the impactzone
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How I got my PHD at PU From the Professors Tony & Gunner
I had a great 3 days with Tony Tebbe and Gunner and picked up several new tricks & techniques, Tony knows his stuff and gunner is in a liege of his own, after the first day I spent as much time watching Gunner as I did listening to Tony. I had brought my Night Vision equipment and wanted to apply Tony’s day techniques to night stands. At the hotel I showed Tony how to use the Raytheon 1000 Thermal with the Lawmate pocket DVR so he could record footage of the hunt, we mounted it on my PRS tripod, then showed him how to run the FLIR PS32 hand held thermal, put my D760 (3rd gen 6x rifle scope) on my R-25 in 243, and off we went to double check the zero, it was off 5 clicks right, not enough to miss a broad side shot but enough to miss a head shot at 100, can’t have that if it’s the only thing I get. Over the years Coyote hunting has taught me one thing and that is Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda doesn’t cut it and is no excuse for a missed shot or blown stand, good enough is never enough when it comes to Coyotes. Tony I learned lives by this and when its game time he brings his game no half stepping no missed detail when it came to coyote hunting. He taught me things to look for on stand set up and scouting, teaching me that it was the little things that make or break a stand. Even at night we set up in the shadows and when he would walk back from putting the call out would double check the stand location to get a coyote’s point of view, looking for something out of place that would alert a coyote to danger. Gunner even followed this logic on one daylight stand and had backed up till he was against me and was watching my 6 :00, Tony laughed and said he knows, we’re pulling up tight, I laughed at the thought a dog is smart enough to cover the back door without being told . Matter a fact the only things Tony ever said to Gunner was, Kennel Up / get in the back / hunt em up boy! In 3 full days.
Day One First night was a test of conviction
we saw 13 coyotes and that’s with Tony on the Thermal, he was picking up coyotes easily out to 700 yards and beyond in pitch black. We only had two respond to calls that night. The coyotes had shut down and would not respond to anything, on one stand we had two cross the road about 400 yards away, stop in the road look our way then keep right on going, on another we had a large group with some young pups yipping in it 200 yards away in the brush, Nothing not a response, we made one stand only to later find a coyote ½ mile away in an open field that wouldn’t respond to anything. We tried to come up with reasons and solutions, and tossed everything at them; they were just locked up, shut down and not responding.
Then on one stand as we are setting up and Tony is asking me which way I think they will respond from, Testing me I guess to see if I have been listening in class, I point one way he points the other, to myself I question my reason the wind was soft 5mph and then tell him, no your right, what was I thinking? Tony had us set so anything that was going to wind us was going to have to fully expose itself. Tony starts out with some cottontail distress and mixed in some feeding coyote with some pup yips and more cottontail, about 10 minutes into the stand I hear the sound of a dogs pads on rock and skidding gravel coming from behind me on my left in the direction I had pointed to first as where they would respond from. Tony whispers “where’s gunner” Gunner was on his right side, we both turn to see a coyote on his way out at 35 yards or so moving quick between the thick brush I’m trying to get on him with the 6X NV and Tony barks a few times trying to slow him down, it wasn’t going to happen! I guess the coyote had backdoor’ed us to about 25 feet or less in order for us to hear his foot pads on rock and gravel before he winded us. I just imaged him coming in hard till he hit our scent like a brick wall, I’m pissed at myself and the missed opportunity, and we both whisper a few choice words but hold tight keeping to stand discipline as it’s the only coyote to respond and more might. Within 5 minutes and both of us now looking like a pair of owls scanning 360* with both thermal units, Tony urgently whispers dead ahead 65 yards just beyond the call, I look at Tony to see what his dead ahead is, I get on the rifle and quickly locate the coyote he’s eyes looking like X-mas lights under the IR illuminator, just a quick as I locate him he starts to move out, I get a sight picture on him as he starts to trot out to our left, I whisper to Tony to Bark him, “I didn’t want to lose my sight picture and the good cheek weld I had on the stock barking at him, as he steps into the road Tony barks the dog only looks our way as he makes his way to a fence line, I think no way am I going to let him make it under that fence. I break the shot, the amber cross hairs on his shoulder, just as he lowers his head to go under. The coyote slams into the fence and bounced back off it DRT! Gunner in his comical way for some reason is on the other side of the fence and reaches under and drags the coyote to the other side giving him a good what fore. That alone was worth the price of admission, I could just imagine the conversation Gunner was having with that coyote (oh you want under this fence? Well you sure as [beeep] don’t want a piece of what’s on the other side and that me!)
