mikegranger
Active member
I’m back from my trip to Alberta. If you’ve read the “Welcome To Alberta Vol. I # II posts, you already know how much fun Redfrog and I had. If not, here’s the links:
Alberta I.
Alberta II
I know somewhere on this earth more coyote’s exists, but nowhere I’ve ever hunted! Literally, every time we parked the truck, one would take no more than five steps to be standing in fresh coyote tracks! Actually, most of the time, the first step out of the truck, my boot tracks were on top of a track!! Amazing is an understatement.
Redfrog has moved since we last hunted together. I was a little concerned as his former hunting area was phenomenal. Well, I shouldn’t have been. We didn’t see the number of coyotes, due to the fact terrain (rolling hills) prevented spotting coyotes more than 2 miles away. But, we killed just as many. Another amazing fact is we averaged a new stand every 35 minutes. Take into account we would call for 15 minutes at each stand, and Redfrog has only one gear (slow)! Here in Montana, I average a stand every 55 minutes. The Law of Averages comes into play here. The more stands, the more coyotes. It’s that simple (all other factors being the same). The scientist in me won’t allow posting the previous statement without the disclaimer!!
We killed 14 coyotes in 5 days of hunting, and, if my hunting partner could have hit the broad side of a barn, we would have easily topped 20! Not bad considering snow really hampered access to many areas.
RedFrog overlooking coyote Nirvana.
Realize, we weren’t in a hunting contest. We were out calling by 0830 each morning and finished up by 1700 hrs in the evening. Also, we spent an inordinate amount of time “sighting in” rifles....... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Jim and I enjoy each other’s company a lot, and we take as good a ribbing as we give. That makes for a great hunting partner in my book. Neither of us are so serious as to lose the enjoyment of the hunt, or each others company. And, this is big, his wife makes the best apple pie I’ve ever had the pleasure of devouring!
Ok, you ask, where does coyotes 15-18 come into the story. Here’s another good part. I got up bright and early yesterday morning for the drive home. After getting across the border without any hassles (Thank God!), it was noon. I probably kill more coyotes at noon than any other time, sooooo, I just had to stop and call this great looking State section next to the highway.
I crawl upon a nice hill and blow the howler a couple of times. Almost immediately a coyote runs out of the drainage away from me. Darn, must have scared it with the howls. I get on the predator call but it’s having none of it. I keep calling and see two coyotes coming at a fast clip. They're out a ways so I have plenty of time to get ready. The male is in the lead but holds up at 200 yards. I swing over to him and was about to take the shot when I see the female continuing to come strong. I swing back over to the female and dump her at 30 yards. The male runs away and never stopped. I’m always torn whenever faced with such a dilemma. Shoot the furthest coyote and hope the closest coyote will stop, or take the easier shot? I opted for the bird in hand this time.
I thought to myself, “Hmm, that went well, maybe this is ONE OF THOSE DAYS! I move a couple of miles and try again. Another coyote runs out of the drainage and doesn’t look back. Nothing else came in but I did get a pair howling 2 miles away.
I moved to where the coyotes were howling and howl myself. Silence! Ha, they’re playing the silent treatment! I give them a dying rabbit serenade and nothing. Darn, maybe they’re onto me. I glass and glass but don’t see anything. By now it’s snowing pretty hard and visibility is going down. I turn around to glass the back door and when I turn back around a large male is standing there at 50 yards. Yikes!! He’s got me pegged. Since I hunt alone, being able to see all around is a must, so I sit up on my knees and flop into the prone position whenever a coyote is spotted. It works well unless the coyote sees you first. So there I sit, pegged, and the coyotes staring holes through this 175 pound rabbit! I slowly move to the prone position and Mr. Coyote hops over a small rise. Double darn. I can’t see him now so I sit back up and grab the shooting sticks. There he is, looking right at me no more than 40 yards away. I’ll be the first to admit not being able to shoot very well off of sticks. I’m a “shoot prone off the bipod” kind of guy. I don’t take my time and jerk the trigger! Yes, you guessed it, I pulled a Redfrog!!! The coyote takes off and while doing so, runs right by the female I never saw! Drats!!
Ok, that’s 6 coyotes seen on 3 stands. I wasn’t going to quit now!
