Dave Richey Outdoors

Michigan Fishing & Hunting

Michigan's deer herd has had a easy winter

This snow isn’t too deep for deer; belly-deep snow exhausts the animals

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A study of deer facts can make anyone a better bow, muzzleloader, rifle or shotgun hunter. Here are some things to bone up on during the off-season.

A deer's home range is the area that annually covered by deer while eating, mating, resting or caring for fawns after birth. The radius of a home range usually is less than a mile in diameter.

Home ranges often are elongated, and may decrease in size as animal populations increase. One exception occurs during the rut when a dominant buck travels widely. A buck's home range decreases in size as the animal grows older or as the local deer population increases.

The theory of migrating whitetails was once ignored by wildlife biologists, but too much evidence exists of migratory patterns in northern ranges, especially during a severe winter. A case in point are whitetails along the Lake Superior drainage system once fall weather starts acting like winter.

Deer do migrate in some parts of the state

In a bad winter (which can coincides with the firearm deer season), deer may travel many miles to find shelter and food. If deep snow falls during the hunting season, look for migration trails that will cross state highways and back roads into heavy conifers or other dense yarding areas. Migrations from the Lake Superior shoreline gains strength as snow piles up, and deer move into huge yarding areas like the Hulbert or Tahquamenon swamps near Newberry, Michigan. during bad winters.

Such has not really been the case in many areas,. Most of Michigan this winter has dealt with little snow. Near Traverse City,  for instance, we often have 80-100 inches of snow by New Year's Day and it just keeps piling through February and March.

The last I knew, about a week ago, the area had received about 25 of snow, and then it melts and disappears.

Deer in southern counties seldom yard up because of severe weather, but such is not true in northern areas. Once snow reaches a depth of 12 or more inches, and cold winds howl, deer head for yarding areas by the most direct route.

Deer yards are often in thick cover with thermal conditions

They choose evergreens (balsam, cedar and pine) where cold, snow and wind have less impact on them, and the dense cover provides some thermal protection against body heat loss. In Michigan, deer-yard confinement is considered to be 20 weeks during a bad winter and 12-14 weeks in milder weather.

Some deer movement is normal except in severe conditions

Deer often bed in thick brushy cover during the day and near feeding areas in the evening. During snowy winter months, deer may venture from a deer yard briefly to feed but return to its confines during the coldest parts of the day or night or whenever snow becomes too deep for easy travel.

Deer require up to one bushel of browse daily to survive the winter. A matriarch doe often leads groups of three to five animals to feeding areas, but if weather is severe and browse is in short supply, does will kick fawns away before they can eat. This is one reason why deer mortality among young-of-the-year deer is very high in bad weather.

A dominant buck will lose 25-30 percent of its body weight during the rut, and that weight must be regained before heavy snows fall or it will likely perish.

Falling temperatures often put deer on the move. However, the reverse is also true in Michigan's northern areas during winter months. The colder the temperature during November and December, the more deer will move to stay warm.

Deer activity decreases in high winds and heavy snow storms. During lengthy snows, deer may be inactive for up to three or four days with very cold temperature says, and will move heavily once a storm passes through. That's the time to go hunting if the season is still open.

Watch the weather forecasts, and see what the 24-hour forecast will be. Hunting is often good immediately before a storm front moves in providing it brings a sudden drop in temperature. If a major winter storm is predicted, it might pay to be afield earlier in the day than normal to take advantage of a whitetails predictable feeding patterns.

An active scrape features a strong urine smell, hoof prints and antler tine marks. Hunt 30-40 yards downwind of an active deer scrape during the first three days of the firearms season. Most but not all scrape activity has ended by the firearm season opener as the rut winds down.

Those does are ready to be bred, and this knowledge can help a hunter fill a buck or doe tag.

Food choices are widespread among whitetails. They favor natural browse and farm-grown crops, and some deer researchers believe Michigan's deer are fairly divided between natural browse and farm crops.

Acorns rate high in nutrition and are easily found during the fall if the mast crop is good, but some years oak mast fails. Most of the state's corn fields have been picked except in southern counties, but a standing corn field will attract deer all winter if it is near heavy bedding cover.

Does often stomp their fawns to death during a bad winter. It's a bad thing to watch, but it's nature's way of allow the strong to survive and the weak animal eventually waste away with no marrow in their bones and a fuzzy face. That's when the coyotes come calling, and a deer yard takes on the appearance of an abattoir.

