Hunters take 37 coyotes

BY KEVIN WOODRUFF

Wyoming County Press Examiner

TUNKHANNOCK - This year's District 9 Pennsylvania Trappers Association Regional Coyote Hunt led to area hunters bringing in 37 coyotes.

The hunt, in it's eighth year, was held from Friday through Sunday in counties throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania with weigh-ins at Triton Hose Company in Tunkhannock.

Some 732 hunters registered for the event this year up from 717 last year. The total coyote count is nearly double with only 22 being harvested in 2008.

District 9 Chairman Bill Kalinauskis said that this year's hunt was a major success.

"Things went great this year," Kalinauskis said. "Despite the poor weather conditions because of the crust on the snow we had good numbers."

Kalinauskis said that a crust on top of snow makes it difficult for hunters with dogs to move and the noise scares off coyotes.

He said that the Sunday dinner was also a success with a large turnout.

"People were really happy with the way things went this year," Kalinauskis said. "We had the most people show up for the dinner that I can remember."

The top prize for the hunt went to Mark Guidetti, Berkeley Heights, N.J., who brought in a 43.25-pound male coyote from Lackawanna County on Friday using a 10-gauge shotgun.

He was awarded the top prize of $2,000 along with the daily prize of $250 for the heaviest coyote taken on Friday.

Jack Sorber, of Little Meadows, won the Saturday daily prize of $250 for a 40.95-pound coyote from Bradford County and Eric Gilleck, of Harford, won Sunday's prize with a 37.40 pound coyote from Pike County.

Of the 37 coyotes taken the most were taken using the electronic call method (12) and the dog method (12) while driving method was used for six, mouth call was used for five and hand call was used for two.

A slight majority of coyotes taken were male: 19 of 37.

The breakdown of county of harvest was: Lackawanna (10), Luzerne (8), Susquehanna (6), Pike (5), Wayne (4), Bradford (3) and Wyoming (1).

By day, each hunter's name, coyote weight in pounds and county shot are as follows:

Friday: Ken Zupp, 31.50, Susquehanna; Erik Gilleck, 31.20, Lackawanna; Shaun Spencer, 30.20, Luzerne; Mike Sullivan, 31.75, Lackawanna; Jesse Gowin, 34.60, Bradford; Robert Cragle, 35.15, Luzerne; Josh Cragle, 34.45, Luzerne; Donald Cole, 37.85, Wayne; Dennis Decker, Susquehanna; Mike Cortright, 38.40, Pike; Chris Gryswacz, 43.00, Lackawanna; Martin Bumbarger, 39.85, Bradford; Mark Guidetti, 43.25, Lackawanna; Victor Guidetti, 33.60, Lackawanna.

Saturday: Mark Krasavage, 35.75, Luzerne; Bill Gimble, 35.60, Luzerne; Corry Luther, 29.95, Luzerne; David Hartung, 34.35, Lackawanna; Anthony Ianuale, 39.20, Pike; Mike Andrejack, 38.25, Susquehanna; Tom Hoffman, 32.20, Susquehanna; Tom Hoffman, 37.65, Susquehanna; Roy Provost, 39.55, Wyoming; Jack Sorber, 40.95, Bradford; Josh Cragle, 32.05, Luzerne; Jake McLean, 38.30, Lackawanna; Marty Engelhartz, 23.45, Lackawanna.

Sunday: Chris Grzywacz, 27.50, Lackawanna; Ed Reed, 36.75, Wayne; Dennis Hedrick, 37.40, Pike; Frank Conklin 39.45, Wayne; Jason Day, 36.15, Wayne; Doug Hosking, 33.15, Pike; Eric Gillick, 43.15, Susquehanna; Donald Johnson, 32.80, Luzerne; Eric Thiele, 26.95, Pike; Tim Thomas, 35.20, Lackawanna.