I've written about this incident in other mags but thought the readers here might learn something from my mistakes. We take turkey hunting for granted when calling and we need to be aware that sometimes even the hunters can become the hunted...
It was May 22nd, 2008, and I was with my hunting partner on a new piece of property we had permission to hunt. It was close to 10:00am and we set up on a small green field in a local farmers 'back 40'. My buddy was set up right on the edge of the woodline and we had the decoys in front of him at about 18 yards. I decided to set up directly behind him about 15 feet to do some calling. Now, I always set up with my back to a decent tree trunk, for both comfort as well as safety, but in this instance... the first and last time I will ever do it... I plopped my butt down with nothing but some heavy brush directly behind me. I was leaning on a small pile of deadwood that came only as high as my lower back, and off to one side was heavy buck-brush, while just off my left shoulder there was some scrubby 2' foot tall firs and some deep dark timber.
Being mid-morning we couldn't get a bird to gobble but we knew they were there so I got into the calling; light at first, then very aggressive. I was about 15 minutes into it, and my partner chimed in with a little of his own when it happened... I never heard nor saw a thing but instantly there was a rush of air from the left as I was hit with the impact of what felt like a locomotive; I had been sitting practically indian-style, and the coyote hit me so violently from the left that I was knocked completely over onto my right side. Images have a tendency to freeze or be burned into your mind when you blink sometimes, and as I held my left arm up in a 'block', all I could see was this face, not 10 inches from my nose and I'll never forget it...
The coyote's teeth were imbedded into my left elbow, lips were curled back in a snarl, revealing how yellow they were, and I can still see the specks of...whatever...that was on them. It's ears were way back and it's eyes were closed, but in the instant it had me it released me and realized I was NOT the dinner it had thought I was! It's clear now that it had stalked my calls, seen my movement, (I was in full camo with a Realtree leafy suit), and then simply charged directly at me, the intention of which we believed was to grab me, (the turkey), and run full bore out into the field with it. When it fetched up on my body and realized I wasn't a turkey, it did a complete somersault on top of me, spinning completely around in an effort to turn inside-out, and get away, back in the direction it had come from.
In the process of it's jumping away from me, it must have kicked me in the face with a hind foot because I felt the explosion against my cheek, as though I'd been punched. (I later realized it had knocked a filling completely out of my mouth!). As the ruckus unfolded, my buddy had spun around on one knee instinctively, but couldn't shoot the animal because I was in the way. We did ascertain it looked like a full grown adult coyote, as it wasn't small by any means. When we got to our feet he said, "What just happened?", followed by, "No way that just happened!", and we started laughing in between the shocked stares at each other. There was no time to be scared as it was over before it really happened but I did notice a slight ache in my cheek and on my arm. I stripped down and removed the slippery, saliva-soaked clothes and found that it had barely left visible scratches and tooth drag marks, except for 2 puncture wounds, small but deep. Blood barely came to the surface of the puffy scratches and wounds but still, blood meant a problem...
The coyote had bitten through the mesh-leaf suit, a heavy cotton shirt with a reinforced elbow patch, and part of my tee. The doctor said the bony part of the elbow had prevented what could have been a far worse bite and I ended up having a total of 9 rabies shots over a period of several weeks, at a cost of about $3500. The doc said the danger, other than the possibility of rabies, was from infection setting in from the bacteria in the saliva from the dead crap in the coyotes teeth, and my arm was gross with saliva. We're pretty sure it was a healthy animal and rather than an 'attack', it was merely a case of mistaken identity, however, the reality is that every one of us who sits with our back against a tree in full camo, with the intention to call in our own turkey, becomes yet another chess piece in the vastness of Mother Nature's world...
I was one of only two documented cases in New England's history of such a coyote attack while hunting and I was lucky. Be sure to plan for such dangers yourselves while calling in the turkey woods this spring because you never know. Since the event, I have had a very hard time sitting alone against even a wide tree, eyes always moving, but nothing will keep me from turkey hunting....Perhaps I should invest in more Ameristep blinds!! lol!
(Images show the bite made through the clothing itself, the scratches, bruising, and punture marks, about 4 days after the event)
-Blaine Cardilli/ Ameristep prostaff
