G20man
09-27-2004, 19:20
in an effort to get there quicker. The quad bit into the sand and rushed forward.
Jason had been turning back to the left for a third shot when the other coyote had slammed into his back from the right side. He hit the sand hard knocking the wind out of him forcing sand into his mouth and right ear. The light bounced out of his left hand but luckily he still gripped the Glock. He was lying partially on his right side. The coyote that landed on him reached down and bit a chunk off of his left ear. The coyote from the left side sank his teeth into his left forearm while another bit through his pants without hitting his leg. The pain was excruciating in his ear and arm.
Jason managed to roll to his left enough to free his right arm. He stuck the Glock up near the body of the coyote that had his left arm and stroked the trigger twice. Boom! Boom! Both slugs ripped through its body and it was dead before it hit the ground.
Mark rammed another coyote to the left of Jason, with his quad, breaking two of its legs. The noise from the shots and the quad forced the other coyotes back from Jason. He sat up looking at the eyes reflecting from the head light of the quad. They had backed off a few yards growling and barring their teeth. Mark pulled out his HK P-13, 9mm, and shot one of coyotes. Boom! The coyotes started to separate as Jason and Mark both fired repeatedly until they were gone but without hitting another one. The coyote with the broken legs had only gotten a few yards trying to run on its stumps. Mark walked over to the struggling coyote. The glow of his night sites was easy to see as he finished it off with a single shot to the head.
Jason got up on his knees spiting sand. He picked up his light shining it around the tops of the dunes surrounding them. He stood up, shook the sand out of his fanny pack and holstered the G-19. He shifted the flashlight to his right hand. He had that sickly feeling in his stomach as he inspected the holes in his left arm and knew that the bleeding had to be stopped. There were two large holes on the top and two on bottom of his arm where the long canine teeth had penetrated. The other teeth had caused minor lacerations, adding to the pain. His ear was hurting but the bleeding there had stopped.
Mark had been searching with his light for the coyotes. He walked back over next to Jason to look at his arm.
“I thought you were done for when that coyote knocked you over. Let me get my water bottle to wash that off.” Mark got the bottle out of his daypack. “What in the world just happened here?” asked Mark. “Coyotes don’t act this way.”
Jason had walked over in front of Mark’s quad to use the headlight. He stuck his flashlight back in a pants pocket and applied pressure to the bottom side of his arm. One of those holes hit an artery causing it to flow at an alarming rate. Mark poured water over the injury while Jason rubbed off the sand, grimacing with pain. Jason applied pressure again to his arm. Jason opened his mouth and Mark poured some water in. It took two more drinks from the water to clear the sand from his mouth.
“What do you have to wrap this with Mark? I’ve got to stop this bleeding”.
Mark checked his daypack that was strapped onto the rack behind the seat of his quad. He pulled out a small hand towel and a large camouflage bandanna. He pulled out his Spyderco knife and used his thumb to open the blade, one handed. Slicing the towel he cut it into two strips that would be wide enough to cover most of the injured area. A small square of the towel was cut, folded, and placed on top of the bleeding wound. A strip of towel was wrapped around his arm and the bandana tied around that to hold it in place.
“At least I’ve had a tetanus shot recently,” smiled Jason weakly.
“Have you had your Rabies shot too?” replied Mark. “ Two of those coyotes were foaming and slobbering around their mouths. Why did they attack you the way they did?”
“You’re right,” said Jason. “They should have run when I started shooting.”
“They should have run when we rode up into them”, said Mark louder!
The pack had moved just over the hill. They were at each other snipping and growling. The leader was loosing control of the pack. There were only 6 remaining of the original 9 that had left the den that evening. The coyotes had crossed over the sand dunes only to find that the rancher had moved the herd to the summer range many miles away.
They had killed a Jackrabbit on the way back, but it did not go very far to satisfy the pack. The top two in the pecking order got to eat without leaving much, except for bones, for the rest to chew on. One of the younger coyotes, sick with the fever, had tried to take some from the leader. The skirmish was brief with the younger one running with fear into a broken down barbed wire fence and became entangled. The pack left him thrashing, struggling weakly to chew through the wire.
