Former Marine sniper takes on rising coyote population

Former Marine sniper takes on rising coyote population
By Laura Arenschield
The Columbus Dispatch
June 3, 2013

DELAWARE, Ohio — Dusk is turning to night, and the sniper sits hidden in the woods, watching a grassy path that cuts through the trees. He lifts a pair of night-vision goggles to his eyes, scanning. So far, he sees nothing. But he knows the target is there.

A few hundred feet away, ducks honk a warning.

“He’s out there,” says the sniper, Mark Frederick. “It’s just a matter of time.”

From 1979 to 1985, Frederick served his country, often traveling the globe hunting for threats to the United States and providing cover for his fellow Marines. Now, he sets up in rural parts of Delaware County to hunt a different prey: coyotes.

Frederick, a well-known central Ohio dog trainer, has made it a personal mission to bring down the area’s growing coyote population. And he’s using his sniper skills to do it.

“I got tired of them attacking my clients’ dogs,” Frederick said. “I love the sport of hunting, but this is about balancing the ecosystem out.”
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