Shaking his head in disbelief, the young man sitting behind a cash register said, “You drove all the way down here from Chicago to hunt coyotes?” 

I was in central Kentucky, asking for directions at a gas station. My good friend, Jon Collins, had invited me down to hunt for a few days. “You’ve clearly never hunted coyotes,” I kindly responded to the young man after he pointed me in the direction of my destination. 

Coyote Fever is real. It will drive healthy, sane people to do crazy things. So, just think what it will do to an already-unstable person like me. Once you experience the heart-pounding thrill of a coyote breaking out of the timberline and hard-charging in your direction only to crumple-up after meeting your well-placed bullet will you be able to fully comprehend why most predator hunters are willing to travel far, endure harsh weather and spend hard-earned money on gas and equipment to square off with one of North America’s most wily animals.

I once drove 12 hours to southeastern Arkansas to hunt with total strangers whom I met online during a heated debate about some hot hunting topic. After some arguing, I ended up drawing and posting a cartoon lampooning these guys. They enjoyed the cartoon so much they invited me to come hunt with them. 

At the time, my wife expressed some concern, “What are you going to do if you get to their place, and they want to beat you up over that cartoon?” 

I didn’t hesitate to respond, “If the coyote hunting is good enough, it will be worth it.”

My wife quit trying to reason with me and rolled with my insanity. “Just make sure you know where the nearest hospital is,” she said in retort.

Thankfully, the hunting was terrific and the only injuries I incurred were mosquito and chigger bites.

If you have the fever, then you will understand. If you haven’t yet caught the fever, you may be left shaking your head like my helpful friend at the gas station.