Now, the coyote that Jason had shot became the target of the pack. The leader turned on it first and then the rest joined in to finish the wounded animal. It was not beyond them to eat one of their own, but this was a savage lust to kill brought on by the brain destroying rabies.
Tying off the bandanna Mark asked, “Did you hear that?” He switched off his quad to be able to hear clearer. The sounds of the coyotes fighting could be heard just over the hill. Mark pointed his flashlight up the hill in the direction of the sound. There was nothing there. Mark moved over to the Magnum 325 and got on it. The battery charge was all used up since the headlight had been left on. He pushed out the kick-start and dropped his body weight on it. He had tried several times before Jason spoke while shining his light up the hill. “I think we had better get out of here”. The eyes of the leader glowed within the dark form of the coyote.
Mark tried the kick-start once more before getting off with disgust. “We can take my Xplorer back to the truck and come back for the Magnum in the morning. We had better get you into the hospital and get that arm checked.”
“Which way is the truck?” asked Jason. He drew the G-19 firing one round. Pain shot through is arm from the effort of a two handed grip.
The leader jumped when the bullet grazed it. Jason hoped that he had killed that coyote by the way it dropped out of sight.
They drove for 30 minutes without seeing any more coyotes or finding the parking lot. They came up over a ridge and there was the confirmation of their suspicions. The other quad was illuminated within the headlight. They had completed another circle. Jason was tired. His arm was throbbing painfully. He climbed off the back of the Xplorer and removed the helmet. He was not using the goggles and had his glasses on. Looking up he could see some stars through the breaking clouds.
“Where is that North Star?” Jason asked himself out loud. Mark had got off the quad, but left the engine running. He had his flashlight out looking all around the hilltop that they were on. Jason glimpsed the cup of the Big Dipper and followed that line to the North Star. Facing the North Jason held out his injured arm and pointed west. “ I found the North Star. That is the way to the parking lot.”
“Let’s get going,” Mark said getting back on the quad.
The pack of five coyotes had tried in vain to follow the single quad. They had heard the noise of it growing faint in the darkness. The burn of the grazing wound on his left shoulder was driving the leader crazy with revenge. He wanted to KILL! He finally gave up and turned Northwest toward home and began walking through the dunes.
They were nearly to the edge of the dunes when they heard the noise of the quad coming in their direction. He turned and the others followed him. They ran towards the noise.
The coyotes topped a hill and could see the headlight bouncing towards them. They started running and then the leader adjusted their course for an intercept.
Mark and Jason had their hopes up as the clouds had broken up and a full moon was shining. They knew that they would be back at the truck and on their way to town soon. The headlight picked up the backside of an old wooden sign. Mark recognized it and knew that this trail went through one more group of hills before hitting the main dirt road just south of the parking lot.
They had just passed by the first dune when a coyote jumped in front of the quad from the right side of the trail. Reacting instinctively from years of city driving Mark turned sharply to the left going straight up a sand dune. He wanted to get back to the trail and turned right across the steep dune, but he did not calculate the extra weight on the quad. He could feel the quad start to tip to the side, and yelled for Jason to jump. They both hit the sand and rolled. The quad rolled down into the pack of coyotes giving Mark and Jason a few precious seconds to react. Mark came up on both knees and grabbed his P-13 from the holster. Looking beyond the glow of his sites he could see the silvery forms of the coyotes. Two were coming at him and the other three were coming up towards Jason.
Jason landed hard in the soft sand. Rolling over twice coming to rest on his back with his feet downhill. He rolled to his right side using his arm to push himself into a seated position. Boom! Mark had fired and Jason saw the coyote go down on his left. The moon brightly reflected off of the sand clearly showing the coyotes. Jason laid back on the sand tugging on the fanny pack to get the G-19 out. He looked down while opening the zipper of the fanny pack, but before he could snatch the pistol, the leader of the pack was leaping toward him. He raised his right boot kicking the coyote with a stunning blow, directly to his nose, that dropped him like he was dead. Jason grabbed the G-19 and sat up again.
