Day trip. . . .4 coyotes down!

okoyote

New member
I had an unusual free weekend due to some plans changing, so with the blessing of my beautiful wife, an impromptu trip to the western half of the state was put together. I made the phone calls to the ranchers to check in and the reports were promising. Lots of coyotes and favorable weather for calling.

The trip began at 0400 to arrive near the time of sunrise. As I am driving I marvel at how much snow there is on the ground. Some of the drifts near the road are 6 feet tall. Those coyotes are going to be hungry! I drive nonstop to the first spot and have already spotted 3 coyotes within a mile of where I park the truck. Two of the coyotes are heading up a drainage in a large corn field where there are a couple hundred whitetail deer wintering. I choose the cornfield as my first set due to the wind and sighted coyotes.

Here is the view of my set. This is big open country.

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I started with the crit-r-call standard wailing bunny distress. Almost immediately, I spot coyotes pouring over the hill to my left. There are 5! Only one commits and charges down the fence line. The others hold at about 400 yards. I take the large male at 150 yards with my tikka .204 at 8 minutes. It occurs to me the others held up because they could see my pickup from the hilltop.

The remaining 4 continued to howl at me from the other side of the hill for the next 20 minutes as I dragged this one back to the truck.

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While walking to set two I spot a pair balled up, in a different cornfield, a half mile from the first set. They are about 600 yards away and the wind isn't quite right, but I decide to try. I use the fox decoy as a distractor with the foxpro doing the calling. I started playing baby rabbit in distress and both coyotes pop up their feet. One commits and runs down the fence line until it sees the decoy. She stops and starts looking very sheepish. The other coyote hangs back 500 yards. Eventually the lead coyote decides to move closer and I put her down fearing that she would catch my scent. The shot was 150 yards 8 minutes into the set. Two dogs down!!

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Set three is a bust. While on this set I hear a group howl in the next drainage and I set up closer to them. Since the fox decoy is with me I set it about 50 yards to my side. I started off with some interrogation howls and puppy whines and then start on the crit-r-call bunny distress. At 25 minutes a coyote crests the hill, directly in front of me, across a large drainage. The coyote sees the decoy and moves very cautiously my way. Another coyote shows up, but is unwilling to commit to the call. The first coyote gets to the bottom of the drainage and I decide to take it at 200 yards. Three dogs down!!!

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Here is the coyote's view back to me and the decoy.

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Four sets, 9 dogs called in, and 3 dogs down! Heck of a start to the day!!

By the time I snowshoe back to the truck with the coyotes and report to the rancher it is past noon. I chow some gas station lunch and move to the next ranch. It's a beautiful place and I love going there.

Here's a pic from one of my sets.

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Coyote sign is scarce, however, and for the next 3 hours I see nothing. The weather starts to change and I start seeing coyotes again. In less than 5 miles in the truck I see 6 coyotes in pairs. One of the pairs is on land that I have permission so I go after them.

The weather front.

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When I sit down to start calling I can only see one of the coyotes. It immediately responds to a few toots on a crit-r-call pee wee and I take it at 245 yards. It wouldn't come any closer because of traffic moving on a road nearby (I assume). This one has a bad coat. 4 down!!!!

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In all I spotted 19 coyotes, had 10 come to the call, and killed 4! It was perfect day for calling. I got home at 2330 last night. A big and rewarding day!






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Wow, awesome day...much different calling conditions and terrain than I'm used to. Thanks for the pictures to really put it in perspective.
 
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