Very well written Bob! Coyotes are definitely making a huge comeback in the Southern Appalachians -- I see more and more of them every year. It's too bad the red wolf re-introduction did not work out in the Smokies years ago, because that would have really added to the local ecosystem.
Thank you, John. I, too, had hoped the red wolves would make it. I have not seen any coyotes yet up here in the Virginia Blue Ridge, but I know they are around and I look forward to seeing one someday.
But the red wolves are doing extremely well in eastern North Carolina. Their populations are increasing and health of individual animals is good. In addition, the coyote has not yet moved into that part of the state. If the red wolves continue to populate the wild areas, it's not likely that the coyotes will be able to move in and dislodge them once the red wolf is established.
Another well written piece. But why should I be surprised for anything I have read from you is from the heart about all things wild, whether it is about remote mountains, or now, a beautiful animal.
Thanks Bob. I hope you enjoyed you trip to Death Valley and Zion and eagerly await what you have to say about that trip.
It was a great trip to Death Valley and Zion, and it will fuel a few mountain, route, and trip report pages. But most of all, it was a wonderful escape, with perfect weather, from the realities of life to places where I find the things that really matter.
Bob - Thanks for inspiring and thoughtful piece. Coyotes live on Green Mountain behind my house (near the western edge of Denver suburbia). Recently we installed new windows to keep out the drafts, and the only downside is it's harder to hear the coyotes wild yipping and calling in the night, as sleep comes. I am looking forward to spring/summer, for the warmth, the garden, the bbqs, and, not least, the open window and the calls floating in at the edge of dreams.
Thank you, Joe. And that little bit at the very end of what you wrote is quite nice itself. Well, spring and summer are coming; enjoy the sights AND the sounds!
Thanks a lot! By the way, that link you once posted on that Johnny Cash and Oscar the Grouch song was one of the best things ever. I've showed it to several people, and it entertained the hell out of my kid the other night.
I'm from nevada, and i really appreciate somebody acknowledging the coyote (pronounced kai-oat). These are the real symbol of the west to us here in the great basin. not feral/wild horses. thanks alot for the post.
Beautifully written, very emotional, touching and sweet! Thank you for respecting your friend and all coyotes! They are all wonderful creatures which I adore! I love to see them and hear them..we do have a lot here in the Tahoe Basin. It is a blessing for me to be sitting at my computer and look out my window and see one slowing walking across my yard back into the forest.
They are so beautiful, I love them
Thank you again for sharing your beautiful story!
Thank YOU for reading and for sharing your kind remarks. I envy that you live in such proximity to them and to other wild animals. I hope I will enjoy the same someday soon.
A beautifully written piece with melancholic undercurrents. It made me think about the reason why I roam the world climbing.
The meetings with inhabitants of the wilderness is one of the reasons I go to those outback places. For example 8000m peaks are great destinations, but instead of wilderness, animals and solitude, you find loud & cocky climbers, garbage, huge tent villages and many of the other (for me) bad sides of the climbing. I rather climb something smaller, less known and meet a couple of wolves, see untouched nature and enjoy the silence.
Thanks for this nice story. You write very well.
Thank you for the kind words. In the way you write your own pages, I see many of the reasons I go to the mountains. I think you put it best recently in the forum when you wrote, "Off to the mountains for some fresh air again." Fresh air indeed, and a welcome change from the human world. I just wish I could live it the way you seem to instead of having to settle for a few weeks a year. On the other hand, it makes those weeks that much more precious to me.
What you say about the 8000m peaks resonates. Here in the U.S. outside Alaska, we have the 14,000' peaks, our version of the 8000 peaks, so to speak. I once had an interest in climbing all of Colorado's fourteeners, but I abandoned that goal just shy of halfway through as I realized it wasn't worth the crowded parking lots, the trash on the trails, the idiotic behavior I sometimes encountered at the summits, etc. I became much more interested in the peaks I was seeing from those summits instead. My real love is the wilderness mountains of Wyoming and Montana, and it's to those places I keep returning to rediscover my spirit and learn more about myself and the wild parts of the world.
I'm glad you got out of Tibet okay after your arrest! And you provided an interesting, informative perspective that wasn't widely reported here. Thanks for doing that.
Anybody ever listen to Ian Tyson song about mr. Coyote? Even though Mr Coyote has eaten a dog I loved, I love Mr Coyote. he adapts. We shud learn.............
As I "grow up"...I find that I'm changing who I thought I was. I grew up in a small city (Augusta, ME) in the middle of a typical neighborhood. I grew up knowing the dangers and the nuisance of most wildlife...coyotes especially. Part of me always felt a small pull to wildlife...and to the beauty that is nature (even as a young, fat, lazy child...I would "climb" the 1.0 mi trail to the "summit" of the local mountain-at 1389 feet!- to enjoy the view...even though it damn near killed me at the time)...but, I was brought up one way and that is what it was all about.
