Everything's not bigger in TX so Byron heads East!

Rod Haydel

New member
....to Louisiana! HA!
Me and Byron have been trying to hook up on a hunt for quite so time now but our schedules kept us from it until yesterday. I lined up some property with a land owner that I have have tremendous success on in the past and to say that I was excited is an understatement. He let us in on only half of the property. We had 1 mile wise by 6 miles long of broken pasture, swamp and cutovers to hunt so the plan was to use my fourwheeler to hopscotch our setups. On the first setup we placed a coyote decoy on a rise looking and the foxpro. Wind in our face and about 3 minutes into it I was thinking something aint right about the time Byron said "BACKDOOR, there's 3". I was on the camera and had to roll with the tripod and steady up quick as I could the first one was coming quick with a limp. In the move I had breathed into the lens so I had to wing it. I knew where the first one was and Byron said it was mangy. Well, Byron knows through experience with me on the camera I am going to stay on the first on thats closer although he really wanted to take one of the bigger ones bringing up the rear. He put him down quick and got on the others but didnt connect at about 350 yards. We were off to a good start!
PC250005a.jpg

Jumped on the 4wheeler and this time hit a low swampy area and set up next to a cypress tree.
PC250007a.jpg

Again we utilized the decoy and foxpro in a strip of thicket between the open field from the first set up and the swamp. Well we were 10 seconds into it and Byron's typical "RIGHT THERE!" got me pumped up. I laugh because right there can mean anywhere! I have to look at him to see where Byron's looking then find the coyote and then get on him. He was hoping through the grass coming hard when Byron muted the call and got him to stop. I was on him and Byron took him down. We continued to call but nothing else showed. Byron knew he was big, but like I said EVERYTHING'S not bigger in TX! He weighed 74 lbs! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif Don't believe me?
PC250012a.jpg

How's that. Okay us coonass's stretch the truth a bit but he IS a good one! We were on a roll now 2 stands 4 called in 2 kills and on camera to boot!
Our third setup found us ducking for cover as we saw a coyote hunting for breakfast as we got to our stand. Easy kill it seemed like as he was hunting and the wind was right. That's when our luck changed. Two 18 wheelers headed into a the adjacent field to service an oil rig. We headed from there into virgin territory. Several more stands were attempted but it seemed as if someone just turned off the switch.
Time to get some lunch so we did our typical lunch of Mexican food. It's a standing joke between us that we can not kill anything it seems until we have a little Mexican food but just in case I had already that morning had a breakfast burrito from Micky D's so it looked as if it was working. That afternoon we had already had a plan together we were going to the far end of the property and work our way back up when we were rudely interruptted by HOGS! We rounded the corner and about 15 were standing in the road. All were about the same size so I picked one out and busted him about 200 yards out. The land owner warned us to shoot all we could due to the damage they were causing our we would be back. So I cranked out more rounds till they were gone. Then more came out! This time a couple big sows were with them so a repeat was in order.
PC250016a.jpg

We looked around in the cutover for about two minutes but found no hog and daylight was running out when Mike Dillion called to put a voodoo curse on me. He told Byron to call him immediately after I missed. 2 more stand left us with nothing showing for the party so we rushed to the last stand of the day with 5 minutes of shooting light left. The last seconds of light showed another mangy limping coyote headed toward us but he didnt seem real interested. With the light fading fast. I attemoted a shot (acually several) at I would guess 300 yards or better. Hard to range in that kind of light. [beeep] Mike Dillion this is war! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif Marie Labeaux
has taught me a few things and your on my list. I got the doll fixed up even with a FX5 across the back!
All in all we had a great day with great company!
 
Sounds like some good action in the morning. How much did that coyote really weigh? Byron is no short guy (in my opinion from my shoes), so that coyote has to be very long.

Also, how did that new coyote decoy work out? Any good stories?

Thanks...Tony
 
Great story Rod, that's a big coyote, I know Byron is tall so he's gotta be better than 45lbs..

ONE thing I wished you had mentioned was your opinion on the use of that coyote decoy...Can you give us your insight???

Congrats on a great hunt..... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
To be honest we did not weigh him. We were going to so we layed him off the trail to pick up on our way out. When we came back through at lunch about 20 buzzards had been into him pretty good so we decided not to. It's ashame cause like you said byron's over 6 ft. You can look also at the decoy to compare size. He was hovering somewhere close to the 50 lb mark for sure!
 
Rifle- I have had two opportunities to shoot the R-15. It's a great gun. Lightweight yet has just enough front end weight for balance. Super trigger. It is hard shooting another guys gun sometimes but after Byron told me how it was sighted I had no problem. I think if the production guns are like his then Remington has a winner.
Decoy- It is hard to tell as the first stand as mentioned we were backdoored so we did not get a chance to see the reactions. On the secound stand the coyote came in charging hard but do to the positioning I am not 100% sure the coyote actually saw it. We did not get any negative reactions on the coyotes that did come in. Byron may have other views from his other hunts however. I would think though at this time of year it should work out fine.
 
Rod, can you capture a few of those coyotes and ship them to me. I'd like to turn them loose to breed with my itty bitty AZ dogs. They might cut down on my misses.

Thanks for sharing.
 
Considering the geography, I would be willing to bet that big coyote has a huge helping of Canis rufus genes coursing through his veins. Louisiana is one of the last refuges of the North American Red Wolf, and it's not impossible for them to interbreed with coyotes.
 
Great story Rod, sounds like fun! That piggy is just the right size for bbq...mmmmm ribs-n-roast with a cold heineken after a good hunt, priceless.
Trashcan
DCC
 
Looks like fun. I had a blast hunting LA with Randy when I came down. Would love to do it again some day. I still cant figure out how you guys can call that stuff you eat in Big Sandy "Mexican food". It just don't quite cut the mustard. But it beats Rotten Ronnies (Micky D's). The peppered pigs are to die for though.
 
IN the 1st picture it looks like Byron sees something over your shoulder with the pose he has. haha. congrats on the great day.

My guess is 48.5 lbs on that one dog. exactly a 1/2 less than my biggest. convient how that works huh?

congrats again.
 
Back
Top