Denise and i left at 4:30 a.m. saturday to get to a favorite area of ours before sunup.first set of the day was a mile walk from the truck. we were going to call a remote lake that has some deer yarded up nearbye. temp was
-10 but winds were dang-near calm but a northwest draw. we made it about 100 yards before i realized i made a BIG mistake
.
she mentioned wearing our snowshoes but i was sure the snow was crusted hard enough to walk on without needing them. dumb,dumb,dumb.
i'm kind of a hard charging guy and hate wasteing time when hunting. should have went back for the shoes but.........
so we get to our chosen spot and she sets up downwind of me about 100 yards on a high snowdrifted rockpile.
i started the stand out with a couple lone howls. within a minute, i had one come in from the northwest and stop on a small frozen pond. was only about 80 yards and perfectly broadside. love those shots on ice!!
when those opp's come, i like her do do the shooting as she likes to bowhunt and although she's a superb shot off a bench with rifles, she struggle quite alot with rifles and coyotes.
so i waited and waited and.... finally she shoots(and misses).
the coyote turns,slips on the ice,regains itself and takes off straight away. she gets 1 more shot and misses so i take over and brain it at about 150 yards. it literally skidded about 20 feet on the ice.
i look over to her and see another coyote coming hard from the southwest.i grabbed my walkie-talkie and said to get ready, another coming. this one also makes its way down to another iced over pond and stops about 150 yards from her.
she shoots and the coyote starts doing the spins. then i notice 2 others coming from the same spot this one came from but they were about 500 yards out. they were stopped on a small hill but when they seen the one on the ice doing the spins, they came a runnin
they came to about 200 yards and stopped just before coming onto the ice. she got abit excited and shot. the spinner was making alot of racket so her shot did not even effect the other 2 which just stood watching the spinner. she shot again and missed again!!
.
i had enough and finnaly took a shot and hit one high in the front leg right at the brisket line.
it started jumping and spinning also. 1 more shot was taken but i missed before it and its partner went over a hill.
we met at her rockpile and discussed what went down. she was purdy pumped up.we decided she's go gather up the 2 and i'd go after the other.
little did i know that it would be about another 3/4 mile before i caught up with it and it was ALL CRP grass with about 12-16" of snow with a hard crust on top. now i'm only 5'10" and 230lbs so thats a horrible combo
i told myself 1 more hill was all i was going to crest and if i did not see the coyote it was time to turn back. got to the crest and seen the coyote walking along some cattails at about 300 yards. deployed the bipod, layed down and was just ready to finnish it when i noticed its mate sitting on a hill about 500 yards out .
since the wounded one really had no place to go, i threw out a challenge call and the one bails off the hill and comes screaming across a small lake right to me and gets a 30 grain .17 right in the chest and tips over like it got struck by lightning :. by now, the other is about 350 yards but not moving too well. 1 shot and that one gets dumped.
i call Denise who i (assume) is still waiting at her rockpile for me to tell her the news. she sounds winded and i asked why??
figgered she was about frozen??. she responds back that shes about 1/4 mile from the truck and she's dragging both of the earlier coyotes. what a gal
the wounded coyote ened being a scrubby looking one so i left it and just took the one.
it was a small one (maybe) 25 lbs but after a 1 1/2 mile walk across that grass it felt like 100lbs.
i think its the first time ever i actaully had to stop and take a rest.
even though it was cold out, i was over dressed and Denise said she could see the steam coming off me from 1/2 mile away
.
we got 1 more coyote about an hour later and spent the rest of the day just kinda crusing looking for some sleepers to make sneaks on. seen about 15 more but we were both soaked from sweat so did'nt try too hard.
stayed overnight in a small town motel and hit it again this a.m. had some come in but they were all downwind and busted us.
it was -12 and starting to get windy which is just too much for her so we headed for home.
all in all it was a great short trip.
she's just about 55 but is tough as nails and REALLY loves to hunt. has already said she wants too go 1 more time before the fur starts to really get bad. whats not to like about that??