Checking winter’s impact on critters

A nice long-bearded gobbler moves easily over deep winter snow.

I spent some time outdoors today, as I do most days when or after it snows, and found myself wondering what to do. The weather was the pits, sharp northwest wind, and bone-chilling cold. The good news was it wasn't snowing at the time.

One of the best things to come from this spate of nasty,  anowy weather that has bombarded us for the past week was there weren't any  drifts in the driveway.  However, walking around outside means fighting through deep snow in a vain search for deer that are looking for something to eat. Most of the animals are holed up where enough thermal cover exists so they won't freeze to death.

The snow everywhere in my neighborhood is almost hip-deep with a thin crusts below the snow, and although deer seldom stray too far from thick cover, there is little food available to them. Most of the deer movement comes after dark but a few grouse are feeding on catkins.

Deep snow everywhere in the northern counties.

This weather isn't a blessing for deer although turkeys can easily walk on top without breaking through. Small deer often starve to death during the winter because they are too small to move through deep snow. They become easy pickings for coyotes.

With the weather in the low-20s during the day, the weather and lack of nutritious food doesn't offer bucks a chance to regain lost weight and stamina. Pregnant does are hoping to find food to build up their fat reserves if the winter continues to be ugly, and fawns born last spring will soon be starving to death if the weather doesn't improve.

There are very few standing corn fields this year. The fall weather allowed farmers to complete their harvest, and most of the grain left behind is gone.

Hunting pressure, for the most part, was minimal or nonexistent  through December. Some bow hunters like me hunted the last couple of days of the season, but we were treated to an almost daily diet of heavy snow for 10 days. Most deer didn't move until long after dark.

There doesn't seem to be many turkeys around, and they are widely scattered with the deep winter snow. I've seen a few in recent days, and they always seem to be on the move. Gobblers, hens and poults are trying to feed as they travel in an endless pattern trying to find food, and watching them cross a field is a lesson in watching heads bob up and down. There is a lot of pecking but little food to eat.

Song birds are coming to the feeders at the house, and there is a constant parade of various birds. What I'm not seeing this winter, which is fine by me, are the large groups of mourning doves that waste more bird seed than they eat.

Turkeys moving easily on top of the deep snow.

These birds often use the back part of my deck as a place to roost for the night, and they poop constantly. Cleaning the deck is difficult during most winters, and this year, they aren't here. Perhaps they only roost on my deck when the weather turns nice.

Fishing pressure on area rivers has about dried up, and although there still are some steelhead in some of the rivers, there doesn't seem to be much interest. Everyone is ice fishing, but catches seem to be down on many lakes.

Lakes like Big Glen, Crystal, Higgins, Houghton and others are slow to freeze. Deep snow still covers many lakes, and it acts like an insulating blanket.

ice fishing has been spotty with frequent storms.

Live bait dealers are hurting a bit because ofinconsistent conditions, but the skiing and snowmobiling industries are happy with the snow conditions. The high price of gasoline does seem to be having an impact on snowmobilers.

One thing about it, I've been riding my snowblower too much so far this winter. I'm not sure this kind of weather really appeals to me.

It makes for a long winter once the snow gets too deep for predator and rabbit hunting. But one thing always holds true with Michigan weather: if you don't like it, wait until tomorrow, it will probably change.

Winter has returned

One hopes this and other gobblers make it through the winter.

A few days ago it was 40 degrees. The storm we are now experiencing began last night with strong winds and snow amounts up to 12 inches.

Earlier today the strong wind started filling up with even more snow, and the westerly blow is a tough wind in our neighborhood. It whips across open fields, and buries our driveway.

One look at it at breakfast made me realize that tomorrow morning means another two hours or more on the snow-blower. Lots of time. Lots of snow. Cold temperatures.

It’s part of living up north where lake-effect snow is measured by the feet.

Do I dislike it? No, as a matter of fact, I enjoy snow-blowing. However, the Weather Channel says there is more snow and wind snaking through Minnesota and Wisconsin and down from Canada, and the storm is supposed to continue through tomorrow.

What I dislike most is having to snow-blow during a storm. However, if I don't do it in the morning, and wait as more drifting snow blows through the Traverse City region, the drifted snow will turn into something as hard as concrete.

