Listening to Song Dogs in the Spring

Caught in the bottle-neck - this pretty song dog let down his guard while slipping through a bottle-neck between an old fence and a large pile of rocks that led into an old field.  The One-Eyed Hillbilly strikes again.

 

A young'un caught at the corner of the old collapsed barn

Last night I sat on the back porch looking out at the garden as the sun went down. In the distance down along the Arkansas River & Lake Dardanelle I heard the familiar call of the first evening coal train coming from out west and heading toward the east coast. As the piercing air horn screamed into the early evening darkness the coyotes, or song dogs, launched into a yipping and howling frenzy just across the road south of our house. It sounded as if there were 50 or more of the elusive critters all running together. Soon thereafter another gang of them tore loose to the north of the house. The house seemed to be nestled right between two competing coyote choirs and it was amazing. The two groups fed off the building frenzy of the train whistle and the competing ruckus of each pack. Between the two packs it sounded as if there were hundreds of them and yet you seldom see a coyote during daylight unless you catch one while trapping, call one up while spring turkey hunting or varmint hunting, or chase them with hounds. The critters are an amazing triumph of nature in my eyes…eye…and there are many similarities between the species and folks from the Ozark hills.

A Dent's Pasture Song Dog - notice he's rubbed bad above the shoulders
with no guard hairs showing

Ancient Native American Indian folk lore told that the coyote would be the last living animal on earth. This idea is not by accident. Like folks from the hills, song dogs are resourceful, tough, and smart. They can make a living where others can’t. They are survivors. In one of his trapping DVD’s, noted wildlife biologist and trapper, Mark June, made the observation that humans would have to trap 70% of the coyote population for 50 years consecutively in order to detrimentally impact the population of the critters. This interesting piece of trivia was derived from a government study that concluded that reproduction rates for coyotes naturally vary according to hunting pressure. That fact is a testament to the natural adaptability of the cunning creature. I can’t conclusively say that particular characteristic is shared with us folks from the hills – it’s never been tested. I’d certainly hate to have to head into the hills to hunt hillbillies to test the comparison! I’m afraid whoever was huntin’ hillbillies might see a detrimental impact on their population!



Teaching the kids how to cut for sign, set steel, and catch fur.
A Lake Spring, MO coyote.



‘Tough as a Pine Knot’ is a term used throughout the Ozarks to describe anything that has grit. That term certainly applies to coyotes & hillbillies alike. Case in point, a few years back while trapping in Dent’s Pasture I caught a coyote with a case of mange that was so severe the poor animal looked like a cartoon character – the critter reminded me of Wiley Coyote after the Roadrunner had ran him through a thrashing machine. When I first pulled up to my trap set I thought I had caught an alien! It only had fur on its snout, down the middle of its back, and on the tops of its paws. The rest of its body was pink and blotched-brown bare skin exposed to the elements. And this was in late January after a week of sub-zero nightly temperatures! I don’t know how it managed to keep from freezing to death but it had outwitted Mother Nature’s raw indifference for several weeks. Maybe it was a smart enough critter to build a fire! Years ago my trapping mentor, Kenny Wells, told me when you can out-smart a coyote with a steel trap you can catch anything and after years of trapping I now know he is right. Once you can master the nose, eyes, and cunning mind of a coyote in your trapping pursuits you can catch anything.

This young male song dog got a little too interested in the dirt hole set on the pond dam.  Notice both front paws in the trap!

As I set here writing this article I am once again hearing the train whistle in the distance and the song dogs are howling across the road. If it were only 30° instead of 85° I’d certainly be in the mood to catch a few of the critters. However, I guess I’m gonna have to get used to trapping in the warm air because I recently discovered that coyote trapping in Arkansas begins August 1st! That means I can trap for 7 months out of the year! Wow, my wife is going to be s-o-o-o tickled to hear about that! So says the One-Eyed Hillbilly.

Greg Stephens is a 35-year veteran & life-time student of the great outdoors. His column appears weekly in print & online publications. You can email him at gregstephens@one-eyedhillbilly.com. For more columns go to www.one-eyedhillbilly.blogspot.com.