Just before impact
Me and Gunner the keeper of the fence, it was a large male over 40lb
We scored one for the team, with no rhyme or reason they just turned back on for a brief moment, Tony tells me as we walk out, “you were right on where they would respond from” I said yea and so were you, either one would have backdoor’ed us. One came in cross wind to our downwind the other came in from upwind. I thought man this guy is good he did call the response and then gave me credit for having it ½ right as well, Tony’s an instructor who builds confidence in his students even at the toughest of times. We end the night at 8: am with more dry stands but a good night spent learning the equipment and each other as well.
Day / Night 2 another test of my conviction
We double check the zero on the D760 as I had pulled it off and gone to my day scope that morning and I have not tested the ability for it to return to zero that much , the scope & Larue mount from TNVC seems to be working it’s one click off at 100 yards.
The night starts off to a good start, our first stand we call in a single Tony picks him up in the thermal at several hundred yards and we watch him work his way in along a cattle trail, we wanted to get some night footage in Thermal of Gunner doing his decoy action but this coyote started to get a little cautious, worried he might start to work the wind I tell Tony after ranging him with the cross hairs at about 200 that I can take him, Tony tells me to take him we can get footage but we need dogs on the ground! I place the cross hairs on him and break the shot with a large cloud of dirt & hair he is DRT after getting hit with the 58gr V-Max at 3750fps. I call the shot to Tony and point on his side where the hit should be, I pace it off at just under 150, it’s a small young male his chest is under 9” the width of my open hand tip to tip I figure the reason I ranged him at 200 as I was reading him as an average 12” chest on a coyote (this would happen again). the pic is at the moment of impact with the large black cloud of dirt and hair coming off him
Recovery and Tony giving me a high five for calling the shot placement
Now we are stoked, one stand one coyote, we want /need some doubles and triples, the next few stands we find that Tony has the ability to call in Jackrabbits at will, on one stand we scan and see nothing 10 minutes later we have 7 Jackrabbits all around us Tony is going nuts with all the heat signatures, “Coyote!, no rabbit, Coyote!,,,,nooo rabbit. So we are forced to light a few up and find in the thermal they look like they are filled with marshmallows
Tony says the weather is going to change but that’s a good thing it will get the coyotes responding and the high wind for the night will be only 6mph,, NOT,, it kicks up to an average of 14 on my Kestril with gust to 25mph. We try and get off the high open ground and into some thicker more protected area, what we find is higher winds of 20-25, so back to the high ground we go. The jackrabbits are still giving Tony a fit on one stand he alerts me to 3 hard charging coyotes at 500 yards to my far left in the next pasture, I cautiously move to a fence post as the IR illuminator is reflecting back off the wire and to be in position when they get there, in the 6x NV I can tell its 3 of Tony’s hard charging love sick Jackrabbits @ 200 yards, now Tony alerts me to a real coyote at 250 to our front left cross wind from us, he is being super cautious not wanting to break the brush line. I sneak back to my stool and spot him in the scope, the wind is still 14-20 MPH and I’m having a [beeep] of a time with my hold off hand, I look around for my shooting sticks and they are 10 feet behind me, I risk it and go for them it’s the only way I’ll make the shot in this wind, the coyote backs away. I’m kicking myself what a FNG mistake Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda I would have got that coyote if I had my shooting sticks, I Should have got that coyote if I had my shooting sticks, I Could have had that coyote if I had my shooting sticks, KICK KICK KICK! Tony is busting his butt to put me on coyotes and I blow it. We end the night with some great scenery on a rock outcropping over a looking valley just as the rain comes
Day / night 3, will I pass the test and get my PHD?
