Tennessee’s coyote season is open year round.
In the last couple of months, between tornadoes, floods and thunderstorms (our weather has been a just little nasty) I have had few chances to hunt. Saturday morning, was one of our better days. The previous week, I had received a call from a cattleman who has started missing newborn calves. He said his partner had seen several coyotes following pregnant cows around the fields and had found signs of where he suspected they were stealing some of the calves at birth. As I drove onto the farm, one coyote appeared about 600 yards away in a large pasture. Before I could get out of my truck, some of the rancher’s cattle also spotted the coyote and proceeded to chase it further into the open pasture away from the herd and out of view. Being pursued by a small group of rather large bovines must have been very traumatic for that poor ol’ coyote because it sure left the county in a hurry. I worked the wooded side of one of the pastures but the only critter that found my calling to his liking was a large hawk. Sunday evening I was back at it but the wind started gusting within thirty minutes of my arrival. From past experience, I knew there would be little chance of success. Calling in such a wild gale would only educate coyotes, so the rest of the day was a spent scouting my new found hunting ground. To quote a famous actor: "I'll be back"!
