It was a cold January afternoon when these events took place and Dad and I were...

hunting in Cotulla, Texas where we were sitting in the stand the rancher called Buds stand. We had only there a little while when several deer came out and started to feed about a hundred yards in front of us. All of the sudden like the deer spooked and ran off. I looked up to see three coyotes crossing the sendero. So I got a little frustrated and decided to have a little fun with these coyotes. Well it was going to be fun for me anyway and so I stuck my gun out the window and waited on the coyotes. Within a few minutes and at a distance of about three hundred yards one of the coyotes came back out and so I  torched off a round and dropped him in his tracks. Instinctively I asked Dad if I got him. Dad said yes but  with the uncharacteristic inclusion of a slight hint of worry in his voice so I asked him what was wrong. Dad said "You know son I think that's Mike's dog from camp." I was floored. I started the whole process of a complete fit including whining about how I would never be allowed on the ranch again and how Mike would hate me forever cause I killed his dog. Dad shook his head and exclaimed that it did indeed appear to be a tough situation for me. Every time I brought up the incident Dad would take his binoculars and look down the sendero at the coyote and say "I think it might be a coyote" only to repeat the process moments later concluding that "It's possible that it could be Mike's dog." This went on three or more times. When we got back to camp the word had already spread around about me shooting the coyote and as if what happened in the stand wasn't bad enough Mike comes up to tells me that I had killed "the camp coyote". I wish I could have seen the look on my face when he told me that. I knew that I had been had. I have been to his ranch a bunch of times since that day and I always have fun.

Charlie Bell (My Dad is Cecil Bell Jr., Mike is Mike Hudson a friend of Dad's.)