Me and my partner Tim were finally able to get out and do some more calling today. Is it bobcat season yet?!
I'm not much of a hand caller anymore. That's all I used, for years. But I'm pretty well spoiled on the Foxpro and the remote control anymore, and hardly ever use a mouth call. But, Foxpro sent me one of their new "Skyote" mouth calls recently. As much as I do prefer the electronic, I'm not one to let a new call go unused either!
So... First stand of the morning, I leave the FX5 in the Jeep and start in to wailing on the Skyote call. About 9 minutes into the stand, I look to my hard right, where Tim is sitting about 20 yards away on the side of the same hill I'm sitting on. On the next hill over, at the very top, I see a big coyote standing on the skyline. Just as I swing my rifle that way, he backs up and disapears. A few seconds later he reapeared further along the ridge, with just his chest, neck and face showing, at about 110 yards. I settled the cross hairs and let the .17P go - dead coyote! I got back on the call with some Ki-yi's for a minute, then settled in to wait for a bit. Maybe 2 minutes later, I see another coyote coming from out in front to my left. I lip squeaked to get Tim's attention, as I figured it was his turn. When the coyote stopped broadside at 60 yards though, I watched through the scope and waited. And waited. No shot from Tim! So I dumped that one too, LOL! Turns out it had stopped just right behind a sage brush to block the view from Tim's angle. Both large adult males, one of them a snaggle toothed old timer, great way to start the morning!
Next stand... Back to my trusty old FX5 playing my new "Greatest Hits" sound. By the way, is it bobcat season yet?! Yup, you guessed it, no it is NOT bobcat season yet, not for 3 more days, and we called in a nice bobcat about 4 minutes into the stand. The way it came bounding in, me and Tim both thought it was a coyote until it stopped just shy of the caller about 50 yards away. It got a pass...
Two stands later, we had been calling for 15 minutes and I had turned off the remote for the Foxpro, cleared my chamber and was walking down to get the caller. Tim had cleared his chamber too and was just standing up when he hissed at me "coyote!". I hit the deck, but it was too late, the coyote was making tracks for yonder. I turned the remote back on and started up the caller again anyway, and whattayaknow, that sumbeech stopped pretty for Tim at about 250 yards. I heard the distinct "click" of a firing pin falling on an empty chamber, followed by muffled curses and a bolt being worked. The coyote loped out another 50 yards and stopped again at about 300. BOOM! That .243 is loud... Missed the coyote though and he was off to the races. By now, I had proned out and racked a round and was tracking the fleeing coyote in my scope. He FINALLY stopped again, WAY in the 'ell out there. I had a rock solid hold from the prone position, so I figured what the heck... Held about 3 feet over the coyotes back and about 1 foot into the breeze and launched one. I'll be gotohell if that coyote didn't go nose down into the dirt! Holy crap... It was 622 long paces out to where that coyote lay. Had to be over 550 yards out there. With my .17 no less. Luck. I'll take it! Turned out to be a large adult female.
Next stand we had one do a buzz by in the sage brush and get down into our stink stream before I could stop him and he got out of there without us even getting a shot off. It happens...
Few stands later, we had one come sneaking in at the 12 minute mark. He hung up at about 200 and wouldn't budge. Finally, he trotted off and got out to maybe 220 yards, then stopped to squeeze out a turd. Tim waited until he was just about to pinch it off and put a bullet from his .243 right through his neck.
Here's Tim with his coyote, another large adult male.
Yehaw! Called 5 coyotes and killed 4 of them, plus called a bobcat. Not bad!
Took a break to skin the coyotes and eat some cold fried chicken, and the new skinning pole I made for the Jeep worked like a charm.
Last stand of the day... Called for 15 minutes with nothing and was just about to shut it down when I happened to look a bit behind us up over my left shoulder. What's that I see skylined up on yonder ridge about 120 yards away, looks like a coyote! I scooted around and got it in the scope. Hmmm... Coyotes don't have spots. Coyotes don't have funny little tufts of hair sticking up off their ears either. Another bobcat. Nice big sucker too. But, he got a pass, just like the first one.
