I have been trying to get out to this ranch since before Christmas. The lay of the land seems to set up best if there is an east wind. Today there was a SE wind so after lunch, I gased up the pickup and took a drive. I went to the NW most corner of the ranch, hid my pickup and walked in about 3/4 of a mile to the east. I was down in a huge flat area near a stock dam and I set up my red fox decoy upwind from me on the top of the dam about 40 yards to my right (south) and set my FoxPro right on the neck of the decoy facing into the wind. I started my set out with my new SlyDog Clasic II raspy jackrabbit call for about a minute. I waited a minute and hit the Clasic again for 30 to 40 seconds. I did that two more times. Nothing was coming so I hit my Bill Austin Howler with about 4 female invitation howls. I waited a couple of minutes and did a couple more female invitation howls.
After about 10 minutes on the stand, I turned on the FoxPro to the female invitation sound and cranked the volume way up. I did 4 female invitation howls, and then switched to the male challenge sound for 3 howls and then went to the coyote pup distress sound for about 3 series of that. I shut it off and started wailing on the SLYDOG CLASIC for a minute. I was silent for about 3 minutes. I hit the FoxPro for another series of female invitation, male challenge, pup distress and then a couple more female invitation howls. I waited and watched for about 3 more minutes. I did one more series of howls and pup distress. I had been on the stand for almost 30 minutes and was about ready to move back to the pickup, but first, I wanted to do a sweep of the entire area I was calling with my rifle scope. I began looking to the SSE and swept around to the left in a northerly direction. When I got to about EENE I spotted a coyote coming that I hadn't seen with my naked eye. It was about 3/4 of a mile away. I cranked the scope up to 12X and tried to find it in the scope. Finally, I found it and it appeared to be walking back to the ENE. It looked a lot farther away than when I had first seen it. I hit the FoxPro female invitation howl and mixed in some coyote pup distress sounds. I looked in the scope again and now the coyote was lying down! Not this crap again!!! I kept switching between the howling and the pup distress. I checked in the scope again and now I could see three coyotes!!! Two of them were coming up out of a little low spot and they were a lot closer than the one that was lying down. I think one of these two front ones was the one I saw initially and the one lying down must have popped over the hill while I was messing with the caller and my scope power ring.
Anyway, I kept working on the two that were coming. After a bit the back one started to come too, but she was about 400 yards behind the other two. I could see that the two coming were very different in size. The lead coyote was small and light colored. The back coyote was almost half again as big as the lead coyote and was a nice light color too. They were about 150 yards apart. The lead coyote was about 300 yards away and was not coming straight at me, but was circling around to the north of me probably trying to get down wind. The big coyote stopped and the one that was way to the ENE was still coming, but maybe 600+ yards away. I turned the FoxPro volume down and switched to the Woodpecker distress sound. The two closest coyotes started coming again, but the big one really looked suspicious and would stop, take a couple of steps, stop; he also had his head down low and was moving his head side to side as well.
I decided I was going to take my shot at the small one that was the closest, but I’d wait until it got a little closer before shooting. Then I’d try to yelp and stop the big one as it tried to run away. There was a big cottonwood tree almost straight north of me and the coyote got in behind that and I moved my rifle at that time and got the barrel out to the left of the tree. There was also a three-wire fence between me and the coyote. The small coyote got to about 150 yards and was heading WSW now and getting a little closer. I figured I had better try to stop her and get a good shot before she got down wind from me. I could see her body between the bottom and middle wires on the fence as I kept the crosshairs on her. I barked several times. She stopped broadside and I took up the slack in the trigger. Just as I fired I could see her move a little to the WSW (left), but the bullet hit her, although it was a little farther back than I intended because she had moved to my left a little. I could see her entrails hanging out as she did the death spin. I immediately started yelping with my voice to try to stop the big male. He was flat out moving to get out of the country. I flung a couple of shots at him, but wasn’t even close. I checked on the nearest coyote to see if she was down or not and she was down for the count. I tried howling to work the two coyotes that were running away, but they disappeared over the far eastern horizon. My watch showed I had been on stand for 42 minutes and 35 seconds. Patience is a virtue this time of year!!! JMHO!
I walked over to the FoxPro and turned that off and undid the antennae and placed it and the remote in my butt pack and strapped on the butt pack. I slung my rifle over my shoulder and began to step off the distance from where I had been lying to where the coyote was when I shot. She had been about 130 yards from me. She had spun and dragged herself about 75 yards to the NNW before she died. I had hit her about 6 to 8 inches back of my point of aim because she had moved on me when I was pulling the trigger. I stepped on the entrails and removed a good portion of them. She was pretty bloody on her underside, but she wasn’t rubbed and she was a very nice colored female. I hooked my drag rope on her, slung my rifle over my shoulder, and began the long walk back out to the highway. There were places that the snow was still over two feet deep. I was wishing I would have taken my snow shoes with me. One of these days I will learn to take them with.
I took some photos when I got my pickup back to where I had dragged her in the road ditch. I began to wonder if these two coyotes were doing the big down wind circle because of the decoy. Would they have come right straight in to the FoxPro if I would not have had the decoy there? I guess I’ll never know, but just in case these coyotes are shying away from my decoy, I may have to make a smaller, less fearsome looking red fox decoy for next year.
Here's the "hero" photo and I am holding the SlyDog Clasic II call in my hand. I am really happy, but the scowl or squint is because the sun is shining in my eyes! Also note the Predator Master's camo cap on my head instead of the white "turban" like I had last Monday.