The other problem also means sticking the nose of the snow-blower out into the road where someone with a car or truck or speeding snowmobile could run into me. I wear some blaze orange clothing, but if the wind continues to blow hard, the visibility may make seeing anything very difficult or impossible.

It is storms like this that can wreak havoc on deer and turkey numbers.

A big, fat, apparently pregnant fox squirrel came to visit the bird feeder today. Squirrel season is still open, and I could have easily shot the bushytail, but that would be like shooting ducks on the water. I let her feed, which may be a mistake when she comes visiting next summer with her brood in tow, and I may then be sorry. However, I figured she had enough problems to cope with being out and on the prowl for food in this kind of weather. Why add to her problems?

My neighbor called and asked me to guess what he was looking  behind his house.

"Turkeys," I said.

"Nope," he said, "ducks. What are they doing in what's left of my cornfield on a day like today? Shouldn't they be somewhere near water?"

I suggested that very little open water is available now except in certain streams. And, I offered, the birds probably were out looking for food, spotted his cornfield and dropped in to see if there were any corn kernels left.

"Six ducks," he muttered, "six mallards. I can't hardly believe it."

I told him about the she-squirrel grubbing for something to eat under my bird feeder, and he agreed that the storm must be making all kinds of critters a little goofy.

The squirrel surely came from my woods or the woods across the street. The ducks probably have some little pocket of open water somewhere on Grand Traverse Bay or on one of the nearby lakes or streams.

The turkeys seem to be conspicuous by their absence this winter. I've seen just one small flock of birds, and that was several days ago but thei seen to have disappeared. They are probably keeping their heads down until the storm blows through. A few deer are moving through the snow but they aren't traveling very far.

If the storm continues tonight, stay off the roads and stay safe.

Tomorrow is another day, and with any kind of luck, we won't get buried in snow overnight. Blowing snow isn't too bad with a foot of the white stuff, but if it gets any deeper than that, even my tractor and snow-blower has to work too hard. Heavy, compacted snow is hard on a blower.

And that goes for the guy driving the thing. Stay warm and dry tomorrow, and ride out the storm. Stay home, and off the roads, and remain safe while saving gasoline.

Hopefully, if the storm continues, snowmobilers will stay off the roads and trails. It's during these near white-out conditions that snowmobile accidents can happen.

Cars, trees and parked vehicles often seem to jump out in front of a snowmobiler during a bad storm, and survival in such cases is questionable at any kind of speed. And if you must travel through the storm, carry heavy clothing, snowshoes, shovel, boots, a strong flashlight plus food and water. Two or three blankets or sleeping bags can keep you toasty warm. Get some blaze orange surveyer's tape, and tie it to your car in hopes of it being seen before it run over by one of the over-zealous County road plows that travel nonstop at 60 miles per hour. I don't how they can see anything at the speeds they drive when plowing.

Fighting a nasty winter storm with high winds is never a good idea. If you go into a ditch, stay with the vehicle. Don't be a hero and try to walk out for help. That is how people die in severe winter storms.

A winter hike



This buck was photographed when there was little snow.


Soft, lazy flakes of snow drifted slowly down from a leaden sky as I decided to check out one of my hunting areas for some last-minutes bow hunting between Christmas and New Years Day. I may have bit off a bit more than I could comfortable eat.

I’d missed a few days with a tender back. It’s been broken twice years ago, and serves as a barometer of bad weather for me. And it can turn from good to bad in a minute or two, and hiking through thigh-deep snow isn’t the best thing for me to be doing.

I’d have been better served by donning one of the four pairs of snowshoes I owned. However, I chose to take the cross-country hike with only a ski pole to help me maintain some semblance of balance. I didn’t fall so it apparently worked/

My possibles bag had been forgotten the last time I sat in a pit blind, and I figured I’d check out that particular area, and pick up the bag with the black powder, sabots, bullets and the like while I was at it. So off I went in my shin-high rubber boots and my third leg, the ski pole.

Hiking was pretty slow going as I went from knee- to thigh-deep.


The first 10 steps was through snow that was up to my knees. The 11th step was almost up to my hips, and had it not been for the ski pole, I would have fallen in the deep snow. In and out of the knee- to thigh-deep snow, and after a quarter-mile of not seeing a track, I stopped for a break and to look around.

The fields were worse than the woods in one regards because the drifts were deeper. However, walking through deep snow is the woods is an interesting way to find out just how many ways there are to trip over things, get legs hung up in blackberry bushes, or finding slippery logs to slide down before catching a tree branch that breaks off in your hands.