Is it bobcat season yet??!!!
- DAA
I'm not much of a hand caller anymore. That's all I used, for years. But I'm pretty well spoiled on the Foxpro and the remote control anymore, and hardly ever use a mouth call. But, Foxpro sent me one of their new "Skyote" mouth calls recently. As much as I do prefer the electronic, I'm not one to let a new call go unused either!
So... First stand of the morning, I leave the FX5 in the Jeep and start in to wailing on the Skyote call. About 9 minutes into the stand, I look to my hard right, where Tim is sitting about 20 yards away on the side of the same hill I'm sitting on. On the next hill over, at the very top, I see a big coyote standing on the skyline. Just as I swing my rifle that way, he backs up and disapears. A few seconds later he reapeared further along the ridge, with just his chest, neck and face showing, at about 110 yards. I settled the cross hairs and let the .17P go - dead coyote! I got back on the call with some Ki-yi's for a minute, then settled in to wait for a bit. Maybe 2 minutes later, I see another coyote coming from out in front to my left. I lip squeaked to get Tim's attention, as I figured it was his turn. When the coyote stopped broadside at 60 yards though, I watched through the scope and waited. And waited. No shot from Tim! So I dumped that one too, LOL! Turns out it had stopped just right behind a sage brush to block the view from Tim's angle. Both large adult males, one of them a snaggle toothed old timer, great way to start the morning!
Next stand... Back to my trusty old FX5 playing my new "Greatest Hits" sound. By the way, is it bobcat season yet?! Yup, you guessed it, no it is NOT bobcat season yet, not for 3 more days, and we called in a nice bobcat about 4 minutes into the stand. The way it came bounding in, me and Tim both thought it was a coyote until it stopped just shy of the caller about 50 yards away. It got a pass...
Two stands later, we had been calling for 15 minutes and I had turned off the remote for the Foxpro, cleared my chamber and was walking down to get the caller. Tim had cleared his chamber too and was just standing up when he hissed at me "coyote!". I hit the deck, but it was too late, the coyote was making tracks for yonder. I turned the remote back on and started up the caller again anyway, and whattayaknow, that sumbeech stopped pretty for Tim at about 250 yards. I heard the distinct "click" of a firing pin falling on an empty chamber, followed by muffled curses and a bolt being worked. The coyote loped out another 50 yards and stopped again at about 300. BOOM! That .243 is loud... Missed the coyote though and he was off to the races. By now, I had proned out and racked a round and was tracking the fleeing coyote in my scope. He FINALLY stopped again, WAY in the 'ell out there. I had a rock solid hold from the prone position, so I figured what the heck... Held about 3 feet over the coyotes back and about 1 foot into the breeze and launched one. I'll be gotohell if that coyote didn't go nose down into the dirt! Holy crap... It was 622 long paces out to where that coyote lay. Had to be over 550 yards out there. With my .17 no less. Luck. I'll take it! Turned out to be a large adult female.
Next stand we had one do a buzz by in the sage brush and get down into our stink stream before I could stop him and he got out of there without us even getting a shot off. It happens...
Few stands later, we had one come sneaking in at the 12 minute mark. He hung up at about 200 and wouldn't budge. Finally, he trotted off and got out to maybe 220 yards, then stopped to squeeze out a turd. Tim waited until he was just about to pinch it off and put a bullet from his .243 right through his neck.
Here's Tim with his coyote, another large adult male.
Yehaw! Called 5 coyotes and killed 4 of them, plus called a bobcat. Not bad!
Took a break to skin the coyotes and eat some cold fried chicken, and the new skinning pole I made for the Jeep worked like a charm.
Last stand of the day... Called for 15 minutes with nothing and was just about to shut it down when I happened to look a bit behind us up over my left shoulder. What's that I see skylined up on yonder ridge about 120 yards away, looks like a coyote! I scooted around and got it in the scope. Hmmm... Coyotes don't have spots. Coyotes don't have funny little tufts of hair sticking up off their ears either. Another bobcat. Nice big sucker too. But, he got a pass, just like the first one.
Is it bobcat season yet??!!!
- DAA