-10 but winds were dang-near calm but a northwest draw. we made it about 100 yards before i realized i made a BIG mistake
she mentioned wearing our snowshoes but i was sure the snow was crusted hard enough to walk on without needing them. dumb,dumb,dumb.
i'm kind of a hard charging guy and hate wasteing time when hunting. should have went back for the shoes but.........
so we get to our chosen spot and she sets up downwind of me about 100 yards on a high snowdrifted rockpile.
i started the stand out with a couple lone howls. within a minute, i had one come in from the northwest and stop on a small frozen pond. was only about 80 yards and perfectly broadside. love those shots on ice!!
when those opp's come, i like her do do the shooting as she likes to bowhunt and although she's a superb shot off a bench with rifles, she struggle quite alot with rifles and coyotes.
so i waited and waited and.... finally she shoots(and misses).
the coyote turns,slips on the ice,regains itself and takes off straight away. she gets 1 more shot and misses so i take over and brain it at about 150 yards. it literally skidded about 20 feet on the ice.
i look over to her and see another coyote coming hard from the southwest.i grabbed my walkie-talkie and said to get ready, another coming. this one also makes its way down to another iced over pond and stops about 150 yards from her.
she shoots and the coyote starts doing the spins. then i notice 2 others coming from the same spot this one came from but they were about 500 yards out. they were stopped on a small hill but when they seen the one on the ice doing the spins, they came a runnin
they came to about 200 yards and stopped just before coming onto the ice. she got abit excited and shot. the spinner was making alot of racket so her shot did not even effect the other 2 which just stood watching the spinner. she shot again and missed again!!
i had enough and finnaly took a shot and hit one high in the front leg right at the brisket line.
it started jumping and spinning also. 1 more shot was taken but i missed before it and its partner went over a hill.
we met at her rockpile and discussed what went down. she was purdy pumped up.we decided she's go gather up the 2 and i'd go after the other.
little did i know that it would be about another 3/4 mile before i caught up with it and it was ALL CRP grass with about 12-16" of snow with a hard crust on top. now i'm only 5'10" and 230lbs so thats a horrible combo
i told myself 1 more hill was all i was going to crest and if i did not see the coyote it was time to turn back. got to the crest and seen the coyote walking along some cattails at about 300 yards. deployed the bipod, layed down and was just ready to finnish it when i noticed its mate sitting on a hill about 500 yards out .
since the wounded one really had no place to go, i threw out a challenge call and the one bails off the hill and comes screaming across a small lake right to me and gets a 30 grain .17 right in the chest and tips over like it got struck by lightning :. by now, the other is about 350 yards but not moving too well. 1 shot and that one gets dumped.
i call Denise who i (assume) is still waiting at her rockpile for me to tell her the news. she sounds winded and i asked why??
figgered she was about frozen??. she responds back that shes about 1/4 mile from the truck and she's dragging both of the earlier coyotes. what a gal
the wounded coyote ened being a scrubby looking one so i left it and just took the one.
it was a small one (maybe) 25 lbs but after a 1 1/2 mile walk across that grass it felt like 100lbs.
i think its the first time ever i actaully had to stop and take a rest.
even though it was cold out, i was over dressed and Denise said she could see the steam coming off me from 1/2 mile away
we got 1 more coyote about an hour later and spent the rest of the day just kinda crusing looking for some sleepers to make sneaks on. seen about 15 more but we were both soaked from sweat so did'nt try too hard.
stayed overnight in a small town motel and hit it again this a.m. had some come in but they were all downwind and busted us.
it was -12 and starting to get windy which is just too much for her so we headed for home.
all in all it was a great short trip.
she's just about 55 but is tough as nails and REALLY loves to hunt. has already said she wants too go 1 more time before the fur starts to really get bad. whats not to like about that??
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