A rancher agreed to let me call on his place when I contacted him a little over a week ago. I drove out to his ranch and he was nice enough to take me for a ride around his trails and show me a couple of cow carcasses as well as places he has seen coyotes this winter. After he brought me back to his house, I climbed in my pickup and headed out to do a little calling. It was -15º when I got out of the pickup to go to my first stand. The wind was wafting out of the NW at about 10 to 15 mph. When it is -15º and the wind is blowing at that speed the wind chill factor is at -36º or colder.
I set up on the edge of a little clay butte overlooking a hardwood coulee that ran from east to west. I pulled out my Tally Ho and did my best imitation of a dying rabbit. Believe me, it wasn’t hard to pretend I was in agony, because I actually was!!! I used my Tally Ho and called for 20 minutes with no takers. I probably should have stayed longer, but I was sensing a bit of pain in a couple of spots on my lower lip. I learned later that I had a touch of frostbite there!!! Since I was north and west of other areas I could call, I didn't want to use the howler and alert coyotes to the down wind side of me.
I drove back toward the ranch and set up about 1/3 mile east of the closest of the two carcasses. I used the Brad Holzer antler call and did some dying rabbit sounds and coyote pup distress sounds. I stayed on that stand for about 30 minutes and only managed to call in one magpie. I did not do any howling because I thought that might stampede the calves he had in a pen that were about 250 yards SE of me and might also disturb the 150 or so sheep he had in a pen about 1/4 mile to the east of where I was set up. I thought about driving way out to the western most spot we had driven to, but didn't. Again, that spot was west and north of potential coyote lay-up spots, so I didn't want to go call and have coyotes coming in from behind me and educate them. I called it a day and headed home, knowing I would be back out there if I could catch a break in the weather.
It snowed about 8 inches this past weekend, so I called the rancher last night and he said they had just come out that day and plowed out his roads. I left town at about zero dark thirty. The temp in town was a balmy -17º, however when I got to the first spot I was going to call, the console thermometer in my pickup read -24º !!!! The wind, which was supposed to be out of the NW, was now lazily coming from the ESE. I had parked my pickup behind a hill, south of where I was going to call from. It was well hidden from anything coming in from the east, north and west. Anything from the southwest would see it. I probably should have borrowed Howler’s big white parachute to camo my pickup!!!
I checked that -24º on the thermometer again and figured that since I am certifiably insane, I'll go call anyway. I got my FoxPro ready, put on three ski masks, heavy duty gloves with liners, got out of the pickup, got the rifle out (.17 Remington) and loaded in one of my hand rolled rounds—-30 gr. Starke, Rem. 7 ½ primer on top of 24.6 gr. of VVN540. I don’t know what the muzzle velocity is at -24º, but they were leaving the muzzle at 3,900 fps when it was +61º. I grabbed my homemade shooting sticks just in case I couldn’t find a good place to lay prone.
I walked in to the north of my pickup about 300+ yards and found a nice place to lay prone. The ESE wind kind of bothered me, but I thought that I had enough open area to the east, north, and NW that it wouldn’t be a problem. Then I walked out about 25 yards to the north and set up my FoxPro. I got back and lay comfortably on my white trash compactor bag and turned on the FoxPro to the Rabbit Distress #2 sound. After about 1 minute on medium-low volume I muted it. Waited a minute and turned it back on with the volume up a couple more notches for a couple of minutes. I muted it again and waited about a minute. It was about at the 5 or 6 minute mark and I turned the FoxPro to the Female Invitation sound and cranked up the volume. After about 5 howls, I muted the caller. A minute or so later I had a coyote howling back from the WSW of my stand and another one (a lot farther away) was howling to the north of me. The coyote to the SW may very well have been able to see my pickup, but I hit the FoxPro remote and played him the Male Challenge sound about 4 times, and then switched back to the female invitation. He answered back. I turned the FoxPro back to the Rabbit Distress #2 sound. As I scanned the snow-covered landscape to the east of me, a movement caught my eye. It was a nice colored coyote coming in from the east and she was probably 400 yards away and about to go behind some trees. When she disappeared, I moved my rifle so it was pointing about where I thought I’d like to get her to stop for the shot, took off the safety, and waited. When she came out from behind the trees, she was still about 300 yards away and angling to the WSW. I turned the volume down pretty low on the FoxPro. When she was about 200 yards straight north of me, I turned the FoxPro off and turned my scope up to 8X. She stopped and looked my way and just stood there. I did two soft lip squeaks and she started coming at more of an angle toward me, but still heading west too. She stopped at about 175 yards and I was about ready to squeeze the trigger, but she moved forward again. I kept the crosshairs on her and lip squeaked again. She stopped, turned her chest toward me and I squeezed off the shot. She piled up like she had been hit with an 18-pound sledge hammer.
