Big Lou
Well-known member
Busy day. Morning was booked up. Late afternoon is also booked up with a surprise birthday/grad party for my daughter. Then a friends birthday tonight. I had enough time for one set. The wind was stiff out of the north and it still is. There’s a hilly, rolling piece of ground that a friend is calving on. I’d called it only once this year. Last year, I had called a pair close to this date. I’ve enjoyed success here but suspected I could find a better place to call from. It was worth a shot and I was off.
I hid the truck and trudged near a half mile in. Staying low and out of sight as best I could. I actually liked this new line of approach and realized, there was much more to this piece of ground than I’d previously thought. “I think I may have been calling this all wrong” I thought to myself. Eyeing up and reaching a spot, I really liked the set and this will be a hide definitely used in the future.
There was some deadfall near an old fence post on a hill top with some trees as a backdrop. I stacked up some of the deadfall behind the post and tucked in after deploying the caller 35 yards upwind. There were a couple shallow rollers that an approaching coyote would have to traverse, giving opportunity to adjust if needed. Or so I thought.
Sticking with what has been working. I opened with two or three pup howls and clammed up for 2 minutes. I was just about to fire out a pair howl and I heard a lone male light up to the NE of me. Maybe 500 yards away. I gave another pup howl and had no answer. “It’s inbound”. I waited a full 5 minutes and rolled out some Cornered Hottie for a short burst. Maybe 20-30 seconds and I spotted a silvery object picking its way through the trees. Getting to the edge of the trees, it stopped and was looking for who had been making noise. I dialled down the volume and gave maybe 10-15 seconds of CH and muted.
I was excited. Felt my pulse quicken. Fingers rolling on the grip of the shotgun. I’ve killed 100 or more coyotes in a season several times. This was different. A few years ago, I’d given up on taking what I refer to as, coyotes of opportunity. Everything was to be called if it was to be killed. This would be the first time I’d ever taken 100 that were all called.
It broke into a trot with some broken loping and closed right at me. The dips weren’t as deep as I’d hoped they were and I couldn’t move. I’d broken one of my own rules when deploying and I had deployed the caller, then went to my hide. Normally, I prefer to go to my hide, then straight line to where the caller is deployed. I knew it was going to cut my tracks. I was laying flat and couldn’t tell where. “Do I let it bust or pop up before it does?” I didn’t have to make the decision. At 21 yards, it cut my track and a flurry of activity overtook the hill top. BOOM! Hit. BOOM! Miss. BOOM! Full on cartwheel down the hill. “YES!!!”
I rolled through some pup distress and fight sounds to finish out the set. The single was my only taker. A big male, which I’m sure, my friend will be happy to have out of rotation with the newborn calves on the ground.
I’m a pretty happy camper. Time for one set. Got one coyote to come and made good on the opportunity. I couldn’t have asked for better today. I’m going to celebrate. Hope you enjoy the read.
I hid the truck and trudged near a half mile in. Staying low and out of sight as best I could. I actually liked this new line of approach and realized, there was much more to this piece of ground than I’d previously thought. “I think I may have been calling this all wrong” I thought to myself. Eyeing up and reaching a spot, I really liked the set and this will be a hide definitely used in the future.
There was some deadfall near an old fence post on a hill top with some trees as a backdrop. I stacked up some of the deadfall behind the post and tucked in after deploying the caller 35 yards upwind. There were a couple shallow rollers that an approaching coyote would have to traverse, giving opportunity to adjust if needed. Or so I thought.
Sticking with what has been working. I opened with two or three pup howls and clammed up for 2 minutes. I was just about to fire out a pair howl and I heard a lone male light up to the NE of me. Maybe 500 yards away. I gave another pup howl and had no answer. “It’s inbound”. I waited a full 5 minutes and rolled out some Cornered Hottie for a short burst. Maybe 20-30 seconds and I spotted a silvery object picking its way through the trees. Getting to the edge of the trees, it stopped and was looking for who had been making noise. I dialled down the volume and gave maybe 10-15 seconds of CH and muted.
I was excited. Felt my pulse quicken. Fingers rolling on the grip of the shotgun. I’ve killed 100 or more coyotes in a season several times. This was different. A few years ago, I’d given up on taking what I refer to as, coyotes of opportunity. Everything was to be called if it was to be killed. This would be the first time I’d ever taken 100 that were all called.
It broke into a trot with some broken loping and closed right at me. The dips weren’t as deep as I’d hoped they were and I couldn’t move. I’d broken one of my own rules when deploying and I had deployed the caller, then went to my hide. Normally, I prefer to go to my hide, then straight line to where the caller is deployed. I knew it was going to cut my tracks. I was laying flat and couldn’t tell where. “Do I let it bust or pop up before it does?” I didn’t have to make the decision. At 21 yards, it cut my track and a flurry of activity overtook the hill top. BOOM! Hit. BOOM! Miss. BOOM! Full on cartwheel down the hill. “YES!!!”
I rolled through some pup distress and fight sounds to finish out the set. The single was my only taker. A big male, which I’m sure, my friend will be happy to have out of rotation with the newborn calves on the ground.
I’m a pretty happy camper. Time for one set. Got one coyote to come and made good on the opportunity. I couldn’t have asked for better today. I’m going to celebrate. Hope you enjoy the read.
