Over the weekend, Matt1953 and I spent a day wandering around in the desert of southern New Mexico looking for fuzzy critters to call in. It was a leisurely day compared to some of the recent contest stories I've read here. We made with 12 stands and 10 called coyotes, four of which we got shots at. We connected on all four, plus I broke in Matt's new KelTec .22 mag on a lanky jackrabbit.
First customers were a double that came in where Matt, the designated rifleman, couldn't see them. They hung up at about 80 yards, out of shotgun range. They figured out something was amiss and faded out into the desert.
A bit later we set up in a little bowl, and over the course of about ten minutes called in four different coyotes. Believe it or not, all came in on Matt's side! The bummer was, only one really gave him a shot, but at least we had our first one of the day.
Here's Matt headed out. You can see the coyote left of middle, with the caller near the left border.
Here's a closer look at it.
And the smile.
Between stands, this jackrabbit stood around long enough for Matt to hand over his little KelTec for me to try it out.
We made a few blank stands before we hit a side road and headed home. Along the way, we had time for three more stands. On the first of those, we started with bird sounds and got near immediate howls from multiple sectors. We listened to those for about six minutes before this guy came busting through the brush and I dropped him, also on the trot next to the call.
On the next to last stand, we sneaked out near a brushy dirt tank hoping for a bobcat, but after about two minutes of bird sounds, this male busted in on the scene, but didn't leave. We both got a piece of him.
We had time for one more stand, and though the area looked good, we had no takers. We called it a day and headed home.
First customers were a double that came in where Matt, the designated rifleman, couldn't see them. They hung up at about 80 yards, out of shotgun range. They figured out something was amiss and faded out into the desert.
A bit later we set up in a little bowl, and over the course of about ten minutes called in four different coyotes. Believe it or not, all came in on Matt's side! The bummer was, only one really gave him a shot, but at least we had our first one of the day.
Here's Matt headed out. You can see the coyote left of middle, with the caller near the left border.
Here's a closer look at it.
And the smile.
Between stands, this jackrabbit stood around long enough for Matt to hand over his little KelTec for me to try it out.
We made a few blank stands before we hit a side road and headed home. Along the way, we had time for three more stands. On the first of those, we started with bird sounds and got near immediate howls from multiple sectors. We listened to those for about six minutes before this guy came busting through the brush and I dropped him, also on the trot next to the call.
On the next to last stand, we sneaked out near a brushy dirt tank hoping for a bobcat, but after about two minutes of bird sounds, this male busted in on the scene, but didn't leave. We both got a piece of him.
We had time for one more stand, and though the area looked good, we had no takers. We called it a day and headed home.