We meet Tony’s friend Brandon at some property the owner had called and said he had two very aggressive coyotes challenge him on his tractor as well as 10 coyote pups running ramped and would we rid the carrot fields of some of the rabbits. We make our first stand a coyotes responds with barks and yips from across an irrigation field Tony watches him work his way past us at 500 yards cross wind from us in a fast trot
coyote in the part of the field just irrigated with cool water, thermal on white hot
(something not right Tony wants to move) the second stand we set up Tony on the Raytheon 1000 Thermal Brandon on the FLIR PS32 Thermal and I’m on the gun with D760 Night Vision, Nothing is going to sneak past us. We are over lapping our scanning and I pick up a coyote at about 400 yards in the scope his eyes light up in the IR illuminator just as he makes his way into some tall grass, I can no longer see him in the grass but Tony picks him up in the thermal as he works his way in closer and closer, an owl is giving his position away the whole time flying overhead, (something we noticed on just about every coyote that responded and something that may not be noticed when hunting with lights only and something to look for) I still haven’t pick him up in the grass and tony tells me to look in the thermal, I lean over and see he is 40 yards right of the area I have been searching at about 150 yards out with just his head exposed
Tony coaxes him in a little closer to about 125 and I take him when he gives me a full look, I hit him in the head (not called) as we walk back to the truck Tony says hey good work on spotting that coyote! That felt good from a guy who spots coyotes 700 yards away while driving 45mph down a bumpy dirt road, Ok I think he’s testing me and he probably saw him long before I did and wanted to see how close he would get before I found him?
Next stand looks good, Tony wants to call next to the property we don’t have access to but once the coyotes cross the road and fence they belong to us. Ok sounds like a plan. Well sure enough Tony spots a coyote on the other property 600 yards out and we watch him work his way in and what’s he do? But cross the road.
To the other side of the fence
Then what happens
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Tony keeps showing me tricks and testing me, the next stand was a test for sure as we drive into a irrigated field where Brandon had taken a pup out of a few days before while hunting rabbits Tony spots 3 coyotes under the irrigation pipes like they had come in to water, we drive to the other side ¾ of a mile and park we walk in a ways and set up and call a few minutes, (again something not right and Tony says we should move) We move on in another 500 yards or so and start calling again.
We pick up a coyote on the way in 500 yards out or so behind us and downwind to our left as we watch him work in closer and closer to almost straight downwind at about 250 or what I think is 250 Tony tells me in a firm whisper “don’t let him get downwind of us, you kill him first” I’m thinking that’s my green light to shoot at any time I feel is necessary, so I’m ranging the coyote the whole time (average coyote will fill a 1. mill space at 300 yards on this scope) he is just over a mill thick I’m figuring 250 as we all do, I’ll hold a cross hair thick high about 2 mrads or 2 clicks just right for this load. The coyote hangs up hard we watch him for several minutes and the wind has changed a few time on us, I tell Tony I think I can take him, Tony says go ahead as he’s getting our scent and is not going to come any closer and if he gets a good whiff he’ll bug out fast. It looks like he is in tall grass I hold for where I think his chest is and break the shot,, The coyote jumps and runs hard right, I put 3 feet on him and fire again, it hits in front, he turns back left and is now running almost straight away I swing just in front of his head and break the shot thinking this is the last shot I’ll get on him, I hear what I think is a hit but it’s not a big hit? Tony says he down. As we walk out I’m stepping it off thinking to myself man I just made a 250 yard running shot at night I’m kind of proud of myself, we can hear Gunner on him Tony says that means he’s not dead if gunner is barking, we locate them both with thermals and what do we find at 150 yards? A pup no bigger than a kit fox, Brandon says man that’s smaller than the one I got the other night. I’m thinking what a tuff guy you are shooting little pups, Tony even says I’ve never shot one that small I usually let them pass, I’m saying, But, But, But I thought it was a big coyote a lot farther out, not a pup up close. Tony tells me last year the coyotes had put the hurt on this guy’s livestock and small pups become big coyotes and that’s why he had called Tony. Then I realized this must have been another test “Grasshopper when you can snatch the coyote pup on the run at night you will be closer to your PHD from Predator University. When we reviewed the footage we count my 3 shots from first to last at just over 3 seconds almost 4 and that pup could move a good bit in 1 second.
