Okanagan, I never will forget the first time that I used misting during the day stands. I and my buddy were novices at this yote calling thing. We had heard of Coyote calling in S. Ca in 1976, but really could not find any hard details. I made a box out of 3/4" plywood, installed a Car 8 track tape player (supposed to be a real good one with 100 watts of power), and put a car battery in the box. I put 100 feet of telephone cable on the two large outdoor speakers.
I had got a subscription to Fur Fish and Trapper magazine. Every month they had an article by a varmint caller. The had all kinds of guys selling every kind of piss that you could imagine, boggles the imagination. I ordered some rabbit piss, as per the writer's instructions in the Fur Fish, and Trapper. We sprayed out boots, we sprayed the box that the tape player was in, we sprayed rags and hung them out. We had read where these coyotes were tough to kill. I carried a two pockets full of #4 buckshot and my buddy also.
Well off we go, with our 45 lb tape deck, and we stink to high heaven. We are on the outskirts of Palm Springs, Ca. We sit the tape deck down in a bush in the middle of a sand wash. I know that my hunting partner is very excitable and I had better keep a close eye on him and be where he can see me. I put him up 35 yards down from me where he could see me. We really stunk to high heaven, it was awful. We did not comprehend misting at that point, we had just sprayed the stuff all over us and the caller.
Well, I motion to my partner that I am going to turn the tape deck on, the caller goes Waa, Waa, Waa, Waa and a coyote brushes my 30" shot gun barrel and I fall off my chair in the sand. I hear a BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, Boom!
My partner has just mutilated this poor coyote! I got up off the ground walked over to look at this coyote and Gary could hardly talk he was so excited. I thought to myself, at this rate, we are going to run out of ammo. I looked at Gary and said, "that was one tough SOB, wasn't it"? He said, "hell, yea, I did not want him to get away"
Well, we packed up that 45 lb caller walked back to the truck. It was 90* by this time and we are soaking wet. We drive another 1/2 mile down the wash and walk up into a canyon. We noticed in the truck that we were stinking to high heaven. We set up an ambush at the mouth of a canyon, with the caller dead center. I turned on the tape player, no takers on this stand. We were carrying this heavy piece of crap out, when a coyote walked out 40 yard in front of us, and I let him have it with my 7 Mag...#2 is in the bag, but I had dropped my end of that heavy SOB and the 8 track had gotten busted.
Well, we were all pumped up, 2 stands, 2 coyotes. I had bought a hand call. I figured that If I could blow a duck call, a coyote call could not be all that hard. Third stand, I'm blowing on that call, with absolutely no clue what the heck I'm doing, I'm just trying to sound like that Johnny stewart tape. Well, were were exactly 4 minutes into the stand, when one pops into sight at 15 feet, I let him have it with my shotgun...just one shot and he's done for, this one wasn't so tough. About the time my shot quits ringing up the canyon, a my partner shoots 5 more times...he's got one of those real tough ones!
By this time is is 100*, and we are done for. Toting that heavy SOB back and forth to the truck has done us in.
We got home and my wife would not let us in the house. We had to throw away our clothes, and I dismantled that box that the tape player was in.
About two weeks later, we started dunking rabbit urine with rags and hanging up the rags in the trees next to us (our misting technique at the time). What is really wierd, is that we started using a tape player that was a table top cassette player. I have had more coyotes come and stick their noses to that tape player than any caller since, the sound is directed straight up on that type of caller.
Needless to say, we were hooked. In our minds, that rabbit piss had sure worked.
Several weeks later, we went camping in the dessert, slept in a tent. We of course use the rabbit urine, sparying our boots, etc. Well, the coyotes came into camp that night and drug off my hunting partner's pants and both of his boots that he left outside! We know that the rabbit piss is some good $hit, but my hunting buddy has to hunt in a pair of shorts and white tennis shoes the rest of the trip, but be douse the tennis shoes with rabbit urine (just to be sure).
