So you gotta love it when your job gives you ample time off around the holidays. There aren't a ton of bonuses to being a teacher, but holidays are one. So for Thanksgiving I got got wednesday, thursday, friday, saturday and sunday off. Hymm what to do /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif... Go east for some pheasant and waterfowl? Late season cow hunt, eventhough I do not need the meat? Find some rabbits for the smoker? Call some predators? Work around the house /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif Well it was hard to decide, but here is how it went. Wednesday went out looking for my cow elk, hunted all day, killed one yote with my pickup(partially on accident) and saw 13 bull elk, no cows. Thursday morning went up again to look for a cow elk before dinner. Managed to spot another 9 bulls no cows. On friday my wife and I went on a great hunt, please see post under members club house titled another great trophy. On friday night my buddy from Wyoming arrived, we made plans to call an area on saturday, they turned out to be good plans.
On saturday we left the house way early, just before 4:00am. The morning was cloudy, but calm with a trace of new snow falling. As we got our calling area the sun just started to light the sky. We drove in as far as we could before light. As we looked for our first calling spot a yote crossed the road infront of us. It was still pretty dark, but I managed to find him in the scope. He stopped at about 115 yards. I squeezed the trigger and heard the familar thump. Wow what a start, 1 down and within minutes of legal light. This pic was taken after the first stand since the light was to dark when it was shot, plus we were in a hurry to hit the first stand.
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We loaded the yote in the truck and headed to make a stand. We were in the area specifically for bob cats, but of course who can pass a yote. The first stand was perfect. The mouth of a canyon with a sage brush bottom, steep rocky sides covered with pinon and juniper. I hit the tally ho for one series. Then quickly follow it with the Fox pro rabbit distress. After 2 series coyotes lit up in every direction. The first being from where the truck was stashed, the next down the canyon and another group up the canyon. Man we had them all around us. I stuck with the rabbit call. Nothing showed. Were we busted? Did they all know? After 20 minutes I hit the pup distress call. Imediately had one skyline above me, way above me. Infact nearly straight up. She sat down and looked everything over. I had a good shot at her. I squeezed the trigger. Flop. Of course this would be one of the rare cases where I "hit the button". She didn't even wiggle. The first pic was when I was about 1/2 way down with the yote, like I said it was straight up, I am in the middle holding the yote up, look for the light yellow of its bellie. The second shot is a close up of the yote.
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So 1/2 hour into legal light 2 yotes down. Next we made several stands in small close canyons looking for a bobcat. No luck this time, however I know I will get one out of that area. We managed to call one last spot before lunch time. It was a big open sagebrush flatt that had a rock rim with really good tree cover all around. The problem was that inorder to see the flat real well we had to leave the trees. Not that I was worried about our outlines, but by leaving the trees we provied a way for the animals to work around us in good cover. As we approached the 20 minute point in the stand we caught a pair coming in hard from about 800yds across the flat. Of course they circled around and got inthe trees. They poped up real fast at 60 yards. The first got out of the trees and into the taller sage. The second paused leaving me a shot. Bang Flop. Number 3 was a done deal.
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Lunch was hurried as we were tied for our best day hunting with three yote in the bag. As we finished lunch the weather got wicked. We called 3 more stands. At times tthe weather would break for a few minutes, then it would snow and blow so hard I couldn't see my fox pro at 10 yards. We took the break in calling weather to cover some grounds and try to find a new area. As night time approached we snuck into a good spot. As we wihispered about setup two yotes broke cover in front of us. We barked to stop, but it did not work. We opened up.... Where there is lead there is hope. At one point I hit one it flooped and laid out of sight, Cool number four down. We crossed the small canyon infront of us. AS we got toware the yote was, there was nothing, just a little blood and a track heading off. to the east. The first yote out headed North. We looked at the east slope of the canyon to see my yote cresting the hill on a dead run nearly 800+ yards out. There was hope of finding. I will be back to get 3 legged yote another day.