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We drop Brandon off at his truck after we clean up a few rabbits for the owner, I’m starting to feel 3 days of hunting hard and I’m’ just about ready to call it an early night it’s 3am or so and my flight leaves the next morning but getting that Thermal out of Tony’s hands in the dark is going to be hard and you can tell he thinks there’s a double just around the corner. Sure enough Tony and that Thermal are a machine to be reckoned with, he is now showing me things with it I didn’t know. He spots 3 coyotes at some ungodly range. We park and start to call but they are not responding, so we start to put the stalk on them before the sun rises and the NV scope will become limited. They decide to head out before we get close to them, Tony figures they had had enough dead cow and are heading back across the road to bed down. Tony has one more spot to try that has a small Prairie dog town next to it. I switch to my day scope and off we go for one last stand and some PD shooting. As we walk to the stand I notice a hill of pushed up dirt and it has what looks to be a flat spot on the top and I think man that would be a cool place to shoot PD’s from. Tony says lets set up in the shadow of that hill, I say why not on top Thinking of going prone, Tony says no to highlighted we need keep in the shadows he thinks it has a crest. He set out the call about 50 yards up wind checking our stand on his return and hopes to call a coyote or two out of the corn & wheat fields in front of us, and maybe get some gunner decoy action. About 10 minutes into the stand I’m focused on the edge of the wheat field 250 yards away, really the scope is adjusted for a clear picture at 250 and on 20x I’m looking for anything out of place. When Tony with the sound of urgency whispers “left on the hill next to the T post kill him quick!!!” I turn my head and there next to the T Post not 25 yards away or less With the sun in my eyes is a coyote head looking over the brush, I’m thinking to myself Tony give a guy a break as I swing the rifle on him only to see the head filling the scope cross hairs on his throat I break the shot figuring I need to hold over at this range anyway and Tony did say kill him quick. Whop he’s down and Gunner is off, Tony keeps calling and now gunner is barking a lot farther out, Tony says that coyote is DRT Gunner is decoying we climb up the top of the dirt hill and to the thick brush line level with the top to see gunner returning looking over his shoulder, Tony says get ready Gunners got one following, with the sun in our eyes I see a flash of fur and movement between the brush about 75 yards out We are standing out in the bright sun on the edge of a hill a blind coyote would have spotted us. We walk in to recover the first coyote and Tony sends Gunner out to see if he can decoy the other one back now that we have a little cover, Tony spots a coyote on the run about 500 yards away Looking in to the sun he spots it? We scan some more and Tony says There 200 yards out trotting to the left, I find him in the scope and still trotting, Tony is barking trying to stop him and he is having nothing of it, I think man first it’s into the sun with an out of focus scope now it 250 into the sun on a moving target I haven’t had 6 straight hours of sleep in 3 days, Give me a break then realize I’m not the only one, I give it my best as Tony has given me his. The shot breaks a little high I just saw daylight between the coyote and cross hairs, Tony calls it just over his back, I try to recover as fast as I can and get one more shot off as the scope fills with the glare of the sun and the coyote is turning on the after burners, again Tony says just over his back. The coyote is now in the next section and Tony says Man that was close if you’d have hit that coyote I’d have had to say it was the farthest off hand shot I’d ever seen made. That makes me feel a little better knowing this and that it was also moving. What the hey, I gave it the old college try, Predator University that is. We return to recover the first dog and can’t find him, Tony finds a good blood trail that I can’t see as I’m red green color blind and I lose red on green that’s probably why I hunt so much at night LOL. Gunner hunts him up and the coyote is 125-150 yards away with his heart shot out and half his insides hanging out a largehole in his side. Tony says we had a triple and that second coyote we saw was hanging around because of this one he wasn’t 50 yards away from him when Tony first spotted him.
The coyote that ended the hunt and got me my PHD (Predator Hunter Degree) from PU Thanks Tony and gunner for the education and great memories
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Now to give those who don’t know tony, an idea of what kind of guy Tony is. Beyond a master hunter of coyote, trainer of dogs and teacher he is also a great guy. While standing in line at a convenience store to buy supply’s for the nights hunt we are far back in line behind 5 other people as this crack head beotch con artist try’s to run a change scam on the poor old blue headed lady behind the counter, she is cussing up a storm refusing to step aside till she gets her $10 back, after a few minutes Tony steps up past the people in line and ask the her how much did she get ripped off for? She says in street gutter slang $10 Tony says here take $20, its worth that to me, for you to shut up and let me get on my way! The line cheers Tony and the little old lady thanks him, the street beotch gives us the stink eye as she drives off. I told Tony I was about to drag her out the door like Gunner on a coyote under a fence and give her what fore.