Boom! Mark fired again at the charging coyote and followed with a double tap. Boom! Boom! He heard the satisfying yelp of an injured coyote. Jason lined up his sites on the closest one of the two coyotes that were still charging at him. He stroked the trigger twice forgetting the pain in his left arm. Boom! Click! He had not done a magazine change after their first encounter. The first shot hit and dropped a coyote. The last coyote was on him snipping and biting at him. Jason laid back down kicking with his boots while trying to get another magazine out of the fanny pack.
Mark had been watching the last coyote he had shot in the leg. It had started twisting around, spinning from the injury. It was almost comical for Mark watching the sand fly. He turned aiming at the coyote Jason was kicking at but was afraid to shoot. Mark jumped up took three steps and kicked the coyote off of Jason. Boom! Click! And Mark was empty too. Jason had reloaded and finished off that coyote with one last shot.
They walked back down to the quad. It was lying on its side. Mark holstered his pistol and pushed the quad back on to all four tires. Jason started counting coyotes.
“I thought there were five this last time,” said Jason seeing only four bodies.
“I think that last one I shot figured out how to run on three legs and took off,” answered Mark.
Jason pulled out his light and was looking at the dead coyotes. He was standing over the leader when he saw an eye open and realized that it had not been shot but only stunned by his kick. The coyote had raised his head, but before it could get up Jason shot it three times. Booom! The shots came so close together that the sound rolled into one.
Jason slumped into the sand next to the dead coyote. Sand was caked in bloody patches on his left arm. The painful throbbing returned as he relaxed. He reloaded a fresh magazine into the G-19 and holstered it in the fanny pack. He laid back down on the sand dune wiping sand and sweat off of his face.
Mark started the quad, “Lets get you to the hospital. I think we’ve had enough adventure for one night.”
Jason had been turning back to the left for a third shot when the other coyote had slammed into his back from the right side. He hit the sand hard knocking the wind out of him forcing sand into his mouth and right ear. The light bounced out of his left hand but luckily he still gripped the Glock. He was lying partially on his right side. The coyote that landed on him reached down and bit a chunk off of his left ear. The coyote from the left side sank his teeth into his left forearm while another bit through his pants without hitting his leg. The pain was excruciating in his ear and arm.
Jason managed to roll to his left enough to free his right arm. He stuck the Glock up near the body of the coyote that had his left arm and stroked the trigger twice. Boom! Boom! Both slugs ripped through its body and it was dead before it hit the ground.
Mark rammed another coyote to the left of Jason, with his quad, breaking two of its legs. The noise from the shots and the quad forced the other coyotes back from Jason. He sat up looking at the eyes reflecting from the head light of the quad. They had backed off a few yards growling and barring their teeth. Mark pulled out his HK P-13, 9mm, and shot one of coyotes. Boom! The coyotes started to separate as Jason and Mark both fired repeatedly until they were gone but without hitting another one. The coyote with the broken legs had only gotten a few yards trying to run on its stumps. Mark walked over to the struggling coyote. The glow of his night sites was easy to see as he finished it off with a single shot to the head.
Jason got up on his knees spiting sand. He picked up his light shining it around the tops of the dunes surrounding them. He stood up, shook the sand out of his fanny pack and holstered the G-19. He shifted the flashlight to his right hand. He had that sickly feeling in his stomach as he inspected the holes in his left arm and knew that the bleeding had to be stopped. There were two large holes on the top and two on bottom of his arm where the long canine teeth had penetrated. The other teeth had caused minor lacerations, adding to the pain. His ear was hurting but the bleeding there had stopped.
Mark had been searching with his light for the coyotes. He walked back over next to Jason to look at his arm.
