CAMPFIRE CHAT
I had gone into private lands north of Oak Ridge, Louisiana with the intent of photographing coyotes. Much of the land where I was entering was flooded probably by beavers closing the drainage areas. Mosquitos were almost unbearable but I was wearing a HD leafy camo suit that prevented them from biting. My faithful Thermacell was also very effective. Entering the woods about 9:30 in the morning after setting up my campsite, I moved around periodically traveling upwind stopping to make my calls using an electronic call. I used remote control at first with the call some 20-30 yards from me. After several hours without success I set up a temporary blind in the limbs of a dead tree next to a flooded area. The main reason to select this area was that I had witnessed something very unusual while making my calls. I had disturbed the bedding area of young fawns numbering about 10 in the group. I had never seen this many young deer in one group before. Hoping they would return I settled in for the afternoon.
Around 4:00 pm, after seeing nothing to photograph, I decided to make a few more calls directly from my blind without remote. I had set up with my back to the water assuming that coyote's probably would traverse the drier areas to get to me if there were any in the area. That was a mistake. Around 4:30 I heard something walking in the water very close behind me. Assuming they were probably deer I turned to see two full grown coyotes at 15 yards on a line to enter my blind in about 20 seconds. Needless to say this was a first for me and somewhat put me into a panic mode. Not wanting to confront them face to face and not able to turn into a position to photograph them without major motion I decided I would sacrifice the photograph, sadly, to stop the coyotes. I got out of my camo chair in a crouch and turned to face them hoping to salvage the situation with a photograph. The motion made them stop and my size, I am sure, made them think twice. They retreated to an area behind some brush and began to pace back and forth attempting to determine what I was. My camo suit was working perfectly but I was totally outdone with myself that I had missed my first opportunity to photograph coyotes up close and personal. They eventually retreated out of sight. Assuming they were probably gone I made one more desperate attempt using my predator call. This big male came back immediately and began to look for what he assumed was a rabbit in distress affording me the opportunity for this photograph. He soon discovered there was no rabbit and hastily retreated into the woods.
I am still reliving this adventure in my mind and it has been one of the most exciting moments I have had in the woods. It truly was one great moment in the life of this wildlife photographer.
Coyote Confrontation!
