Huntin' n Killin' With Stu n Craig

Stu Farish

Director / Webmaster
Staff member
This was in december of 1998:

Part 1 was sent out prior to the hunt:

Well, Craig and I are about to embark on our quest to terrorize the wildlife around Kingman. The weather has warmed up a little since this weekend, so it should be cool but pleasant.

While mountain lion is the main quarry, we're also going to do our part in reducing the coyotes a bit. Craig is having a problem with packs running on his ranch right now. He's informed me that they're getting
bold enough to come howling around the house now, so it looks like a priority will be to thin them out a bit.

I've got four guns and loads to try out. I've worked up a load in .223 using a 68 grain hollow point that should make good coyote medicine, for my mean, black Colt rifle that gives Sarah Brady the willies. This will be the first time hunting with this rifle. It should be fine out to 300
yards or so, but I want to get closer shots. I also want to try out my new .22 Remington, it should be fine at closer ranges, say 50 yards. Then there's my 12 gauge, I have some #4 buckshot 3 inch magnum loads for it. In thick cover for close shots, out 30 yards or so, it should work well. Last is the 30-06. I've worked up a load with 125 grain
Nosler Ballistic tips for lighter game, such as pronghorn, javelina, mountain lion and coyotes. I've been waiting to try it out, finally we go afield with it.

As a last option, I've decide to leave my Glock at home and switch back to my .357 magnum Ruger for a carry gun. I may never shoot it this weekend, but if things get hairy with a lion up close and personal I
think the .357 will serve better than a 9mm. If the opportunity presents itself, it will also work well on coyotes.

The method of hunting lions consists of hiking in to where they live, then setting up and using mouth-blown predator calls. This is to get the lion to think that there's something good to eat around, which he should get before something else does. We're using ourselves as bait, basically. Our job is to spot any lion coming in before he gets to us. If he's too small, then we need to spook him off. Otherwise, try to get
a shot. Lions have the advantage here. They are highly secretive, stealthy hunters, on their own turf. An adult weighs in at about 175 pounds or so. They eat by huntin' and killin' deer, elk and such. A lion can and does kill adult bull elk, with antlers, weighing 800 to 900 pounds. They are armed with razor-sharp claws and skull-crushing jaws.

The normal method of taking game is to jump on it, biting the neck, which crushes the vertebrae. This makes hunting them a little more dicey than our typical game. Should be fun.

I'm planning on getting up to Craig's ranch Thursday night. This gives us 3 1/2 days to hunt and still leaves me Monday afternoon for the drive home. I haven't been up that way before, so this is all unexplored
country to me. I'll be able to leave early enough to have daylight for part of the drive, but quite a bit won't be seen until the return trip. Lions are secretive and stealthy enough that the odds are against us
even seeing one, much less getting a shot. It certainly should be fun enough just to try. I'll be back next week, with a follow up on the events of the next four days. See ya!




------------------
"When They turn the pages of history,
When these days have passed long ago.

Will they read about us in sorrow,
for the seeds that we let grow?" - RUSH, "A Farewell To Kings"
 
Part 2 was written after the hunt:

Well, what a blast this weekend was! I managed to hit the road about 4:30 last Thursday and made it to Craigs about 8:00 or a little after. For the ride up I started out with Jeff Wayne's "War of The Worlds". For any unfamiliar with it, this is a musical version of the H.G. Wells story, made back in 1978 and long a favorite of mine for road trips, as it takes two hours to listen to all of it. I recently got it on CD, and haven't listened to it in several years. When it finished, I switched to
the new Rush set, "Different Stages", and got about halfway through the three CD's by the time I got to Craig's. Craig's wife, Anna, has a grandmother in New Mexico that took ill, so we started on Friday morning
by running Anna into Las Vegas to catch a plane. Fortunately, her grandmother recovered pretty well, but it was touchy for a bit. This put us back in Kingman about noon, so we changed and went out looking for
coyotes.

The first stand we tried was below Craigs house, but we had no luck, so we moved over a ways and went out into some open flats where I tried calling for the first time. On my second call, we had a coyote come in. He stopped about 175 yards out, facing us and I took a shot with my
.223. Missed him, and he was the only one that came in all afternoon. I figure he must have been young and stupid, but we sent him away older and wiser.

