COYOTE CLASSIC A SUCCESS
The 1st Annual North Dakota Coyote Classic, hosted at the Double wood Inn in Bismarck, ND January 2-4 2003, has officially been declared a success- not only by hunters who competed in it, but also by the one hundred plus individuals who showed up for the event's seminars both Thursday and Friday night. Unlike most coyote tournaments hosted throughout the state, this year's inaugural Coyote Classic offered hunters an opportunity to learn about hunting and calling coyotes from Knight-Hale pro-staffer Matt Barnard of Mitchell, South Dakota. Barnard has been a representative of Knight and Hale for 23 years.
The tournament offered prize money and plaques to the teams that brought in the most number of coyotes in two days. A head mount and free tanning (Artistic Wildlife Taxidermy) was awarded for the largest and smallest coyotes brought in by the two- man teams. This style of tournament, with a gunsmith (Jonesy's enterprises) and a sporting goods store (Marv's Hardware) on site, expert lecturers, and door prizes is one of a kind in the state of North Dakota.
Over 200 coyotes were sited during this two day event with 57 checked-in. The largest coyote taken was by Brad Ternes of Mandan, ND. His coyote weighed in at 36.6 pounds. The smallest was taken by Paul Faber of Mile city, Montana. Paul's coyote weighed 20.4 pounds. First place this year went to Todd and Tory Heid of New Salem, ND. Todd and Tory brought in a total of nine coyotes, and were awarded $900 and plaques. Second place went to Richard Ternes and Lance Gill of Mandan, ND for bringing in eight coyotes. They were awarded $700 and plaques. Shane Duncan and Kyle Vandenburg of Bismarck, ND, bringing in eight coyotes, won third place. Taking Home $400 and plaques. Eugene Sandness and Darrell Peterson of LaMoure, ND brought in six coyotes, putting them in fourth place and earning them $150 and plaques. And finally, fifth place went to Gene and Travis Guthmiller of Medina, ND for brining in four yotes. They won $50 and plaques.
Putting on a tournament of this caliber required a lot of planning. We would like to thank Kim Schmidt of the Bismarck-Mandan Convention and Visitors Bureau for all her hard work. Thanks also to Jonesy enterprises of Verona, ND and Marv?s Hardware of Mandan, ND for setting up at the seminars both nights. And special thanks to all the hunters who participated in the tournament and who came out to the seminars. We hope to see you all again next year.
http://www.coyotehunter.net/upload/03NDCC_RESULTS.doc