Baiting

Don_P said:
Slow here too but the 20"+ of snow didn't help. Snow is melting some the past few days and I got some pictures last night of coyote(s) visiting my bait (finally). I'll be waiting tonight.
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Nothing at my bait the other night but a fisher, it got a pass and nothing but a coon last night that struggled thru the snow to get to the carcass, he got a pass too, only cause he worked really hard to get there. Eagles are everyday daytime regulars now, 2, 3 at a time. I’m thinking about maybe making a ceremonial headdress. Only kidding….. I’m kidding!

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If I didn’t have trail cam pics of actual live coyotes I’d swear I shot them all. Haven’t heard them, haven’t seen them, except on trail cam. Maybe they’re apparitions.
 
Sat in a pop-up last night for a couple hrs. 1 showed up about 8pm. A female with some poor guard hair. Notice the belly has been fed on before the rear ham/legs are finished on the deer. After seeing this and a track that looked more dog, I asked the landowners if they have seen any dogs. Yes 2 strange ones, and they were worried about letting their new border collie pup outside by herself. Will take a bit bigger rifle with during the day, just to be ready.
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Good job, Spot. You have been getting some action lately.

Another coyote showed up at my site last night, so I am back in the shack tonight. It’s cold, windy
and snowy out but nothing as severe as what you contend with.

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UPDATE: We got another inch of snow last night. No coyote visit, but on the way back out, about 200 yards
up on the flat beyond the cabin there were fresh coyote tracks. Had to have been this morning since they
weren’t snowed under. Could possibly be a different coyote that was crossing the farm.

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Week, mine has only struck once. Another one made one appearance on the morning of the 23rd. I hunted that night and again on the 24th and then again last night and was pestered on and off throughout the night by a possum and skunk. Hunting again tonight, and tomorrow night if necessary. Hoping. This has been a tough season.
 
I went out last night about 9pm stayed out until 4am. Saw 3 coyote, A couple skunks. The coyote showed NO interest in the bait, mousing along thru the field. Skunks were cruising, moving fast. I had thought skunk breeding was over. I had put 2 conibear boxes out where I could see them with the thermal. Hoped I could watch a skunk get caught. I have seen this coyote behavior before(passing baits, not spending much time or irregular times) always when cow manure is starting to be spread. Calving going on so manure has colostrum in it. Coyote will travel for it.
 
Funny how things happen sometimes.

I’d been getting little to no action on my bait as far as coyotes, but recently I’d been getting pictures of raccoons on my bait pretty regular. I decided I’d set up my .223 AR with my spare thermal and try to take out a few of those trash pandas. Got out at dark and there were rabbits all over. Had a opposum walk by but didn’t hit the bait at all, I let it go. Then a skunk came into the bait. Didn’t take long and I saw a few raccoons starting to climb down their tree in my neighbors woods. First one came to the bait and he was DRT. 15 minutes or so later another came in. Shot, thought it was hit but it scurried its way towards the woods. Took 2 more shots but it disappeared behind a blow down. It’s a little after 8:00 now and I typically go to bed at 7:00 on work nights. Thought I’d give it another half hour since I thought I saw another raccoon climbing down. I had a few extra rounds in my pocket so I topped off my mag and waited. About 20 minutes later I see something coming from the west straight at me. Way too big to be a raccoon. Once it broke the tree line I knew immediately….coyote!!! I got off the scanner and to the rifle only to find that my scope had shut off!! Hit power and right after it cycled through the startup it shut off again. Unplugged my external battery, turned the scope on and let it do the startup cycle again. This usually works but when I plugged the external battery USB back in the scope turned off again! Now I’m freaking out on the inside cause my season has been extremely slow and I couldn’t blow this opportunity. I just left it unplugged and tried turning the scope on with just the CR123 batteries. Finally it stayed on! Hit record and the coyote was just standing there looking my way making me think my time was limited. I squeezed the trigger and he started to spin. Hit him again and that was the end of it.

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I got to the bait site and the skunk was still on the bait. I was hesitant to get much closer so I just stood there waiting to see what it was gonna do. We had a stand of for a bit so I took a step or two and it finally moved off. When I went to retrieve the coyote, what I didn’t realize was that one of the deer I had on my pile had been drug back to the west about 10 yards putting it out of site of my camera. They’d worked it over pretty good. Probably why he was not reluctant to come in.

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Trail cam pic of me coming back out with the coyote. Raccoon is laying next to the smaller deer in my original pile. Thankfully I put those extra rounds in my pocket. Good to know I can take out a raccoon or 2 on the pile and still have a coyote come in!
 
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Well last night at 0227 I squeezed the trigger on coyote #2 with the new OneLeaf Mars MT1000 thermal and my 6.5 Grendel. The coyote was very skittish and not comfortable at the bait even though she was all over it the previous night. Don't know if she smelled where I had been or sensed something or what. After initially showing up she quickly departed down the hill to the right. I wanted to get a little footage before taking the shot and I didn't expect her to leave so quickly. After a few minutes the alarm sounded again and she was back, but then retreated to the left and over the hill and out of sight. After about 10 minutes she came back to the bait. The shot was slightly angling away. The 90 gr. Varmageddon hit slightly back due to the angle, dropped her on the spot with no exit. Distance was 80 yards.

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jmeddy said:
Had me nervous just reading about the scope power.
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Yeah, thankfully it's a spare thermal. Doesn't get used much, but didn't have any issues when I was sighting it in the day before. Murphy's law I guess....

Had another coyote show up on my cam last night. Gotta wait and see what the weather's gonna be on my days off to see if I go calling or just sit in the shack.
 
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