Your very first coyote ? This is my first 1976



He was a very old dog, Notice the rubspot,I got $55 for what would have been $85 that year....
I got buck fever so bad i was amazed I hit him at 35 yards.....

Yes, I do remember, quite well.

I was a kid of 8 whole years young growing up on a 6K+ acre ranch in Central Texas in 1962.
My Dad and older brother had a trap line.
They used a combination of cyanide and steel traps.
By then, I was already proficient in using the cyanide guns but not allowed to use/set the jaw traps as they were dangerous.
Yeah.....here, play with this deadly gas but don't mess with the jaw traps as you may lose a finger!

One morning, my Dad and brother were called out for an emergency road repair and Mom and I were left to run the trap line.
We ran the cyanide line first and had a couple of trips and dead coyotes.
We reloaded/re-baited the guns, then cut their ears off for the bounty and hung them on the fence.

Next we checked the jaw traps.
At the third one we came to, there was a half-grown coyote in the trap.
He was not happy to be there and never stood still.
To this day I remember how many times I missed a perfect head shot, while my Mom was watching and laughing.
I finally managed to get a kill shot and we cut off the ears and hung him on the fence with the rest.

Later that day, I got a firm "talking-to" about wasting ammo, then had to relive the story over and over.
Good times for sure!

Mine was just about 3yrs. ago. Wasn't hunting them, he just crossed the road and a .22mag dropped him.