Thanks again my friend for a great time and education from the professors
Nominated for Hunt Of The Month
I had a great 3 days with Tony Tebbe and Gunner and picked up several new tricks & techniques, Tony knows his stuff and gunner is in a liege of his own, after the first day I spent as much time watching Gunner as I did listening to Tony. I had brought my Night Vision equipment and wanted to apply Tony’s day techniques to night stands. At the hotel I showed Tony how to use the Raytheon 1000 Thermal with the Lawmate pocket DVR so he could record footage of the hunt, we mounted it on my PRS tripod, then showed him how to run the FLIR PS32 hand held thermal, put my D760 (3rd gen 6x rifle scope) on my R-25 in 243, and off we went to double check the zero, it was off 5 clicks right, not enough to miss a broad side shot but enough to miss a head shot at 100, can’t have that if it’s the only thing I get. Over the years Coyote hunting has taught me one thing and that is Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda doesn’t cut it and is no excuse for a missed shot or blown stand, good enough is never enough when it comes to Coyotes. Tony I learned lives by this and when its game time he brings his game no half stepping no missed detail when it came to coyote hunting. He taught me things to look for on stand set up and scouting, teaching me that it was the little things that make or break a stand. Even at night we set up in the shadows and when he would walk back from putting the call out would double check the stand location to get a coyote’s point of view, looking for something out of place that would alert a coyote to danger. Gunner even followed this logic on one daylight stand and had backed up till he was against me and was watching my 6 :00, Tony laughed and said he knows, we’re pulling up tight, I laughed at the thought a dog is smart enough to cover the back door without being told . Matter a fact the only things Tony ever said to Gunner was, Kennel Up / get in the back / hunt em up boy! In 3 full days.
Day One First night was a test of conviction
we saw 13 coyotes and that’s with Tony on the Thermal, he was picking up coyotes easily out to 700 yards and beyond in pitch black. We only had two respond to calls that night. The coyotes had shut down and would not respond to anything, on one stand we had two cross the road about 400 yards away, stop in the road look our way then keep right on going, on another we had a large group with some young pups yipping in it 200 yards away in the brush, Nothing not a response, we made one stand only to later find a coyote ½ mile away in an open field that wouldn’t respond to anything. We tried to come up with reasons and solutions, and tossed everything at them; they were just locked up, shut down and not responding.
Then on one stand as we are setting up and Tony is asking me which way I think they will respond from, Testing me I guess to see if I have been listening in class, I point one way he points the other, to myself I question my reason the wind was soft 5mph and then tell him, no your right, what was I thinking? Tony had us set so anything that was going to wind us was going to have to fully expose itself. Tony starts out with some cottontail distress and mixed in some feeding coyote with some pup yips and more cottontail, about 10 minutes into the stand I hear the sound of a dogs pads on rock and skidding gravel coming from behind me on my left in the direction I had pointed to first as where they would respond from. Tony whispers “where’s gunner” Gunner was on his right side, we both turn to see a coyote on his way out at 35 yards or so moving quick between the thick brush I’m trying to get on him with the 6X NV and Tony barks a few times trying to slow him down, it wasn’t going to happen! I guess the coyote had backdoor’ed us to about 25 feet or less in order for us to hear his foot pads on rock and gravel before he winded us. I just imaged him coming in hard till he hit our scent like a brick wall, I’m pissed at myself and the missed opportunity, and we both whisper a few choice words but hold tight keeping to stand discipline as it’s the only coyote to respond and more might. Within 5 minutes and both of us now looking like a pair of owls scanning 360* with both thermal units, Tony urgently whispers dead ahead 65 yards just beyond the call, I look at Tony to see what his dead ahead is, I get on the rifle and quickly locate the coyote he’s eyes looking like X-mas lights under the IR illuminator, just a quick as I locate him he starts to move out, I get a sight picture on him as he starts to trot out to our left, I whisper to Tony to Bark him, “I didn’t want to lose my sight picture and the good cheek weld I had on the stock barking at him, as he steps into the road Tony barks the dog only looks our way as he makes his way to a fence line, I think no way am I going to let him make it under that fence. I break the shot, the amber cross hairs on his shoulder, just as he lowers his head to go under. The coyote slams into the fence and bounced back off it DRT! Gunner in his comical way for some reason is on the other side of the fence and reaches under and drags the coyote to the other side giving him a good what fore. That alone was worth the price of admission, I could just imagine the conversation Gunner was having with that coyote (oh you want under this fence? Well you sure as [beeep] don’t want a piece of what’s on the other side and that me!)
