The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

here were lots of people in Big Sandy the last weekend of January. Not only was there a big annual gun show but the first annual coyote hunt was held as well.

Lindsay Boyce and Clete Ophus were in the "Mountaineer" this week to tell us all about it and to thank the community for so much cooperation in the dual activities that went on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Lindsay's husband Stephen Boyce came up with the idea as much as anyone. It is known that there are too many coyotes around this area so why not hunt them for prizes and turn it into a lot of fun along the way?

In order to do that they had to have 31 teams and 99 people. That made for some great fun.

The idea was to go out and hunt coyotes wherever you wanted to hunt them and bring them in and trade them for good prizes.

Not everyone thought this would work. One wag told the organizers that if they bought a single rifle for a prize, they would be bankrupt! That did not happen.

Both Clete and Lindsay said that what made it all work was that they had awesome sponsors. From the posters to guns and everything in-between, people really donated a lot to go to successful coyote hunters.

There were two grand prizes because there were two categories to the activities around the hunt. There was an open class where people just went out and tried to hunt the largest coyote they could find. Then there was the calling the coyote part of the hunt. Both parts got around five thousand dollars for the winners.

There were 71 coyotes hunted, 9 porcupines and 3 fox.

There was lots of betting, lots of side pots and lots of fun had by the organizers and hunters alike.

One sort of strange thing was that hunters did not want to tell where their coyotes came from. But Clete thinks that most came from the south Bear Paws in Chouteau County.

So, what was the biggest, the grand slam trophy coyote? He weighed in at 34.8 pounds and the winner of that coyote brought home a Howa 204 rifle with scope.

Then there was the small dog award. The smallest was 15.2 pounds and one team actually tried to bring in a prairie dog and pass it off as a small coyote! Shame!

There was a huge amount of food donated. On Friday night the Big Sandy Meat Shop donated enough for a big dinner. Gary and Leos in Havre donated food too and on Sunday night the Ladies Auxiliary of the American Legion donated a Chili feed for all the precipitants.

Matter of fact the American Legion right here in Big Sandy was the big winner. They got around five thousand dollars out of the weekend activities. But according to both Clete and Lindsay, the simple fact is that nothing could have happened that weekend without the support and backing of the entire community behind them.

Courtesy Photo

Thanks to the many who helped out all three days!

And special thanks to the Diamond's 4 U Club who stayed open as long as they were needed to get this event to go off well.

Part of the success, according to Clete, were the posters and Face book brought in many hunters as well. Matter of fact, there were hunters from all around Montana, Wisconsin and as far away as Alaska.

Both Clete and Lindsay said that getting a younger generation involved in the community and the American Legion is what makes these sorts of activities happen as well.

Will there be a second annual Coyote Hunt next January? No doubt at all about that according to the organizers.