I cut a trail angling through the woods, saw just one squirrel track from where a bushytail was scouring the woods in search of his stash of grub hidden for winter. The nearest corn field was almost a half-mile away, and I couldn’t see him going that fall.

Next was a pair of half-filled-in tracks traveling together. I followed them for a hundred yards, and they disappeared into another woodlot. They were probably looking for a deer away from it’s yarding area, but the tracks continue on a direction that didn’t coincide with my particular line of travel.

The next woodlot was eased into, and another trail through the woods was followed until it petered out in heavy woods before dropping downhill. I didn’t walk to go that way and have to climb out and up a steep hill in deep snow.

I kept looking for deer tracks in the snow but didn’t find any.


I kept looking ahead, and off to each side, trying to find any deer tracks. It was getting to be hard going, and I knew if it was tough on me, it would be worse for a deer. I kept circling back toward my car, and finally walked back out onto the road.

The hike felt good but my disappointment was hard to hide. If I’d covered that much ground, and not seen a single track, it tells me the deer pulled up stakes and headed for some thick cover that would provide some thermal cover for the animals.

I had picked up my possibles bag along the way, and had tested the ski pole with almost every step I’d taken, and had nothing to show for it except some good exercise. Perhaps in a day or two I take another hike in hopes of finding some deer but I suspect my deer hunting may be done for this year.

Forget the deer: let’s find some bunny habitat



Two or three snowshoe hares used to be common but no longer.


It's almost Christmas, and my back deck has already been shoveled a dozen times. That's right, that often so far this weekand it’s coming down hard as this is being written.

Folks, if you want snow to slide off your metal roof and save you a laborious back-breaking job, get a day of 35 degree temperatures and combine that with 20+ inches of wet snow on the roof, and shoveling becomes more than an ordeal; it can become an adventure in knowing when to duck your head and body under the eaves.

Ice sometimes forms under the snow pack, and as everything begins to warm and wet snow falls on the present load, things begin to happen. Gravity exerts its inevitable force on the snow, and it slowly begins to move.

Snow always moves downhill slowly, and then builds quickly into an avalanche.


Snow doesn't move up-hill. It comes down, and quite rapidly at times and with very little warning.

There is little time to think about falling snow coming off the roof, but know this: the one place you do not want to be is under the snow and ice once it begins plummeting toward the deck. The force of the impact literally shakes the house.

The avalanche begins with a faint creak or two as the metal roof flexes a bit under the strain, and next is a barely audible hiss. If you hear the hiss, you best be ducking for cover fast because the snow will come crashing down in one or two seconds. That's all the warning you get, trust me.

There is very little warning with snow on a metal roof. Creak, creak, hiss and here it comes. If you snooze, you lose this one-sided race. If you get hit by a 50-pound jagged piece of ice on the old noggin, your shoveling days may be over.

Seriously, this year's early snowfall has put a snuffer on my local deer hunting. I shovel every day that it snows, and since my measuring device is attached to my house, I can tell how much snow we get.

We are at between 45 and 50 inches of snow so far.


Mind you, it may not be exactly accurate because some of it may be drifted snow, but I use my back deck railing as a guide. Each morning I look at the railing, and if there is a noticeable amount of white stuff, I measure it before starting to shovel it off.

Since mid- to late-November, we have got 46 inches of snow. I don't care if it all falls straight down out of the sky or blows in sideways, what is on the railing is counted daily in inches. I usually keep close track until we exceed 100 inches of snow and to continue counting is a waste of my time.

One hundred inches of snow is too much of a good thing. By the way we are going, unless the snow slows down, we may be close to that rediculous number before we usher in Christmas.

It's almost too much now right now to easily get around. Me and deep snow, make for a major problem for someone with poor vision.

It has a tendency to cover fallen logs, brushpiles, stumps and other things that continually jump out in front of me, and I manage to entangle my feet in them before falling to the ground in a might splash of snow.

That’s why I love to hunt snowshoe hares. I let hounds circle bunnies to me.


It's one reason why I used to hunt snowshoe hares as often as possible. You'd walk in the cedars, find a single track, sic the beagles on the track, and wait around for the short-legged hounds to circle the hare within shotgun range.

Well, I don't know about you, but the last 10 years has been tough on snowies. They seem to be disappearing rapidly, and finding a spot where it sometimes is possible to shoot one of the ghost hares, has become almost as difficult as walking easily in 30 inches of snow.

