Coyotes & Chickens & Children, Oh My!

Posted bySusan K. MarlowPosted inJust for Fun

(With apologies to Dorothy’s “Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!” from The Wizard of Oz) This is another of those author trivia posts. I found my old Suzy Scribbles blog the other day. If you want to read some other funny stuff, head over there and go to A Blast from the Past.

Suzy’s Scribbles >>

Coyotes & Chickens & Children, Oh My!

One morning, not so many years ago, my 8-year-old daughter, Kristel, came screaming into the house with an empty egg basket (her morning chore was collecting eggs). “There’s a coyote eating our chickens!” she shrieked. 

Without a thought, I snatched up the first thing I came across–a broom–and tore out of the house. Indeed, the chicken yard looked like a war zone. The hens were ravished! Infuriated at this wanton act of destruction, I looked around for the culprit. Sure enough, there he was with a chicken in his mouth. I ran after him, hollered, and whacked at him. He dropped the chicken and took off. 

 But not for long . . . Soon (and I mean a few minutes later) the coyote was back for the breakfast he’d dropped on the run. Enough of this, I thought. So I went into the closet and got out the .22 pistol. I slammed in the clip, told the kids to stay in the house, and went out in the front yard. There he was, not more than 15 feet away, with another chicken in his mouth. He looked at me—daring me to take action.

That did it! We lived inside the city limits, but I didn’t care if I shouldn’t be shooting off guns in town. I took aim and shot at the coyote. He didn’t drop dead. He didn’t drop the chicken. He didn’t yelp. He didn’t move. He just looked at me. Another shot. Same reaction. I began to think I was firing blanks. Two more shots. Missed again. 

Then, apparently disgusted with my poor marksmanship, he trotted off—chicken still in his mouth. We never saw him again.

Moral: If you’re going to shoot a coyote, try some target practice first.

Kristel around the time of the coyote incident.

Published by Susan K. Marlow

I'm the author of the Circle C and Goldtown Adventures series. I blog as "Andi Carter," the main character in the Circle C series. She lives on a huge cattle ranch in 1880s California. These are her adventures.

32 thoughts on “Coyotes & Chickens & Children, Oh My!”

  2. That’s hilarious 😂 we had some friends that went hunting and the one girl shot the antlers off the deer and the other one shot the tail off😂🤪 how? I have no clue.😂😂
    Katie Moen

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

      1. Absolutely. It’s no different from cattle being slaughtered to make a hamburger or a chicken killed for fried chicken. I took great pleasure in going after that beastly coyote. My only regret is that I missed him all four times.

        Liked by 2 people

      2. My family goes hunting all the time. (during hunting season ofc)
        And we are getting beef cattle as well.
        God made these animals for us to eat to survive.
        They are wonderful animals He created for us 🙂

        Liked by 2 people

      3. Yes, but we don’t live in historical times anymore! And I know WAY too many people who hunt FOR FUN! Plus, they waste the animal’s bodies *shudder*!

        Like

      1. But I agree hunting for the sake of hunting is not good, but if you plan to eat it, it’s fine.

        Like

      8. And hunting is an important part of wildlife management. If we don’t allow people to hunt to thin out the population, groups of animals will over-populate the environment and cause big problems for the other life. For example, if an environment has too many deer, the small shrubs and small trees all get eaten so they don’t have a chance to grow, causing loss of habitat for insects, birds, and small mammals.

        Liked by 1 person

  7. That’s why I’m vegetarian! I’ll stand for animal’s rights! And actually, it was after man’s fall (The Flood) that He allowed us to eat animals. (Genesis 9:3) (I believe being vegan is in God’s perfect will) God’s first command to us was to take care of the earth and everything in it!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    3. I haven’t and never will, I’d rather not waste the precious life of an animal just to prove I hate hunting. I could never bring myself to kill an animal, and if I did, I would never be able to live with myself afterward! *Shudder*

      Like

      Reply

  8. Oh, and in science I learned about the predator-prey feedback loop. It’s basically says that (using your example) That the deer would die out NATURALLY from lack of food and everything would go back to normal. It also means that by killing the deer you are messing things up and are setting things off balance. You should look up the predator-prey feedback loop.

    Like

    Reply

  9. There is no need to equalize the predator or prey (through hunting) in nature. It only leads to things like extinction! In fact, it is worse for the plant/prey life if we humans try to kill of the predators to make equilibrium. Too many times we humans have tried that and ended up hurting the environment.

    Like

    Reply

  10. Hunting is a bad way to try to “help” the earth. I prefer litter pick-ups and volunteering at animal shelters. It’s one thing to hunt because you want to, and another thing to claim you’re helping the earth. God is in control of nature, and He knows how to make nature take care of itself. In fact, God doesn’t need ANY help from us!

    Like

    Reply
  12. Pingback: Coyotes & Chickens & Children, Oh My! – rosdahal

Leave a comment