Predator Xtreme - October 2010

rodent in distress intensified,
carrying loudly across the grassy
flat. Only a few minutes passed
and before I knew it, there was
a glowing red face staring me
down. The fox had come in
from the side and approached so
quickly I didn’t see him until he
was right on top of me. My only
concern was hitting the Fury
with my pattern; fortunately
that didn’t happen.

shotgun for my still camera. One fox, the oldest of the two, would have nothing of the photo session, and took off. The other circled around me several times, allowing me some great photo opportunities before finally heading off into the willow thicket. In this part of Alaska, only two red fox a year are allowed on your hunting license, and I wasn’t in a hurry to tag out.

Later that day I was back down by the beach, calling with various bird-distress sounds. When a flash of gray moving in the tall grass caught my eye a surge of adrenaline shot through my body. “Wolf” was my first thought and what I hoped for, as I did have a tag in my pack.

This time it was a coyote, which totally caught me off-guard. He came to well within rifle range, but again, all I had was a shotgun. Had he come another 30 yards closer, he’d have been mine, but his keen nose prevented that from happening. When I told my bear guide, Bruce Hallingstad, of the coyote encounter, he was surprised, saying in all his years of bear guiding in this area, he’d never seen a coyote. It shows how, even in Alaska, coyotes continue increasing their range.

Later, I’d bring in another fox, this one sporting a striking red pelage. He folded when the payload of BBs found the mark. A flock of crows later skirted the rocky beach, and when I quickly switched the sounds on the Fury to fighting crows, they couldn’t resist it. There are a lot of owls in this area, so this sound worked great on the big black birds. Dropping a brace of those, my small-game appetite was getting full, and the focus now shifted to North America’s ultimate predator.