Winners of the Open Class l to r: Ryan McCormick, Brandon Gasvoda, Keith Danreuther, and Brian Gasvoda.
Winners of the Calling Class Chad Carmichael, Paul Sura, Cory Brothers, and Peter Sura.
The 2nd annual Big Sandy American Legion Coyote Derby was held January 6th. The news of the Coyote derby has been all over the state this year with the Tribune carrying the story and the controversy over the hunt.
Locally our perspective is different than it is other places. We have a large number of coyotes and their ability to kill livestock in the area is a common discussion point. The coyotes have lost their fear of man and tracks are often found in farm house's front yards.
This year there were 40 teams, up from 31 teams last year. There were 23 calling teams which means they used a variety of remote electronic calls that sounds like an animal in distress. Or they can use the traditional mouth call which makes similar sounds. There were also 17 open teams.
Total coyotes killed were 191 and 34 porcupines as well.
The winner of the calling class with 10 coyotes went to Chad Carmichael, Paul Sura, Peter Sura, and Cory Brothers. They won $2,058.00.
The second-place winner with seven coyotes and a total weight of 176.8 pounds was Lance Nelson, Giff Fjeld, Mark Nelson, and Bob Nelson. They won $1,029.00.
Third place winner with seven coyotes and a total weight of 176.11 pounds was Garrett Powell, Eli Hinebauch, and Kody Nystrom. They won $343.00
Winner of the open class with 33 coyotes went to Brandon Gasvoda, Keith Danreuther, Ryan Mcormick, and Brian Gasvoda. They won $1,770.00. Second Place with 28 coyotes went to Tarz Richard, Levi Beirwagen, Tyer Engstrom and Levi Nagle. They won $885.00. Third place with 22 coyotes went to Rick Darlington, Matt Feverhelm, Bruce Gasvoda, and Pete Gasvoda. They won $295.00.
The biggest coyote came in at 40.14 pounds by Chad Drugge, Chris Sullivan, Brandon Stahl and Eric Miller. They won a T/C Venture Predator Snow Camo .204 rifle sponsored by the American Legion and Leon's Buy & Sell.
The smallest coyote came in at 13.49 pounds by Lane Martin, Kasey Martin, and Austin Duncon. They won a dead bone coyote call sponsored by FoxPro.
The raffles for the two guns went to Wayne Reichelt who was the winner of a savage .270 rifle with scope donated by Matt Feverhelm and JR Labuda was the winner of a savage 17HMR bull barrel rifle with scope donated by Eizoo Terry.
The American Legion paid out $11,571 in prizes. They raised $8,000 for Post 50. This money will go towards the purchase of seven new guns and uniforms for our active members to be used for veteran memorial services and parades. We will also continue the $1,000 scholarship award to be given to a worthy senior at Big Sandy High School.
The Big Sandy American Legion Post cannot thank the community and the hi-line enough for all of their support. They would like to thank Blaine Ophus and Ophus Auctions for donating his time and equipment to auctioneer the Calcutta and announcing Sunday night.
The chili dinner was made and donated by Arlon Kristenson, LeaAnn Williams, Laura Boyce, Kelly Rutledge, and Amy Sibra. The smoked pork sandwich dinner was donated by Big Sandy Meat Shop with some delicious rolls made by Carol Boyce.
They also want to thank the Diamond 4-U Club for opening the bar and hosting the event. Without the club, our sponsors and the community our event would not be as big of a success.
