A rancher in Montana gave me permission to do some coyote hunting on his land and I decided to head out that way on Tuesday, December 4. The last time I hunted out there was in 2008 when I did some coyote damage control at the request of his dad. I killed two coyotes at that time and that put an end to the loss of calves that spring. His son is running the ranch now and he told me to come on out a shoot some coyotes!!! I hoped I could do some good out there. I wanted to see how my suppressed rifles would work if multiple coyotes came in, but decided to check with the Montana Fish & Wildlife Service Enforcement Division to see if it was legal to use a suppressed rifle on coyotes. I made the phone call and found that it IS NOT LEGAL to use a suppressed rifle in Montana!!! BUMMER!!! I was pretty disappointed, but I still had my old .17 Tactical that didn’t have threads for the suppressor and would use my 30 gr. BTHP Kindler Gold coyote ammo for the hunt.
I checked the weather reports and the wind was supposed to be out of the southeast (not my favorite wind direction) at 5 to 8 mph (I can work with that) and the temperature was supposed to be in the mid 20s. I wanted to have a little daylight so I could see what all the lease roads looked like and where they were located so I didn’t get going until after O-dark thirty. WOW!!! I can’t believe all the roads out there now!!! There must be 8 or 10 oil wells on the land. I hope the rancher is getting a piece of the oil royalty money.
I surveyed the location of the oil wells and since the wind was out of the SE, I started out on the NW corner of the ranch and planned to work my way to the SE as far as I could go today. I parked at a well site and walked in to the SSW. The wind was coming out of the SE at about 8 to 10 mph and it was about 22º when I started walking. I set up and started out with some howls on my mouth call and then used the FOXPRO and played the wounded pup sounds for about 15 minutes. No coyotes responded. I packed up my gear and began walking further to the SSW. I was approaching the top of a rise, so I slowed down and peeked over only to see a coyote that was coming my way quickly turn around and walk back to the SSW fairly fast. It wasn’t running, but it probably saw the top of my head topping the rise. I watched it go down into the trees in the gully ahead of me and I quickly sneaked up to the edge of the rise, laid down, got out my Critr’ Call and started imitating a hurt coyote pup. It wasn’t more than about 2 or 3 minutes later that I saw a coyote face peeking up out of the draw. I lip squeaked a couple times and the coyote came up out of the draw. I wanted to try to get the coyote to face me so I could put the shot right under the throat and into the chest cavity. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get her to stop, so I had to take the shot as she was walking somewhat broadside to me. Here’s a photo of the layout of the land with the dead coyote over the top of the gun barrel.
She did about 5 or 6 death spins and I could see blood all over her right side. It wasn’t a pretty sight. She collapsed right by a small piece of brush. The 30 gr. BTHP Kindler Gold bullet exploded on the surface and made a hole that you could get a softball into. What a mess. I have never had the Kindler Golds blow up like that before. I must have hit a rib dead on. The bullet did not exit, thank goodness.
I could see a two-track trail coming into the area from the east just to the south of where the coyote was shot. I figured rather than drag the coyote for 3/4 of a mile, I’d leave the coyote there and drive the pickup around and get as close to the coyote as I could. Besides, I wanted to go south of this spot to do more calling. I found a two-track and got to within 150 yards of the coyote and loaded her up. It’s a good thing I have lots of old absorbent rags in the back of the pickup because she sure dropped a bunch of blood. I weighed her when I got home and she weighed 27.25 pounds even after losing just about all the blood she had in her.
Here’s a wide shot view of the spot where I got the coyote. It is nice looking country.
