If you’ve been at the predator hunting game for more than five minutes, you will relate. 

Coyote hunting can be especially soul-crushing since coyotes are an apex predator, and by nature, are savvy and unforgiving. One small oversight by the hunter can mean not even putting eyes on your quarry. 

I am going to admit to you that it took an embarrassing amount of time — years — before I fooled and shot my first coyote. During those long and disappointing stands, I would imagine what my nemesis was doing, which generated many cartoon ideas.

Most of the people who enjoy my work can relate because they, too, have endured the agony of empty stand after empty stand. Thankfully, I get to give my pain a humorous twist.

As a child, I enjoyed the comic Spy Vs. Spy. Each panel was filled with two different spies trying to get the best of or destroy the other. The more the panels, the more elaborate the scheme to annihilate each other was. The adversarial spies traded victories. 

Coyote hunting is a lot like those childhood cartoons. Some days all my schemes are undone by a fickle wind, or a coyote slips around my position undetected. Other days, my quarry comes running to the call with reckless abandon, which makes my job so easy I feel like a professional. 

If you find predator hunting to be frustrating at times, know that you’re not alone. The key is to not give up and to learn from your mistakes.

Thankfully, I just happen to be lucky enough to make art about being a mediocre hunter.