This canis latrans came walking by across the street from the house today. Rather bold of him to come out of cover in broad daylight. He looks well fed. We do have plenty of cottontail and ground squirrel around here. And the occasional unfortunate neighborhood cat.
Canis Latrans (Coyote)
The day after I shot the photos of the huge herd of mule deer, I went back to see if I could get more pictures. Sure enough, I found some of the same deer. This time, however, there were a couple of young bucks with them.
This handsome 2×2 was wary of me, even if the does were not.
After one last look, he headed into the black oaks and disappeared.
He had a younger friend, a spike, who didn’t run.
Instead, he hid behind the skirts. The tagged doe on the right appears to be the grandma of this herd.
In the east, the moon rose large over granite peaks that guard Kings Canyon.
While overhead the red-tailed hawk circled, its sharp eyes scanning the hillside for a hapless rodent that might volunteer for the evening meal.
Last weekend I went with a friend of mine to check on the herd. We located a small group of mule deer below us on the mountain by glassing from a rock outcropping, then climbed down for a better look. Following them as the traversed the hillside to stay ahead of us, they eventually stopped at the end of the ridge, where we watched in amazement as they were joined by more and more deer. The group eventually numbered thirty five mulies eager to browse on the newly uncovered hay on this sunny side of the mountain. They watched us watch them for about thirty minutes before they finally decided they’d seen enough of the two stalkers and skeedaddled. I have more pictures, which I’ll post over the next few days. 
This little girl showed up to drink at the spring across the road from our cabin last summer. I’m hoping she found a husband and drops my future trophy soon! I especially hope the father was the 4×4 that I saw over Christmas in the same spot.
The Great White Hunter 
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