The temperature was now down to 19º and the wind was still wafting out of the SE at 10+ mph. I drove to the SE of that spot and parked behind a big hill, walked in and called and got no takers. I drove further SE and stopped for lunch. After lunch I walked into the SE about a half mile and called with no takers. I walked further SE, maybe 3/4 of a mile and got down into a huge draw that had several fingers running in many directions. I set the FOXPRO up about 50 yards to the northwest of me and walked out to a little point to the SE where I had a good vantage point. I used my range finder and ranged a number of prominent spots around my calling spot and started out with the wounded coyote pup sounds for about a minute. Then I played a Randy Anderson sound that has a group of coyotes howling and let that cycle two times. I stopped it and listened, but no coyotes were answering. Then I took out my coyote howler and did a couple of female invitation howls and then did a couple of coyote interrogations howls. I could hear coyotes answering my howling from the east of where I was lying. It sounded like the old male was giving me his challenge howl, so I challenged him right back. I looked through my scope and found the two coyotes on the edge of a hill to the east of my calling spot. The little coyote was also howling. We kept that up for a while and then I went quiet to see what they would do. They stayed over on the ridge and after about 3 minutes the bigger coyote walked away to the SE and disappeared from sight. The other one stayed on the ridge for a little while before walking to the SE about 50 yards. She moved off the top of the rise and down the side of the hill about 20 feet where she would be out of the wind. It looked like she sat down near a den hole. I used my scope to see if I could find the other coyote, but couldn’t see him. When I looked back to where the other coyote had been, she was gone!!! With no snow on the ground, those coyotes were almost invisible unless they moved. There was a big hill to the south of me that would hide me from those two coyotes if they were still over in that same area so I began to hike around the hill. I hadn’t gotten more than 300 yards and I spotted a coyote coming toward me. It spotted me at about the same time and turned around and hightailed it out of there. I guess I should have had a bit more patience and maybe that coyote would have made it all the way to where I had been calling from. Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda!!! The only thing predictable about coyotes is that they are unpredictable!!!
I began a circular route to get back to the pickup by walking to the west about 3/4 of a mile where there is a series of real deep coulees in some real wild badlands type country. I found a spot where I could set the FOXPRO up on the crossbar of a corner post to the NW of where I was going to sit and I got back about 50 yards and sat in front of a big sage brush growth. The wind was coming pretty much out of the south and I was sitting a bit to the SE of the FOXPRO—it was an OK setup if something were to come from the south, west, or NW, but a bad spot if something came in from the NE. About 5 or 6 minutes into the stand I was scanning from south to the west and then around to the north and spotted a coyote running away to the NE. I wish I would have had someone guarding the downwind side. I got off a shot at the coyote and I thought I saw the tail flip up, but the wind was blowing about 12 to 15 mph and I couldn’t hear the bullet hit. I walked over to where I had last seen the coyote and did a criss-cross search of the area where I thought the coyote was when I shot, but without any snow and the grass being real thick, I couldn’t pick up any sign of blood so I guess I missed. I walked back to the pickup and ate the second half of my sandwich as I drove to the east side of the ranch. The wind was really blasting now—maybe 15 to 20 mph, but I set up and tried one more stand anyway. You can't call in coyotes if you aren't out there blasting on your call!!! The wind was just too strong, but I kept calling for 20 minutes without seeing anything. I headed back home and stopped at a gas station and filled my tank. Now, I need to take a shower and get cleaned up and get some rest. My face really got wind burned today and my eyes are pretty sore too. It wasn’t supposed to be blowing more the 5 to 8 mph, but they lied again.
Oops, I forgot the Hero Photo!!! This old ski mask felt pretty good today. I hope you enjoyed the hunt.
I checked the weather reports and the wind was supposed to be out of the southeast (not my favorite wind direction) at 5 to 8 mph (I can work with that) and the temperature was supposed to be in the mid 20s. I wanted to have a little daylight so I could see what all the lease roads looked like and where they were located so I didn’t get going until after O-dark thirty. WOW!!! I can’t believe all the roads out there now!!! There must be 8 or 10 oil wells on the land. I hope the rancher is getting a piece of the oil royalty money.
I surveyed the location of the oil wells and since the wind was out of the SE, I started out on the NW corner of the ranch and planned to work my way to the SE as far as I could go today. I parked at a well site and walked in to the SSW. The wind was coming out of the SE at about 8 to 10 mph and it was about 22º when I started walking. I set up and started out with some howls on my mouth call and then used the FOXPRO and played the wounded pup sounds for about 15 minutes. No coyotes responded. I packed up my gear and began walking further to the SSW. I was approaching the top of a rise, so I slowed down and peeked over only to see a coyote that was coming my way quickly turn around and walk back to the SSW fairly fast. It wasn’t running, but it probably saw the top of my head topping the rise. I watched it go down into the trees in the gully ahead of me and I quickly sneaked up to the edge of the rise, laid down, got out my Critr’ Call and started imitating a hurt coyote pup. It wasn’t more than about 2 or 3 minutes later that I saw a coyote face peeking up out of the draw. I lip squeaked a couple times and the coyote came up out of the draw. I wanted to try to get the coyote to face me so I could put the shot right under the throat and into the chest cavity. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get her to stop, so I had to take the shot as she was walking somewhat broadside to me. Here’s a photo of the layout of the land with the dead coyote over the top of the gun barrel.
