Coyote Head has new home at Leonard Middle School

June 1, 2006
By Greta Sproul

(Cutline: Heads up for a new mascot: LMS Principal -, Brady Greenleaf, Warden Dave Georgia, Haley Prygrocki, and OT High School Principal Joe Gallant show off the mounted coyote head donated to Leonard Middle School by Larry York and Clinton Bradbury.)

Professional taxidermy and woodworking skills came together at Leonard Middle School last Wednesday as the school accepted its new mascot: a coyote head mounted on a pyramid-shaped base fashioned from bird's eye maple. Larry York and Clinton Bradbury, the joint creators of the piece, donated the coyote head to the school. York is the owner of Second Nature Taxidermy in Farmington. Bradbury works with wood in Rumford. The two men also have begun a scholarship fund that will award $500 a year to help further interest in activities associated with fish and game.
"They heard that Old Town had chosen the coyote for its new mascot and just felt that this was something that they would like to do," said Dave Georgia, a warden with Maine Fish & Game.
The donation of the coyote head to the school, Georgia says, celebrates an area that is rich in outdoor tradition.
"Like the bear, the moose, and the deer, the coyote is a part of this area's natural resources," he said.
Also taking part in the presentation were seventh graders Haley Prygrocki and Brady Greenleaf, both active members of the Maine Youth Fish & Game Board. Prygrocki is the president, Greenleaf the secretary. Two other members of the Board, Robbie Bickford and Amanda York, were unable to attend the presentation. Prygrocki's status as president makes her a "first member" of the Board, which allows her to participate in the voting process.
"I've just always had a passion for the outdoors," she explained. "I love fishing and hunting and shooting on the rifle range."
Leonard Middle School's new acquisition wills soon have a counterpart at Old Town High school, a full-bodied coyote stuffed and mounted by student Dan Dykstra. Dykstra's taxidermy skills were spotlighted a little over a month ago when he stuffed and mounted a pickerel he had caught in Stetson Pond as an extra credit project for his English class.
"He expects to have the coyote finished by late August," Old Town High Principal Joe Gallant said.