Two stands later the snow has let up a little. I’m in a big flat of sagebrush and almost immediately a coyote pops up it’s head 3-400 yards away. The range finder is having a hard time locking in on the exact bush the coyote is standing beside and I can’t coax it any closer. Eventually the coyote lays down but 5 minutes later gets back up. I’m thinking it’s coming in but it turns and walks behind the brush. Rats!! The next time I see the coyote it’s walking away at 400 yards (a guess). Ok, it’s now or never for the Swift. I hold right on top of it’s back and SQUEEZE the trigger. At the shot, the coyote leaps into the air, goes down, gets back up and runs another 50 yards before going down again. I’m pumped now! I walked back to get the truck as the coyote was just off the two track road.
As I’m driving up to the coyote, it stands up and takes off running, FAST!!!! What? It makes the fence before I do and is just about to get out of sight. I pile out of the truck, gun in hand, throw a round in the chamber and have just enough time for one shot. Bang, I hear a hit, and the coyote goes out of sight. I walk the 100 yards, and there’s the coyote on the backside of a little knoll! Hey, reading the article on shooting running coyotes, in the latest edition of Varmint Hunter paid off!! Driving back to where the coyote jumped up, a gut feeling told me to check where the coyote had been laying. You guessed it! The first coyote was there dead!!! It was the female and the second “runner” was the male. No wonder he could run fast! He must have come up to the female while I was getting the truck. I’ll take blind luck any day!
Blind Luck sometimes smiles on us.
Okay, I’m on a roll. Stop at the next ranch house for permission to hunt and the rancher says what almost all of them say “kill as many as you want”. That’s one of the reasons I love coyote hunting. Getting permission is easy.
This is my last stand as I have another 4 hours to drive home and it’s snowing. Driving in the snow, in the dark, for four hours isn’t what I call enjoyable.
I’m overlooking a large stand of CRP. Nothing answered the howler so I start in with the dying rabbit. About 5 minutes into the stand I spot a coyote circling upwind, trying to get downwind. The CRP was thick, so every time I blew the call, the coyote would come in my direction, leaping into the air, to spot the rabbit. Another coyote joined in, so now I had a pair coming. I have to shoot off the sticks in CRP and wasn’t real confident in my abilities so wanted them to get as close as possible. The male stops at 75 yards, broadside. Ok, I should be able to make that shot. I take my time, squeeze the trigger and he goes down. I’m ecstatic, not only is this coyote number 4 in 3 hours, but I shot him off the sticks and it’s # 50 for the year!!
Number 50! No wonder I'm grinning like a possum. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Alberta I.
Alberta II
I know somewhere on this earth more coyote’s exists, but nowhere I’ve ever hunted! Literally, every time we parked the truck, one would take no more than five steps to be standing in fresh coyote tracks! Actually, most of the time, the first step out of the truck, my boot tracks were on top of a track!! Amazing is an understatement.
Redfrog has moved since we last hunted together. I was a little concerned as his former hunting area was phenomenal. Well, I shouldn’t have been. We didn’t see the number of coyotes, due to the fact terrain (rolling hills) prevented spotting coyotes more than 2 miles away. But, we killed just as many. Another amazing fact is we averaged a new stand every 35 minutes. Take into account we would call for 15 minutes at each stand, and Redfrog has only one gear (slow)! Here in Montana, I average a stand every 55 minutes. The Law of Averages comes into play here. The more stands, the more coyotes. It’s that simple (all other factors being the same). The scientist in me won’t allow posting the previous statement without the disclaimer!!
We killed 14 coyotes in 5 days of hunting, and, if my hunting partner could have hit the broad side of a barn, we would have easily topped 20! Not bad considering snow really hampered access to many areas.
RedFrog overlooking coyote Nirvana.
Realize, we weren’t in a hunting contest. We were out calling by 0830 each morning and finished up by 1700 hrs in the evening. Also, we spent an inordinate amount of time “sighting in” rifles....... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Jim and I enjoy each other’s company a lot, and we take as good a ribbing as we give. That makes for a great hunting partner in my book. Neither of us are so serious as to lose the enjoyment of the hunt, or each others company. And, this is big, his wife makes the best apple pie I’ve ever had the pleasure of devouring!
Ok, you ask, where does coyotes 15-18 come into the story. Here’s another good part. I got up bright and early yesterday morning for the drive home. After getting across the border without any hassles (Thank God!), it was noon. I probably kill more coyotes at noon than any other time, sooooo, I just had to stop and call this great looking State section next to the highway.
