Coyote bait

Quote:
Hmmm, here's what I'd do;

1. Mow the lane
2. Install stuffed recliner [get rid of that goofy chair]makes my back ache, just looking at it
2. Put shock collar on almost eaten pet cat [put on low power] Don't let the wife see this!
4. Put collared cat in a wire cage [don't want coyote to "snatch & run with kitty"]
5. Put caged cat in the middle of mowed clearing, out aways, for sporting purpose's
6. Get comfortable on recliner
6. Set case of beer betwixt my ankle's note:[must be in reclined position]
7. Hit remote...insert cat squalls [here]
8. Ready with shootin iron for cat-eating coyote
9. Commence to blazing away [do not hit cat]



sounds like a good time /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
Well I stayed out of the area to give the coyote a few days to get used to the mowing and trimming of the cut. That seemed to work. I sat in the chair at about 1900 this evening. Pressed a remote control button for the call every so often. Lots of noise from a nearby farm, tractors, chainsaws, etc seemed to drown it out. Along about 2015 there he/she came. Bounded right over a shrub into the kill zone rear and right out the other side again. Total time in view, about a quarter second. Looked like it was running from something, possibly the neighbor's bushog? I don't think it saw me or even noticed the caller. As civil twilight ended, so did the noise. I gave up for the day when I couldn't see the crosshairs anymore. I'm now pondering how to target the area during darkness. Perhaps some small bulbs and a deep cycle battery?
 
Sounds like you picked a good spot. Although, getting the coyote to stand still long enough for a shot is always a crap shoot. As far as "bait" one thing I like to use is "local talent". Pop a rabbit or two (while they're in your "kill zone"), then you won't need to handle them and leave your scent. They'll be fresh enough to eat, and natural to the area. I sometimes do this with our Colorado "pasture poodles" (Prairie Dogs). I'll pop some in the late afternoon, then return just before dawn and see who is dining at the smorgasbord... Also, give the wife a little space, it sounds like she's got the right stuff brewing within her brain. Maybe invite her to help "plink" some tin cans... Might just end up with a hunting partner. My wife was NEVER into guns and shooting, but she goes with me to shooting competitions (even helps scout the competitors). "That guy on #4 shoots pretty good..." She even surprised me by SUGGESTING I mount last years Antelope... HAPPY HUNTING!
 
You know, I actually thought of that. Saw several rabbits in the zone earlier around 7. I am not sure how long they would last though. [There is also the "what is in season" issue.] The coyote I saw looked large enough so a rabbit would be about 30 seconds of dining. Chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp, all gone, done. A few years ago I gutted a deer in the same area and the next morning, the whole pile was gone and there wasn't even a drop of blood left on the grass. I had been thinking hordes of raccoons, possum and fox, but now with hindsight, it may have been the early days of coyote presence. I don't think leaving a dead rabbit overnight would do much more than ensure a recognition that the spot was a good place to check periodically for free food, not that this is a bad thing. Of course a wet blood smell percolating through the area while I was waiting and pressing call buttons is good. We agree about the partner development. My immediate problem is lighting the area. I tried some light sticks (5), but they were way too feeble for lighting anything from 300 yards away. I could easily see them in the scope, but no cross hairs. Way too far from anything for an extension cord. I figure about a 60 watt bulb (or two) at the rear and middle of the 100 yard zone would work as a back light and provide sufficient constant illumination for target identification and scope use. By 10 last night it could have been standing 5 feet away from me and I wouldn't know it without a flashlight. I am thinking a few 40-60 watt red party bulbs, some sockets, a 12 volt 600 CCA amp marine battery and a small 100 watt AC inverter, all already on hand. I'll need a day or two to test just how long an inverter and battery will power a few bulbs. I am also unsure just how a coyote will react to the constant whine of the small fan in the rear of the AC inverter. I might be able to light the bulbs off of direct 12v DC, but I have to test that. Blue or white bulbs would probably make more viewable light, but I don't know how (or if) Wiley would react to them. That others have written of him coming into lit backyards to eat dog food or garbage is encouraging.
 
I came up with a solution for night hunting usable by all. Sylvania makes a lightbulb (#A21) which puts out 50 watts and is designed for 12 volts DC. It is intended for use in RV vehicles or Marine use. It is sold at Lowes and stores carrying RV or Marine supplies. Anyway, I hooked up a porcelain socket and 15 feet of wire to two 12 volt battery clamps. Spraypainted the bulb Farmall (a tractor) red and connected it all to a large deep cycle marine battery. At 1 AM I turned it on and there was more than enough of red light for our needs. At 7 AM the bulb was still burning. The scheme is pick the area you want to light, put the bulb and the battery there, then back off and watch. At 300 yards the scope hairs are quite visible. Of course charging the battery first helps. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
It worked, sort of. An interesting feature of the red light I learned tonight is my digital camera can't see it. I tried to take a picture of the setup when it got dark, but the viewscreen stayed as dark as if I hadn't turned the bulbs on. Along about 6:30 I put one bulb and battery at the back of the area I named the "kill zone," and a second set up at the beginning. Both bulbs were dangled from overhanging branches about 6 feet off the ground. I placed the remote caller speaker box to the side of the tree the front bulb was dangling from and a semi frozen venison liver under the front bulb, then retreated to my chair 150 yards away. My first observation is the front bulb needs to go up higher to get it out of the top of the scope, while the second one needs to be set to the side to get it out of the scope. I will do that tomorrow.

I had zero activity until about a quarter to 11. A coyote dashed in to the cut from the side brush and grabbed the liver. Yiminey, those things are fast. It seemingly had some problems with the liver and turned around several times and seemed to drop it once or twice. Sadly, it wasn't the large coyote I had seen the other day, but a smaller one. I could see it in the red glow flooding the area with my eyes, but the bulbs caused a problem. The 50 watt red bulb in the rear 250 yards further back made it hard to discern it on the ground. As said, I will fix that. At 4x it seemed to be laying down with the liver and chewing it. I put the scope hairs on it's head and fired. A small explosion of debris ensued and it was gone. Upon visiting the spot I found half the liver off in the bush to the side, a piece of liver on the light bulb six feet off the ground, and more pieces on the speaker box and surrounding shrubs. Thick rasberry brush and poison ivy on both sides, so I decided I will come back in the daylight to look for the trail or carcass if any rather than crawl around in that stuff in the dark. I did have good target identification when it charged in and spun around wrestling with the liver before it lay down. I figure the bullet passed through the semi frozen liver in it's mouth and splattered it, hence the pieces up on the bulb and feet away on the shrubs and speaker. Hopefully after doing that it passed through the coyote too. If all I hit was the liver, then I certainly scared it good. The way I see it, even if I find the carcass in the morning, I am still not done, because tonights coyote is not the one I saw the other night, so I will do this again, but next time put the bulbs themselves out of the scope's field of view.
 
superc, If you are in the Blue Ridge Ga. area there is one
less to wory about as of last weekend. Got her south of
Blue Ridge in the Dial area. Called her in with FX3.
 
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