~Weary coyotes in heat and a swimmer~

Infidel 762

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Hello...

In preparation for the upcoming whitetail deer season and fawns on the ground I decided to dedicate a few days to work on our ranch’s coyote population. I knew some of the coyotes I would be going after are no stranger to the call. Our land was hit hard mid-winter after deer season and then again early spring when they were pairing up. I assume there are new coyotes that have moved in filling the territories of the ones I killed over the spring and winter; however I would still like to try to get some of the ones that have been outsmarting me.

The morning of my hunt started in my office downtown. I contemplated and schemed stand locations and avenues of approach studying World Imagery base map in ESRI ArcMap 10.2. I checked Weatherbug and Scoutlook for hourly weather updates with the finish of every cup of strong black coffee. At noon I am out the door…

On my way out while driving while through the town of Meno, Ok. I notice the Post Office flag is blowing in the wrong direction. The wind is supposed to be out of the south and then shifting to the southwest late afternoon. I still have 20 miles to the ranch so I try to not get overly concerned. I get to my front gate and my whole plan just went to [beeep], the winds are out of the north.



I get back in my truck, pull up Imagery on the IPad and start scheming’. My eyes start studying my grandpa’s land on the other side of the river. I decide to cross the river and hit 2 set-ups that proved productive last winter and both favor a north wind. By the time I make it to my first stand I am drenched with sweat, I scratch the small of my back and remove another tick.



I was out a couple nights ago and since there has been an explosion of new mosquitos hatch, they are even biting through my gloves. After two dry stands I begin to question my rational as I make my way back to the truck and contemplate my next location. I don’t count the number of stands I make, but they are starting to add up since I have even seen a coyote.



I get back to my front gate and the wind is now out of the southwest. I grab my weapon and gear then walk east down the county road. There is an electric substation on the north boundary of our property and behind that are thick plum thickets, timber and cedar trees dotting the rolling sand hills. They howl when I hunt deer in this area and the majority of the time it starts behind this substation. I slip in and set up in the shadow of a cedar tree overlooking a large bowl lined with heavy thickets. I set the call down in the bottom of the bowl in the middle of a thicket hoping the brush and tall weeds will provide enough cover for them to feel safe approaching, with me being elevated enough to see them. This set up does not have the best visibility but I am not a good enough caller to get them to come out into the open grass of this area. The map below shows the substation, my avenue of approach in yellow and stand location.



I start off by introducing another coyote into the area with a lone howl then immediately went to Yole squeaks at various low volumes. At the five minute mark I let out Bay Bee cottontail. 15 or 20 seconds into the series I catch a flash of a coyote as he passes behind a clump of cedar giving me enough time to swing and aim at the opening on the other side. As soon as he hits the opening I hit mute and he freezes like a statue, almost like he knew he just messed up… which he did.



The year before last I shot a deer with my bow that I was not able to find until 2 days later. I found him less than 100 yards from where I just killed this dog. Aside from legs, hide and bones this was pretty much all that was left of him;

[url=https://jeremynickel.smugmug.com/Predator-Masters-Posts/i-WXShXLM/A t=_blank]


With this deer in mind I checked his teeth to guess his age. His teeth are very worn down; this male is definitely more than a couple years old. I would be willing to bet a week’s wages he has heard my call before and up until this time he has always been able to outsmart me.

The final stand of the day produced only mosquitos.

The following morning at first light I set up above a creek with an east wind with intentions of calling them from a 160 acre tract made up of thick tamaracks to my south. I set the call and mojo down by the creek to my southeast. I call for over 20 minutes when I spot a coyote standing on the fence line staring in my direction. I start to slowly move my sticks and rifle when he turns around and disappears in the brush. I start calling with some submissive yips and yodels with no success. 7 or 8 minutes later approx. 300 yards downwind a coyote starts barking at me from the fence line to the east. I figured I was busted so I stopped calling. After he stopped barking I decided to sit tight for 10 or 15 minutes to let things die down before I try to sneak out. Most likely the same coyote that was barking at me decided to go back to the thick cover to the south when he decided to “cut the corner” of the field in the short grass. The map below shows the set up.

