hunt0168
Active member
An acquaintance that hasn’t hunted predators in quite awhile asked if I would take him out calling and give him some tips as he was rarely successful when he night hunted. I agreed as long as he supplied the properties. He had 2 places in mind and I scoped them out with OnX and did a drive by during daylight hours. One property was really nice with a secluded field.
Problem 1…He could only hunt Friday night and the wind wasn’t ideal for this spot. I told him we should wait for better conditions. He said it had to be that night and he wanted to try regardless. I agreed to assess it and make the best of what we had to work with.
Problem 2… He only ever used red lights and his didn’t work anymore. I told him he could use my gun with thermal scope. I would just scan and call the shots. I had him come over and got him familiar with the optic. The rifle was perched atop my tripod which he liked but had never shot off of before. He’s a “hefty” guy so I gave him the option to sit and use my Swagger bipod which he really liked. He was using my folding stool during this familiarization session. He said he had his own chair, but it creaks. I said that’s no good. So we loaded his truck with the gear and my stool for him to use.
We got to the spot and got everything situated at the truck in total darkness. We walked in about 100 yards to the field and the wind was terrible. He said we could sit anywhere, to which I replied “It doesn’t work like that.” Our best option was to sit very close to where we were currently standing due to the wind hitting us in the back of our heads. There was a slight rise in the terrain which wouldn’t be a problem if he was on the tripod but sitting he would need to have a coyote get inside of 70 yards. We setup near an edge and I told him where to sit and how things would work. He’d sit, I would stand, scan and alert him of incoming. When he sat down I heard a popping sound! Yep… he had unbeknownst to me grabbed his chair. Okay, whatever? I had to keep the caller pretty tight to us because of the rise. I told him to favor the right side of the field because that was the downwind and most probable direction they’d come from.
I started my calling and we had a bunch of deer scatter. I went through a few different sounds and a coyote appeared right where I expected them to.. right side of field, downwind of the caller, 50 yards out. I whispered “coyote, right” and he got on the scope but wasn’t lined up so he shifted in the creaky seat and the coyote bolted back into cover. He did see it through the scope but no way he could get a shot.
I told him his seat caused the coyote to bolt and it’s possible that it winded us as well. I then explained the reasons I’m so anal about EVERYTHING and the reasons I didn’t want to do the setup in the first place. I think it was an eye opener for him and it may have helped him understand why his previous attempts at calling weren’t successful. He beat himself up enough that I didn’t have to.
The second property went better with a quieter seat but no coyotes showed up to the party. Just thought I’d share the experience.
Problem 1…He could only hunt Friday night and the wind wasn’t ideal for this spot. I told him we should wait for better conditions. He said it had to be that night and he wanted to try regardless. I agreed to assess it and make the best of what we had to work with.
Problem 2… He only ever used red lights and his didn’t work anymore. I told him he could use my gun with thermal scope. I would just scan and call the shots. I had him come over and got him familiar with the optic. The rifle was perched atop my tripod which he liked but had never shot off of before. He’s a “hefty” guy so I gave him the option to sit and use my Swagger bipod which he really liked. He was using my folding stool during this familiarization session. He said he had his own chair, but it creaks. I said that’s no good. So we loaded his truck with the gear and my stool for him to use.
We got to the spot and got everything situated at the truck in total darkness. We walked in about 100 yards to the field and the wind was terrible. He said we could sit anywhere, to which I replied “It doesn’t work like that.” Our best option was to sit very close to where we were currently standing due to the wind hitting us in the back of our heads. There was a slight rise in the terrain which wouldn’t be a problem if he was on the tripod but sitting he would need to have a coyote get inside of 70 yards. We setup near an edge and I told him where to sit and how things would work. He’d sit, I would stand, scan and alert him of incoming. When he sat down I heard a popping sound! Yep… he had unbeknownst to me grabbed his chair. Okay, whatever? I had to keep the caller pretty tight to us because of the rise. I told him to favor the right side of the field because that was the downwind and most probable direction they’d come from.
I started my calling and we had a bunch of deer scatter. I went through a few different sounds and a coyote appeared right where I expected them to.. right side of field, downwind of the caller, 50 yards out. I whispered “coyote, right” and he got on the scope but wasn’t lined up so he shifted in the creaky seat and the coyote bolted back into cover. He did see it through the scope but no way he could get a shot.
I told him his seat caused the coyote to bolt and it’s possible that it winded us as well. I then explained the reasons I’m so anal about EVERYTHING and the reasons I didn’t want to do the setup in the first place. I think it was an eye opener for him and it may have helped him understand why his previous attempts at calling weren’t successful. He beat himself up enough that I didn’t have to.
The second property went better with a quieter seat but no coyotes showed up to the party. Just thought I’d share the experience.
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