Originally Posted By: cmatera The theory on approach/setup is easy, the application is not. Recently, I had a post on calling in hilly terrain-another factor. On the stand I made, I walked in and set up 100 yds facing the edge of a timber area. The wind was on my right cheek like I prefer it, as I am a right-handed shooter. Coyote came in right in front of the path I walked in on. I was just sitting there watching him approach, thinking when he circled downwind, I'd shoot him. When he got close to my trail, he looked like he hit a brick wall, his head and tail swapped ends and a foolish running shot as he rounded the base of the hill ended the stand. Minutes later he was in those woods barking to alert all others in the ares.
Bottom line-I made plenty of mistakes, but I learned a lot. The approach/setup goal is kind of a perfect storm. It doesn't come along very often. If we all waited for the perfect setup, wind in our face, sun at our backs, and perfectly concealed, we'd rarely go hunting. You just have to go hunting and TRY to achieve as many of those goals as possible, take what you get, and analyze each hunt to try and get better each time. Look for what you did right and what you did wrong.
Brother I learned by hard knocks to take the first good shot I have at a coyote. In my steep, hilly and heavily timbered Ozark terrain I don't have the time or open territory to play with them. If I want to kill coyotes I take the first good shot, otherwise there are too many things that can go wrong and with surprising speed to wreck a stand. My experience...