.cooops map is no longer available

This older male learned it does not pay to “cut corners”.

I made a couple more stands that morning and then a couple more that afternoon that where all blanks.



For my last stand of the day I set up on a sand hill on the river bank overlooking an opening with tall grass. I started off with a howl and immediately different coyote groups on both sides of the river started howling. You could even hear the pups sounding off and they are close. Approximately 20 minutes into the stand I played pup screams at various volumes. I can hardly believe what happened next. I hear splashing in the water behind me. I look over my shoulder and there is a coyote coming across the river. He gets in deep enough to where he has to start dog paddling, as he swims across the current is bringing him closer to me. I let him get to the middle of the stream bed then take the shot. The first shot dispatched him (head shot). I watched him bob and roll with the current through my scope, as he gently floated away. I decided to stay on stand and sit till dark. When there was just enough light to barely see I caught movement in the tall grass, it was another coyote 40 or 50 yards in front of me. I had trouble finding him in the scope, rushed the shot and missed. When I am too old to climb these sand hills in pursuit of the coyote, this stand will definitely be one I will remember.

With the success of the previous days’ hunt I was excited to go back out. However by noon my reality of hunting coyotes in the summer heat was put back into perspective. I went back to the house and planned 2 more stands for the evening.

While walking to the first set up I got a couple hundred yards from where I planned on hunting when a coyote started barking. I am not 100% sure but I think I got busted on the way in and his barking was directed at me. I decided to just back out and call that set up another day.

I went to the next set up and had over an hour of daylight left. I planned on sitting till dark. I set up on a sand hill overlooking a clearing with hopes of calling them out of the thick river accretion land to the south. The map below shows the set up.

[oops map is no longer available]

I started off with some howls and then went immediately to rodent distress at a low volume. 4 or 5 minutes into the stand a male coyote walks to the edge of the fence line. I shoot him and a minute or 2 later another coyote starts barking at me from the thick timber. I assume she was with the first one I shot. I threw a few challenge howls at her and she would bark back but would not close the distance. I think I had zero chance of getting her to come out into the open. I thought if I continued calling I would just educate her even more. I decided to sit in silence and let things die down before sneaking out. It was a nice silence looking down at a dead coyote through the scope.



Thanks for your attention and time...



 
Nice job and very good job on being smart when things didn't feel right. It's good to see people knowing when to call it or shut everything down and sit in silence instead of educating coyotes. Nice pictures. I agree with these other guys, I felt like I was there. Job well done!
 
Nice story and great pics, only suggestion is to leave those nasty spiders alone, that would have been my last stand of the day if I ran into one of them.
 
Originally Posted By: Chad1754Nice story and great pics, only suggestion is to leave those nasty spiders alone, that would have been my last stand of the day if I ran into one of them.

I agree, except it would have been the spiders last stand! We don't have anything like that around here, but it looks like a prime fur to me...
 
Excellent story Jeremy, I always like reading your posts. I haven't been out calling in probably 4-5 weeks, been too busy. I have to remedy that soon.
 
Jeremy,

HOM is well deserved!

I don't think in my short tenure here at PM I have seen such a dedicated description on a coyote hunt!

Well done Sir and best of luck on your HOM!
 
Thank you all for the kind words… I make maps for my day job… prolly get more work done if not for coyote on the brain..
 
Originally Posted By: Mr. PoppadopalisJeremy,

HOM is well deserved!

I don't think in my short tenure here at PM I have seen such a dedicated description on a coyote hunt!

Well done Sir and best of luck on your HOM!

I'll second HOM. Your thinking and execution of the hunts were text book. Add to that a detailed explanation combined
with maps showing wind and stands, as well as photos of results is as good as it gets. Very complete and a job expertly done.

 
We are still trying but we are starting to think they go completely nocternal in the hot summer months. We havent seen or made a shot in about a month now. We made two stands on 575 acre farm late evening yesterday. Beautiful farm.
 
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