“I thought you were done for when that coyote knocked you over. Let me get my water bottle to wash that off.” Mark got the bottle out of his daypack. “What in the world just happened here?” asked Mark. “Coyotes don’t act this way.”
Jason had walked over in front of Mark’s quad to use the headlight. He stuck his flashlight back in a pants pocket and applied pressure to the bottom side of his arm. One of those holes hit an artery causing it to flow at an alarming rate. Mark poured water over the injury while Jason rubbed off the sand, grimacing with pain. Jason applied pressure again to his arm. Jason opened his mouth and Mark poured some water in. It took two more drinks from the water to clear the sand from his mouth.
“What do you have to wrap this with Mark? I’ve got to stop this bleeding”.
Mark checked his daypack that was strapped onto the rack behind the seat of his quad. He pulled out a small hand towel and a large camouflage bandanna. He pulled out his Spyderco knife and used his thumb to open the blade, one handed. Slicing the towel he cut it into two strips that would be wide enough to cover most of the injured area. A small square of the towel was cut, folded, and placed on top of the bleeding wound. A strip of towel was wrapped around his arm and the bandana tied around that to hold it in place.
“At least I’ve had a tetanus shot recently,” smiled Jason weakly.
“Have you had your Rabies shot too?” replied Mark. “ Two of those coyotes were foaming and slobbering around their mouths. Why did they attack you the way they did?”
“You’re right,” said Jason. “They should have run when I started shooting.”
“They should have run when we rode up into them”, said Mark louder!
The pack had moved just over the hill. They were at each other snipping and growling. The leader was loosing control of the pack. There were only 6 remaining of the original 9 that had left the den that evening. The coyotes had crossed over the sand dunes only to find that the rancher had moved the herd to the summer range many miles away.
They had killed a Jackrabbit on the way back, but it did not go very far to satisfy the pack. The top two in the pecking order got to eat without leaving much, except for bones, for the rest to chew on. One of the younger coyotes, sick with the fever, had tried to take some from the leader. The skirmish was brief with the younger one running with fear into a broken down barbed wire fence and became entangled. The pack left him thrashing, struggling weakly to chew through the wire.
Now, the coyote that Jason had shot became the target of the pack. The leader turned on it first and then the rest joined in to finish the wounded animal. It was not beyond them to eat one of their own, but this was a savage lust to kill brought on by the brain destroying rabies.
Tying off the bandanna Mark asked, “Did you hear that?” He switched off his quad to be able to hear clearer. The sounds of the coyotes fighting could be heard just over the hill. Mark pointed his flashlight up the hill in the direction of the sound. There was nothing there. Mark moved over to the Magnum 325 and got on it. The battery charge was all used up since the headlight had been left on. He pushed out the kick-start and dropped his body weight on it. He had tried several times before Jason spoke while shining his light up the hill. “I think we had better get out of here”. The eyes of the leader glowed within the dark form of the coyote.
Mark tried the kick-start once more before getting off with disgust. “We can take my Xplorer back to the truck and come back for the Magnum in the morning. We had better get you into the hospital and get that arm checked.”
“Which way is the truck?” asked Jason. He drew the G-19 firing one round. Pain shot through is arm from the effort of a two handed grip.
The leader jumped when the bullet grazed it. Jason hoped that he had killed that coyote by the way it dropped out of sight.
They drove for 30 minutes without seeing any more coyotes or finding the parking lot. They came up over a ridge and there was the confirmation of their suspicions. The other quad was illuminated within the headlight. They had completed another circle. Jason was tired. His arm was throbbing painfully. He climbed off the back of the Xplorer and removed the helmet. He was not using the goggles and had his glasses on. Looking up he could see some stars through the breaking clouds.
“Where is that North Star?” Jason asked himself out loud. Mark had got off the quad, but left the engine running. He had his flashlight out looking all around the hilltop that they were on. Jason glimpsed the cup of the Big Dipper and followed that line to the North Star. Facing the North Jason held out his injured arm and pointed west. “ I found the North Star. That is the way to the parking lot.”