Despite not breaking our record it was a great day. We were 100% on drive bys, 75% on called yotes and 100% on yotes hit that were shot at. I did not shoot at the first yote we jumped, the second was closer.
Oh and on sunday we went up and helped out an outfitter I work with during the summer. We heped 8 paying customers fill their cow tags. I could have shot a cow elk, but we had plenty of work to do with 8 elk down.
click image for details
On saturday we left the house way early, just before 4:00am. The morning was cloudy, but calm with a trace of new snow falling. As we got our calling area the sun just started to light the sky. We drove in as far as we could before light. As we looked for our first calling spot a yote crossed the road infront of us. It was still pretty dark, but I managed to find him in the scope. He stopped at about 115 yards. I squeezed the trigger and heard the familar thump. Wow what a start, 1 down and within minutes of legal light. This pic was taken after the first stand since the light was to dark when it was shot, plus we were in a hurry to hit the first stand.
[image]
We loaded the yote in the truck and headed to make a stand. We were in the area specifically for bob cats, but of course who can pass a yote. The first stand was perfect. The mouth of a canyon with a sage brush bottom, steep rocky sides covered with pinon and juniper. I hit the tally ho for one series. Then quickly follow it with the Fox pro rabbit distress. After 2 series coyotes lit up in every direction. The first being from where the truck was stashed, the next down the canyon and another group up the canyon. Man we had them all around us. I stuck with the rabbit call. Nothing showed. Were we busted? Did they all know? After 20 minutes I hit the pup distress call. Imediately had one skyline above me, way above me. Infact nearly straight up. She sat down and looked everything over. I had a good shot at her. I squeezed the trigger. Flop. Of course this would be one of the rare cases where I "hit the button". She didn't even wiggle. The first pic was when I was about 1/2 way down with the yote, like I said it was straight up, I am in the middle holding the yote up, look for the light yellow of its bellie. The second shot is a close up of the yote.
[image]
So 1/2 hour into legal light 2 yotes down. Next we made several stands in small close canyons looking for a bobcat. No luck this time, however I know I will get one out of that area. We managed to call one last spot before lunch time. It was a big open sagebrush flatt that had a rock rim with really good tree cover all around. The problem was that inorder to see the flat real well we had to leave the trees. Not that I was worried about our outlines, but by leaving the trees we provied a way for the animals to work around us in good cover. As we approached the 20 minute point in the stand we caught a pair coming in hard from about 800yds across the flat. Of course they circled around and got inthe trees. They poped up real fast at 60 yards. The first got out of the trees and into the taller sage. The second paused leaving me a shot. Bang Flop. Number 3 was a done deal.
[image]
Lunch was hurried as we were tied for our best day hunting with three yote in the bag. As we finished lunch the weather got wicked. We called 3 more stands. At times tthe weather would break for a few minutes, then it would snow and blow so hard I couldn't see my fox pro at 10 yards. We took the break in calling weather to cover some grounds and try to find a new area. As night time approached we snuck into a good spot. As we wihispered about setup two yotes broke cover in front of us. We barked to stop, but it did not work. We opened up.... Where there is lead there is hope. At one point I hit one it flooped and laid out of sight, Cool number four down. We crossed the small canyon infront of us. AS we got toware the yote was, there was nothing, just a little blood and a track heading off. to the east. The first yote out headed North. We looked at the east slope of the canyon to see my yote cresting the hill on a dead run nearly 800+ yards out. There was hope of finding. I will be back to get 3 legged yote another day.
Despite not breaking our record it was a great day. We were 100% on drive bys, 75% on called yotes and 100% on yotes hit that were shot at. I did not shoot at the first yote we jumped, the second was closer.
Oh and on sunday we went up and helped out an outfitter I work with during the summer. We heped 8 paying customers fill their cow tags. I could have shot a cow elk, but we had plenty of work to do with 8 elk down.
click image for details
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