She did about 5 or 6 death spins and I could see blood all over her right side. It wasn’t a pretty sight. She collapsed right by a small piece of brush. The 30 gr. BTHP Kindler Gold bullet exploded on the surface and made a hole that you could get a softball into. What a mess. I have never had the Kindler Golds blow up like that before. I must have hit a rib dead on. The bullet did not exit, thank goodness.
I could see a two-track trail coming into the area from the east just to the south of where the coyote was shot. I figured rather than drag the coyote for 3/4 of a mile, I’d leave the coyote there and drive the pickup around and get as close to the coyote as I could. Besides, I wanted to go south of this spot to do more calling. I found a two-track and got to within 150 yards of the coyote and loaded her up. It’s a good thing I have lots of old absorbent rags in the back of the pickup because she sure dropped a bunch of blood. I weighed her when I got home and she weighed 27.25 pounds even after losing just about all the blood she had in her.
Here’s a wide shot view of the spot where I got the coyote. It is nice looking country.
The temperature was now down to 19º and the wind was still wafting out of the SE at 10+ mph. I drove to the SE of that spot and parked behind a big hill, walked in and called and got no takers. I drove further SE and stopped for lunch. After lunch I walked into the SE about a half mile and called with no takers. I walked further SE, maybe 3/4 of a mile and got down into a huge draw that had several fingers running in many directions. I set the FOXPRO up about 50 yards to the northwest of me and walked out to a little point to the SE where I had a good vantage point. I used my range finder and ranged a number of prominent spots around my calling spot and started out with the wounded coyote pup sounds for about a minute. Then I played a Randy Anderson sound that has a group of coyotes howling and let that cycle two times. I stopped it and listened, but no coyotes were answering. Then I took out my coyote howler and did a couple of female invitation howls and then did a couple of coyote interrogations howls. I could hear coyotes answering my howling from the east of where I was lying. It sounded like the old male was giving me his challenge howl, so I challenged him right back. I looked through my scope and found the two coyotes on the edge of a hill to the east of my calling spot. The little coyote was also howling. We kept that up for a while and then I went quiet to see what they would do. They stayed over on the ridge and after about 3 minutes the bigger coyote walked away to the SE and disappeared from sight. The other one stayed on the ridge for a little while before walking to the SE about 50 yards. She moved off the top of the rise and down the side of the hill about 20 feet where she would be out of the wind. It looked like she sat down near a den hole. I used my scope to see if I could find the other coyote, but couldn’t see him. When I looked back to where the other coyote had been, she was gone!!! With no snow on the ground, those coyotes were almost invisible unless they moved. There was a big hill to the south of me that would hide me from those two coyotes if they were still over in that same area so I began to hike around the hill. I hadn’t gotten more than 300 yards and I spotted a coyote coming toward me. It spotted me at about the same time and turned around and hightailed it out of there. I guess I should have had a bit more patience and maybe that coyote would have made it all the way to where I had been calling from. Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda!!! The only thing predictable about coyotes is that they are unpredictable!!!
I began a circular route to get back to the pickup by walking to the west about 3/4 of a mile where there is a series of real deep coulees in some real wild badlands type country. I found a spot where I could set the FOXPRO up on the crossbar of a corner post to the NW of where I was going to sit and I got back about 50 yards and sat in front of a big sage brush growth. The wind was coming pretty much out of the south and I was sitting a bit to the SE of the FOXPRO—it was an OK setup if something were to come from the south, west, or NW, but a bad spot if something came in from the NE. About 5 or 6 minutes into the stand I was scanning from south to the west and then around to the north and spotted a coyote running away to the NE. I wish I would have had someone guarding the downwind side. I got off a shot at the coyote and I thought I saw the tail flip up, but the wind was blowing about 12 to 15 mph and I couldn’t hear the bullet hit. I walked over to where I had last seen the coyote and did a criss-cross search of the area where I thought the coyote was when I shot, but without any snow and the grass being real thick, I couldn’t pick up any sign of blood so I guess I missed. I walked back to the pickup and ate the second half of my sandwich as I drove to the east side of the ranch. The wind was really blasting now—maybe 15 to 20 mph, but I set up and tried one more stand anyway. You can't call in coyotes if you aren't out there blasting on your call!!! The wind was just too strong, but I kept calling for 20 minutes without seeing anything. I headed back home and stopped at a gas station and filled my tank. Now, I need to take a shower and get cleaned up and get some rest. My face really got wind burned today and my eyes are pretty sore too. It wasn’t supposed to be blowing more the 5 to 8 mph, but they lied again.
Oops, I forgot the Hero Photo!!! This old ski mask felt pretty good today. I hope you enjoyed the hunt.
Last edited by a moderator:
