Pretty good night

RockinU

New member
Me and my hunting buddy took a few kids hunting with us Saturday night, made quite a few sets, saw lots of stuff, and even let a little blood.

Been pretty rainy here so far this spring, and especially this last week, so all the creeks, and the river are out, which usually pushes the critters up out of the bottoms, and can make for some pretty hot calling. It wasn't just super busy this trip, but was busy enough to keep us all entertained.

We had 5 different coyotes hang up in the brush pretty close, and start throwing challenges at us. Only one of them undoubtedly got wind on us, the other ones I'm not sure, but I owe em for it regardless, and have the spots marked...

Now I've always called in quite a few coons around here, but Saturday was a hardcore coon night. Our first set we had 17 coons come in the first 8 minutes...it was ridiculous! Admittedly a couple of them might have been repeats, but at one point we had 5 within 40 yards of the speaker, and shortly after 4 new ones, so there were at least 9, and I suspect more than that. The best one though was in high gear all the way to the call, and when he got to the speaker he looked like J.J. Watt hitting a quarterback! Wrapped up on it, and rolled over with it a couple of times before leaving out the other side just as fast as he'd come in! The kids thought it was the greatest thing they'd seen yet, and I have to admit, I chuckled a little myself. Despite all the snickering, the set still bore fruit when we sealed the deal with a pretty nice cat.

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Next spot we went, it was bad wet, so we piled on the 4 wheelers and headed to a spot that's been pretty slow of late, but just looks too right to not produce. I admit, I had been looking for an excuse to try the rack I built for my 4 wheeler, and that could have also played into me wanting to go there.

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Turned out to be a good call though, as a decent dog coyote came boiling in to pup distress pretty late in the set. He hung up way on out there, but that Sniper Hog 66LR in red is a heck of a light, and I connected at 226 yards.

Our next set produced a pair of misses...well, one miss, and one unrecovered coyote as I owe my bud the benefit of the doubt. Both coyotes came in real hot, and plumb mad at pup distress, bouncing all over the place, and sometimes beginners don't have a lot of patience, but that's ok, that's how we learn...and my buddy did let his stop before squeezing down, and we didn't get to hang it up either.

The night went pretty dry after that, but we all had a blast, and we might have made a few more predator hunters!

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Been trying for a bobcat for several years but never connected. Just spent a week in Texas hunting hogs but I did some calling and shot several coyotes. Very nice cat you got there. Congrats.
 
Thank you. We have a pretty solid record getting cats, and I think the main thing is you've just got to stay longer. Obviously they have to be around ( I knew this cat was, as I'd called him before and not gotten a shot, at least I think it's the same cat), but I seldom get a cat in quicker than 30 minutes. That cat was at 47 minutes, but like I said, I suspected he was there, and was running the call specifically trying to call him in.

What part of Texas were you in?
 
That's awesome you got the kids involved in that cat.. I don't know anything about calling at night it's not legal here... But after driving in with a 4 wheeler do you have to give it some time for things to die down before you start calling?
 
Originally Posted By: Infidel 762That's awesome you got the kids involved in that cat.. I don't know anything about calling at night it's not legal here... But after driving in with a 4 wheeler do you have to give it some time for things to die down before you start calling?

Some. After setting the call, and getting everyone situated I usually sit still another 5-10 minutes before starting a sequence. The more I go, the more I wonder if its really necessary. I know guys who hunt really big ranches who troll all night, just driving around real slow with the call on their truck, and they kill a lot of fox and coyotes that way...
 
Originally Posted By: RockinUOriginally Posted By: Infidel 762That's awesome you got the kids involved in that cat.. I don't know anything about calling at night it's not legal here... But after driving in with a 4 wheeler do you have to give it some time for things to die down before you start calling?

Some. After setting the call, and getting everyone situated I usually sit still another 5-10 minutes before starting a sequence. The more I go, the more I wonder if its really necessary. I know guys who hunt really big ranches who troll all night, just driving around real slow with the call on their truck, and they kill a lot of fox and coyotes that way...

Must really let their guard down at nite... The whole not slamming doors and walking in at least a qtr mile hunting during the day... Texas bobcat fur worth anything this time of year?
 
Lol, I can say that with 3 kids along we had exactly zero responses in 4 daylight sets. I'm not saying our noise discipline sucked, but it sure wasn't what I aspire to, yet at night we obviously had a fair number of customers, although we had a good portion of hang ups too. Most of our opportunities were on hard chargers.

Hide woulda been worth more 30 days ago, but I bet I can find a place for it. That's probably the last cat I will shoot until cold rolls back around, just be marking them on the GPS during the summer so I can find them when I need them. Coyotes are more fun anyway...
 
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