I had to make a trip last friday and gave my two youngest the option to go swimming or go with me and call coyotes and shoot some prairie dogs. They choose to go with me on their first coyote hunt so I got gear packed and planned out a few stands I figured would be good for a coyote or two before it got to hot.
Every thing was going great till it came time to get my 9 and 8 year old out of bed and we ended up on the road later than planned. I knew we wouldn't get into the other places in time so I decided to try a new place I got permission to hunt and see what happened. I figured at least we'd be able to get a good look at how to set up in the day light.
As we turned off the Hi-way onto the gravel road we drove into a thick fog bank. Visibility dropped down to 100 yards as we pulled up to the planned parking spot. After a quick brief at the truck we quietly piled out into the thickening fog. Soon we were creeping along a fence row when we spotted a shadow moving in and out of the fog. A quick look through the binos confirmed it was a badger. After a whispered discussion on how cool it was to see and why I couldn't just shoot it we kept creeping down the fence line and over a hill to our planned stand. I got them set up and situated and then set the caller out 20 yards in front of us and slightly upwind. As I was just getting back to the fence line I caught movement in the fog. Thinking it was the badger I hesitated getting the rifle up. Then the head became more clear and I could see the ears and head of a coyote mousing in a hay bale on the other side of the fence. I moved to get into position to shoot. the movement must have been caught by another coyote on our side of the fence as I heard barking just beyond the edge of the fog bank. I looked back to the mousing coyote to see it trotting back into the gray. I let out a couple of howls and let the caller send out a few howls as well. The barking became more aggravated so a barked back and told the kids to stay really still and just watch with their eyes. I let the call go silent for a minute then hit pup in distress. The coyote barking was going nuts and I'm sure was the female to the pups. I could see a coyote moving back and forth 50 yards in front of us just inside the fog and not stopping enough to give me a good shot. I threw out some growls and went back into PID which pissed off one of the coyotes enough to come charging in hackled up and barking to with in 25 yards right in front of us. A bark stopped him and the thud was almost deafening as 55 gr of suppressed love punched through his chest. I switched back and froth between growls and PID and soon heard the barker on the back side of the fence. I turned around hoping to get her stopped but she was trotting back and forth barely visible about a hundred yards out. I couldn't get her to stop and thinking she was the only other one there I took a running shot sending one over her back and back into the fog. I turned around expecting the stand to be over and saw two more coyoted come charging in. One split to our right to where I killed the first coyote and one went left. I swung over to the right to get that coyote before he made it down wind. Hackled and growling he stopped 15 yards in front of us threatening the caller. I sent another 55 gr pill into him with a thump. He half spun and I about hit him again before he fell and his legs twitched in the air. I swung back to the second coyote and the fog drifted in and out covered his retreat never giving me a solid enough ID to pull the trigger even though he was going straight away. We played with the barker for another couple minutes before her barks slowed and drifted deeper and deeper into the fog. Last time I heard her she had to be 800 yards or better down a crossed the valley. We quit calling and sat in the silence for a while hoping to catch a cautious coyote slipping back in to investigate what happened. After not seeing or hearing anything for 15 minutes we packed up and dragging the coyotes back to the truck. We stopped and took a couple pictures just before we crossed the fence again and got back to the road.
We got back into the truck and the fog was still hanging around. I figured we could make a stand that usually cant be made during the day because of the openness of the terrain and the heavily traveled road running along the big draw. Even with it almost and hour and a half after sun rise the fog gave us plenty of cover to get into the stand. My son stayed back (later finding out he was getting sick from the flu) and my daughter controlled the caller after insisting that she put on some camo paint to help hide her face. Once in place looking down the end of a draw that lead to a large valley, I let out a couple howls with a diaphragm as my daughter played a couple on the call. then she played some bird distress and then some rodent finally ending on pup in distress. At 16 minutes we decided to call it and I scanned one more time with nothing to see. I stood up and took three steps to pick up the call and caught a shadow along the hill in front of us about 100 yards out. I confirmed with my daughter that she could see it and howled. I sent one when it stopped and was about engulfed back into the fog. I caught a glimpse of it spinning and sent another round wich missed and sent the coyote to a death sprint up hill dying 10 yards from where it spun. my daughter was pretty proud of herself and drug her coyote to the road as I went back and grabbed the caller and gear and brought the truck to her.
We drove to another spot as the fog burnt off and got set up in another valley. My son came again and was running the caller. We tried the same sequences as before but the only response was a hawk and a couple howling coyotes in a valley behind us a crossed a big flat I knew they wouldn't cross in the day light.
