Unlucky coyote #13---looong story and pictures

Silverfox

New member
Once again, this is a looooong story. Sorry!!!

Well, I finally got out of the house to do some calling. My partner and I got out early this morning. Before we even got to our first calling stand I spotted two coyotes out hunting and they were east of where we were going to set up. We parked the vehicle out of sight, walked in about 1/2 mile and I started calling. The two coyotes were maybe a mile to the ENE of us and when I howled they would come a little ways and stop. Then I'd try the fawn bleat sound and they'd lose interest and start walking away. I'd switch back to the howler and they'd come towards us a ways and then stop. They just didn't seem that interested. My partner joined in on his howler and also did some wounded coyote screams, but to no avail. Since they were on posted land that I didn’t have permission to hunt, we gave up on them after 30 minutes.

We drove toward my next calling location. We stopped on the road and started glassing the far hillside to the north of us. I spotted a couple of coyotes way out to the north on a snowy hillside. Then my partner saw what he thought was a dark coyote with two lighter colored coyotes to the east of the two I saw. The two coyotes looked like they were picking on the dark coyote. Then all four of the light colored coyotes started trotting north and went over the hill out of sight. We glassed the dark coyote and soon discovered it was a deer, not a coyote. It had fended off two coyotes, so that was a pretty major task in itself. These coyotes were maybe 1 1/2 miles away when they disappeared.

We decided to drive farther west to call a different area. We called in one spot for about 25 minutes and nothing showed up. We decided to drive back to where we spotted the four coyotes and walk in toward where we last saw them and try to get at least a half mile closer to them. When we were walking in, we spotted two of them. We got in to where we decided to call and I did some howling and used the Brad Holzer antler call to do some rabbit distress sounds, but the coyotes weren't interested. My partner chimed in with his howler and we had one coyote that started to come our way, but he soon lost interest and lay down and went to sleep. We spent about 50 minutes trying to coax these four coyotes to come in without any success. Two of them went over the hill to the north and the other two were lying on the snow sleeping when we left! Disgusting! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

It was about 12:30 p.m. so we ate lunch and began to drive into our new calling area. When we get across the railroad tracks, I stopped to glass the area to the NW. I spotted a coyote eyeing some pheasants about 400 yards NW of us and my partner spots another coyote just going over the hill to the NW way over a half mile away. The coyote by the pheasants didn't even seem to know we were there. However, he was on posted land so he was safe from us. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

We drove into a school section on an oil lease road trying to decide where we should set up to call. We got up on top of a very tall hill and I wheeled the pickup around so we could glass to the north. My partner spotted three coyotes way out to the NW on the other side of the railroad tracks. We tried to figure out how we could call them onto land we had permission to hunt on. We drove back west and spotted a big hill that might work for us. My partner walked up to the top of the hill and signaled me that he wanted to call from there. I parked the pickup, but not carefully enough!!! The 3 coyotes to the NW were well over a mile away and lying in the snow. My partner called with his Tally Ho (dying rabbit blues) and at about the 10 minute mark I spotted a lone coyote coming in from the north. He was headed right at us. I lip squeaked at my partner to alert him that a coyote was coming. He spotted the coyote and began to lip squeak to keep him coming in. The coyote started to angle to the SE when he was about 600 yards out and we knew he was going to try to get around to our down wind side. He was about 300 yards away and walking on the side of a big hill when he did the "Oh $hi+" look and did a 180 degree turn and started trotting away. He had gotten high enough on that hill so he saw my pickup parked to the SE! I was going to drive it a little further west behind the hill, but thought if any coyotes come in they'll surely not come that way--WRONG!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif He got away without a shot fired at him. I may go out there again and play tag with him.