Saturday was a better day out. It started with a coyote running across the road out in the desert. We jumped out of the truck and got away from the road a bit, and I tried and off-hand shot at him as he loped away about 100 yards out. That didn't connect either. We went on a ways and
picked a spot to try. After getting 1/2 mile from the road on a four wheeler, we hiked another 200 yards and started to set up when a coyote popped up, spotted us and took off. Hitting running coyotes at 200 yards is pretty tough, and neither one of us had any luck with this one.

We went over to a ranch that Craig had lined up for mountain lions. We talked to the rancher and found out where he had been seeing lions and lion sign, then rode way back into a canyon, until the four-wheeler
couldn't easily go any farther. Then we walked in another good long way and gained some elevation. We didn't go all the way up into the saddle, but most of the way up. We set up and called, off and on, for a pretty
good while, but nothing responded. We then gave in to temptation, hiked out and ran around calling coyotes.

The rest of the day was mixed. We had some respond, but several stands with nothing. Then Craig drove us over to a spot in a forest of Joshua trees, near a water tank (man-made pond). We hiked in a little ways and set up in a small open area and I called on a cotton tail rabbit call. About two minutes after I started I saw Craig aim to my right. I couldn't see that way very good, but after a bit I saw part of a
silluette of an animal (the sun was behind it). When Craig shot, I saw huge puff of white hair, jumped up and turned, swinging my 30-06 up. I saw through the scope that the animal was down and started lowering my
rifle. I glanced at Craig and saw that he had set his rifle down, looked back and the critter was getting away! I pulled my rifle back up, got it in the scope and snap-shot, putting it back down. We walked over to look
at the coyote, and I said "Damn! That's a bobcat!!!", to which Craig asked "Of course it is, what did you think you were shooting at?", so I had managed to shoot the first bobcat I'd ever seen in the wild thinking
it was a coyote. Interesting double on the cat. Craig had shot it from the front with a .243. It turned out that he had hit it on the brisket, which deflected the bullet. The white fur I saw was where the bullet
skimmed its belly. That was one angry cat when I shot! It's pelt got messed up a bit, but I'm going to try and make a rug from it anyway.

Craig also made a nice shot on a coyote that turned out to be exceptionaly pretty. She's in the process of becomming a rug.

Sunday was our best day of all. We got a coyote to come in almost every stand we made. Some got away and some didn't, we got some practice anyway and picked up a few coyotes. The first stand we made, Craig was
using an electronic caller. After about 30 seconds it hit the end of the tape and while he was messing with it a coyote came up from behind him and ran across about 8 feet in front of him. I was looking to the right
and missed it, when I looked back the coyote was in front of me and getting away. We got a few practice shots on him, too.

That set the tone for the day and we had action almost every stand. We went back to the lion ranch and set up on the point of a hill a ways in front of the ranch house. A coyote came in almost immediately. I tracked
her with my scope, but decided to wait and see if she would stop (usually, it's a female that comes in first out here). She ran up in front of us, stopped, the crosshairs settled and BAM-BAM!!! Craig shot
at the same time I did, taking her in the head at the same time I took her shoulder. She spun around in a quite amazing way and hit the ground, it was quite a remarkable sight.

Later that afternoon we did almost the same thing on a very large male. He came running in from about the same angle, ran up and stopped in front of us. As I was tightening the trigger, Craig shot and dropped it. Just a slight fraction of a second later and this would have been
another double. He was very large and fat and is also going to make a beautifull rug.

We had to interupt the hunting every now and then to take care of Craig's business. He has a crew out in the desert harvesting yucca trees. These are sold off, where they are pulped and the juice is the ingredient used to make Coke's foam up. We had a few breaks where we met with his crew and fixed some problems.

On our last stand, we called and waited a while, and finally signalled each other that we were ready to give up. I was standing there talking with Craig about what we needed to do with his crew next, when he
spotted a coyote and brought his rifle up. After settling in, he took the shot and got the coyote, and I still hadn't seen the damn thing! It turned out I was looking in the right direction, but about 100 yards too
close. We didn't pace it off, but I believe the shot to have been about 250 yards on a small female. Pretty good shooting, with a short-barreled .243 and factory ammo.

After getting his crew taken care of, we grabbed a couple of sandwiches and went to Las Vegas again, to pick up Anna, eating on the road. This gave us the time for Craig to listen to War Of The Worlds, finishing
just before we got to the airport.