“Let’s get going,” Mark said getting back on the quad.
The pack of five coyotes had tried in vain to follow the single quad. They had heard the noise of it growing faint in the darkness. The burn of the grazing wound on his left shoulder was driving the leader crazy with revenge. He wanted to KILL! He finally gave up and turned Northwest toward home and began walking through the dunes.
They were nearly to the edge of the dunes when they heard the noise of the quad coming in their direction. He turned and the others followed him. They ran towards the noise.
The coyotes topped a hill and could see the headlight bouncing towards them. They started running and then the leader adjusted their course for an intercept.
Mark and Jason had their hopes up as the clouds had broken up and a full moon was shining. They knew that they would be back at the truck and on their way to town soon. The headlight picked up the backside of an old wooden sign. Mark recognized it and knew that this trail went through one more group of hills before hitting the main dirt road just south of the parking lot.
They had just passed by the first dune when a coyote jumped in front of the quad from the right side of the trail. Reacting instinctively from years of city driving Mark turned sharply to the left going straight up a sand dune. He wanted to get back to the trail and turned right across the steep dune, but he did not calculate the extra weight on the quad. He could feel the quad start to tip to the side, and yelled for Jason to jump. They both hit the sand and rolled. The quad rolled down into the pack of coyotes giving Mark and Jason a few precious seconds to react. Mark came up on both knees and grabbed his P-13 from the holster. Looking beyond the glow of his sites he could see the silvery forms of the coyotes. Two were coming at him and the other three were coming up towards Jason.
Jason landed hard in the soft sand. Rolling over twice coming to rest on his back with his feet downhill. He rolled to his right side using his arm to push himself into a seated position. Boom! Mark had fired and Jason saw the coyote go down on his left. The moon brightly reflected off of the sand clearly showing the coyotes. Jason laid back on the sand tugging on the fanny pack to get the G-19 out. He looked down while opening the zipper of the fanny pack, but before he could snatch the pistol, the leader of the pack was leaping toward him. He raised his right boot kicking the coyote with a stunning blow, directly to his nose, that dropped him like he was dead. Jason grabbed the G-19 and sat up again.
Boom! Mark fired again at the charging coyote and followed with a double tap. Boom! Boom! He heard the satisfying yelp of an injured coyote. Jason lined up his sites on the closest one of the two coyotes that were still charging at him. He stroked the trigger twice forgetting the pain in his left arm. Boom! Click! He had not done a magazine change after their first encounter. The first shot hit and dropped a coyote. The last coyote was on him snipping and biting at him. Jason laid back down kicking with his boots while trying to get another magazine out of the fanny pack.
Mark had been watching the last coyote he had shot in the leg. It had started twisting around, spinning from the injury. It was almost comical for Mark watching the sand fly. He turned aiming at the coyote Jason was kicking at but was afraid to shoot. Mark jumped up took three steps and kicked the coyote off of Jason. Boom! Click! And Mark was empty too. Jason had reloaded and finished off that coyote with one last shot.
They walked back down to the quad. It was lying on its side. Mark holstered his pistol and pushed the quad back on to all four tires. Jason started counting coyotes.
“I thought there were five this last time,” said Jason seeing only four bodies.
“I think that last one I shot figured out how to run on three legs and took off,” answered Mark.
Jason pulled out his light and was looking at the dead coyotes. He was standing over the leader when he saw an eye open and realized that it had not been shot but only stunned by his kick. The coyote had raised his head, but before it could get up Jason shot it three times. Booom! The shots came so close together that the sound rolled into one.
Jason slumped into the sand next to the dead coyote. Sand was caked in bloody patches on his left arm. The painful throbbing returned as he relaxed. He reloaded a fresh magazine into the G-19 and holstered it in the fanny pack. He laid back down on the sand dune wiping sand and sweat off of his face.
Mark started the quad, “Lets get you to the hospital. I think we’ve had enough adventure for one night.”