Your article pulls even further at that part of me that always knew there was more to nature than what WE can get from it.
Thank you, again. You truly do speak for my heart.
Thanks for your mesage. I never really saw wildlife as a nuisance, not even deer when they eat all the plants in one's yard; they are, after all, just trying to make a living in a world that was once theirs but which we carved up. There are limits to that tolerance, of course, but I do tend to side with the animals' interests. I guess I've felt that way since I was a kid, always delighting in wildlife and wishing I could be closer to it, always saddened by the harm I would see done to it by people-- cleared forests, drained lakes, filled streams, roadkill, poisoned and trapped animals, etc.
However, I understand your point; there are matters on which I've changed, becoming much more moderate over the years, and it mostly comes from maturing and seeing a bigger picture and also being able to see other people's points of view.
To be fair, I must admit I've never lived in a way that wildlife could hamper my livelihood by killing livestock or eating crops, and I'm sensitive to those concerns, but it often seems that people on that other side refuse to see any middle ground themselves, and I gradually have lost patience and interest in their concerns. The constant feuding over the wolves around Yellowstone is a perfect case in point. I, of course, want the wolves to be there, but I also support programs to reimburse ranchers for confirmed wolf-caused kills and I accept that problem wolves sometimes have to be killed. But those opposed seem just to want them all gone and keep reciting arguments based on fear, ignorance, and dishonesty; there is no interest in coexistence and it is instead all about them. Hence, their recalcitrance drives compromise-minded people like me away and hardens my views.
Bob Sihler - Sep 15, 2016 5:49 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: World Wide WilinessYup, I've heard them in Shenandoah and seen their scat but have never seen them. I did see one at Great Falls once.
johnmnichols - Mar 25, 2008 8:07 am - Voted 10/10
Great writingVery well written Bob! Coyotes are definitely making a huge comeback in the Southern Appalachians -- I see more and more of them every year. It's too bad the red wolf re-introduction did not work out in the Smokies years ago, because that would have really added to the local ecosystem.
Bob Sihler - Mar 27, 2008 12:39 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: Great writingThank you, John. I, too, had hoped the red wolves would make it. I have not seen any coyotes yet up here in the Virginia Blue Ridge, but I know they are around and I look forward to seeing one someday.
BobSmith - Mar 27, 2008 5:15 pm - Voted 10/10
Re: Great writingBut the red wolves are doing extremely well in eastern North Carolina. Their populations are increasing and health of individual animals is good. In addition, the coyote has not yet moved into that part of the state. If the red wolves continue to populate the wild areas, it's not likely that the coyotes will be able to move in and dislodge them once the red wolf is established.
Bob Sihler - Mar 27, 2008 12:40 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: WolfThanks for reading it, Husker!
argothor - Mar 26, 2008 12:08 pm - Voted 10/10
All things wildAnother well written piece. But why should I be surprised for anything I have read from you is from the heart about all things wild, whether it is about remote mountains, or now, a beautiful animal.
Thanks Bob. I hope you enjoyed you trip to Death Valley and Zion and eagerly await what you have to say about that trip.
Bob Sihler - Mar 27, 2008 12:42 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: All things wildThank you very much for your encouraging words.
It was a great trip to Death Valley and Zion, and it will fuel a few mountain, route, and trip report pages. But most of all, it was a wonderful escape, with perfect weather, from the realities of life to places where I find the things that really matter.
Joe_Parvis - Mar 27, 2008 1:14 pm - Hasn't voted
ThanksBob - Thanks for inspiring and thoughtful piece. Coyotes live on Green Mountain behind my house (near the western edge of Denver suburbia). Recently we installed new windows to keep out the drafts, and the only downside is it's harder to hear the coyotes wild yipping and calling in the night, as sleep comes. I am looking forward to spring/summer, for the warmth, the garden, the bbqs, and, not least, the open window and the calls floating in at the edge of dreams.
Bob Sihler - Mar 27, 2008 6:57 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: ThanksThank you, Joe. And that little bit at the very end of what you wrote is quite nice itself. Well, spring and summer are coming; enjoy the sights AND the sounds!
Bob Sihler - Mar 31, 2008 12:59 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: Great ReadThanks a lot! By the way, that link you once posted on that Johnny Cash and Oscar the Grouch song was one of the best things ever. I've showed it to several people, and it entertained the hell out of my kid the other night.
tyler m - Apr 6, 2008 1:49 am - Hasn't voted
Well put, sir!I'm from nevada, and i really appreciate somebody acknowledging the coyote (pronounced kai-oat). These are the real symbol of the west to us here in the great basin. not feral/wild horses. thanks alot for the post.
Bob Sihler - Apr 6, 2008 12:57 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: Well put, sir!Thank you for reading it, and thank you for the supportive words. It's good to know that others appreciate these amazing animals.
madeintahoe - Apr 11, 2008 11:54 am - Voted 10/10
Thank You!Beautifully written, very emotional, touching and sweet! Thank you for respecting your friend and all coyotes! They are all wonderful creatures which I adore! I love to see them and hear them..we do have a lot here in the Tahoe Basin. It is a blessing for me to be sitting at my computer and look out my window and see one slowing walking across my yard back into the forest.
