The Daily Coyote by Shreve Stockton

Author:Shreve Stockton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2008-08-10T16:00:00+00:00

Seven

October

By October 1, the roads, the gas station, and the mountain were teeming with pickup trucks with four-wheelers in the back and a flame orange cap on the dashboard. Hunters. During deer and elk season, the population of Ten Sleep doubled, as men in camo filled the bars and campgrounds. Each year, Mike took his allocated time off from Wildlife Services and worked as a hunting guide, and he was booked with hunters every week for the month.

With the influx of trigger-happy tourists, Charlie was in even greater danger and I hid him as best I could in the sagebrush. It had been easy to keep him discreet when he was younger; now, we had to walk deep into Mike’s property to find a spot that was shielded from the road on one side, BLM on another, neighbors on yet another. Charlie’s “secret spot” was a secluded edge of the meadow, bordered by a steep arc of land and sheltered with tall sagebrush. Even still, I worried. Acquaintances of Mike’s, in town for hunting season, habitually stopped by his house to see him even though he was rarely home. I dreaded that one of them would spot Charlie in the draw and feel they were doing Mike a favor by shooting a coyote off his land. I got a heavy chain and heaved it taut across the driveway whenever I left, securing it around two fence posts with padlocks.

The fact that Charlie had to be tied up and hidden when I was not with him was eating me alive. I worked hard and fast on my Vespa manuscript and photographs for The Daily Coyote in order to free up time to spend with Charlie roaming and playing, and felt guilty even for riding Ranger, for it was time not spent giving Charlie more moments of freedom. The Daily Coyote subscription list had grown, and in late September I had set up a website—a blog—as an archive of Charlie’s puppy photos that newcomers to the list had missed. Along with sending out new photos to subscribers, I posted earlier pictures on the blog each morning, one every day.

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