Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 16, 1994 TAG: 9411160119
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Jamie Weddle, 26, had heard some coyotes a few nights ago while out coon hunting. "One howled, the other barked real fast, like a beagle," Weddle said. He went back to his grandfather's farm early Monday morning to hunt for them and to check on the beef cattle herd.
Weddle heard a deer make a blowing sound in the woods but it got by him. Then, four silver-gray coyotes emerged, apparently in pursuit of the deer. Running down a slope, they didn't see him. Weddle aimed his rifle in front of one of the coyotes and brought it down with a shot to the back. The other coyotes high-tailed it.
Ever since, the coyote carcass has been Topic A in Riner, a rural farming community southwest of Christiansburg. Weddle, who works at Stewart's livestock market in Christiansburg and on his farms in Montgomery and Floyd counties, took it to show neighboring farmers, and they recommended he show it to others in a sort of Riner talk-show circuit. "I had to show it to every one of them Teel boys over there," Weddle laughed.
"There's been 50 million people over to look at it," joked Becky Weddle, his wife.
The coyote is a female and weighs 30 to 35 pounds. It has a silver, gray and white coat with a tinge of red.
Coyotes have been in Montgomery County and many other parts of Western Virginia for several years, as part of a southward migration through the Appalachian range. They've killed livestock in Montgomery and other counties and are occasionally trapped or shot, though they are crafty predators who are notoriously difficult to outsmart.
Weddle said a calf on the farm was attacked by the coyotes a few weeks ago. They tore up its ears and the top of its head, but it survived the attack and has recovered.
The Riner coyote's next destination: a taxidermist. "It might be a once in a lifetime thing," Becky Weddle said.
by CNB