Death by ice...

R

Rock Knocker

Active member
Walking on this snow and ice is like tap dancing on landmines!
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I'm not sure if this -17 degree wind chill had them shut down all night or if they heard me walking in from a mile away but what a bummer. Not much snow on the ground but just enough to make it sound like I am stomping on glass on my way in. At my first stand I was happy about the wind because it covered up some noise but by my last stand the temps had dropped 14 degrees and it seemed to make the snow even louder.
 
Normally I don't mind the wind, I usually just sneak in closer and make more stands in a smaller area so I get the feeling of getting more hunting done, but there's no way to sneak through this. My last stand I was playing hopscotch trying to stay on top of dirt chunks in a plowed field.

And my friends wonder why I get anxiety when they are celebrating above freezing temps in the winter.
 
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I also play hopscotch on dirt chunks in plowed fields Haha! Sometimes get so upset I curse every step, CRUNCH crunch Crrr-rrr--u-nnnchh!!!
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By the time I crunch my way in, and yes the dirt clod hopscotch is part of it, I think only the deaf coyotes are left. That's my excuse for the dry stands lately....
 
I'm feeling a bit sheepish about it tonight, weather says 13mph winds right now and 16mph in the very near future. I've got one large area I think I can walk into on a small creek and if I'm lucky the creek will be glare ice to slip and slide around on, silently at least instead of thawed and refrozen snow.

I have my doubts about this area though, it's thick, and when I hunt in this kind of wind they will usually circle around at least 100 yards down wind, this area is too thick for that to end up well for me.


Later in the evening... morning I guess...
I'm going stir crazy thinking about if I should go or not, so to maintain my pride I will have to give it a small shot. Way later start than I would normally get but I had a small pot of coffee late in the night because I planned on going and according to online weather the winds have died down instead of picking up. I will make one stand for sure and maybe see what else I can come up with.
 
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Pride intact... Camera, not so much.



There's a rifle, foxpro, coyote and bloody mess somewhere in that picture. Not sure why my camera is totally useless at night even though I had the flash on and a flashlight hanging on a tree pointed right at it. Normally I don't have my camera on me but my buddy was talking about hunting all day decided to not go because of wind reports and didn't even have the dignity to say he was chickening out, I needed some proof to rub his nose in.
 
Nice job. Had a good night last night also. They were definitely moving. Called 4 spots and killed 2 coyotes. Saw two others that crossed the road in front on us, and had another that showed itself but wouldn't come in.
 
Good shooting Tka. It wasn't that bad of a night to be out, I should have made it out earlier to get more stands in but I burned up half the night waiting for my buddy to show up.

This was my first coyote with a foxpro, and how this stand was I don't think I could have gotten this coyote without it.
 
Nice job. I called one in today about 3pm with coyote vocals and pup distress. Had one come flying in but couldn't close the deal. Too thick to get a decent shot but tried anyway. No dice. I agree this snow is awful. The coyotes are really moving though.
 
Called in a beautiful red fox tonight and got it, then called in a coyote that was making a bee line to the caller stuck on jackrabbit distress(foxpro newbie forgot to stop the sound and was confused why calls are going off with a rifle in my hands.) A few barks got him to finally stop at around 175 yards and I rushed the shot and missed, I then exercised my right to own an assault rifle on his way to the next county, tracked him for a couple hundred yards with no sign of blood.

Winds starting picking up at the end and I was out hunting with my dad so we headed in earlier than I normally would. We were happy though, I don't get out hunting with him much. I took him out for some night hunting last month and got totally skunked, this is the first time I was out with him and had some action.

Got some great news today as well, a buddy of mine got me in touch with a lady who is practicing taxidermy, she is willing to skin all my animals if she can have the skulls, I told her we will make ISIS blush.
 
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Went out to NE SD Wed and thur,saw 11 and two Fox during the day. First one Wed morning was curled up sleeping. He heard me walking,at 290 yards,on that ice storm mess they call snow. He got up started trotting away,stopped at 300 when I barked at him,the 17 rem talked him into a ride in the back of the truck. Saw 7 Wed 5 were up moving,between the wind shifting,moon phrase and breeding cycle there is a lot of odd movement occurring.
 
It sounds like I should make a trip out to the Dakotas. I keep hearing about incredible numbers, and I've been out practicing with the 260AI between 600 and 1000 yards, a coyote at 600 wouldn't be too tough.

I will have to talk to my buddy about it, we both work for ourselves and have spent more time hunting than working this winter so funds are tight.
 
Work is rough... Took a new customer of mine out hunting last night, called one onto his pond after about 5 minutes of calling. I figured I would let him have a go at the first coyote, I snapped my fingers a couple times and tried to point it out, he was glassing in his binos.... after he put them down he saw it working it's way down wind. When I thought he was on the coyote I gave a bark to get it to stop, it stopped but he wasn't ready... 16x scope... By the time he was on it he was in a pretty awkward shooting position and missed a 200 or so yard shot, big coyote, he says he thinks he has seen that one before, the size of his lab almost.

Second spot we called one in the got down wind of us in some weeds and took off.

I don't think I have heard more coyotes than I did last night. At the 4th stand we had a group of 4-6 responding to us from no more than 300 yards away, couldn't get them to come in.

Except for dozens and dozens of coyotes in the distance that was it for action.

A bit frustrating for the effort we put in but these were all new areas to me, and it was a dark night, almost no snow left after this warm weather.
 
How is everyone else been doing these last few days?

It's been tough out here, can't get any to come in, hear them howling all over the place.

Called one pair in that came in just barely out of sight in some weed, I heard them come through so went and checked it out, fresh tracks about 60 yards away.

Stand after that was just a lot of howling.

At the last place I stopped I let out a couple howls, waited then some pup distress. I was searching around this large field with almost no snow and I noticed something glowing, I looked through my scope and it was two eyes, about 200 yards away after measuring it on google earth. I hadn't planned it this way but the moon was directly behind me and lit these eye balls up quite well. I'm not one to shoot just because I see two eyes so I tried to get them in closer. The glowing disappeared and besides some howling in the distance that was all the action.

Oh, and forgot to add that we made a stand where I shot the fox a few nights ago, after getting the fox home I saw that the bullet came out the belly because it was close and I was shooting at a downward angle. Before I got out there I thought that bullet may be laying really close to where the fox dropped, sure enough it was, right where I shot the fox I picked the jacket of a Vmax out of the ice full of fox belly fur. I thought that was neat.
 
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