I stopped using Rabbit Urine for a few years. I met up with some guys in Riverside Varmint calling club. None of them used Rabbit urine. I was in Orange County Varmint callers for a number of years, None of them used Rabbit urine. Then joined So. Cal Varmint callers and met this guy that was mising with Rabbit urine when calling at night. He was not quite normal, so I watched him pretty close. On the first stand at night, we pick up a coyote coming in straight to us on a cross wind. In the weak red light, his eyes are tiny, way out there. He starts circling to our right, down wind, very fast. Doug picks up the bottle of rabbit urine and says, "Watch this"! He sprays 4 times on the bottle, pointing the red lens up at the light to catch the exact direction of the breeze. He whispers, "move your gun down wind". I re-position my rifle. We can see the coyotes eyes dancing up and down 200-250 yards out. As he gets the scent of the misting, he freezes and sits there with his head up in the air. I look at him through my scope and shoot him right through the head at 200 yards as he is sniffing the wind.
This same senario presented itself many times through the night, we got 13 that night. I thank God for being alive.
Does this sound familiar Danny B.????
Many times the coyote will pick up the smell and will become a hard charger. You either learn to lead them with a rifle or miss outright, because you are not going to stop them.
This entire topic with misting has been in relation with coyotes. Foxes are another entire story. You just can not even imagine the effect of misting on foxes. When misting with rabbit urine in an area with a fox den, you may just kill a flock of them. We killed so many of them in Mexico, we just quit shooting them.
Before crossing the border into Mexico, we had the habbit of stopping at McDonalds and getting two dozen of the cheap hambergers. We would put them in the cooler and had something to eat when ever anyone was hungry. Well, after the third day, nobody had the guts to eat them, we were down to canned food. So, on one stand we had killed 4 foxes. We drove down the road and this one fox kept following us. We made the decision to give him a free pass on shooting him and leave him for a coyote decoy. Well, we would spray the rabbit urine in the air, and here he would come. He would walk under the truck and do everything but jump in. Finally, we felt sorry for the little bugger since we had shot all his family all to heck, so we opened the cooler and started feeding him hamburgers. He at 4 of them before he finally walked off...we figured the ones with heavy mustard made him thirsty.
Well, by this time we had a whole garbage gag full of tails. We were tired, hungry, and had not had a bath in a week's time. The sardines on the front and back of the truck were really ripe, not to mention the rabbit urine. The area was red hot, but my hunting partners were just give out. I got up and started making a stand by myself. Shooting and running the light by yourself is tough. Well, I'm spraying on the rabbit urine as usual. This bobcat pops up at 125 yards. He will not come in. I get mad, grab the shotgun and a flash light, walk up the hill to him within 35 yards. He is just too dumb to shoot. I walk back to the truck. I look around and he is following me! $hit! I get in the truck, the dumb rascal, comes up and starts scratching on the rabbit urine soaked rag on the front of the truck. He finally eats the whole rag. I feel sorry for the dumb rascal, and feed him a hamburger, also. I have not shot a bobcat since that stand. I feel sure that the bobcat was able to pass that rag.
We continued to spary the rabbit urine in the air everytime we would see the yotes start to circle. Without fail, when they catch the scent cone, they completly change their attitude...you had better get ready to shoot, and have a shotgun ready incase they are hard chagers.
What really confuses guys is two main things, young ones are prone to do just about anything. Young ones (some of them are large for their age) The second thing is that I do believe that coyotes stake off territories and know each other with their specific howls and scents. If they suspect another coyote of being in their territory, all bets and rules are off, they will run in from any wind directon, some one is going to get their A$$ whooped!
These coyotes hard charge right in!
A guy has to have a lot of different plugs and worms in his tackle box when fish'en for yotes because they are not always interested in the same thing.
I do believe that when you have outsmarted a Coyote, you have outsmarted the keenest wild animal on the planet! Trying different ways to outsmart this keen animal has been a great hobby, no doubt!