If you can see the tree right above and slightly left of the green sign, that is the tree I was lying south of. Then look way out on the horizon and right of that tree to the tallest hill and you'll see two dark spots on the snow on the horizon. Just below the right-most dark spot is where the back coyote was walking after I got my scope turned up to 12x. That is some huge basin out there and it was bright!!
You can see the nice color to this coyote and my SlyDog Clasic II is on the snow near her back.
This was the only spot I called. Wish I would have come out earlier. I might have had a pickup load of coyotes to sell on Saturday when the furbuyer comes to town.
After about 10 minutes on the stand, I turned on the FoxPro to the female invitation sound and cranked the volume way up. I did 4 female invitation howls, and then switched to the male challenge sound for 3 howls and then went to the coyote pup distress sound for about 3 series of that. I shut it off and started wailing on the SLYDOG CLASIC for a minute. I was silent for about 3 minutes. I hit the FoxPro for another series of female invitation, male challenge, pup distress and then a couple more female invitation howls. I waited and watched for about 3 more minutes. I did one more series of howls and pup distress. I had been on the stand for almost 30 minutes and was about ready to move back to the pickup, but first, I wanted to do a sweep of the entire area I was calling with my rifle scope. I began looking to the SSE and swept around to the left in a northerly direction. When I got to about EENE I spotted a coyote coming that I hadn't seen with my naked eye. It was about 3/4 of a mile away. I cranked the scope up to 12X and tried to find it in the scope. Finally, I found it and it appeared to be walking back to the ENE. It looked a lot farther away than when I had first seen it. I hit the FoxPro female invitation howl and mixed in some coyote pup distress sounds. I looked in the scope again and now the coyote was lying down! Not this crap again!!! I kept switching between the howling and the pup distress. I checked in the scope again and now I could see three coyotes!!! Two of them were coming up out of a little low spot and they were a lot closer than the one that was lying down. I think one of these two front ones was the one I saw initially and the one lying down must have popped over the hill while I was messing with the caller and my scope power ring.
Anyway, I kept working on the two that were coming. After a bit the back one started to come too, but she was about 400 yards behind the other two. I could see that the two coming were very different in size. The lead coyote was small and light colored. The back coyote was almost half again as big as the lead coyote and was a nice light color too. They were about 150 yards apart. The lead coyote was about 300 yards away and was not coming straight at me, but was circling around to the north of me probably trying to get down wind. The big coyote stopped and the one that was way to the ENE was still coming, but maybe 600+ yards away. I turned the FoxPro volume down and switched to the Woodpecker distress sound. The two closest coyotes started coming again, but the big one really looked suspicious and would stop, take a couple of steps, stop; he also had his head down low and was moving his head side to side as well.
I decided I was going to take my shot at the small one that was the closest, but I’d wait until it got a little closer before shooting. Then I’d try to yelp and stop the big one as it tried to run away. There was a big cottonwood tree almost straight north of me and the coyote got in behind that and I moved my rifle at that time and got the barrel out to the left of the tree. There was also a three-wire fence between me and the coyote. The small coyote got to about 150 yards and was heading WSW now and getting a little closer. I figured I had better try to stop her and get a good shot before she got down wind from me. I could see her body between the bottom and middle wires on the fence as I kept the crosshairs on her. I barked several times. She stopped broadside and I took up the slack in the trigger. Just as I fired I could see her move a little to the WSW (left), but the bullet hit her, although it was a little farther back than I intended because she had moved to my left a little. I could see her entrails hanging out as she did the death spin. I immediately started yelping with my voice to try to stop the big male. He was flat out moving to get out of the country. I flung a couple of shots at him, but wasn’t even close. I checked on the nearest coyote to see if she was down or not and she was down for the count. I tried howling to work the two coyotes that were running away, but they disappeared over the far eastern horizon. My watch showed I had been on stand for 42 minutes and 35 seconds. Patience is a virtue this time of year!!! JMHO!
I walked over to the FoxPro and turned that off and undid the antennae and placed it and the remote in my butt pack and strapped on the butt pack. I slung my rifle over my shoulder and began to step off the distance from where I had been lying to where the coyote was when I shot. She had been about 130 yards from me. She had spun and dragged herself about 75 yards to the NNW before she died. I had hit her about 6 to 8 inches back of my point of aim because she had moved on me when I was pulling the trigger. I stepped on the entrails and removed a good portion of them. She was pretty bloody on her underside, but she wasn’t rubbed and she was a very nice colored female. I hooked my drag rope on her, slung my rifle over my shoulder, and began the long walk back out to the highway. There were places that the snow was still over two feet deep. I was wishing I would have taken my snow shoes with me. One of these days I will learn to take them with.
I took some photos when I got my pickup back to where I had dragged her in the road ditch. I began to wonder if these two coyotes were doing the big down wind circle because of the decoy. Would they have come right straight in to the FoxPro if I would not have had the decoy there? I guess I’ll never know, but just in case these coyotes are shying away from my decoy, I may have to make a smaller, less fearsome looking red fox decoy for next year.
Here's the "hero" photo and I am holding the SlyDog Clasic II call in my hand. I am really happy, but the scowl or squint is because the sun is shining in my eyes! Also note the Predator Master's camo cap on my head instead of the white "turban" like I had last Monday.
If you can see the tree right above and slightly left of the green sign, that is the tree I was lying south of. Then look way out on the horizon and right of that tree to the tallest hill and you'll see two dark spots on the snow on the horizon. Just below the right-most dark spot is where the back coyote was walking after I got my scope turned up to 12x. That is some huge basin out there and it was bright!!
You can see the nice color to this coyote and my SlyDog Clasic II is on the snow near her back.
This was the only spot I called. Wish I would have come out earlier. I might have had a pickup load of coyotes to sell on Saturday when the furbuyer comes to town.
