Thank you tripod3!!
Here is the story in a quick nutshell -
We didn’t hunt Saturday due to 25+ MPH winds, we woke up at 5:10am Sunday morning and headed North to Nebraska.
1st two stands looked like Coyotes Heaven, no takers!!
3rd stand we park the truck, ranger and trailer by an old farmstead which is on a hill that is surrounded by a big tree break with Fresh Coyote and Rabbit tracks in the snow. Steve is to my left and i start the call, 4 minutes in i see a Coyote 25 yards to my right and he will not stop for my barks, he gets 3 yards downwind of the ecaller and he smells it. I took 5 running shots and I finally connected with the 5th shot on a nice but small female.
4th stand as we are walking in i spot a Coyote at 150 yards or so and h is looking at us, i tell Steve to get down and go prone, at this Tim the Coyote sees us he moves off another 75 yards or so and Steve pops him! Mangey male down we didn’t keep. We then move down the draw another 400 yards or so and nothing.
Off to the next stand, Steve is down in the bottom of a drainage with his 22-250 and 10 gauge shotgun. I am laying on the top ready to snipe any Coyotes that come in from down thee draw that he cannot see or thy don’t commit. I am looking NÉ and then I see a Coyote to my left which has seen me moving and he bugs out with no shot taken. We then decided to do 1 more stand going into the East. We set up with Steve to my right laying prone and i am on my shooting sticks further down the hill so i am not skylined. 10 minutes into the calling and i am ready to wrap it up when i see a Coyote sitting on top o a hill to thevEast. It looked like a Deer at first so i glassed it and it was a big Yote. He was twisting his head at the different sounds and was not coming any closer, i told Steve 3 times to SHOOT! Finally here puts one in him and down he goes.
I think it was the same Coyote from the stand earlier.
6th stand and the wind has now switched from coming out of the NW & it is now an Eastern wind.
We set up with Steve watching SE and i am watching NE, i spot a Coyote coming down the trail towards Steve and I whistled to get his attention. Down goes the Coyote and we have 2 more out there. Steve missed one at 300 yards and then the other at just under 300.
We do 3 more stands and they are all blanks.
Off to the truck to load the ranger and head to another ranch.
We are now at the new ranch and the ranger is off loaded and ready to purrrrrrr. 1st stand is a blank.
1/2 mile further to the West because now the wind is coming from the West and we set up for stand #2.
I start the call with bunny sounds and no taker, i switch over to a fight sound on my Revolt. Steve is in the bottom of the drainage with his 22-250 and 10 gauge. Five minutes into the fight and i see a dark looking Coyote sneaking down a small drainage that Steve cant see from his position. (Coyote hanging from the Ranger)
We then move onto the next stand and no takers.
I am driving the ranger and i hear Steve say - There’s a vehicle over there?? I continue down the two track and the vehicle is now in the bottom of a drainage drive is outside of his pick up looking at Coyote tracks in the snow. He is a trapper and says he has taken 8 out of the area this year.
He then tells us that he ran into a deer hunter to the NW of where we were going.
We then decided to try a few more stand and all blanks.
We did get 4 night Coyotes Saturday night, 1 had mange and 1 was eaten by other Coyotes?? I left him lay until the next morning and he was 1/2 eaten by Saturday morning. You be the judge, was it Coyotes or something else??
Total Coyotes was 11 and we kept 7 for skinning.
The big Black one hanging from the ranger was a big, old male and a couple of his canines were worn a little.
We didn’t keep him.