Just back from my hunt. Lots of snow making conditions very difficult. It also appears that there has been a lot of hunters out. Found lots of evidence that the available good looking spots had been recently called. Also tons of jacks out on the desert...we may be within a year of hitting the top of a jackrabbit boom).
Went two days with only one coyote called in (one that really was more of a lurker than committed) and was starting to lose confidence, so I headed further west and arriving in Christmas valley I located a small BLM block surrounded by private land. And wow! I called 7 on one stand!!!
Here's how that broke down: Set out my Jack Daddy decoy (which I have retrofitted with a jackrabbit tail and some leg fur) in a sage brush and played "Lightening Jack" off my FoxPro sounds list. Immediately I got a chorus of coyote howls from a sand dune bedding site maybe a third of a mile away. Within two minutes the first coyote arrived and ran straight at the decoy 20 yards below me. I barked at it for the stop, but it immediately switched directions and high tailed it out across an open field without allowing for a shot. No worries, a second coyote coming from the same direction stopped and gave me a broadside at about 70 yards... took the shot and missed! (Mind you I'm shooting a Quackenbush .308 air rifle). Fumbled around and got another 125 grain bullet chambered. Both coyotes have now left the premises running off across a snowy alfalfa stubble field. I locate "female challenge bark" off my coyote vocals for my Fusion and let 'er rip for about a minute. Shutting it off I now see movement coming from the sand dune area three coyotes..nope, four come into vision. First one stops and catches my movement as I adjust my shooting sticks, there is some dead rabbitbrush obstructing the chest area but i figure the 125 grain should find its way through. I take the shot and although it's a hit and I see some fur fly it was not a lethal hit (no blood found later and the 'yote moved just fine in retreat). I chalk this up to a possible deflection from the brush.
Now I see another coyote who is also looking at me at about 50-60 yards. I line up solid for a head shot, shoot and nuthin'! Away it goes!
I start fumbling around for another bullet as now another coyote (this would be #5 from the bedding area) comes into the open and poses unobstructed 40 yards away. Horrors! I have no more bullets in my pocket. What in blue blazes! I only brought three?! You say it....I can't. And of course it stood looking at me for what seemed like 5 minutes (probably less).
Well, this is not the successful hunt story I would have liked to have told. My only defense being that I discovered that there is an issue with my scope...I am suspecting a lose reticle at this point as I had just sighted it in the day before this stand after finding it was hitting off the mark and making the necessary adjustments. So I checked it again and found it way off...shooting 4" high and 1.5" to the left at 30 yards.
My body is sore after stomping postholes through 8" of snow for three days but I will get the scope right and try 'er again soon.
