The coyotes are wigging me the hell out
I'm tacking this out at 4:10am on Thursday, so if I actually post it, it'll mean I haven't been eaten by the fucking coyotes circling the cabin.
I'd be the first one to admit that my outdoors experience is pretty limited. I've kinda sorta been out in the country, but never slept under the stars, or even in a tent under the stars. The last time I can recall actually camping involved a friend and I going on a road trip with something you pulled behind your car with little money but lots of stuff that would make you relax real, real well.
I remember it being fun, but that's about all I remeber, so it seemed like a fine idea to accept the invitation to hang out at a cabin out in the middle of nowhere. I was imagining it as, well, a cabin. Rustic, dusty, drafty, kinda dirty and with suspicious indoor-plumbing. And possibly spiders. Really, really creepy spiders. Or ticks. Ticks just wig me out.
It's actually turned out to be a pretty sweet bundle of wood... and surprisingly big. Two bedrooms, a very large common room with a sky-light and kick-ass wood stove, kitchen appliances, and perfectly adequate indoor plumbing. Just a really nice, cozy place and I've certainly visited apartments that were worse.
It supposedly sleeps ten, but there are twelve here and no one is complaining. I don't know a lot about these things, so perhaps it's a cabin only because you can't get pizza delivered to it.
Now I was thinking cabin... as in a remote place to drink hot cider and get some work done, so I ended up bring the computer and planned on getting something done for DrunkenBlog. Unfortunately everyone else planned on playing cards and drinking heavily, so that's more what happened. Not that I'm complaining, it was a lot of fun.
But then came the fucking coyotes, who have started wailing and are, at least in my mind, circling the cabin and looking to pick off anyone stupid enough to step out for a nicotine fix. They've seriously wigged me the hell out.
Let me put it this way - we first heard them at around 3am, and everyone else has crashed, yet I'm banging this out because, and I swear to gawd, every time I try to snuggle up and drift off something starts scratching at the cabin or howling.
I mean, I can't say I know a hell of a lot about coyotes. I'm pretty sure they're pack animals, like wolves, which means they probably do that thing where they circle their prey then quickly move in and rip out it's hamgstring tendon so it can't run, and then it's a free-for-all for their dinner's throat and/or spinal cord.
Yea. This is why I've pretty much sworn myself off of watching any nature shows on TV now. I don't know how people sleep around open campfires with hungry fanged carnivores circling in the dark, I really don't.
Posted by drunkenbatmanDecember 30, 2004, at 12:15 PM
Comments (8)
Posted by: Kint at December 30, 2004 12:43 PM
No need to worry. I spend most of my life growing up on a farm in eastern Canada. Coyotes were a common sight. They are scavenger. They eat meat, but they don't kill it. I've seen a few go after a rabiit, once. They are not wolves; they are also extremely scared of humans. I once drove 4 of them away with a stick, and they were eating a carcass at the time as well. If there was 20 of them, and they hadn't eaten in a month, i'd get mildly annoyed.
Posted by: Junebug at December 30, 2004 01:48 PM
I dont go anywhere near a campfire unless theres a wirless network nearby.hahaha just kidding..yeah i been campin a few time man in the deep woods up by canada (scary huh) and it gets fuckin dark and scary at night im a city boy i need coffee shops and wirless networks and cement..hope them coyotes didnt get ya
Posted by: Kint at December 30, 2004 03:14 PM
Okay, looks like I'm full of crap. Just did some research on Coyotes, and they do hunt, and if they've been fed by people, they are known to bite. Guess it's time for you to panic. It's a miracle I was never bitten by Coyotes. Christ, I've chased those around with a *stick*.
:)
Posted by: Heather McCay-Hennel at December 30, 2004 10:08 PM
Our family has a cabin near Buffalo Lake. No wood stove but it has a stone fireplace! More smoke, but you can make a bigger fire and see it better. If you ever need a place to get away to work on the blog I am sure I could get the keys. :)
Posted by: eco2geek at December 30, 2004 11:54 PM
I'm eco2geek's wife. Well, it's interesting that you have such a vivid imagination, but I think I must put some of it to rest. First, have you ever seen a coyote? Unless you're looking at one who is a large dog cross e.g. German sheperd, they're not anywhere as large as a wolf.
Do you live in an area that is devoid of all small animals? No rabbits, gophers, etc. Even a small dog would be an easier meal than a great big human. I have seen a group of 5 coyotes who had come to lure my cattle dogs off into the wilds get a major surprise when they found themselves chased by two ranch dogs with a strong dingo background and who were more than willing to give better than they got.
They are just marking their territory and generally communicating with all the singing.
I doubt that they are scratching at the sides of your domicile unless you've got a dog in heat inside. That they would be interested in.
When you go out to smoke, trying joining the serenade. I ranched for many years and of all the tall tales I ever heard about sheep and coyotes, etc. I have never heard of a coyote even getting close to a human. They are highly intelligent and very adaptable so they have figured out how to live amount humans even in the city. They've known for a long time humans are best at a distance.
Posted by: nw boy at December 31, 2004 02:46 AM
did some bow hunting in nevada a while back. this part of neveda coyotes were the devil incarnate, yes, theyll peel off the weak and take it down (ps sheep are really stoopid). so there was a going rule, if you saw a coyote you shot it. we came up over a hill into a dry lake bed. some residual ground water remained so that there was a lush field of grass growing at the center, with lush grass meant grasshoppers, with grasshoppers meant coyotes (might have been a step there in the food chain i missed but oh well) there were about 80 coyotes in the lake... there were less than 80 when we left, literally like shooting fish in a barrel. the vermin couldnt find where the shots were coming from so they didnt knew which way to run. felt bad about it later, the whole 'man destroying the delicate ecosystem by introducing foreign (and tasty) animal into the food chain' bit, and lord how they cried the next few nights, dont tell me animals dont have feelings...
i think im done now, that was my coyote story
Posted by: Mindflayer at January 2, 2005 01:54 PM
You know what's more spooky, DB? Gollum likes to hang out with the coyotes. GOLLUM!
(chuckles) You get used to living in the country. We have coyotes here in the west too but have never heard of them attacking a cabin. :*) The scratching noises were either raccoons or the wind pushing branches against the cabin.