Snowshoes
Well-known member
November 2 2018,Yesterday was 38F and no snow, today its 30F and it’s a white out.... how things can change in just a few hours.
Strong winds and heavy snow wouldn’t make for great coyote hunting but a guy has to try anyways.
Needing an area protected from the winds would lead me to the treed hills at the creek valley. A spot near a denning area is where I planned on calling but on my walk- in, I noticed cows and lots of them! The landowner must have moved them closer to home yesterday or the day before. Snow stung my eyes as I ventured closer & closer to the dening area but the sight of more cows made the journey seem pointless. The cows had taken up residence in the shelter of the trees and I could see this hunt was a bust!
Turned around and worked my way back to the truck, stopping numerous times to glass the valley floor and the field on top. As I got closer to the truck, I noticed the visibility was getting terrible and to top things off, me and all my gear was covered in layer of snow & ice.
The southeast wind which is uncommon in these parts, had me scrambling to come up with another spot which was fairly close by. I then remember about a phone call from a few weeks back. An elderly lady phoned and was asking if I would come and shoot some coyotes on their home quarter.
The couples place was roughly 4 miles away, so off I went. They have a 30 acre block of bush near their yard site and lots of apple trees in the yard. The fallen apples attract coyotes into their yard every fall which in-turn, freaks her out to this day! She then chuckled and said, her husband was a lousy shot and wasn’t thinning out the coyotes to her liking.
I park on a approach where the the truck is hid by a thick row of spruce trees. From there, I walk eastward across the field to a slough bottom. I go to set up but discover I must have forgot my BogGear bi-pod in the truck. A stick with a fork in it was collected from the nearby willow bush and that became my new shooting sticks! Covered the “Y” of the stick with my toque as to not scratch the rifle stock.
Wipe the snow off the binocular and take some ranges. With the snow falling heavily, my judgement of distance was a bit off, the trees looked further away than they actually were. Start off with a howl using the diaphragm reed and I get a response almost immediately. Wait for 3 or 4 minutes but nothing shows, so switch to cottontail distress. That doesn’t produce anything either and I’m thinking I need a call that sounds like apples falling to the ground.
Not having an Apple call, I take the diaphragm reed and give some yelps which soon produces a magpie at the edge of the trees. Although only a 100 yards away, the blinding snow hampered my eyesight enough that I couldn’t make out the coyote which the magpie was traveling with. I only noticed the coyote as it slowly walked back into the trees followed by the magpie.
Some more yelps echoed through the trees but it didn’t bring the coyote back. I could hear the magpie further into the bush and figured the coyote wouldn’t be far away.
I figured I had nothing to lose, so I give some challenge howls and within a few seconds I have the coyote standing at the edge of the trees. A 64 gr Berger from the 223AI puts the coyote down. (Ranged at 108 yards) medium sized male.
After taking a picture of the coyote, I tried walking back to the truck on the same trail as I came in on. Even though I wasn’t gone long, the steady snow had filled my tracks. I had a feeling that I had the bi-pod when I left the truck but not 100% sure. The first thing I do is check for the bi-pod in the truck but it wasn’t there. Did a second search in the field but never found them. Picked the coyote up and decided to drive back to the valley and check where I crossed the fence but didn’t find them there either. Not sure if I set them down or dropped them but this heavy snowfall wasn’t helping my search efforts.
Played my whole morning hunt through my head as I drove home and I was now confident I had them when I left the truck on the last stand. Got home & grabbed a pair of homemade shooting sticks which were promptly put in the truck. Next order of business was to order a new bi-pod.
This whole thread is
Strong winds and heavy snow wouldn’t make for great coyote hunting but a guy has to try anyways.
Needing an area protected from the winds would lead me to the treed hills at the creek valley. A spot near a denning area is where I planned on calling but on my walk- in, I noticed cows and lots of them! The landowner must have moved them closer to home yesterday or the day before. Snow stung my eyes as I ventured closer & closer to the dening area but the sight of more cows made the journey seem pointless. The cows had taken up residence in the shelter of the trees and I could see this hunt was a bust!
Turned around and worked my way back to the truck, stopping numerous times to glass the valley floor and the field on top. As I got closer to the truck, I noticed the visibility was getting terrible and to top things off, me and all my gear was covered in layer of snow & ice.
The southeast wind which is uncommon in these parts, had me scrambling to come up with another spot which was fairly close by. I then remember about a phone call from a few weeks back. An elderly lady phoned and was asking if I would come and shoot some coyotes on their home quarter.
The couples place was roughly 4 miles away, so off I went. They have a 30 acre block of bush near their yard site and lots of apple trees in the yard. The fallen apples attract coyotes into their yard every fall which in-turn, freaks her out to this day! She then chuckled and said, her husband was a lousy shot and wasn’t thinning out the coyotes to her liking.
I park on a approach where the the truck is hid by a thick row of spruce trees. From there, I walk eastward across the field to a slough bottom. I go to set up but discover I must have forgot my BogGear bi-pod in the truck. A stick with a fork in it was collected from the nearby willow bush and that became my new shooting sticks! Covered the “Y” of the stick with my toque as to not scratch the rifle stock.
Wipe the snow off the binocular and take some ranges. With the snow falling heavily, my judgement of distance was a bit off, the trees looked further away than they actually were. Start off with a howl using the diaphragm reed and I get a response almost immediately. Wait for 3 or 4 minutes but nothing shows, so switch to cottontail distress. That doesn’t produce anything either and I’m thinking I need a call that sounds like apples falling to the ground.
Not having an Apple call, I take the diaphragm reed and give some yelps which soon produces a magpie at the edge of the trees. Although only a 100 yards away, the blinding snow hampered my eyesight enough that I couldn’t make out the coyote which the magpie was traveling with. I only noticed the coyote as it slowly walked back into the trees followed by the magpie.
Some more yelps echoed through the trees but it didn’t bring the coyote back. I could hear the magpie further into the bush and figured the coyote wouldn’t be far away.
I figured I had nothing to lose, so I give some challenge howls and within a few seconds I have the coyote standing at the edge of the trees. A 64 gr Berger from the 223AI puts the coyote down. (Ranged at 108 yards) medium sized male.
After taking a picture of the coyote, I tried walking back to the truck on the same trail as I came in on. Even though I wasn’t gone long, the steady snow had filled my tracks. I had a feeling that I had the bi-pod when I left the truck but not 100% sure. The first thing I do is check for the bi-pod in the truck but it wasn’t there. Did a second search in the field but never found them. Picked the coyote up and decided to drive back to the valley and check where I crossed the fence but didn’t find them there either. Not sure if I set them down or dropped them but this heavy snowfall wasn’t helping my search efforts.
Played my whole morning hunt through my head as I drove home and I was now confident I had them when I left the truck on the last stand. Got home & grabbed a pair of homemade shooting sticks which were promptly put in the truck. Next order of business was to order a new bi-pod.
This whole thread is