Finally knocking a few down!

JTPinTX

Custom Call Maker
It sure has been a hectic winter and spring. Seems like every time I am about to get my feet on the ground and go get after some coyotes, something else comes up. Vehicle break in, power outages, work piled up, moving my oldest son to a new house, youngest son in the hospital with a bad 4-wheeler accident, you name it. It has been one of those seasons we all have sometimes where you don't try and prosper, you just take it day by day and survive.

Anyways, I was finally able to get out last week. The first time was a quick stand after work one evening. I ran to a place 6 miles from town where I knew there was a pair that hadn't been called in a while. The wind was one way when I left town and I had a certain setup in mind. When I got there though the wind had switched 180 on me. I had to compromise my setup. It was workable, but tight. I knew I would have to be really careful on the downwind side and play the edge.

I walked in to set up and found this. I put my machine on the top of the east side of the washout, just above this old den.



I walked back to my stand location which was on the east side of a mesquite tree, on the west side of the washout. I knew I would have to be looking back SW and W pretty hard, but also keeping a weather eye out to the east since they could get on top of me real quick from that direction. I started my stand with a couple of low-key female howls. I waited a few minutes and then went into platinum grey fox. About 12 minutes in I see a pair come over the hill to the SW. They are coming pretty good, but obviously headed downwind. I keep reeling them in as long as I can, hoping to get enough room for a double. Finally though they are getting too close to my scent stream and I have to go for the kill. I barked at the lead dog to stop him and shot him in the chest from 75 yards with my 243. Man I love that 87 VMAX, it is a hammer for sure! Killed him, but the mate lit a fire hard, and I couldn't stop her. She got away.



This is how the stand worked out. Black line is my route in from the pickup. Yellow is sun direction, which was not optimal at all. Blue dot is the calling machine, and wind direction from it. Green dot is where I was sitting (facing south, I shoot lefty), and wind direction from that. Orange is the trail the coyotes followed in, red dot is the kill point. As you can see I was really playing the edge, and it was easily possible for something to go wrong. But I had a really good idea of where the coyotes were and what direction they would be coming from. I had given it about an 80% chance in my mind it would go down exactly the way it did.



A few days later my oldest son came home for a visit, and he wanted to go try and call some in. We got up Saturday morning and headed out. It was a little cool and wet, a little breezy, but still workable. I had a really good stand picked out for the first set of the morning. We parked on the county road in a little hole, hopped the fence and walked in headed downwind. I set him up on what I though would be the most likely approach, watching straight downwind and into some really good country. He could see either side of downwind pretty good. That direction was south, and I was facing west, just around the knob of the hill from him. Everything looks good, except that black hat! I told him next time he had to have something better.



Right off the bat I threw out a lone female howl. Immediately one answered back from just 400-500 yards west (nearly right out in front of me), so loud it nearly blew us off the hill! I could see really good that direction for a long ways, but couldn't see it. I gave it a minute or two and couldn't see anything so I started in on nutty nuthatch at mid volume. Sure enough, after 30 seconds or so I see her slipping down the bottom about 300 yards out, heading on an angled path downwind. Her big problem though was that she had started nearly upwind, and had a long circle to get there. A circle that kept bringing her right into my front pocket. I knew she would get downwind of me before she would get where my son could see her. Once she got about 80 yards I barked at her and dumped an 87 VMAX in her chest, just like the one earlier that week. My son said the bullet hitting her was louder than the rifle going off! Another pop-flop, hunting suppressed we don't do bang-flops.



Unfortunately that was the only coyote we killed out of 4 stands that morning. But any day you kill a coyote is a good day, especially when you get to hunt with your son. I love that kid (I know at 24 he is far from a kid, but us parents still tend to think that way), and with him out on his own in a different town we don't get to hunt together near as much as either of us would like. I cherish those days more than any other.

After stand number 4 it was starting to get really wet, and we called it off. So I am going to just throw in some more random pictures from the morning to round things off.



I am guessing this was the product of someone else's bad day, once upon a time:




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Will, that reminds me, I need to send you a pm. I need you to make me a howler. My son loves the one that you made for him.
 
Thanks for the great story JTP, it was a fun read. I love stories like this, it allows me to lose myself in your hunt and picture myself actually being there.

I hope that your youngest son recovers soon.

Chad
 
Great story, already nominated lol. Man, you could be the twin brother of a guy that lives in my town........I had to scroll back up and down actually to convince myself it wasn't him.
 
Thanks for the ride, JT. Always enjoy your hunts.

Wish your son a full & speedy recovery.

Regards,
hm
 
Originally Posted By: JTPinTXWill, that reminds me, I need to send you a pm. I need you to make me a howler. My son loves the one that you made for him.


I am so glad that he likes it!
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I responded to your pm. Shout at me, & I do what I can for you, sir.
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Thanks for all the kind words everybody, I do appreciate it!

And my youngest is getting much better. He got staples out of his arm day before yesterday, and the bone doc cleared him to get back on a tractor. He is back in classes in college too. Didn't miss too much because of spring break, got through that OK as well. He was a very lucky young man, considering what could have happened. As it was he spent 4 days in the trauma center at Northwest Texas.
 
Glad your getting back out and hopefully your run of bad luck is over.. Actually getting your pistol back is a pretty good sign it over.. I'm sure your dad felt the same way about hunting with you.. What is that old chunk of metal? Looks like agricultural machinery..

Enjoyed your write-up.. Good to see you posting again, Jeff..
 
Originally Posted By: Infidel 762Glad your getting back out and hopefully your run of bad luck is over.. Actually getting your pistol back is a pretty good sign it over.. I'm sure your dad felt the same way about hunting with you.. What is that old chunk of metal? Looks like agricultural machinery..

Enjoyed your write-up.. Good to see you posting again, Jeff..

Mark said connecting rod out of an engine, and that is probably right. Even though it does have kind of a light duty setup on the piston end, and could possible be off some other type of equipment. Either way it probably really wasn't a good day.

My pistol isn't home yet. Since it was actually fired at the police during the arrest, and the guy is going to take it to court, they want to hold on to it as evidence until the trial is over. So, it is probably going to be a while. I talk to them every couple of weeks though just to make sure it isn't forgotten about. Good news on that is since the perp is in jail waiting on trial instead of out on bail the process will probably go faster.

I slipped out yesterday evening with a different calling partner. Winds were really switchy, they swung back and forth through 180 degrees on one stand. Got one in to about 250. I never saw it, it was on my partners side. He didn't shoot because he thought it would come on in but it slipped off the back of the hill and got away.
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I have off Good Friday, everyone else in the family has work or school. Sounds like a good day for calling to me. Which probably means we will have some of those 25 mph March winds.
 
Looks like you may have some decent weather Friday, Jeff. Cold front should be past you Thursday and if pattern same up there as it is here, usually have a few calm days before wind shifts to south ahead of the next front.

Let us know how it goes.

Regards,
hm
 
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