I was so excited for today. Post storm. Nice and crisp. Not much wind but reasonably steady. All the signs were there when I left the house before sun up. But alas, I was slightly subdued in my departure, knowing that calling exploits would be interrupted by another trip to the Orthodontist - this time, my son. Better make the best of it.
Stand #1
Returning once more to the hill top I call from here, I snuggled in to the snow drift and briefly relived my previous double here. I let rip with a howl and hushed up. To the north of me, 3 or 4 coyotes lit up. I quickly adjusted myself to that direction and got some grey fox distress going. After a couple or three series and seeing nothing from the north, I glanced back to the south west and saw a coyote making its way in, about 400 yards out. I waited until it dropped into a swale and made my turn to get positioned. Every coyote coming from that direction has gravitated to the same general spot, crossing the big slough. I was ready. At roughly 150 yards, it stopped and was looking in my general direction. It was stopped and relaxed - may as well. BOOM! CHOP! and the coyote vanished. Imagine my surprise when 20 seconds later, I see it streaking back from whence it came. “What the hell?” Getting back on it, I could see blood all over its legs and stomach and realized I had hit it low. My leads felt good and I barely missed my next two shots. “Okay seriously. Get your poop in a group and finish this poor thing.” Now quartering and what I figured was 400ish yards, I touched off again. BOOOOOOOM! CHOP! A poof of snow in the scope where it piled up and it was over. Dropped my head and raised a finger to Heaven acknowledging whomever assisted me on that one. Pressed for time, I didn’t walk out for a picture.
Stand #2
Farming friend had said they have had a lot of coyotes around as of late. Calving for them begins soon and our last phone conversation ended with me having the run of the place.
I set up in a tree line and had a fairly commanding view of the surroundings. Well, grey fox produced last time. Let’s hit it again. Only a minute in, I saw a coyote break cover about 700 yards north of me. It covered about half of that distance and then sat down. For several minutes I tried different distress sounds. Tried mouth calls. Still it sat, content to keep its perch. “Must be a bitch” I thought to myself. Maybe a breeding sound? 5 seconds after unleashing some Cornered Hottie, it was closing fast. As it moved briefly behind some tall grass, I positioned myself with the rifle. At 135 yards, it stopped and the crosshairs settled on the shoulder. BOOM! CHOP! #2 for the morning was motionless in the snow. An adult Bitch.
At this point, I had to pull the pin and do some Dad Duty. 4 hours later, I was back out in the same general area. I had been meaning to do this one stand. Why on earth I left it until we got a bunch of snow, your guess is as good as mine. 2 miles one way. There is nowhere to hide the truck and if you want to call it, that’s your only option. I made my hike in.
Stand #3
I was only about 200 yards from the edge of the bush. Wind directly out of the south. The snow had drifted up pretty high on the fence line and with the angle of the sun now, there was a lovely pocket of shadow to tuck in. With the caller straight east of me, I decided to go with the mouth call and see if anything was close by in the Red Willow. “Twaaah… Twaah… Twah… Twah… Twah” and I hunkered in. I briefly looked down at my calls and when I looked up, a coyote was ripping towards me. Already under 100 yards and closing fast. Any of my movement was hidden by the snow bank and I semi readied myself for what would be a twisting, offhand shot with the shotgun. At 15 yards I made my twist and gave a lip squeak. It stopped but still hadn’t seen me as the load of #4 Buck found its face. I fired out some grey fox again with no response. Then broke into some howls, breeding sounds and finally some fight sounds. There had been magpies around steady and I was surprised I hadn’t had anything else show. Now 20 minutes into the set, I turned my head slightly and was astonished to see a coyote, no more than 8 yards away from me. My movement did not go unnoticed this time but, it didn’t spook either. It looked at me and took a few steps and repeated. I was debating taking another offhand, awkward shot when it started acting like it wanted to cross the fence. I gave a couple coaxes and a flick of the decoy and it launched to the other side of the fence, now completely focussed on the decoy. I let it close to 25 yards, as I was now in a comfortable shooting position and the game was mine. At the report of the shot, a rather unexpected shotgun double was mine. How that second coyote did not wind me, I will never know.
Stand #4
Wanting to call a completely different area as the wind was perfect, I hauled on it to relocate for a last set. This is normally, a regular spot of mine. I’ve enjoyed success on many occasions and more often than not, it produces multiples. I opted for a different hide than I usually call from. Don’t think I’ll do it again. It worked but, I prefer my normal hide. Getting situated on the edge of the tree line, fox was once again on the menu. Immediately, several magpies lifted from a willow patch that the coyotes will regularly emerge from. After several minutes of fox, rabbit and woodpecker; all I had for responses was the gaggle of Magpies in the trees above and around me. Switching to howls, breeding noises and then fight sounds; I still had no coyote respond. With all the tracks, there was no way at least one coyote wasn’t hearing me. I let rip with a fight challenge and then started cycling between pup distress and pup screams rapidly as I had done a few days ago. Back and forth, back and forth just begging to trigger a response. 24 minutes in now, I spied something that wasn’t there before above a little rise as a coyote materialized seconds later at about 200 yards. As it continued to close at a trot, I slowly made a couple small moves to get myself in position. As the crosshairs fell upon and followed the coyote, I gave a soft “WOOOO”. Coming to a slow stop and at full attention, I broke the trigger and a resounding BOOM! CHOP! once again echoed across the countryside. My fifth of the day and another adult Bitch. “Yes! Not a blank stand today and I killed every one that showed!”
Work will be picking up for me soon here and sadly, my Coyotecation is coming to an end. Hopefully it isn’t super windy tomorrow as I’d like to get just another two to round out my season. Guess we will see. This is about the time of year that I start getting calls from people calving so, there might be another couple rounds yet. Regardless, a good day considering. Hope you enjoy the read and pics. It’s a great time of year to be out and about.
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Batted .1000 Today
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