Snowshoes
Well-known member
With a warmer than normal fall this year, I found myself to be 3 weeks behind my usual start time for hunting coyotes.
Second week of November, I ventured out the one morning to do a bit of scouting and possibly call a spot or two. The weather was perfect for me as a hunter but not ideal for priming up coyote pelts. Almost dead calm, not a cloud in the sky and a temperature hovering at the freezing mark made for an enjoyable walk across the first field of the morning. My destination was to one of my historically proven look out spots. Shortly after getting settled into my stadium seat, I see a coyote working its way across the field and enter the trees to the northwest of my location. After sitting for an additional half hour, I decide to head north and try coaxing that coyote from cover with some calls. As I’m walking northward, I see a coyote on a slough to the northeast of me but the direction this coyote was headed it would be just a matter of time before it would scent me.
The ice on the slough was thick enough to support a coyotes weight but not mine, so I refocused on my original plan.
Where I sat to call:
Set up in front a thick stand of slough grass and with the sun at my back, I start off with some distress cries using a bite call and followed up shortly with some of the same.
Nothing shows, so I switch to a diaphragm reed and give a few yelps which gets an almost instant response. With intense challenge howls from a coyote who is set on letting me know that I am not welcome here.
I watch the coyotes progress through the scope and note that its been a fair while since I seen a coyote so worked up about another “supposedly” coyote in its area. The sun was definitely hindering the coyotes eye sight and as it stood there aggressively barking and scanning the landscape, I gave couple more yelps which upped the coyotes temper a couple levels. I now have a coyote charging down the hill and I’m finding getting it to stop is proving to be more of a challenge than anticipated. Vocal barks on my part weren’t really working but having cross-hairs on fur I sent a 64 grain Berger HP bullet on its way towards a fast approaching coyote. The bullet flew true and rolled the coyote to a stop 34 yards from the end of my rifle barrel. As my heart beat starts to settle back down to normal, I reflect back to, I could have shot it earlier but oh no, I just had to push its buttons one more time.
Big Male:
A half hour later I’m driving a mile and half to another spot to try my luck at calling in a coyote.
After parking the truck and a short walk down the fence line to a spot where I would set up, I see a scruffy coyote on the far side of the slough. Once again the sun is behind me and its obvious the coyote hadn’t picked up my presence. The coyote is slowly making its way across the ice towards the far cattails. I quickly set up and with a vocal bark, stop the coyote just before it enters the cattails. Send a bullet on it’s way which results in a coyote spinning itself into a clump of cattails before tipping over for good. With such thin ice on the slough and a scruffy specimen laying partially in the cattails, I had no desire to get up close and personal for a picture. A range of 167 yards and a quick picture would have to suffice for this go around. I could make out the downed coyote in my binoculars but the picture really doesn’t show up. A red circle marks where it lays.
Second week of November, I ventured out the one morning to do a bit of scouting and possibly call a spot or two. The weather was perfect for me as a hunter but not ideal for priming up coyote pelts. Almost dead calm, not a cloud in the sky and a temperature hovering at the freezing mark made for an enjoyable walk across the first field of the morning. My destination was to one of my historically proven look out spots. Shortly after getting settled into my stadium seat, I see a coyote working its way across the field and enter the trees to the northwest of my location. After sitting for an additional half hour, I decide to head north and try coaxing that coyote from cover with some calls. As I’m walking northward, I see a coyote on a slough to the northeast of me but the direction this coyote was headed it would be just a matter of time before it would scent me.
The ice on the slough was thick enough to support a coyotes weight but not mine, so I refocused on my original plan.
Where I sat to call:
Set up in front a thick stand of slough grass and with the sun at my back, I start off with some distress cries using a bite call and followed up shortly with some of the same.
Nothing shows, so I switch to a diaphragm reed and give a few yelps which gets an almost instant response. With intense challenge howls from a coyote who is set on letting me know that I am not welcome here.
I watch the coyotes progress through the scope and note that its been a fair while since I seen a coyote so worked up about another “supposedly” coyote in its area. The sun was definitely hindering the coyotes eye sight and as it stood there aggressively barking and scanning the landscape, I gave couple more yelps which upped the coyotes temper a couple levels. I now have a coyote charging down the hill and I’m finding getting it to stop is proving to be more of a challenge than anticipated. Vocal barks on my part weren’t really working but having cross-hairs on fur I sent a 64 grain Berger HP bullet on its way towards a fast approaching coyote. The bullet flew true and rolled the coyote to a stop 34 yards from the end of my rifle barrel. As my heart beat starts to settle back down to normal, I reflect back to, I could have shot it earlier but oh no, I just had to push its buttons one more time.
Big Male:
A half hour later I’m driving a mile and half to another spot to try my luck at calling in a coyote.
After parking the truck and a short walk down the fence line to a spot where I would set up, I see a scruffy coyote on the far side of the slough. Once again the sun is behind me and its obvious the coyote hadn’t picked up my presence. The coyote is slowly making its way across the ice towards the far cattails. I quickly set up and with a vocal bark, stop the coyote just before it enters the cattails. Send a bullet on it’s way which results in a coyote spinning itself into a clump of cattails before tipping over for good. With such thin ice on the slough and a scruffy specimen laying partially in the cattails, I had no desire to get up close and personal for a picture. A range of 167 yards and a quick picture would have to suffice for this go around. I could make out the downed coyote in my binoculars but the picture really doesn’t show up. A red circle marks where it lays.