All of my old hare hotspots have cooled off, and we're lucky to find one or two hares each winter. In some cases, we head into the cedar swamps without a firearm. We'll let the dogs run the occasional bunny, but shooting the hare is almost a criminal act.

And that, my friends, is a rather sobering thought as hare numbers continue to spiral downwards.

Give us a break from snow



When food gets scarce, does fight anything for food … even their fawns.


I spent some time outdoors today, and found myself wondering what to do. The weather is the pits, and although it wasn't snowing today, the wind was brisk.

One of the best things to come from this spate of nasty,  anowy weather that has bombarded us for the past week. Walking around outside means fighting through deep snow in a vain search for deer that are looking forsomething to eat.

There is at least 24-30 inches of snow everywgere in my neighborhood, and although deer seldom stray too far from thick cover, there is little food available to them. Most of the deer movement comes after dark but a few grouse are feeding on catkins

The snow is deep and few deer are moving during shooting time.


This weather isn't a blessing for deer. Small deer often starve to death during the winter because they are too small to move through deep snow. They become easy pickings for coyotes.

With the weather in the mid-20s during the day, the weather and lack of nutritious food doesn't offer bucks a chance to regain some weight and stamina. Pregnant does are hoping to find food to build up their fat reserves if the winter continues to be ugly, and fawns born last spring will soon be starving to death if the weather doesn't improve.

There are very few standing corn fields this year. The fall weather allowed farmers to complete their harvest, and most of the grain left behind is gone.

Hunting pressure, for the most part, has been minimal or nonexistent  the muzzleloader season is winding down. Some bow hunters are out, but we were treated to an almost daily diet of heavy snow for 10 days. Most deer aren't moving until long after dark.

Few hunters are out after deer, and fishing in streams has been poor.


I spotted a doe fawn feeding today along the edge of a field. She was working on the remnants of my neighbor's corn field, but she looked pretty pathetic. She never strayed far from heavy cover.

There doesn't seem to be many turkeys around, and they are widely scattered with the deep winter snow. I've seen some in recent weeks, and they always seem to be on the move. Gobblers, hens and poults are trying to feed as they travel, and watching them cross a field is a lesson in watching heads bob up and down. There is a lot of pecking but little food to eat.

Song birds are coming to the feeders at the house, and there is a constant parade of various birds. What I'm not seeing this winter, which is fine by me, are the large groups of mourning doves that waste more bird seed than they eat.

These birds often use the back part of my deck as a place to roost for the night, and they poop constantly. Cleaning the deck is difficult during most winters, and this year, they aren't here. Perhaps they only roost on my deck when the weather turns nice.

Fishing pressure on area rivers has about dried up, and although there still are some steelhead in some of the rivers, there doesn't seem to be much interest. Everyone is waiting for winter ice to form on area lakes, and that won't happen now for a couple of weeks providing the weather turns cold and more snow holds off.

We need a break although snowmilers and cross-country skiers are happy.


I'm willing to bet that unless we get a tremendous cold snap with no wind, it's my guess that most of the larger lakes may not form safe ice until January or February. Lakes like Big Glen, Crystal, Higgins, Houghton and others are not showing any indication that ice will form anytime soon. Deep snow still covers many lakes, and it acts like an insulating blanket.

Live bait dealers are starving because of a lack of ice, and the skiing and snowmobiling industries are happy with the snow conditions. The week between Christmas and New Years is always the busiest weekend of the year, but not so far this season.

One thing about it, I've been riding my snowblower too much so far this winter. I'm not sure this kind of weather really appeals to me.

When the deer don't move much, and no one is moving to push the deer, it makes for a long dead spell right now. Hopefully the weather will change soon.

Coyotes, deer and winter: a deadly combination



Lyle Kelley of Drummond Island with a big coyote.


The time of the Hunger Moon is fast approaching. It's that period when January and February coyotes and other critters have cleaned up on the aged, dead and wounded deer in the woods.

Right now, the woods are fairly silent at night. We've started the muzzleloader season yesterday. There wasn't too much interest because of the snow, and I spent a good deal of time today outdoors shoveling my deck. We've had a big week for snow, and as of this writing, we've had 22 inches of snow this year, down from 82 inches last year.

