Winter Wildlife at Rocky Mountain Arsenal: Capturing a Coyote on the Hunt

There is nothing quite like the excitement of taking a brand-new piece of glass out into the field for the first time. Having just picked up a 200-600mm telephoto lens, I was incredibly eager to push its limits and see how it handled raw, fast-moving subjects. With a fresh blanket of morning snow covering the ground, my immediate instinct was to head straight to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal in hopes of finding wildlife active in the cold, clean conditions.

To my absolute surprise, it didn’t take long before I spotted this gorgeous coyote off the main path, navigating the deep powder. Watching a predator work a winter landscape is a mesmerizing experience. It quickly became clear that he was actively hunting—likely tracking small rodents like mice navigating tunnels deep beneath the surface. Even though the prey was completely invisible to my eyes, the coyote could hear them moving under the snowpack. He would pause, tilt his head to lock onto the sound, and suddenly jump straight up into the air, pouncing head-first into the drifts. While I didn’t catch him successfully pulling up a meal in this specific sequence, witnessing that instinctual, high-flying hunting behavior up close was unforgettable.

This unpredictability is exactly why the Arsenal remains one of my absolute favorite locations to revisit. You truly never know what species you are going to encounter or what unique, raw behaviors you’ll be lucky enough to document from the trail. Testing the tracking speed and sharpness of the new telephoto lens in such a low-contrast, snow-heavy environment was a serious test, but I was thrilled with how flawlessly the gear performed to lock in this frame.