I called in two dogs this evening and missed both! I got caught unprepared in an area I'm not familiar with. I was expecting only to find low semi-thick brush when I set off walking down the road with my shotgun leaving my rifle in the car.
I found a nice grassy opening in the woods about 100yds across, set up off one of the corners and placed the call about 30yds in front of me. Once I settled in I let the cottontail sounds fly and within five minutes two coyotes were directly across the field.
I had used a range finder to box in my kill zone so I waited patiently as they came in along edge of the tree line. One held up as the other came in directly to the call. Once it was within about ten yards of the call something spooked it and began to run. Safety off, bang, bang, bang. I swore I hit it with the last shot but it was getting pretty dark and I couldn't find it in the woods.
I searched for a good 15 minutes while the other one was barking at me from somewhere close by. I've had them bark at me plenty of times before but never after firing off numerous shots. Besides bringing a rifle, what would you guys do? Would you set back up and start a new call sequence? Bug out and come back another time? I thought about running the call on repeat and at high volume and trying to ambush him from behind but that seemed a little too Rambo and not realistic...
I found a nice grassy opening in the woods about 100yds across, set up off one of the corners and placed the call about 30yds in front of me. Once I settled in I let the cottontail sounds fly and within five minutes two coyotes were directly across the field.
I had used a range finder to box in my kill zone so I waited patiently as they came in along edge of the tree line. One held up as the other came in directly to the call. Once it was within about ten yards of the call something spooked it and began to run. Safety off, bang, bang, bang. I swore I hit it with the last shot but it was getting pretty dark and I couldn't find it in the woods.
I searched for a good 15 minutes while the other one was barking at me from somewhere close by. I've had them bark at me plenty of times before but never after firing off numerous shots. Besides bringing a rifle, what would you guys do? Would you set back up and start a new call sequence? Bug out and come back another time? I thought about running the call on repeat and at high volume and trying to ambush him from behind but that seemed a little too Rambo and not realistic...