mikegranger
Active member
November 27, 2009
No wind this morning and no sun either as it was overcast all day. Coyotes were practically invisible without good light. First stand had one howling from somewhere near the old cow skull but it was downwind and I’m sure they smelled us. We moved up another ½ mile and I thought I saw a coyote on a far hillside but the light was so bad I couldn’t tell. About 10 minutes into the stand the “object” moved and now I could tell it was a coyote. It just stood there looking at us no matter what I did with the calls. The dogs never did see it. I pulled out the camera and began filming Bubba doing his thing and while doing so, I see them take off in a straight line to the South. I look up to see a coyote at 150 yards. I barely had enough time to get him in the scope and pull the trigger before the dogs got to him. I could tell by the view through the scope that I hit him in the head. One significant advantage to the .204 is being able to see the bullet strike. I could also tell something wasn’t right.
Watch the dogs closely, this is a short clip but timed perfectly! Not often do I get them spotting the coyote before me.
The coyote had a significant case of mange.
We kept working our way west, calling every ½ to mile apart. In the meantime, the wind had switched out of the east, no sunshine and foggy. What do they say about best laid plans?
Trees are scarce out here but we have plenty of stones.
I hate calling and moving downwind but there was nothing I could do, once we started moving west, we were committed. Around 1230 the light was still horrible. We were at stand # 6 for the day when I thought I saw something a little grayer than normal to our west. A quick peek through the bino’s and a coyote materialized out of the gray. The dogs saw it too and were on their way. I held them up and the coyote came charging in downwind, hit our scent, spun on a dime and was headed back to where she came. Unfortunately for her, she couldn’t leave without stopping broadside to look at the dogs that were on her trail. That was all I needed and coyote number two was down.
As luck would have it, she was the last coyote of the day. I did see a really beautiful silver coyote sneak over a downwind hill late in the day. The day was getting late and I was now into new territory. We drove through some great looking country on the way to the county road. My number one rule is to always be back at a known road by dark. Trying to find one’s way out of remote country in extremely difficult and nerve wracking in the dark.
November 28, 2009
I promised my lovely wife I would be home by the time she got off work today. The plan was to hook up the trailer and hunt our way back. It was a beautiful morning, the ground freshly covered with a light snow, temps in the mid twenties. We drove 30 miles to the first spot and instead of calling close to the road, decided to walk into a really nice looking hill about a mile in. Glad I did as several vehicles came by while walking to the stand (last weekend of deer season).
The stand was fantastic and we were rewarded with this beautiful male. He came in while the female stayed way back.
The next stand was a few miles down the road. A single coyote was answering my howls so I kept howling back. We were up on a hill and the howls were coming from the opposite hill, which was across a large open flat. Eventually the coyote quit responding so I did the same and glassed where he should be making an appearance. Several minutes went by but finally a coyote appeared on the horizon, staring our way. He was several hundred yards away but very intent on the two dogs. He stood there several minutes then slowly, and I do mean slowly, began his descent down the hill and across the flat. This was a smart one too and was circling down wind of us by a couple hundred yards. The only problem was 100 yards from me was a hill that he could get behind and get downwind before being detected. Once the coyote was out of sight, I sprung up, made a mad dash to the other hill, scurried under another fence, and barely got set up before he appeared at 100 yards. He took one second to look at the dogs and was turning to leave when I let one fly. At the 25 minute mark, coyote two was down for the day.
We kept moving south throughout the day. Had one come in from behind us that I didn’t see until it was 300 yards and running away at a rapid clip. On another stand, Dash spotted two coyotes responding in a CRP field. I flubbed up that stand by leaving the shooting sticks in the truck and unwilling to take a prone shot through the thick CRP.
I had a spot in mind to finish up the days calling but it was about 45 miles further south. We took off at a pretty good clip, especially considering I was towing a trailer. I’d never been down this particular dirt road and missed the turn that would take me to the highway. While backing up the trailer, and unbeknown to me, the world famous Bubba decided it was time to go hunting and jumped out of the pickup! The day was quickly coming to an end so we continued at a fast pace to the last stand of the hunt. Upon arriving, I get out to see Dash ready to go, but no Bubba. I figured he was in the box so you can imagine how my heart sank when he wasn’t there! I can tell you right now, this was just about the worst feeling I’ve ever had while hunting. Of course we always think the worst in these situations and I just knew he had either fallen out or jumped out while I was speeding down the road and more than likely run over by the trailer. I whipped the trailer around and we double time it back along our track. It was getting dark and seeing out beyond the headlights was getting difficult. I drove all the way back to the last stand, but no Bubba. I was frantic, called Shelly and told her the bad news. I turned around and back tracked our back track again. While driving back, Shelly calls to tell me a rancher had Bubba and gave me his phone number! A trick I learned from my coon hunting grandpa was to always have the dog’s name, your phone number, name and address on a brass tag, riveted to the collar. Turns out Bubba went to the closest house and walked right up to the owners. When I called, they asked if I was towing a camper trailer as they had seen someone driving slowly down the road looking for something. Yep, that’s me, I gleefully admitted. After they told me where their house was, my cell phone rang again and it was the Fergus County Sheriff’s office. The dispatcher is a retired game warden friend of mine. He said I owed him a steak dinner then commenced to give me the name, address and phone number of the rancher who had Bubba. And to top it all off, minutes later a broadcast over the local radio station says a lost “yellow lab” without a tail and named Bubba had been found 20 miles west of town. Now that’s how a name tag is supposed to work! I picked up Bubba, thanked the rancher and his family profusely, locked the two dogs in the box and headed for home. We didn’t make it by the time my wife got off work, but she was more than understanding. This was a good lesson learned. I’ve always let Bubba go in and out of the box while going from stand to stand but would put him in a box or carrier while going down the highway. Since I was in a hurry, I failed to stop long enough to put them up. That won’t happen again.
