License to Kill

Tom Rush, wrote "A Cowboy's Paean", which is on his "Trolling for Owls" album. The image is of the Druid Peak Pack in Yellowstone, and the photographer is Dan Hartman. Check out his work at the Hartman Gallery

Go on out and shoot yourself some coyotes,
Makes a man feel good, Lord, it makes a man feel proud!
Go on out and shoot yourself some coyotes,
One for Mother, one for Country, one for God.
Well, if you’re having trouble with the truck, or with the woman,
Maybe them kids are screwin’ up in school,
If the cows are actin’ smarter than the cowboy,
You gotta show the world you ain’t nobody’s fool.
Go on out and shoot yourself some coyotes,
Makes a man feel good, Lord, it makes a man feel proud!
Go on out and shoot yourself some coyotes,
One for Mother, one for Country, one for God.
I got my 30.30 and my eyes are 20/20,
I got my M16 and my trusty .44,
I got my 10-80 and my IQ’s double digits!
Boys, this is gonna be an all-out war.
I got my field rations straight from old Jack Daniel’s,
Hank, Jr.’s on the 8 track in my 4X4,
And I’d shoot a thousand coyotes if I could only just find one,
‘cause, boys, that’s what God made coyotes for.
Go on out and shoot yourself some coyotes,
Makes a man feel good, Lord, it makes a man feel proud!
Go on out and shoot yourself some coyotes,
One for Mother, one for Country, one for God.
So you never mind them Eastern, liberal, environmental … Democrat sissies,
Vegetarians are just a passing fad,
Just tip your hat and wish ‘em “via con … carne,”
Then go on out and make ‘em hopping mad!
Go on out and shoot yourself some coyotes,
Makes a man feel good, Lord, it makes a man feel proud!
Go on out and shoot yourself some coyotes,
One for Mother, one for Country, one for God.

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In related news, the Bush Administration has issued a disastrous "License to Kill" plan that could trigger the extermination of half the gray wolves in Wyoming and Idaho, starting as early as October. The gray wolf population is still classified as an endangered species, although it has staged a welcome and dramatic comeback from the brink of extinction. Bush is circumventing his own agency's process for delisting a species.
In preparation for these mass killings, the government has already purchased planes and helicopters capable of gunning down entire packs of wolves in minutes. Their goal: To immediately kill up to 700 wolves in Greater Yellowstone and central Idaho.
The administration wants to be able to kill wolves anywhere that elk herd numbers may be affected by wolves. It is focusing on areas where big game numbers are "below management objectives". But those few cases of declines in elk herds have been caused by a combination of factors including habitat destruction, drought and human hunting -- not just by wolves. And in most areas of the northern Rockies, elk numbers are at all-time highs.
Wolves once thrived in much of the lower 48 states. Today, they reside in only five percent of their former range in the U.S. If there is one place in the U.S. where they should be allowed to flourish, it is in and around Yellowstone -- the nation's oldest park -- and the remote Selway Bitterroot ecosystem in central Idaho.