Well we called in 11 and killed 4 despite the heat, it was a great result for the conditions. The morning was foggy and had a real light wind that wouldn't stay from the same direction for 2 minutes at a time. It cost me a shot at one, I needed him to come 30yds further to clear a thicket and felt the breeze on my neck before he got there. He winded me and was gone. Our 3rd stand we called in a pair and my friend killed one. The sun came out then and it got hot, we got no responses until 3:30. We called in one then that came from behind me and winded me in a thick spot. I got a shot at him at 40yds but he was running through such thick brush I don't think the bullet ever reached him. My friend had my shotgun at that stand, I had my AR. At 4 we started a stand near some cows that will start calving soon. The cows surrounded the call and decoy sniffing it. My friend started shooting but I couldn't see the coyotes. He shot several times before I saw a pair pop up at 240yds. I dropped one and the other took off. A few minutes, and a few shots from him later, I saw a big coyote come charging in. I waited until he was 42yds from me and about 50yds wide of the cows to drop him. That was the last one from that stand. 5 total had come in and I got 2. Those cows were never bothered, just stood by the decoy the whole time. There is a shooting range nearby and they are accustomed to the sound of shooting. My friend had forgotten his rifle when we loaded the truck that morning so he was shooting my 6mm that pushes 70gr Ballistic tips at 3725fps, I think he was underestimating how flat that gun shoots and shooting over the coyotes at 250-300yds. I had my Prairie Panther AR. Our next stand another pair came in and he missed one, I got the other and made our 4 for the day. We got in one more stand but had no luck, I think we had that area pretty stirred up by that point.
The rancher whose cows we called by was very happy to hear of our success. I got another one feeding cows this morning where our cows are calving, they are starting to flock to those areas. Timbered areas with cows nearby held about 2/3 of the coyotes we saw yesterday. The timber provides shade, and where there are cows there is water. A bigger pack can cause some real damage during calving. I've seen a coyote act as a decoy to the mother cow while another coyote, usually a big male, drags a newborn calf away. Usually this is on a hill so the female coyote can distract the cow one direction while the male drags the calf down the slope. They get the calf out of sight quickly this way. I sure like to get one of a pair like that and ruin their system! A fairly large ranch a few miles away sold all their sheep a few years ago, went to renting their grass to a neighbor for cattle. I think the coyotes that spread out when that food source disappeared are where that trick came from.
The one this morning was 14 on the year. I've called 10 and shot 4 while working on the ranch. For this area that's a pretty good start. A trapper has been catching a couple hundred a year in a 10 mile area around me and he didn't come out this year, so that's probably part of it.