There you have it, our first hunt of the year, Dash’s first experience with coyotes and Bubba’s first time to be lost.
Now I’ll give you my general thoughts on the new pup. I’ve said since day one that Dash appeared to be smarter than Bubba. He learns very quickly. Coyote hunting was no different. Once he figured out the game, he willingly jumped into the fray. He didn’t like getting bit, what dog does, but I was able to get him back in the fight before the coyote was dead. There is no lack of aggression in him. Bubba goes for the chest but will not grab the throat. Dash latches onto the throat almost every time. They’re going to make a great tag team for sure.
As you’ve seen in the video’s. Bubba will pace back and forth when I see a coyote. Many times he doesn’t see the coyote until they’re really close because of this. Dash doesn’t pace and will intently stare while looking for coyotes. He saw the coyotes coming into the CRP field before I did, and they were over ½ mile away. I was beginning to watch Dash more than Bubba. Whenever he locked onto something his ears would perk up. A good sign he was looking at coyotes.
Without Bubba, Dash tires of the game quickly and will lie down. This is the puppy in him. Bubba did the same as a pup. Finally, two dogs seem to intimidate coyotes early in the season. I’ll have a better read on this as the year progresses. Even so, both dogs will be on all of my stands from now on. Dash has a long ways to go but shows lots of aptitude and promise. No doubt, he’s a keeper.
No wind this morning and no sun either as it was overcast all day. Coyotes were practically invisible without good light. First stand had one howling from somewhere near the old cow skull but it was downwind and I’m sure they smelled us. We moved up another ½ mile and I thought I saw a coyote on a far hillside but the light was so bad I couldn’t tell. About 10 minutes into the stand the “object” moved and now I could tell it was a coyote. It just stood there looking at us no matter what I did with the calls. The dogs never did see it. I pulled out the camera and began filming Bubba doing his thing and while doing so, I see them take off in a straight line to the South. I look up to see a coyote at 150 yards. I barely had enough time to get him in the scope and pull the trigger before the dogs got to him. I could tell by the view through the scope that I hit him in the head. One significant advantage to the .204 is being able to see the bullet strike. I could also tell something wasn’t right.
Watch the dogs closely, this is a short clip but timed perfectly! Not often do I get them spotting the coyote before me.
The coyote had a significant case of mange.
We kept working our way west, calling every ½ to mile apart. In the meantime, the wind had switched out of the east, no sunshine and foggy. What do they say about best laid plans?
Trees are scarce out here but we have plenty of stones.
I hate calling and moving downwind but there was nothing I could do, once we started moving west, we were committed. Around 1230 the light was still horrible. We were at stand # 6 for the day when I thought I saw something a little grayer than normal to our west. A quick peek through the bino’s and a coyote materialized out of the gray. The dogs saw it too and were on their way. I held them up and the coyote came charging in downwind, hit our scent, spun on a dime and was headed back to where she came. Unfortunately for her, she couldn’t leave without stopping broadside to look at the dogs that were on her trail. That was all I needed and coyote number two was down.
As luck would have it, she was the last coyote of the day. I did see a really beautiful silver coyote sneak over a downwind hill late in the day. The day was getting late and I was now into new territory. We drove through some great looking country on the way to the county road. My number one rule is to always be back at a known road by dark. Trying to find one’s way out of remote country in extremely difficult and nerve wracking in the dark.
November 28, 2009
I promised my lovely wife I would be home by the time she got off work today. The plan was to hook up the trailer and hunt our way back. It was a beautiful morning, the ground freshly covered with a light snow, temps in the mid twenties. We drove 30 miles to the first spot and instead of calling close to the road, decided to walk into a really nice looking hill about a mile in. Glad I did as several vehicles came by while walking to the stand (last weekend of deer season).