Last year there was standing corn in my area where local farmers couldn't get it off before all the snow arrived. This year is different, and deer are having to work for their food.

Coyotes are plentiful across the state except where wolves are present.


I heard four shots this afternoon, and although a neighbor hunted, he didn't see a deerand neither did I. All of that will soon change when the winter woods will rumble with the sounds of coyotes on the move.

These predators are looking for food, and it matters little what is available. Coyotes have learned how to live close to man, and they are not bashful about announcing their presence. It's at times like this, with cold temperatures at night and snow growing deeper by the day, that the brush wolves start to make their presence known.

Twice this week I've seen coyote tracks near my mail box, and out in back where deep snow covers our food plot. The local coyote population has learned to hang close to whatever deer forage is available, and as the snow piles up, they will start pulling down deer.

A coyote has a couple of favorite foods. One is cats. If Tabby is left outdoors at night, and doesn't show up in the morning, it's quite likely the mouser ran afoul of one or more coyotes and won't ever be coming home again.

The same holds true for dogs. Leave a bowser out all night, and one of two things will happen. The dogs and other local dogs will form a pack and start running deer. Or ... they may bump heads with a pack of hunting coyotes, and they too will become fodder for their closely related canine family members.

There is no room in today's society for free-roaming cats and dogs at night or even during the day. Cats are luckier than dogs because they can climb trees unless they get ambushed by the coyotes. The best bet is to keep the pets inside at all times to avoid losing Fifi. Not much is left of a cat or dog that is caught outside by a hungry pack of coyotes.

Keep cats and dogs in a kennel or inside the house at night.


I know some hunters who won't run these animals unless there are two or more big dogs in the pack. Coyotes, especially in February when males and females are about to breed, will team up and kill a single hound dog and it's not a pretty sight.

Small dogs are a favorite coyote food. Fewer dogs are taken than cats, but fewer people let their small dogs run loose in the winter. By all that is right, no cat or dog should be left outside after dark. Cats are every bit the predator that a coyote is, but they tend to catch mice and ruffed grouse while coyotes prefer larger prey.

The coyote is a much maligned animal, and over many years when Michigan paid a bounty on coyotes and foxes, the only thing the bounty system proved was that it didn't work. I grew up in Clio, just north of Flint, and we hunted red foxes all winter.

No matter how many fox were taken by the Clio group, and our nearby rivals, the Frankenmuth fox hunters, there were as many or more foxes the next year. The bounty system was a worthless waste of time and taxpayer money.

But i digress. The upcoming hunger moon of December and January is when coyotes howl and  prowl, and forget about eating mice and other rodents. It's a time when they need food, and lots of it, and it's when coyotes begin picking off the elderly and weakened animals.

There is nothing to match the ferocity of a coyote other than a wolf. Fox were once the most popular canine predator in the state. As coyote numbers grew, the fox became fewer in number. In the Upper Peninsula, where wolves are the ultimate apex predator (other than man), coyote numbers are few and fox numbers even less. Wolves will catch and kill coyotes and foxes at every opportunity.

Listen closely at night, and one can hear coyotes tuning up for the hunt.


Coyotes often hunt in loose packs until the breeding season begins, and right now the coyote pups born this spring are hunting together with at least the mother as they learn how to drag something down and kill it.

It's easy to tell the approximate age of coyotes. Young ones yip-yip-yip, and try to howl. The adults can and often howl as the family members gather for the hunt. It's easy to tell when these animals are on a deer because the howls and yips are steadily moving.

Hunters take some coyotes, and two primary methods produce. The spot-and-stalk method and by calling. Calling is great fun but as more and more people try it, and then move too soon and spook the animal, that coyote gets a fast education. I've had mediocre success calling coyotes.

My favorite hunting method is to drive the roads through relatively open terrain, and spot a coyote. It may be crossing the road, mousing in a field or looking for a spot to bed down. Watch the animal until it circles around before laying down.

Make an upwind stalk, moving slowly and stopping often to keep the bedded coyote in sight, and move again when it lowers its head to nap for a few more minutes. A slow stalk can put the hunter within easy shooting range.

The coyote, much cussed and discussed, is difficult to hunt. Make one mistake, and it will just get smarter and smarter. If it's a challenge you seek, look no further than the coyote. They are plentiful everywhere in the state, including Detroit and its crowded suburbs, but nowhere are there any dumb 'yotes.

A hunter earns every coyote he takes, regardless of the method used.