Big Lou
Active member
“Hello”
“Hey buddy”.
“It’s 6:30 in the morning. Everything alright?”
“Oh yeah. My morning just freed up. We should go calling again. Are you free?”
“I’ll pick you up in an hour”.
We went in to a spot I’d never set foot in before. I liked the set up. We had coyotes answer us immediately to the east. They answered every howl I made but, nobody was willing to show.
Going for a quick tour to the next spot, the farmer as out feeding cows. There were a couple coyotes milling about but, I wasn’t about to go in while he was choring. Off to another spot. I’d hunted this general spot from the other side but, never this side. I had only recently gotten permission here. We would really be pushing our luck with the wind as it was. Normally, I’d wait for a better wind but, the quantity of sign had me wanting to risk it. Just have to set up really smart.
I selected a hillside for us to set up on that gave a pretty commanding view. It wasn’t perfect but, gave us all we needed. A couple of howls produced no replies. Breaking into some distress, at about 8-9min I saw some magpies perch in a tree and then started bombing. Bombing at what I knew to be lurking. Seconds later, I saw a silky coloured coyote picking its way through the edge of the timber. My partner was still unaware of the coyote but, I wasn’t concerned. Its path would have it coming into plain view at about 70 yards or so. I switched to a coax as the coyote disappeared into a little swale. My buddy would be getting a perfect shot. Maybe 30 seconds later, a beautiful coyote stood facing our position. I wasn’t planning on doing any shooting at all but, this wasn’t looking good. He was looking in the direction of the coyote. “Why isn’t he shooting? Is he scared to move a bit?” The coyote turns and retreats a bit. “Why didn’t you move? Oh my god. He must not see it!”
I rose up and shouldered the rifle. The coyote continued its departure. “WHOOO”. I watched my partner flinch a bit at my noise. The crosshairs settled. BOOM! CHOP!. “I never even saw that thing until you shot it!”
I noticed another coyote streaking in the edge of the trees. “Shoot that one!” I said in a hiss. He was on it in a flash. “WHOOO”. The coyote came to a stop and his rifle barked. BOOM! CHOP!
“I wouldn’t have seen either of those coyotes!”
I laughed and laughed. “I’ll sit a little closer to you on the next one”.
“Where to next?”
“We’re going to hike up there crosswind about 800-1000 yards and call again”.
“But we shot”.
“We sure did”.
A bit of a blank stare. “Alright. I’m just going to trust you”.
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We hiked over to where I had eyeballed and selected another hillside in the pasture. Again, it wasn’t perfect as we were really pushing the wind. I could see two coyotes bedded out in the middle of a stubble field to the south, oblivious to our presence.
I went straight into some distress and skipped the howl. Within a couple minutes, I saw a coyote streaking towards us hard. I was giving instruction now and had my friend in position and ready. “You see it?”
“Yes”.
“When it clears that bush, I’m going to stop it. When it stops, dump it. WHOOO.”
BOOM! CHOP!
“YEA…”
“Stay quiet and still!” I scolded.
I fired up the distress again and, if on cue, another coyote materialized, coming hard. It got close to the spot the dead coyote was and turned hard. “Crap. That one is gone. Oh wow! Another one.”
As I watched the third coyote closing fast, its route would be a touch different. “Same thing man. When I stop it. Give it the beans”. A confirmation nod acknowledged. “WHOOO”. It was automatic this time. BOOM! CHOP!
“I can’t believe this man. I would have pulled out after the first one. They just keep coming”.
“Damn it. I don’t want to stifle your excitement but, you need to shut up. There’s another two coming.”
“What?”
I was having trouble not laughing. “Seriously. Be quiet and get another round in your rifle”.
They were gapped by about 100 yards between them and closing fast. “Will you be able to see the closer one in this low spot?”
“No”.
“Okay. You get on the one in the rear, I’ll kill the one in the lead. When I stop them, squeeze on the two count. One, two. Got it?”
“Yup”.
“WHOOOO. One two”. BOBOOM! CHOCHOP! Both coyotes folded into heaps. One a 60 and the other at about 150 yards. I got on the pup distress. Another coyote came sifting across the dance floor in a retreat. Neither of us had seen this one at all. I didn’t have to say a word. BOOM! CHOP! It was up again and moving. I had been following it in my scope and decided to bat clean up. BOOM! CHOP!.
I looked over and saw a huge grin. “Can I be loud now?” I erupted into laughter. “WE JUST KILLED 5!! I MEAN, WE JUST KILLED 7!!” All I could do was laugh, given his level of enthusiasm.
“You know what’s crazy? In 35 years of calling, I never killed 5 in a set until this weekend. And now it has happened twice in 5 days”.
“Thank you for this. I feel like I’ve learned so much”.
We dispersed to collect the coyotes for a photo. I made a commitment to keep the photos as clean as possible when sharing and only three of the five are pictured. Two were pretty graphic and, that need not be shown.
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To say he is hooked is an understatement. I don’t hunt with a partner very often anymore but, I really enjoyed the morning. Some hands on teaching with reward and success was immensely satisfying. It about killed me to have to quit. I think he as well. We had a heck of a morning but, were on pace for a hell of a day. He’s already talking about getting out Friday.
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