A PANORAMA OF THE HUNT 



THE FAMOUS COYOTE HUNT OF WELD 

 COUNTY (COLORADO) 



By CHARLES HANSEN 



HE writer arrived in 

 the little city of 

 Greeley, Col., a few 

 days before the an- 

 nual coyote hunt, in 

 which most of the 

 able-bodied men and 

 a no small number 

 of women of the section take part. 

 At first the few remarks heard here 

 and there, in hotels and upon the 

 streets, about the coming event, excited 

 but little interest in the man who, from 

 force of circumstances, had long ago 

 abandoned life in the open for the stuffy 

 office. But as the day approached and 

 active preparations for the hunt were 

 begun, something of the old spirit be- 

 gan to stir within him, and the final 

 result was that he bargained with a 

 livery man for a buggy and a fast 

 team of horses with which to take in 

 the sport. At the same time he armed 

 himself with a five-dollars-a^day-pho- 

 tographer, to perpetuate the scenes in 

 pictures. A good saddle horse would 

 have been the proper thing, but the 

 buggy was selected because friends 

 said that a novice in the saddle had no 

 place at one of these affairs. 



It was about the middle of January, 

 and the morning dawned bright and 

 crisp, with the thermometer not far 

 from zero. Sunrise found practically 

 every man and woman who intended 

 to take part in the hunt already on the 

 road toward the open range. Scores of 



people could be seen on the move along 

 the various country roads, all anxious 

 and eager for the chase. Everybody" 

 knew where the round-up would take 

 place in a general way, and as this 

 point was nearly twenty miles from 

 the city, an early start was essential to 

 see the killing. 



In a triangular section of the coun- 

 try, formed by two branches of the 

 Union Pacific railroad and the Bur- 

 lington, in Weld County, there is a 

 stretch of open prairie, containing 

 scarcely a settler, except coyotes and 

 jack rabbits. It is from this great wil- 

 derness, thirty miles across, that the 

 coyotes slip out in the dark of night and 

 raid hen roosts and small stock corrals 

 at the little scattering villages and settle- 

 ments along the railroad lines. And it is 

 the necessity of keeping the number of 

 these marauders at the minimum that 

 has made a great sporting event out of 

 what was at first only a small war by 

 stockmen and farmers to protect their 

 property. 



The hunt had been well advertised, 

 both by circulars and the local countrv 

 and city newspapers, and under a head 

 captain, there were about twenty-five 

 lieutenants, who had been sent out the 

 day before to take charge of the men 

 who were to form the circle, thirty miles 

 in diameter. As we emerged into the 

 plain from the northwest, a line of 

 horsemen could be seen stretching away 

 to the south and east as far as the eye 



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