Spinney Mountain Wild Kingdom

I had another interesting experience with wild animals on yesterdays guide trip.  I was working with Lew Romett on the finer points of casting and site fishing on the Dream Stream when we heard a loud noise that sounded similar to birds in our back yard when they are being eaten by a cat.  We were fishing by the barns when the terrible yelping started, and even though you could tell it was coming from a distance the cries of this animal were so loud it sounded like it was right next to us.


As we were trying to locate where the noise was coming from we saw an antelope being chased down the side of Spinney Mountain by the biggest Coyote I have ever seen.  The screaming noise we were hearing was the sound of a full size antelope crying for help before it became a wild dogs next meal.  The Coyote tackled it right at the edge of a steep drop off.  Lew described the scene best, "That just looked like a scene out of the Wild Kingdom t.v. show!"

Lew holding a nice Dream Stream Cutbow

Lew and I were fishing on the Mountain side of the river when it happened and my camera was on the opposite bank.  Combine that with the fact that everything transpired so quickly and there was no way we were getting photos of the event.  I did climb up the bank and walk towards the animals to get a closer look and the moment the Coyote saw me he popped up and took off.


Unable to see either the Coyote or the Antelope at this point I got back into the water thinking that maybe I saved the Antelope's life by scaring off the predator, but the moment I got back in the water the Antelope took off running and the Coyote came out of nowhere and tackled it again.  This time behind a hill where we couldn't see.  Let me reiterate that this dog was big enough that we questioned whether or not it was a wolf.


We all know there aren't suppose to be wolves in Colorado but I have had enough experiences in the wild to know that anything is possible and there is a lot of wilderness in our beautiful state.  We couldn't see any other dogs in the pursuit which lead me to believe that this was a huge lone Coyote making a big kill from a great position on the side of a mountain.  Either way it was an amazing sight and something that I hadn't seen in real life up to this point to add to my list.