The stand was fantastic and we were rewarded with this beautiful male. He came in while the female stayed way back.
The next stand was a few miles down the road. A single coyote was answering my howls so I kept howling back. We were up on a hill and the howls were coming from the opposite hill, which was across a large open flat. Eventually the coyote quit responding so I did the same and glassed where he should be making an appearance. Several minutes went by but finally a coyote appeared on the horizon, staring our way. He was several hundred yards away but very intent on the two dogs. He stood there several minutes then slowly, and I do mean slowly, began his descent down the hill and across the flat. This was a smart one too and was circling down wind of us by a couple hundred yards. The only problem was 100 yards from me was a hill that he could get behind and get downwind before being detected. Once the coyote was out of sight, I sprung up, made a mad dash to the other hill, scurried under another fence, and barely got set up before he appeared at 100 yards. He took one second to look at the dogs and was turning to leave when I let one fly. At the 25 minute mark, coyote two was down for the day.
We kept moving south throughout the day. Had one come in from behind us that I didn’t see until it was 300 yards and running away at a rapid clip. On another stand, Dash spotted two coyotes responding in a CRP field. I flubbed up that stand by leaving the shooting sticks in the truck and unwilling to take a prone shot through the thick CRP.
I had a spot in mind to finish up the days calling but it was about 45 miles further south. We took off at a pretty good clip, especially considering I was towing a trailer. I’d never been down this particular dirt road and missed the turn that would take me to the highway. While backing up the trailer, and unbeknown to me, the world famous Bubba decided it was time to go hunting and jumped out of the pickup! The day was quickly coming to an end so we continued at a fast pace to the last stand of the hunt. Upon arriving, I get out to see Dash ready to go, but no Bubba. I figured he was in the box so you can imagine how my heart sank when he wasn’t there! I can tell you right now, this was just about the worst feeling I’ve ever had while hunting. Of course we always think the worst in these situations and I just knew he had either fallen out or jumped out while I was speeding down the road and more than likely run over by the trailer. I whipped the trailer around and we double time it back along our track. It was getting dark and seeing out beyond the headlights was getting difficult. I drove all the way back to the last stand, but no Bubba. I was frantic, called Shelly and told her the bad news. I turned around and back tracked our back track again. While driving back, Shelly calls to tell me a rancher had Bubba and gave me his phone number! A trick I learned from my coon hunting grandpa was to always have the dog’s name, your phone number, name and address on a brass tag, riveted to the collar. Turns out Bubba went to the closest house and walked right up to the owners. When I called, they asked if I was towing a camper trailer as they had seen someone driving slowly down the road looking for something. Yep, that’s me, I gleefully admitted. After they told me where their house was, my cell phone rang again and it was the Fergus County Sheriff’s office. The dispatcher is a retired game warden friend of mine. He said I owed him a steak dinner then commenced to give me the name, address and phone number of the rancher who had Bubba. And to top it all off, minutes later a broadcast over the local radio station says a lost “yellow lab” without a tail and named Bubba had been found 20 miles west of town. Now that’s how a name tag is supposed to work! I picked up Bubba, thanked the rancher and his family profusely, locked the two dogs in the box and headed for home. We didn’t make it by the time my wife got off work, but she was more than understanding. This was a good lesson learned. I’ve always let Bubba go in and out of the box while going from stand to stand but would put him in a box or carrier while going down the highway. Since I was in a hurry, I failed to stop long enough to put them up. That won’t happen again.
There you have it, our first hunt of the year, Dash’s first experience with coyotes and Bubba’s first time to be lost.
Now I’ll give you my general thoughts on the new pup. I’ve said since day one that Dash appeared to be smarter than Bubba. He learns very quickly. Coyote hunting was no different. Once he figured out the game, he willingly jumped into the fray. He didn’t like getting bit, what dog does, but I was able to get him back in the fight before the coyote was dead. There is no lack of aggression in him. Bubba goes for the chest but will not grab the throat. Dash latches onto the throat almost every time. They’re going to make a great tag team for sure.
As you’ve seen in the video’s. Bubba will pace back and forth when I see a coyote. Many times he doesn’t see the coyote until they’re really close because of this. Dash doesn’t pace and will intently stare while looking for coyotes. He saw the coyotes coming into the CRP field before I did, and they were over ½ mile away. I was beginning to watch Dash more than Bubba. Whenever he locked onto something his ears would perk up. A good sign he was looking at coyotes.
Without Bubba, Dash tires of the game quickly and will lie down. This is the puppy in him. Bubba did the same as a pup. Finally, two dogs seem to intimidate coyotes early in the season. I’ll have a better read on this as the year progresses. Even so, both dogs will be on all of my stands from now on. Dash has a long ways to go but shows lots of aptitude and promise. No doubt, he’s a keeper.
