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Frank Allnutt
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May 1, AD 2011 Of Coyotes and Christians The legendary figure of Coyote is widely known in these parts. His legends are passed on to us from the region’s native Americans. In their folklore, Coyote is almost always portrayed as male and has a wide variety of characteristics, many of them quite contradictory. He is both trickster and culture hero—often described as witty, clever, obscene, vulgar, and thieving. Coyote stories have typically been censored, classified usually ethically as humorous anecdotes, jokes, animal tales, folk tales and legends involving a sacred and/or worldly trickster, transformer, and culture hero. Coyote stories have often been explained as being confined to the pre-human mythical age, when animals lived and talked as people. Generally, these tales are regarded as moral lessons or advise. Neither children nor adults in general should behave as Coyote behaves in the stories. Well, that’s legend. Even so, in real life the coyote is also both a benefit and a bane to man. Coyotes are beneficial in that they help keep down the populations of field mice and gophers on ranches and farms. But they also eat fawns, calves, foals, lambs, sheep, chickens, domestic cats and small dogs. They rarely attack humans; small children are mostly targeted. So coyotes can be a big problem for ranchers and their livestock, especially this time of the year.
Frosty spring morning: One of several herds of deer that graze on the ranch. Seen here are the does; stags tend to hide in the woods, on the lookout for coyotes and cougars. Background: iced-over wheels and pipes of a side-roller irrigation system. We had a dry autumn and winter here in the central Rockies of Colorado. Consequently, larger than usual numbers of deer came down from the mountains for better forage. And so it has been here at the ranch in the Arkansas River valley. And where the deer go, they are followed by coyotes. And, in much smaller numbers, cougars (also called pumas and mountain lions). During the fall and winter the coyotes and cougars prey on lame, weak, and sick deer and livestock. Then, in late winter the calving season begins and extends well into spring. And the predators have a new source of food—almost defenseless new-born calves. As spring turns into summer, the calving season gives way to the deer’s birthing season. The rapidly-growing, now predator-wary calves are no longer such easy prey for the coyotes and cougars. But new-born fawns are.
A recently-born fawn hides from coyotes, motionlessly in tall grass, while its mother is off grazing. While father stags stand watch and mother does meander away grazing, their fawns lie hidden in the tall grass that grows naturally in meadows and in the irrigated hay fields. Their only defense when mom is away is to lie motionless so as not to attract the attention of predators. But even with the camouflage of their tawny hides, many do not succeed in eluding their voracious hunters. Most calves and fawns learn as they mature that it is best to stay with the herd and not go astray at the peril of becoming dinner for some varmint. But there are always some who don’t learn. As so it is with Christians. Most of us are familiar with Bible stories about the dependency of sheep on the protection and care of their shepherd—and also about sheep who stray. Jesus, of course, is the Good Shepherd who would lay down His life for His sheep, who are His disciples. And the ultimate adversary of Christians, while not likened to Coyote is seen as a lion: “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith” (1 Peter 5:8-9a). There are always the immature, the unalert, and those who stray. But it seems like there are more of them today than ever before. ©Copyright AD2011 Frank Allnutt. All rights reserved. Content herein may be quoted, subject to the "fair use" doctrine of U.S. Copyright Law.
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