I did some coyote distress sounds with my voice while I switched the FoxPro to the Coyote Pup Distress sound. It had been 15 minutes since I started the FoxPro. I figured since there were at least two other coyotes around I’d stay here for another 15 or 20 minutes. I turned off the FoxPro and then I heard a deep voiced coyote doing a warning bark at me from over the hill to the WNW of me. That was probably right where my scent cone was heading. I did some howls with the FoxPro, used a little Kitten in Distress, and more Coyote Pup Distress sounds, but that coyote was not coming in to check me out. After about 35 minutes on stand, I wrapped up my trash compactor bag and put it in my pocket and headed out to pick up my prize.
Here's a photo from SW of where I was set up and looking to the NE. I hope you can read the text I added to the photo. The photo makes it look like the trees block my view to the north, but I had a very wide, very open area to the north and northwest of where I laid.
It took 160 pretty good sized steps to reach the nice female coyote. She had her left front ankle squeezed tightly in her mouth. My bullet had entered right between her two front shoulders (actually closer to her left shoulder than the right) and the only visible blood was a little bit in her mouth. I put my tow rope on her and drug her back to the pickup. I posed for a couple of “hero” photos as Byron South calls them, and the digital camera seemed to be telling me it didn’t like these -24º temperatures!!! I can’t imagine why not! I loaded her in the back of the pickup so she was strung between the two sides of the box on special hangers to keep her up out of the blood and headed back to the rancher’s house.
Here's the "hero" picture. The sun was at the wrong angle and it is not the best photo.
I drove back to the rancher's house and backed my pickup into his driveway, got out and opened up the back of the pickup so he could see the coyote. He came out and was overjoyed that I had been able to bag that coyote. He said, “Come back anytime you want—don’t even bother to call before you come. You are welcome here any time!” I’ll let things settle down for a week or so and then be back there to do some more calling. His sheep (150 head of ewes) will be lambing in about 60 days and he’d like me to get rid of a few more coyotes for him. I think I’ll be more than happy to oblige him.
Here's a view of the lay of the land looking to the SW of where I had my pickup parked. There are two carcasses down in the thick trees you can see on the right-hand side of this photo.
I checked the thermometer again and it was still -21º and my chemical foot warmer packets had quit heating so I headed back home.
I set up on the edge of a little clay butte overlooking a hardwood coulee that ran from east to west. I pulled out my Tally Ho and did my best imitation of a dying rabbit. Believe me, it wasn’t hard to pretend I was in agony, because I actually was!!! I used my Tally Ho and called for 20 minutes with no takers. I probably should have stayed longer, but I was sensing a bit of pain in a couple of spots on my lower lip. I learned later that I had a touch of frostbite there!!! Since I was north and west of other areas I could call, I didn't want to use the howler and alert coyotes to the down wind side of me.
I drove back toward the ranch and set up about 1/3 mile east of the closest of the two carcasses. I used the Brad Holzer antler call and did some dying rabbit sounds and coyote pup distress sounds. I stayed on that stand for about 30 minutes and only managed to call in one magpie. I did not do any howling because I thought that might stampede the calves he had in a pen that were about 250 yards SE of me and might also disturb the 150 or so sheep he had in a pen about 1/4 mile to the east of where I was set up. I thought about driving way out to the western most spot we had driven to, but didn't. Again, that spot was west and north of potential coyote lay-up spots, so I didn't want to go call and have coyotes coming in from behind me and educate them. I called it a day and headed home, knowing I would be back out there if I could catch a break in the weather.
It snowed about 8 inches this past weekend, so I called the rancher last night and he said they had just come out that day and plowed out his roads. I left town at about zero dark thirty. The temp in town was a balmy -17º, however when I got to the first spot I was going to call, the console thermometer in my pickup read -24º !!!! The wind, which was supposed to be out of the NW, was now lazily coming from the ESE. I had parked my pickup behind a hill, south of where I was going to call from. It was well hidden from anything coming in from the east, north and west. Anything from the southwest would see it. I probably should have borrowed Howler’s big white parachute to camo my pickup!!!