Just before impact
We scored one for the team, with no rhyme or reason they just turned back on for a brief moment, Tony tells me as we walk out, “you were right on where they would respond from” I said yea and so were you, either one would have backdoor’ed us. One came in cross wind to our downwind the other came in from upwind. I thought man this guy is good he did call the response and then gave me credit for having it ½ right as well, Tony’s an instructor who builds confidence in his students even at the toughest of times. We end the night at 8: am with more dry stands but a good night spent learning the equipment and each other as well.
Day / Night 2 another test of my conviction
We double check the zero on the D760 as I had pulled it off and gone to my day scope that morning and I have not tested the ability for it to return to zero that much , the scope & Larue mount from TNVC seems to be working it’s one click off at 100 yards.
The night starts off to a good start, our first stand we call in a single Tony picks him up in the thermal at several hundred yards and we watch him work his way in along a cattle trail, we wanted to get some night footage in Thermal of Gunner doing his decoy action but this coyote started to get a little cautious, worried he might start to work the wind I tell Tony after ranging him with the cross hairs at about 200 that I can take him, Tony tells me to take him we can get footage but we need dogs on the ground! I place the cross hairs on him and break the shot with a large cloud of dirt & hair he is DRT after getting hit with the 58gr V-Max at 3750fps. I call the shot to Tony and point on his side where the hit should be, I pace it off at just under 150, it’s a small young male his chest is under 9” the width of my open hand tip to tip I figure the reason I ranged him at 200 as I was reading him as an average 12” chest on a coyote (this would happen again). the pic is at the moment of impact with the large black cloud of dirt and hair coming off him
Recovery and Tony giving me a high five for calling the shot placement
Now we are stoked, one stand one coyote, we want /need some doubles and triples, the next few stands we find that Tony has the ability to call in Jackrabbits at will, on one stand we scan and see nothing 10 minutes later we have 7 Jackrabbits all around us Tony is going nuts with all the heat signatures, “Coyote!, no rabbit, Coyote!,,,,nooo rabbit. So we are forced to light a few up and find in the thermal they look like they are filled with marshmallows
Tony says the weather is going to change but that’s a good thing it will get the coyotes responding and the high wind for the night will be only 6mph,, NOT,, it kicks up to an average of 14 on my Kestril with gust to 25mph. We try and get off the high open ground and into some thicker more protected area, what we find is higher winds of 20-25, so back to the high ground we go. The jackrabbits are still giving Tony a fit on one stand he alerts me to 3 hard charging coyotes at 500 yards to my far left in the next pasture, I cautiously move to a fence post as the IR illuminator is reflecting back off the wire and to be in position when they get there, in the 6x NV I can tell its 3 of Tony’s hard charging love sick Jackrabbits @ 200 yards, now Tony alerts me to a real coyote at 250 to our front left cross wind from us, he is being super cautious not wanting to break the brush line. I sneak back to my stool and spot him in the scope, the wind is still 14-20 MPH and I’m having a [beeep] of a time with my hold off hand, I look around for my shooting sticks and they are 10 feet behind me, I risk it and go for them it’s the only way I’ll make the shot in this wind, the coyote backs away. I’m kicking myself what a FNG mistake Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda I would have got that coyote if I had my shooting sticks, I Should have got that coyote if I had my shooting sticks, I Could have had that coyote if I had my shooting sticks, KICK KICK KICK! Tony is busting his butt to put me on coyotes and I blow it. We end the night with some great scenery on a rock outcropping over a looking valley just as the rain comes
Day / night 3, will I pass the test and get my PHD?