Monday morning, we got out and made a few stands, but had no luck. Never even saw a coyote, though we did see some quail, and later a road-runner while driving. At one stand, I started calling, and almost
immediately saw Craig aim his rifle, but I never saw what he was looking at. When we finally gave up, he showed me where he had spotted a jack-rabbit, on a rise that looked about 200 yards or so over. I sat down and found the rabbit, decided to take the shot. For this one I used a stick to steady the rifle, cranked the scope up to 10 power, settled in and held on the point of the right shoulder. At the shot, the rabbit
dissapeared and Craig confirmed the hit. As we went over to it, Craig counted paces and I didn't. I had taken the rabbit through the
shoulders, right at point-of-aim. Craig asked me how far I thought it was, I looked and guessed again about 200 yards. He had counted 293 long paces, which goes to show you how deceptive distances look in open
country. Allowing for dropping down into the wash and coming back up, we're guessing the actual range to be around 250 or 260 yards. This was with my 30-06 with the 125 grain loads, very accurate and flat-shooting.
After this the wind got up around 30 MPH and we tried a couple more stands, but it just didn't work, so we went back. I packed up and we finished skinning the coyotes. I finally left about 2:30, made good time
and got home just after 5:30. Finished the Rush set, then Kansas "Song For America", and finally part of Kansas "Always Never The Same".

I've got most of my mess put up, but have to finish fleshing the second coyote pelt. I've ordered a tanning kit and am going to try my hand at making the rugs myself. Coyote and bobcat skulls are in the freezer, I'll clean them up a little later for paperweights.

Anyone who likes to hunt, and likes active hunting, should seriously
consider trying coyote/predator calling. This is a great deal of fun. You pick a good spot, set up and call, staying for 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the situation. They either come in or they don't, and when
they do it's a real charge. Sometimes they come in on the run, others sneak in cautiously. I only missed one coyote that was standing still, the first one. All other misses were on running coyotes, one close in,
the rest a ways out. This kind of shooting will sharpen you up in a hurry, and is a great way to get some field time in with a friend. We had a blast and the coyotes came out ahead on this one, as we both missed more than we shot.

We had a great time and look forward to doing it again. The lions still await, but we need a better approach. It looks like the best way to effectively hunt them without dogs will be to ride into the high passes
on horseback, calling in good locations. Craig has the horses, so we need to know more about the lay of the land in some good spots, then we'll try it that way. Maybe between now and then, we'll have the chance
to call some more coyotes and bobcats.



------------------
"When They turn the pages of history,
When these days have passed long ago.

Will they read about us in sorrow,
for the seeds that we let grow?" - RUSH, "A Farewell To Kings"
 
Stu, enjoyed your story. But can't help wondering. Why don't you put it out where everyone can see it??????

------------------
Critr

LW42144.jpg

www.SaguaroSafaris.com
 
I asked Stu to share the story with us yesterday, but Critr's right...

It's so darn good, a copy of it belongs out in the front where our members can enjoy it too.....
wink.gif


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yotewalk.gif
 
OK, I'm going to move it. never did this before, so we'll see what happens...

------------------
"When They turn the pages of history,
When these days have passed long ago.

Will they read about us in sorrow,
for the seeds that we let grow?" - RUSH, "A Farewell To Kings"
 
OK, that didn't work. Tried to transfer it to the Predator Hunting forum, it says I don't have the authority to do that. So if one of you wants to move it, feel free.


------------------
"When They turn the pages of history,
When these days have passed long ago.

Will they read about us in sorrow,
for the seeds that we let grow?" - RUSH, "A Farewell To Kings"
 
You knuckleheads are not only shooting coyotes the wrong time of the year, you illegally shot two bobcats out of season. Doesnt a fellar as sharp as Craig ever bother to scan thru the regulations??????
Ya'all rob any banks or scatter any litter around that you would like to profess on this public forum?......What a crew...."as ye sow, so shall ye reap"
Vic
 
Not a problem, Vic. I'd rather have someone upset over a perceived violation than not.

But was just one bobcat.


------------------
"When They turn the pages of history,
When these days have passed long ago.

Will they read about us in sorrow,
for the seeds that we let grow?" - RUSH, "A Farewell To Kings"
 
Yup, nice to know that we arent the only two knuckleheads in town, eh Vic.

However if shooting coyotes in the summer is all it takes to put steam in your whistle then I am sure your huckleberry !

Have just a peachy day brother knuckle.
 
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