hanging next to the fox and bocats we catch.

 

Very cool Greg, a neat color phase for sure. After deer season I'm gonna try and thin the population down on my place too with a little calling and blasting. Maybe I'll have to get a few tips on the trapping end of things too.

 

When you start catching coyotes in leg hold traps, you know you are doing a very good job at what you do!!! Congrats to you.

Now at the risk of being flamed.....I understand the desire for photos, etc, but why do you put the already wounded and scared animal through a photo session before you pop it. The few times I have trapped (very very few) I made it a point to dispatch the animal as quickly as possible when I realized I had one. It just seemd the most humane thing to do. JMO

 

Congrats Greg! Beautiful yote.

You using earth anchors? Double stakes? Single stake?

 

Very cool Greg. I've taken a couple dozen when I was much younger and NEVER seen or heard of one that was black. That's really a VERY rare color phase I would imagine.

Have the guys on the trapping boards seen anything like this?

 

I use finned super stakes with a removal buss, Christine... neatest things since sliced bread.



MN... valid opinion, and I respect your position. There's a lot of reasons I and most trappers do... we love to share the pics with those who enjoy wildlife, as most people never get to see a magazine-quality photo of the animals we trap and see how beautiful they are (been told that by several of my friends). We love to look at their pictures and remember them of how they were before we dispatched them, even though dispatching is obviously a necessary part of game management and our sport... and my photo sessions don't take more than three minutes, tops. With my Nikon D60, I can snap off almost four frames per second, so they're not very prolonged. I don't think any of my catches are in especially excrutiating pain that would necessitate an even quicker dispatch for humane reasons; most animals are extremely relaxed when you approach the set as they've already struggled, found they can't escape and lie down. I've walked up on animals that were asleep before.

 

Matt, it took all of 30 seconds before the PMs started rolling in from prospective buyers.

Yeah, it's really rare but it does happen... There's a few who've caught them, but I had a lot of looooong-time trappers envious of me today, LOL. She really was a beautiful yote.

 

Awesome pics of the kids....made me smile!

 

Wow is that awesome. I have never saw a yote that color phase before. Congrats and I would tan that boy but it would be skinned to do a full body later on when you don't have so much on the table. You probably will never get another one like that. At least here in MN. Congrats to you and your boy!

 

Greg, that is simply awesome! Big congrats bud!

 

That was my same thought!! Damn Greg, that's the most beautiful coyote I've ever seen!!! My dad Is going to love seeing these pics, Incredible they are!!! Congratulation's once again and thanks for the heads up earlier today, mush appreciated!!

 

Nice job Greg, I have both a black one and a red one, both are tanned and in my den.

You guys are having a heck of a year, the kids will have a great time with the pelts, more of a hands on than a full body mount.

Congrats.