We meet Tony’s friend Brandon at some property the owner had called and said he had two very aggressive coyotes challenge him on his tractor as well as 10 coyote pups running ramped and would we rid the carrot fields of some of the rabbits. We make our first stand a coyotes responds with barks and yips from across an irrigation field Tony watches him work his way past us at 500 yards cross wind from us in a fast trot
coyote in the part of the field just irrigated with cool water, thermal on white hot
(something not right Tony wants to move) the second stand we set up Tony on the Raytheon 1000 Thermal Brandon on the FLIR PS32 Thermal and I’m on the gun with D760 Night Vision, Nothing is going to sneak past us. We are over lapping our scanning and I pick up a coyote at about 400 yards in the scope his eyes light up in the IR illuminator just as he makes his way into some tall grass, I can no longer see him in the grass but Tony picks him up in the thermal as he works his way in closer and closer, an owl is giving his position away the whole time flying overhead, (something we noticed on just about every coyote that responded and something that may not be noticed when hunting with lights only and something to look for) I still haven’t pick him up in the grass and tony tells me to look in the thermal, I lean over and see he is 40 yards right of the area I have been searching at about 150 yards out with just his head exposed
Tony coaxes him in a little closer to about 125 and I take him when he gives me a full look, I hit him in the head (not called) as we walk back to the truck Tony says hey good work on spotting that coyote! That felt good from a guy who spots coyotes 700 yards away while driving 45mph down a bumpy dirt road, Ok I think he’s testing me and he probably saw him long before I did and wanted to see how close he would get before I found him?
Next stand looks good, Tony wants to call next to the property we don’t have access to but once the coyotes cross the road and fence they belong to us. Ok sounds like a plan. Well sure enough Tony spots a coyote on the other property 600 yards out and we watch him work his way in and what’s he do? But cross the road.
To the other side of the fence
Then what happens
Tony keeps showing me tricks and testing me, the next stand was a test for sure as we drive into a irrigated field where Brandon had taken a pup out of a few days before while hunting rabbits Tony spots 3 coyotes under the irrigation pipes like they had come in to water, we drive to the other side ¾ of a mile and park we walk in a ways and set up and call a few minutes, (again something not right and Tony says we should move) We move on in another 500 yards or so and start calling again.
We pick up a coyote on the way in 500 yards out or so behind us and downwind to our left as we watch him work in closer and closer to almost straight downwind at about 250 or what I think is 250 Tony tells me in a firm whisper “don’t let him get downwind of us, you kill him first” I’m thinking that’s my green light to shoot at any time I feel is necessary, so I’m ranging the coyote the whole time (average coyote will fill a 1. mill space at 300 yards on this scope) he is just over a mill thick I’m figuring 250 as we all do, I’ll hold a cross hair thick high about 2 mrads or 2 clicks just right for this load. The coyote hangs up hard we watch him for several minutes and the wind has changed a few time on us, I tell Tony I think I can take him, Tony says go ahead as he’s getting our scent and is not going to come any closer and if he gets a good whiff he’ll bug out fast. It looks like he is in tall grass I hold for where I think his chest is and break the shot,, The coyote jumps and runs hard right, I put 3 feet on him and fire again, it hits in front, he turns back left and is now running almost straight away I swing just in front of his head and break the shot thinking this is the last shot I’ll get on him, I hear what I think is a hit but it’s not a big hit? Tony says he down. As we walk out I’m stepping it off thinking to myself man I just made a 250 yard running shot at night I’m kind of proud of myself, we can hear Gunner on him Tony says that means he’s not dead if gunner is barking, we locate them both with thermals and what do we find at 150 yards? A pup no bigger than a kit fox, Brandon says man that’s smaller than the one I got the other night. I’m thinking what a tuff guy you are shooting little pups, Tony even says I’ve never shot one that small I usually let them pass, I’m saying, But, But, But I thought it was a big coyote a lot farther out, not a pup up close. Tony tells me last year the coyotes had put the hurt on this guy’s livestock and small pups become big coyotes and that’s why he had called Tony. Then I realized this must have been another test “Grasshopper when you can snatch the coyote pup on the run at night you will be closer to your PHD from Predator University. When we reviewed the footage we count my 3 shots from first to last at just over 3 seconds almost 4 and that pup could move a good bit in 1 second.
