28 CALIKOKXIA FISH AND (iAAIE. 



so hot ;uh1 wi'ak tliat tlii'\ froezc to (Ic.itli hefuic \ t'liluriuy out a.naiii. 1 have soeii 

 coyotos aftor dcfr, and riiniiin.u' tlio oo.\ott's away. I liavo triod to niako the doi>r jjot 

 out of tli<> water and could not until I lu'lix-d tlioni out almost dead, and some Iiavo 

 diod while I was takin.u tiieni out of the water. I trapped ou the llayfoi'k Creek 

 above the tJauie Uefust' ;ind near Mr. Doekery's place on C'arr Creek last winter 

 and a number of deer were jiathered at .Mr. Dockery's lower barn eating' Iniy with his 

 cattle. Between the first day of January and the twenty-seventh of February I 

 fotiiul the remains of twenty deei'. either killed by coyotes or run into tlu' creek and 

 killed, and I caujjht eleven coyotes." 



Mr. Edwai-d Shock, who livt-s witliiii Ihc ll.iytork township 

 and within a !ew iiuh\s of the town of Ilayfoi-k, upon his 

 own i-aneh i)rt)pcrty, called at our ofificc and made Nome .state- 

 itients concerning the damage done hy the coyote, for Avhich 

 h(^ personally vouches. lie states that last summer, he does 

 not renieiid)er llie exact date, while he was working in his garden 

 he heard a noise on the side hill adjoining the garden plot, and 

 upon glancing up, saw a fawn coming down the hill and it ran into his 

 wire fence three or four times before it managed to get through. 

 (Uosely pursuing the fawn were two coyotes. Shortly after they got in 

 sight they saw Mr. Shock, stopped, then turned and went back into the 

 bushes. The fawn came into the field and quite close to Mr. Shock, 

 then saw him, became frightened, turned and went back through the 

 fence and up the hill in about the same direction the coyotes had taken. 

 The coyotes no doubt later caught the fawn, since they would merely 

 hide away in the bush(\s for a little while Avh(^n interrupted in a pursuit 

 of this kind, then take the track and follow on. 



Another instance of Mr. Shock's ol)servation was during this fall 

 while setting a coyote trap. He set his rifle down a few feet from him 

 and in finding a place to drive the stakes to hold the trap he had moved 

 a few feet away from the rifle. While busily engaged he heard a noise 

 and looking around saw a young deer without horns, presumably a doe. 

 come running along closely followed by two coyotes, one of which caught 

 the deer while yet in sight of him. Mr. Shock (juickly went for his rifle, 

 but when he got it the coyotes had taken alarm and had left the deer. 

 Its tongue was hanging out and it seemed to l)e just about run down, 

 but it of course went on out of sight. Mr. Shock is firm in his belief, 

 based on his experience, that in such instances the coyotes were merely 

 interrupted and would take the trail again and no doubt catch the 

 deer. 



He trapped nine coyotes within two weeks around his place and states 

 that in opening up some of them to see w'hat the contents of the stomachs 

 were he found that they were largely composed of venison, there being 

 evidence in meat, bones and hair. He also states that the coyotes he has 

 caught were all very fat. IMr. Shock says that the reason for his trap- 

 l>ing activity- was on account of the coyotes catching the chickens. He 

 lias found it impcssible to raise pigs unless they are well penned. Mr. 

 Shock is a far better trapper than the average settler and has some 

 methods of trapping that seem to get better results than the ordinary 

 trapper. He says, however, that the coyote is a very difficult animal to 

 trap and that he has found that he gets him more through his curiosity 

 than any actual desire for food. Mr. Shock's experiencivs concerning 

 the coyote are not at all unusual and could be duplicated by a great 

 inany of the settlers t hi'oiighout the Trinitv Forest. 