I checked that -24º on the thermometer again and figured that since I am certifiably insane, I'll go call anyway. I got my FoxPro ready, put on three ski masks, heavy duty gloves with liners, got out of the pickup, got the rifle out (.17 Remington) and loaded in one of my hand rolled rounds—-30 gr. Starke, Rem. 7 ½ primer on top of 24.6 gr. of VVN540. I don’t know what the muzzle velocity is at -24º, but they were leaving the muzzle at 3,900 fps when it was +61º. I grabbed my homemade shooting sticks just in case I couldn’t find a good place to lay prone.
I walked in to the north of my pickup about 300+ yards and found a nice place to lay prone. The ESE wind kind of bothered me, but I thought that I had enough open area to the east, north, and NW that it wouldn’t be a problem. Then I walked out about 25 yards to the north and set up my FoxPro. I got back and lay comfortably on my white trash compactor bag and turned on the FoxPro to the Rabbit Distress #2 sound. After about 1 minute on medium-low volume I muted it. Waited a minute and turned it back on with the volume up a couple more notches for a couple of minutes. I muted it again and waited about a minute. It was about at the 5 or 6 minute mark and I turned the FoxPro to the Female Invitation sound and cranked up the volume. After about 5 howls, I muted the caller. A minute or so later I had a coyote howling back from the WSW of my stand and another one (a lot farther away) was howling to the north of me. The coyote to the SW may very well have been able to see my pickup, but I hit the FoxPro remote and played him the Male Challenge sound about 4 times, and then switched back to the female invitation. He answered back. I turned the FoxPro back to the Rabbit Distress #2 sound. As I scanned the snow-covered landscape to the east of me, a movement caught my eye. It was a nice colored coyote coming in from the east and she was probably 400 yards away and about to go behind some trees. When she disappeared, I moved my rifle so it was pointing about where I thought I’d like to get her to stop for the shot, took off the safety, and waited. When she came out from behind the trees, she was still about 300 yards away and angling to the WSW. I turned the volume down pretty low on the FoxPro. When she was about 200 yards straight north of me, I turned the FoxPro off and turned my scope up to 8X. She stopped and looked my way and just stood there. I did two soft lip squeaks and she started coming at more of an angle toward me, but still heading west too. She stopped at about 175 yards and I was about ready to squeeze the trigger, but she moved forward again. I kept the crosshairs on her and lip squeaked again. She stopped, turned her chest toward me and I squeezed off the shot. She piled up like she had been hit with an 18-pound sledge hammer.
I did some coyote distress sounds with my voice while I switched the FoxPro to the Coyote Pup Distress sound. It had been 15 minutes since I started the FoxPro. I figured since there were at least two other coyotes around I’d stay here for another 15 or 20 minutes. I turned off the FoxPro and then I heard a deep voiced coyote doing a warning bark at me from over the hill to the WNW of me. That was probably right where my scent cone was heading. I did some howls with the FoxPro, used a little Kitten in Distress, and more Coyote Pup Distress sounds, but that coyote was not coming in to check me out. After about 35 minutes on stand, I wrapped up my trash compactor bag and put it in my pocket and headed out to pick up my prize.
Here's a photo from SW of where I was set up and looking to the NE. I hope you can read the text I added to the photo. The photo makes it look like the trees block my view to the north, but I had a very wide, very open area to the north and northwest of where I laid.
It took 160 pretty good sized steps to reach the nice female coyote. She had her left front ankle squeezed tightly in her mouth. My bullet had entered right between her two front shoulders (actually closer to her left shoulder than the right) and the only visible blood was a little bit in her mouth. I put my tow rope on her and drug her back to the pickup. I posed for a couple of “hero” photos as Byron South calls them, and the digital camera seemed to be telling me it didn’t like these -24º temperatures!!! I can’t imagine why not! I loaded her in the back of the pickup so she was strung between the two sides of the box on special hangers to keep her up out of the blood and headed back to the rancher’s house.
Here's the "hero" picture. The sun was at the wrong angle and it is not the best photo.
I drove back to the rancher's house and backed my pickup into his driveway, got out and opened up the back of the pickup so he could see the coyote. He came out and was overjoyed that I had been able to bag that coyote. He said, “Come back anytime you want—don’t even bother to call before you come. You are welcome here any time!” I’ll let things settle down for a week or so and then be back there to do some more calling. His sheep (150 head of ewes) will be lambing in about 60 days and he’d like me to get rid of a few more coyotes for him. I think I’ll be more than happy to oblige him.
Here's a view of the lay of the land looking to the SW of where I had my pickup parked. There are two carcasses down in the thick trees you can see on the right-hand side of this photo.
I checked the thermometer again and it was still -21º and my chemical foot warmer packets had quit heating so I headed back home.