I crawl upon a nice hill and blow the howler a couple of times. Almost immediately a coyote runs out of the drainage away from me. Darn, must have scared it with the howls. I get on the predator call but it’s having none of it. I keep calling and see two coyotes coming at a fast clip. They're out a ways so I have plenty of time to get ready. The male is in the lead but holds up at 200 yards. I swing over to him and was about to take the shot when I see the female continuing to come strong. I swing back over to the female and dump her at 30 yards. The male runs away and never stopped. I’m always torn whenever faced with such a dilemma. Shoot the furthest coyote and hope the closest coyote will stop, or take the easier shot? I opted for the bird in hand this time.
I thought to myself, “Hmm, that went well, maybe this is ONE OF THOSE DAYS! I move a couple of miles and try again. Another coyote runs out of the drainage and doesn’t look back. Nothing else came in but I did get a pair howling 2 miles away.
I moved to where the coyotes were howling and howl myself. Silence! Ha, they’re playing the silent treatment! I give them a dying rabbit serenade and nothing. Darn, maybe they’re onto me. I glass and glass but don’t see anything. By now it’s snowing pretty hard and visibility is going down. I turn around to glass the back door and when I turn back around a large male is standing there at 50 yards. Yikes!! He’s got me pegged. Since I hunt alone, being able to see all around is a must, so I sit up on my knees and flop into the prone position whenever a coyote is spotted. It works well unless the coyote sees you first. So there I sit, pegged, and the coyotes staring holes through this 175 pound rabbit! I slowly move to the prone position and Mr. Coyote hops over a small rise. Double darn. I can’t see him now so I sit back up and grab the shooting sticks. There he is, looking right at me no more than 40 yards away. I’ll be the first to admit not being able to shoot very well off of sticks. I’m a “shoot prone off the bipod” kind of guy. I don’t take my time and jerk the trigger! Yes, you guessed it, I pulled a Redfrog!!! The coyote takes off and while doing so, runs right by the female I never saw! Drats!!
Ok, that’s 6 coyotes seen on 3 stands. I wasn’t going to quit now!
Two stands later the snow has let up a little. I’m in a big flat of sagebrush and almost immediately a coyote pops up it’s head 3-400 yards away. The range finder is having a hard time locking in on the exact bush the coyote is standing beside and I can’t coax it any closer. Eventually the coyote lays down but 5 minutes later gets back up. I’m thinking it’s coming in but it turns and walks behind the brush. Rats!! The next time I see the coyote it’s walking away at 400 yards (a guess). Ok, it’s now or never for the Swift. I hold right on top of it’s back and SQUEEZE the trigger. At the shot, the coyote leaps into the air, goes down, gets back up and runs another 50 yards before going down again. I’m pumped now! I walked back to get the truck as the coyote was just off the two track road.
As I’m driving up to the coyote, it stands up and takes off running, FAST!!!! What? It makes the fence before I do and is just about to get out of sight. I pile out of the truck, gun in hand, throw a round in the chamber and have just enough time for one shot. Bang, I hear a hit, and the coyote goes out of sight. I walk the 100 yards, and there’s the coyote on the backside of a little knoll! Hey, reading the article on shooting running coyotes, in the latest edition of Varmint Hunter paid off!! Driving back to where the coyote jumped up, a gut feeling told me to check where the coyote had been laying. You guessed it! The first coyote was there dead!!! It was the female and the second “runner” was the male. No wonder he could run fast! He must have come up to the female while I was getting the truck. I’ll take blind luck any day!
Blind Luck sometimes smiles on us.
Okay, I’m on a roll. Stop at the next ranch house for permission to hunt and the rancher says what almost all of them say “kill as many as you want”. That’s one of the reasons I love coyote hunting. Getting permission is easy.
This is my last stand as I have another 4 hours to drive home and it’s snowing. Driving in the snow, in the dark, for four hours isn’t what I call enjoyable.
I’m overlooking a large stand of CRP. Nothing answered the howler so I start in with the dying rabbit. About 5 minutes into the stand I spot a coyote circling upwind, trying to get downwind. The CRP was thick, so every time I blew the call, the coyote would come in my direction, leaping into the air, to spot the rabbit. Another coyote joined in, so now I had a pair coming. I have to shoot off the sticks in CRP and wasn’t real confident in my abilities so wanted them to get as close as possible. The male stops at 75 yards, broadside. Ok, I should be able to make that shot. I take my time, squeeze the trigger and he goes down. I’m ecstatic, not only is this coyote number 4 in 3 hours, but I shot him off the sticks and it’s # 50 for the year!!
Number 50! No wonder I'm grinning like a possum. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
