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We’re keeping our oldest great-grandson each afternoon for a couple of hours, learning how a 4-year-old pre-kindergarten mind works. And it’s educational – for him and for us, too.
Some 75 years ago, I was taken to the big zoo in Atlanta at Grant’s Park to see the animals and was terrified by the lions, their growling and roaring and their stench.
He’s been taken to the zoo at Knoxville, Tenn., and likes all animals, his attitude toward them formed by Walt Disney, cuddly kind creatures that dance and sing in cartoons. Disney’s cartoons, for example, showed hippos dancing in cute ballet skirts, their smiles revealing the teeth.
In reality, the huge river pigs crush native boats in their jaws and kill more Africans along the rivers there than lions or buffalo or leopards or anything else.
But he likes books, too, so I read to him sometimes, one of his favorites being the Noah’s ark story. The pictures show calm animals in pairs boarding the boat, peaceful scenes with the animals co-existing.
Found out preparing for a Sunday school lesson recently that in the Bible’s book of Genesis it tells of Noah taking one pair of each, but in another place in Genesis it says he took seven pairs of each animal.
Began with construction
There was a small chunk of wilderness between Martins Creek Road and Harshaw Road that was cut in half in the early 2000s by a new section of U.S. 64.
Construction workers chased a bear from its cave, and also caused the migration of deer and coyotes suddenly into lower Martins Creek, blundering into civilization.
The coyotes especially were almost arrogant, would sit in plain view overlooking their new neighborhood.
I shot the first one as it sat near our old Big D store on the creek and it ran away, body found days later by Florida visitors.
Shot the second one a few months later in our hayfield, long shot from the deck railing, both animals were as black as a Lab dog.
Others I shot, small photos hanging in our den, were more normal in color, similar to a German shepherd.
Local game migrations
Great-grandson sees the photos, calls the dead coyotes “wolf,” and he is actually very accurate. Old-timers called the big species “timber wolf” and the smaller coyote “brush wolf,” in obvious nod to their habitats.
When he asked me why I killed the little wolf, I answered that the little wolf kills and eats the deer’s babies. Violence by one species toward another is a new idea to him, but I could tell he was pondering it.
The newly arrived coyotes stayed around for several years, howling loudly every time they heard a siren from ambulances or fire trucks. In my section now they seem to be gone.
But the deer have stayed and multiplied, until we can no longer have a vegetable garden without it fully fenced. So we’re buying vegetables now, very convenient and no hoeing required.
Also convenient to hunt deer on my own land. No more buying expensive Georgia licenses or paying membership fees for club hunting on rented tracts of land 150 miles to the south.
If you see a brush wolf, be sure to down it. They eat the deer babies, also house cats and small dogs. Good luck.
Wally Avett first wrote for the Cherokee Scout as editor in 1969. His books are available as signed copies at the Scout office in Murphy. Call him at 837-5531 or email wallyavett@gmail.com.