So, by now we had seen 12 coyotes and called in only one, but no shots were fired. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif It was nearing 2:30 p.m. and I had to get my partner back to town between 3:30 and 4:00 so we decided we'd do just one more stand. It was my turn to call. We walked in to the east of the lease road we were on and I set my partner up about 150 yards south of me. I was going to use the FoxPro, but I had accidentally moved the back dial off of the zero mark and it wasn't working right. So, I pulled out my Tally Ho and started doing the rabbit blues. At the 10 minute mark, I switched to my Bill Austin Howler. I did three female invitation howls and I immediately got a response from way out to the east of my stand. I imitated his howling and he howled back one more time. I imitated that howl and then he went silent. I got back on the Tally Ho and mixed in some howls once in awhile. At about 15 minutes into the stand, I spotted a lone coyote coming from the east in the bottom of the draw. I began to lip squeak and he kept coming. He was in and out of my sight and he finally stopped broadside to me looking south toward a farmstead. All I could see of him was the top 4 inches of his back and his head. It was too far away and not a high percentage shot. I squeaked some more and he began to come in again. He disappeared behind a little rise and a little while later his head popped over the rise. All I could see was his head looking my way. About this time I felt that the little breeze that there was seemed to be hitting me in the back of the neck! Oh, OH!!! His head disappeared and I kept on squeaking. At about the 21 minute mark I heard my partner's rifle go off! He had hit the coyote while it was standing quartering to him. The bullet went in just in front of the left front shoulder in the chest and came out half way back on the ribs on the right side. He spun and ran about 50 yards and expired.

This was the 13th coyote we had seen today--I guess you could call him old Unlucky Coyote #13!! He was a real nice looking male, only weighed 29 pounds, but had real nice color and not much damage from the shot. That is unusual for my partner's rifle. He usually tears huge holes in them. He uses 52 gr. BTHP match grade Sierra bullets in his 22-250. They have not been very fur friendly. We put our drag ropes on the coyote and dragged him back to the pickup. I took some "hero" photos and we headed back to town. I got him back to his wife at about 4:02 p.m. In the photo, I'm the guy with the Tally Ho and the Bill Austin Howler in my hands. My partner has the white cap on and I still have my ski masks pulled up off my face. The rifle with the coyote is my .17 Remington.

Dan_LeRoy_coyote_13.jpg


Here's a photo of the belly of the coyote.
Coyote_13_belly.jpg


Here's a photo of the back fur--really nice mane and super nice color to this one.
Coyote_13_back.jpg
 
Silverfox, you always put out a good read and bring home the yotes. Ever think of sending these to a magazine and making some $$$? Then again, maybe you already do. :eek: Awesome as usual.
 
Boy, you guys worked hard for that one coyote! Good going! At least you know you have more coyotes out there to get after. That will be some really nice fur.
 
Silver nice work. Where you hunt does the yotes get alot of presure? I have never seen a yote lay down and take a nap with a rabbit saying I am hurt right here. Also I haven't done alot of calling. Thanks for the story.

Wyoming Dog Buster
 
Thanks for the nice comments fellows! We sure did work hard for the one we got, but just being able to be out and about is reward enough. Getting a coyote now and then is just a great big bonus!!!

crapshoot--the only magazines that have published my stories are ones that don't pay one red cent for them. I've been published in North Dakota Outdoors and one little item in Predator Xtreme.

Wyoming_Dog_Buster--Yep, there are a lot of folks who go out and call with mouth calls and electronic calls around here. Lots of newbies in the hills calling from the tops of hills for maybe 5 minutes and then walking out instead of staying for 20 to 30 minutes. Lots of educated coyotes around now days. Some folks go out with snowmobiles and shotguns (illegal, but they get by with it sometimes). Earlier in the year, when there isn't much snow on the ground, we have slob hunters who go out and try to run coyotes and fox down with pickups. Sad lot when you resort to those illegal methods. It is kind of hard on vehicles too.

I used to think that if I could see a coyote and it didn't know I was there, I would ALWAYS be able to call that coyote in for the kill. I was lying to myself. So, now, if I see coyotes and they won't come to my calling, I always try to stroke my ego by telling myself, "Those coyotes have heard that sound before and are educated," or "Those coyotes won't come because I am trying to call them out of their territory into another coyote's territory," or "Those coyotes have just finished eating and they aren't hungry," or those coyotes saw me walking in and have me busted." I think you get the picture!!!

In reality, those are all plausible reasons for a coyote or coyotes not responding to the call. The only one that may be in doubt of the 4 above, is the "Those coyotes have just finished eating and they aren't hungry," one, but it may be true also. We played every trick we know to get those 4 coyotes to come in, but they won this time. Maybe I'll win the game next time out.
 
Great story Silverfox as always. Nice lookin yote.

Really wish I had that type of open country around here.

