sudden the coyotes started up. They weren't very far away, maybe only 30 yards or so (it seemed). It startled me so much I about fell out of my seat. Somehow I didn't perceive it as a serenade.

The dry lakebeds like Pit n pole and Lakeside are the last places to dry out in the summer heat, so animals are habitually drawn to these places even after they are dry. I've had a Coyote howl 50 yards from me because he didn't know I was there, and I immediatley thought about all the Vincent Price movies I had seen on late night television. That was scary but after all I was on his turf. Sitting quietly was the problem here, now when I go out alone, I play the radio on the all night Jazz station. They have dozens of translators and can be found on the dial in any part of the state, and they don't subject you to a political discussion, just soft background sounds that tells the critter that there is some one out here. They go the other way and you only hear them calling in the distance. Some times I even answer them by howling back. Of course if you have other people there with you, your voices will do the trick. DT ____________________________________________________________________________________ Need Mail bonding? Go to the Yahoo! Mail Q&A for great tips from Yahoo! Answers users. http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/?link=list&sid=396546091