They are so beautiful, I love them
Thank you again for sharing your beautiful story!
Bob Sihler - Apr 11, 2008 1:31 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: Thank You!Thank YOU for reading and for sharing your kind remarks. I envy that you live in such proximity to them and to other wild animals. I hope I will enjoy the same someday soon.
Corax - Apr 20, 2008 12:42 pm - Voted 10/10
BeautifulA beautifully written piece with melancholic undercurrents. It made me think about the reason why I roam the world climbing.
The meetings with inhabitants of the wilderness is one of the reasons I go to those outback places. For example 8000m peaks are great destinations, but instead of wilderness, animals and solitude, you find loud & cocky climbers, garbage, huge tent villages and many of the other (for me) bad sides of the climbing. I rather climb something smaller, less known and meet a couple of wolves, see untouched nature and enjoy the silence.
Thanks for this nice story. You write very well.
Bob Sihler - Apr 21, 2008 10:01 am - Hasn't voted
Re: BeautifulThank you for the kind words. In the way you write your own pages, I see many of the reasons I go to the mountains. I think you put it best recently in the forum when you wrote, "Off to the mountains for some fresh air again." Fresh air indeed, and a welcome change from the human world. I just wish I could live it the way you seem to instead of having to settle for a few weeks a year. On the other hand, it makes those weeks that much more precious to me.
What you say about the 8000m peaks resonates. Here in the U.S. outside Alaska, we have the 14,000' peaks, our version of the 8000 peaks, so to speak. I once had an interest in climbing all of Colorado's fourteeners, but I abandoned that goal just shy of halfway through as I realized it wasn't worth the crowded parking lots, the trash on the trails, the idiotic behavior I sometimes encountered at the summits, etc. I became much more interested in the peaks I was seeing from those summits instead. My real love is the wilderness mountains of Wyoming and Montana, and it's to those places I keep returning to rediscover my spirit and learn more about myself and the wild parts of the world.
I'm glad you got out of Tibet okay after your arrest! And you provided an interesting, informative perspective that wasn't widely reported here. Thanks for doing that.
robfitz - Apr 24, 2008 10:22 pm - Hasn't voted
CoyboyographyAnybody ever listen to Ian Tyson song about mr. Coyote? Even though Mr Coyote has eaten a dog I loved, I love Mr Coyote. he adapts. We shud learn.............
Bob Sihler - Apr 25, 2008 9:54 am - Hasn't voted
Re: CoyboyographyGood words. Thank you.
imzadi - Nov 19, 2008 11:23 am - Voted 10/10
MaturingAs I "grow up"...I find that I'm changing who I thought I was. I grew up in a small city (Augusta, ME) in the middle of a typical neighborhood. I grew up knowing the dangers and the nuisance of most wildlife...coyotes especially. Part of me always felt a small pull to wildlife...and to the beauty that is nature (even as a young, fat, lazy child...I would "climb" the 1.0 mi trail to the "summit" of the local mountain-at 1389 feet!- to enjoy the view...even though it damn near killed me at the time)...but, I was brought up one way and that is what it was all about.
Your article pulls even further at that part of me that always knew there was more to nature than what WE can get from it.
Thank you, again. You truly do speak for my heart.
Bob Sihler - Nov 19, 2008 8:37 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: MaturingThanks for your mesage. I never really saw wildlife as a nuisance, not even deer when they eat all the plants in one's yard; they are, after all, just trying to make a living in a world that was once theirs but which we carved up. There are limits to that tolerance, of course, but I do tend to side with the animals' interests. I guess I've felt that way since I was a kid, always delighting in wildlife and wishing I could be closer to it, always saddened by the harm I would see done to it by people-- cleared forests, drained lakes, filled streams, roadkill, poisoned and trapped animals, etc.
However, I understand your point; there are matters on which I've changed, becoming much more moderate over the years, and it mostly comes from maturing and seeing a bigger picture and also being able to see other people's points of view.
To be fair, I must admit I've never lived in a way that wildlife could hamper my livelihood by killing livestock or eating crops, and I'm sensitive to those concerns, but it often seems that people on that other side refuse to see any middle ground themselves, and I gradually have lost patience and interest in their concerns. The constant feuding over the wolves around Yellowstone is a perfect case in point. I, of course, want the wolves to be there, but I also support programs to reimburse ranchers for confirmed wolf-caused kills and I accept that problem wolves sometimes have to be killed. But those opposed seem just to want them all gone and keep reciting arguments based on fear, ignorance, and dishonesty; there is no interest in coexistence and it is instead all about them. Hence, their recalcitrance drives compromise-minded people like me away and hardens my views.