Just seeing that many yotes in an outing is a great day......... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Great job silverfox Nice to see that they aren't all educated yet. How bad is it to walk out to the stands out there with all the snow? I had another bad expierence with the guys on snowmobiles two weekends ago. Had two guys chase off two coyotes that were coming to out stand. They started to chase them hard until one of them seen us stand up and seen us running for the pickup we put the chase on but they found a road that wasn't bladed and i couldn't chase them any further. Found out that a group of guys from Wisconsin come to one of my areas for a couple weeeks at a time and chase with snowmobiles. when they were here in January the word is that they left with just over fifty! That really sticks in my side.
DOGBOY i would guess that it is silverfoxs windage and dropage chart on his rifle
 
Yellowhammer--I posted an answer to your question about the "things" on my stock earlier--like maybe around noon or so, but I don't see it here. Maybe it is just my memory that is failing. Anyway, here is the story:

The things you see taped to the left side of my stock are my lecture notes for my college classes tomorrow, Wednesday, February 18, 2004. I studied them when my partner was calling and I also looked at them during my turn at calling, but only when I didn't have the call in my mouth. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

That's a lie, Yellowhammer I know you weren't fooled /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

What they really are is drop charts for the three loads that I use in my .17 Remington. One is for my prairie dog load with the 20 gr. V-Max bullets. The other two are for my loads for the 30 gr. Starke Red Prairie Varmint bullets. One of those is for my load that leaves the muzzle at 3,650 fps and the other is for my load that has a MV of 3,900 fps. I have similar charts on my 22-250.

I guess it is "old age creeping in," because I just can't seem to memorize those drops charts. This is the way I have chosen to keep them handy. I use clear packing tape to tape them onto the stock. The packing tape seems to draw the color out of my wooden Tikka stock, but not real bad. The packing tape is very shiny, but I spray it down with several coats of Testor's "MODEL MASTER Lusterless (Flat) Lacquer Overcoat and that takes the shine off of it.

nd coyote killer--I'm not so sure that there were any of these coyotes that hadn't been educated. But there were a couple of them that hadn't received their PhD in calling sounds yet and my calling partner and I were able to give the 12th coyote his PhD, but put out the lights on the 13th coyote before he could graduate! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

It is really tough getting around in all the snow. I do have snow shoes and they would have really made walking much, much easier, but my hunting partner didn't have snow shoes and I didn't want to make him feel bad by walking way faster and with a whole lot less effort than him! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

We are getting temps in the high 30s and it may have even hit 40 degrees today. I suppose that will put a nice glaze on top of the snow and it will be like walking on broken glass from now on.
 
SilverFox, more like trying to walk on potato chips!! A buddy of mine constructed muffs for his snow shoes, tied on some cloth material and really cuts down on the noise when the snow is crunchy. Might want to give it a try. Wish I was in a area with that many coyotes to chose from.
 
trailhound--Thanks for the snow shoe muffler idea /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif I think it will be worth a try. Those doggone coyotes have such super good hearing that you can't get within a half mile or so of them when the snow is crunchy like "potato chips! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

We have lots of room for more folks in Williston, ND if you want to come to a place with lots of coyotes. I hope you noticed that we only called in two out of the 13 we saw and only got a shot at one and that one we got. Sometimes, sheer numbers of coyotes out in the countryside don't necessarily mean more coyotes on the stretchers. I'm looking into who owns the land where we saw 5 out of those 13 coyotes. I think I'll be able to get permission to hunt there now that calving season is just around the corner.
 
Trailhound you have great coyote hunting where you are, you don't want to waste your time going all the way out to western North Dakota and buying the extra license and all that all for some coyote hunting that isn't that great anyways /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Hey Silverfox,

Great story as always! no need to apologize for the length as far as I am concerned. You appear to have a target rich enviroment! count your blessings and keep on with the stories!
 
Hey Silverfox,

I know what you mean about the crunchy snow. I will be buying some now shoes before my next trip to my yote hunting spots. Tried calling some yesterday and had a pack to the NE and a pack to the SW, challenge me back. Then they quit calling back and melted into the fog. There are a bunch around. Haven't been out for awhile due to my putting my back out shoveling snow. Haven't seen so much snow in years. Anyway, good job on the yote.
 
Nice job Silverfox! Always enjoy your stories. No apology needed. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Nice looking boomstick there too!
 
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