We drop Brandon off at his truck after we clean up a few rabbits for the owner, I’m starting to feel 3 days of hunting hard and I’m’ just about ready to call it an early night it’s 3am or so and my flight leaves the next morning but getting that Thermal out of Tony’s hands in the dark is going to be hard and you can tell he thinks there’s a double just around the corner. Sure enough Tony and that Thermal are a machine to be reckoned with, he is now showing me things with it I didn’t know. He spots 3 coyotes at some ungodly range. We park and start to call but they are not responding, so we start to put the stalk on them before the sun rises and the NV scope will become limited. They decide to head out before we get close to them, Tony figures they had had enough dead cow and are heading back across the road to bed down. Tony has one more spot to try that has a small Prairie dog town next to it. I switch to my day scope and off we go for one last stand and some PD shooting. As we walk to the stand I notice a hill of pushed up dirt and it has what looks to be a flat spot on the top and I think man that would be a cool place to shoot PD’s from. Tony says lets set up in the shadow of that hill, I say why not on top Thinking of going prone, Tony says no to highlighted we need keep in the shadows he thinks it has a crest. He set out the call about 50 yards up wind checking our stand on his return and hopes to call a coyote or two out of the corn & wheat fields in front of us, and maybe get some gunner decoy action. About 10 minutes into the stand I’m focused on the edge of the wheat field 250 yards away, really the scope is adjusted for a clear picture at 250 and on 20x I’m looking for anything out of place. When Tony with the sound of urgency whispers “left on the hill next to the T post kill him quick!!!” I turn my head and there next to the T Post not 25 yards away or less With the sun in my eyes is a coyote head looking over the brush, I’m thinking to myself Tony give a guy a break as I swing the rifle on him only to see the head filling the scope cross hairs on his throat I break the shot figuring I need to hold over at this range anyway and Tony did say kill him quick. Whop he’s down and Gunner is off, Tony keeps calling and now gunner is barking a lot farther out, Tony says that coyote is DRT Gunner is decoying we climb up the top of the dirt hill and to the thick brush line level with the top to see gunner returning looking over his shoulder, Tony says get ready Gunners got one following, with the sun in our eyes I see a flash of fur and movement between the brush about 75 yards out We are standing out in the bright sun on the edge of a hill a blind coyote would have spotted us. We walk in to recover the first coyote and Tony sends Gunner out to see if he can decoy the other one back now that we have a little cover, Tony spots a coyote on the run about 500 yards away Looking in to the sun he spots it? We scan some more and Tony says There 200 yards out trotting to the left, I find him in the scope and still trotting, Tony is barking trying to stop him and he is having nothing of it, I think man first it’s into the sun with an out of focus scope now it 250 into the sun on a moving target I haven’t had 6 straight hours of sleep in 3 days, Give me a break then realize I’m not the only one, I give it my best as Tony has given me his. The shot breaks a little high I just saw daylight between the coyote and cross hairs, Tony calls it just over his back, I try to recover as fast as I can and get one more shot off as the scope fills with the glare of the sun and the coyote is turning on the after burners, again Tony says just over his back. The coyote is now in the next section and Tony says Man that was close if you’d have hit that coyote I’d have had to say it was the farthest off hand shot I’d ever seen made. That makes me feel a little better knowing this and that it was also moving. What the hey, I gave it the old college try, Predator University that is. We return to recover the first dog and can’t find him, Tony finds a good blood trail that I can’t see as I’m red green color blind and I lose red on green that’s probably why I hunt so much at night LOL. Gunner hunts him up and the coyote is 125-150 yards away with his heart shot out and half his insides hanging out a largehole in his side. Tony says we had a triple and that second coyote we saw was hanging around because of this one he wasn’t 50 yards away from him when Tony first spotted him.
The coyote that ended the hunt and got me my PHD (Predator Hunter Degree) from PU Thanks Tony and gunner for the education and great memories
Now to give those who don’t know tony, an idea of what kind of guy Tony is. Beyond a master hunter of coyote, trainer of dogs and teacher he is also a great guy. While standing in line at a convenience store to buy supply’s for the nights hunt we are far back in line behind 5 other people as this crack head beotch con artist try’s to run a change scam on the poor old blue headed lady behind the counter, she is cussing up a storm refusing to step aside till she gets her $10 back, after a few minutes Tony steps up past the people in line and ask the her how much did she get ripped off for? She says in street gutter slang $10 Tony says here take $20, its worth that to me, for you to shut up and let me get on my way! The line cheers Tony and the little old lady thanks him, the street beotch gives us the stink eye as she drives off. I told Tony I was about to drag her out the door like Gunner on a coyote under a fence and give her what fore.
Thanks again my friend for a great time and education from the professors
Nominated for Hunt Of The Month
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