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The plan was to call some coyotes, and assassinate them in retribution for the numerous housecats of mine that they had so shamelessly pillaged.
We would effect this by acquiring a couple of the local lagomorphs as hanging bait, to be placed over the newfangled call system that Rich had ingeniously improvised from shoelaces, rubber bands, toiletpaper rolls, and about 9.6 million dollars worth of state of the science electronics.
This elaborate remote controlled coyote deceiving system would shame the best efforts of the ECM gurus of the Airforce, and coyotes would be standing in line for a shot at our call; or so I was led to believe.
But first, we had to shoot the rabbits.
Rich is prone to carrying everything from moist towelettes to mortar rounds in his "basic" hunting kit, so it tends to weigh slightly more than my usual complement of 5 rounds of extra ammo, and three squares of toilet paper.
The fun began when Rich, who was walking point in the rabbit infested area, sighted the first potential victi...er, ah, target.
The gyrations of the gear exploding from Rich's back, with the attendant arm waving and dancing to avoid cactus was alarming to me and terrifying to the rabbit, who, being a sensible sort, rabbited off.
Rich took off after it at full speed.
When he (Rich) broke cover a few minutes later, it was noted that he was rabbitless. He regained his pack, and began stalking the next one.
Once sighted, the rabbit and myself were once again treated/alarmed to see Rich dump all of his gear in a flurry of frantic flapping, and take off running after the rabbit.
This same basic scene occurred no less than six times.
The fact that Rich had a rifle with him seemed to have gone completely from his mind.
I asked him if the equipment trail was intended to help him find his way out of the brush, or if he was trying to leave a trail for me to follow.
I suggested that perhaps he would be better off trying to actually shoot the rabbit next time, as opposed to running it down...
His bizarre behavior remains unexplained.
Maybe that's just how they do it in Florida.
We finished the day rabbitless.
The 9.6 million dollar coyote calling system
required numerous hands on modifications, and appeared to be a very effective coyote repelling device. As soon as I can afford one, I will hang it on my cat's neck, thereby rendering him coyote proof.
[This message has been edited by MAD DOG (edited July 23, 1999).]
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