Coyote Den

Behind our house on the power pole line there is a coyote den. My father knew that the Den existed because he has seen a coyote sitting on top of it during hunting season. He was reminded of it by the kids because they followed coyote tracks all through the woods with me one day. The little guy's tracks (I am hoping he is little) would have led us right to his front door but we turned off the trail to head back home before that happened. Phew! So, on a separate trip with just my mother and father, we set out to find the opening to the den and look at it closeup.

The round indentation at the bottom of this picture shows another snowed in opening. If you look closely, you can see tracks leading to where my father is standing, which is basically right at the opening of the den. This a closup of the den entrance. As you can tell, it gets pretty narrow and takes a jog, making it difficult to see INTO the den. I was pretty nervous getting this close even though I know they are afraid of people. I was concerned about becoming a candidate for America's Funniest Home Videos, should a coyote pop out and scare the begeezus out of me. I snapped the picture quick and got the heck out of there. My mother played it safe and waited for us about 150 feet away. She wasn't sure the 6 hiking poles between us would be enough to fend off the whole pack if it came to that.

This picture shows the tracks coming out of the woods. This was a snowy day. On clear days the tracks are much more numerous. I wonder which dog has to go out and do the hunting on stormy days.....