This weekend at the 3BH

Chupathingy

New member
I spent this last couple of days out at the 3BH ranch in Throckmorton Texas which is owned by a friend of mine by the name of Ray. Ray had contacted me a few weeks ago and asked if I could come by and see if I could thin a few coyotes as he had noticed a sharp increase in coyotes this year. I said "Well, if I must?". Now, let me start by saying that I don't make a habit of calling coyotes during denning season, but if a landowner asks...you don't say "NO", happy landowners mean repeat access.

Ray told me that he would be out there this weekend and would like to tag along if that would be ok and possibly his son in law as well. I told him that of course it would be ok. As it would happen, Ray had a business associate that passed away and he had to attend the funeral and wouldn't be able to meet me at the ranch, but his son in law John would be there and was eagerly looking forward to going.

I arrived in Throckmorton around 9:30pm on Friday and met John at the local Allsups and we went to the camp site and crashed for the night. Saturday morning we started by making a stand next to a stock tank in the North East corner of the ranch. John was placed in the downwind position and I in the upwind. After 30 minutes I called the stand and john mentioned that when I had been playing "That bird sound" he had seen a coyote at the far end of the tank. I asked him how come he didn't shoot? He said, "It never stopped". So I told him about barking or howling to get them to stop.

The next stand was on a sendero that runs from north and south bisecting the ranch with a barb wire fence running the length down the center. We had set up about 40 yards apart, John on the upwind, me on the downwind. At the 14 minute mark I heard two shots from John's shotgun. SCORE!...I was thinking. After 30 minutes I called the stand and went towards John's direction and he gave me the thumbs up. I said where is it? He said it went that way and pointed towards the north east. We went to the spot where he had hit it and I couldn't find any evidence of a hit. John said the was certain that it was hit. But we searched extensively to no avail. Our third stand was on a hill overlooking a holler that had a little stock tank in it on the north side of the ranch. John was on the upwind side and I was on the downwind side overlooking the tank. At about the 10 minute mark I had a dry female just magically appeared on the tank dam. I let the AR bark. She responded to fawn distress.

89 yards and the 55gr Hornady SP flipped the switch on her and she folded up like a lawn chair.

Our next stand was also on a hillside overlooking a creek called the dead horse creek. This time we were both facing down wind looking at the creek, John on my left. At about the 10 minute mark I heard the safety of John's .243 WSSM click off and then it BARKED! I looked in his direction and gave him the thumbs up sign questioningly, he returned the thumbs up to me indicating a hit. I continued to call for about another 20 minutes and called the stand. We went out to retrieve the coyote and found this little male. Male responded to Pup distress.

The shot was 150 yards exactly on the button. Congratulations Mr. Fetner on your first called coyote! WOOT WOOT!!!

The next stand was again on a hillside overlooking a holler with the wind coming from our left to our right. It was a dry stand
that was interrupted by the arrival of cows.

The last stand of the day, as you guessed it, was on a hillside overlooking water. I put John in the downwind and myself in the upwind...Well, kinda, more of a crosswind. I started the stand out with adult cottontail and switched to fawn distress at the 7 minute mark and then switched to pup distress. After 30 minutes of nothing I decided to try coyote group yip howls and I hear John say "Here they come". I look over my left shoulder which was in his direction and I see one coyote disappear behind the tank dam. I look at the tank dam and three coyotes appear on top of the tank dam. I whisper to John "3, on the dam!" he says "What?". As soon as I said "3, on the dam!", the 3rd one decided something wasn't right and bolted. So I decided to take the shot.and hear the THWAP! I switched over to Ki-Yi's and let it play for a minute or two and thought the stand over. I turned to John and said "Did you not see the three coyotes on the tank dam?". He said "NO, but I see that one"...BANG!!! I turn and look just in time to see a coyote's head peeking over the tank dam and I see fur fly. John turns to me and says, "Where was your coyote?" I said it will be laying right next to yours. We walked down to the tank to find both coyotes laying side by side. Mine shot through the neck, his through mouth and exiting the back of the head...Instant death.

All in all, we had connected on 5 coyotes and were able to retrieve four of them, so Ray should be happy with the report.

Here are some other pics of the ranch.

The prickly pear flowers can be awfully pretty.






Thanks for reading.


Chupa

 
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Originally Posted By: chicken defenderNice write-up and pictures. That is good looking country there. Does not look like there is much for cattle to eat, though.

Down in the lower parts of the ranch there is plenty of grasses. We did some calling down there as well but only called in turkeys.


Chupa
 
Nice read, Chupa, thanks for sharing.

That is some really nice country. Wish we had a bit more open meadows here with a hill or two thrown in.

Regards,
hm
 
Originally Posted By: ChupathingyOriginally Posted By: chicken defenderNice write-up and pictures. That is good looking country there. Does not look like there is much for cattle to eat, though.

Down in the lower parts of the ranch there is plenty of grasses. We did some calling down there as well but only called in turkeys.


Chupa

I was wondering about that. The terrain in your pictures looked kind of sparse. I really like Texas. I try to convince my wife to move there every time we visit my sister and her husband there, but she is not buying.
 
Cool write up... Sounds like you had a lotta fun... Congrats

Also you getting that guy his first... Did he say anything about getting his own call and doin it again
 
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Originally Posted By: Infidel 762Cool write up... Sounds like you had a lotta fun... Congrats

Also you getting that guy his first... Did he say anything about getting his own call and doin it again

He did. In fact he wants to have two weekend hunts a year and wants to do a team competition type deal. He and I against Ray and a grandson, 1 team gets the north side on one day and the south on the second day.


Chupa
 
Originally Posted By: flintrock Very nice, you're making it hard to leave the gear on the shelf until fall!

This is the time of year that I do a lot of door knocking and gaining access. It's awfully hard to keep me on the couch.


Chupa
 
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