After that we called it a day. A pretty good one at that.
Every thing was going great till it came time to get my 9 and 8 year old out of bed and we ended up on the road later than planned. I knew we wouldn't get into the other places in time so I decided to try a new place I got permission to hunt and see what happened. I figured at least we'd be able to get a good look at how to set up in the day light.
As we turned off the Hi-way onto the gravel road we drove into a thick fog bank. Visibility dropped down to 100 yards as we pulled up to the planned parking spot. After a quick brief at the truck we quietly piled out into the thickening fog. Soon we were creeping along a fence row when we spotted a shadow moving in and out of the fog. A quick look through the binos confirmed it was a badger. After a whispered discussion on how cool it was to see and why I couldn't just shoot it we kept creeping down the fence line and over a hill to our planned stand. I got them set up and situated and then set the caller out 20 yards in front of us and slightly upwind. As I was just getting back to the fence line I caught movement in the fog. Thinking it was the badger I hesitated getting the rifle up. Then the head became more clear and I could see the ears and head of a coyote mousing in a hay bale on the other side of the fence. I moved to get into position to shoot. the movement must have been caught by another coyote on our side of the fence as I heard barking just beyond the edge of the fog bank. I looked back to the mousing coyote to see it trotting back into the gray. I let out a couple of howls and let the caller send out a few howls as well. The barking became more aggravated so a barked back and told the kids to stay really still and just watch with their eyes. I let the call go silent for a minute then hit pup in distress. The coyote barking was going nuts and I'm sure was the female to the pups. I could see a coyote moving back and forth 50 yards in front of us just inside the fog and not stopping enough to give me a good shot. I threw out some growls and went back into PID which pissed off one of the coyotes enough to come charging in hackled up and barking to with in 25 yards right in front of us. A bark stopped him and the thud was almost deafening as 55 gr of suppressed love punched through his chest. I switched back and froth between growls and PID and soon heard the barker on the back side of the fence. I turned around hoping to get her stopped but she was trotting back and forth barely visible about a hundred yards out. I couldn't get her to stop and thinking she was the only other one there I took a running shot sending one over her back and back into the fog. I turned around expecting the stand to be over and saw two more coyoted come charging in. One split to our right to where I killed the first coyote and one went left. I swung over to the right to get that coyote before he made it down wind. Hackled and growling he stopped 15 yards in front of us threatening the caller. I sent another 55 gr pill into him with a thump. He half spun and I about hit him again before he fell and his legs twitched in the air. I swung back to the second coyote and the fog drifted in and out covered his retreat never giving me a solid enough ID to pull the trigger even though he was going straight away. We played with the barker for another couple minutes before her barks slowed and drifted deeper and deeper into the fog. Last time I heard her she had to be 800 yards or better down a crossed the valley. We quit calling and sat in the silence for a while hoping to catch a cautious coyote slipping back in to investigate what happened. After not seeing or hearing anything for 15 minutes we packed up and dragging the coyotes back to the truck. We stopped and took a couple pictures just before we crossed the fence again and got back to the road.
We got back into the truck and the fog was still hanging around. I figured we could make a stand that usually cant be made during the day because of the openness of the terrain and the heavily traveled road running along the big draw. Even with it almost and hour and a half after sun rise the fog gave us plenty of cover to get into the stand. My son stayed back (later finding out he was getting sick from the flu) and my daughter controlled the caller after insisting that she put on some camo paint to help hide her face. Once in place looking down the end of a draw that lead to a large valley, I let out a couple howls with a diaphragm as my daughter played a couple on the call. then she played some bird distress and then some rodent finally ending on pup in distress. At 16 minutes we decided to call it and I scanned one more time with nothing to see. I stood up and took three steps to pick up the call and caught a shadow along the hill in front of us about 100 yards out. I confirmed with my daughter that she could see it and howled. I sent one when it stopped and was about engulfed back into the fog. I caught a glimpse of it spinning and sent another round wich missed and sent the coyote to a death sprint up hill dying 10 yards from where it spun. my daughter was pretty proud of herself and drug her coyote to the road as I went back and grabbed the caller and gear and brought the truck to her.
We drove to another spot as the fog burnt off and got set up in another valley. My son came again and was running the caller. We tried the same sequences as before but the only response was a hawk and a couple howling coyotes in a valley behind us a crossed a big flat I knew they wouldn't cross in the day light.
After that we called it a day. A pretty good one at that.
Last edited by a moderator:
