Desert Hunter

Hunting Predators For Hides and Profit

by Wilf E. Pyle
Stoeger Publishing Company (1985)

Skip the first 150 pages and go straight to the fur section. The last seventy-five pages, the final third of Hunting Predators, is the best desciption of the tools and techniques used to prepare coyote hides for market that I have found in any book about coyote or predator hunting. It's easily the best book in the entire coyote library when it comes to fur skinning and preparation.

The first two-thirds of the book are one Canadian's perspective on hunting in his home turf. There were decent sections on reloads for fur and scouting, and the author does a reasonable job explaining how he hunts a coyote in Canada, but if a book on predator hunting is going to appeal to a bigger audience, at least as big as the coyote's range, the topic demands better coverage than the Saskatchewan-only treatment it got here. The author also managed to pen the whole book without a personal anecdote or an ounce of humor. I read and I hunt both for fun, so I missed some of those personal elements which other authors have used to make the presentation of dry facts a lot more more interesting. Finally, the book was packed with large page-filling illustrations that illustrated.... uh, nothing. In one short section, I counted at least fifteen pictures of guys standing, guys sitting, guys holding up a hand call. There were a few pictures of live coyotes, but a lot more of dead ones. The author never met too many coyotes he didn't shoot - with a bullet. I've been spoiled by other much more enjoyable titles. 225 pages, B&W illustrations, indexed. Buy it for the fur section.

Wilf Pyle is a rugged individualist with a lot of hunting experience, who when cast as an author seemed a bit out of his range.