Once again, this is a looooong story. Sorry!!!
Well, I finally got out of the house to do some calling. My partner and I got out early this morning. Before we even got to our first calling stand I spotted two coyotes out hunting and they were east of where we were going to set up. We parked the vehicle out of sight, walked in about 1/2 mile and I started calling. The two coyotes were maybe a mile to the ENE of us and when I howled they would come a little ways and stop. Then I'd try the fawn bleat sound and they'd lose interest and start walking away. I'd switch back to the howler and they'd come towards us a ways and then stop. They just didn't seem that interested. My partner joined in on his howler and also did some wounded coyote screams, but to no avail. Since they were on posted land that I didn’t have permission to hunt, we gave up on them after 30 minutes.
We drove toward my next calling location. We stopped on the road and started glassing the far hillside to the north of us. I spotted a couple of coyotes way out to the north on a snowy hillside. Then my partner saw what he thought was a dark coyote with two lighter colored coyotes to the east of the two I saw. The two coyotes looked like they were picking on the dark coyote. Then all four of the light colored coyotes started trotting north and went over the hill out of sight. We glassed the dark coyote and soon discovered it was a deer, not a coyote. It had fended off two coyotes, so that was a pretty major task in itself. These coyotes were maybe 1 1/2 miles away when they disappeared.
We decided to drive farther west to call a different area. We called in one spot for about 25 minutes and nothing showed up. We decided to drive back to where we spotted the four coyotes and walk in toward where we last saw them and try to get at least a half mile closer to them. When we were walking in, we spotted two of them. We got in to where we decided to call and I did some howling and used the Brad Holzer antler call to do some rabbit distress sounds, but the coyotes weren't interested. My partner chimed in with his howler and we had one coyote that started to come our way, but he soon lost interest and lay down and went to sleep. We spent about 50 minutes trying to coax these four coyotes to come in without any success. Two of them went over the hill to the north and the other two were lying on the snow sleeping when we left! Disgusting! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
It was about 12:30 p.m. so we ate lunch and began to drive into our new calling area. When we get across the railroad tracks, I stopped to glass the area to the NW. I spotted a coyote eyeing some pheasants about 400 yards NW of us and my partner spots another coyote just going over the hill to the NW way over a half mile away. The coyote by the pheasants didn't even seem to know we were there. However, he was on posted land so he was safe from us. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
We drove into a school section on an oil lease road trying to decide where we should set up to call. We got up on top of a very tall hill and I wheeled the pickup around so we could glass to the north. My partner spotted three coyotes way out to the NW on the other side of the railroad tracks. We tried to figure out how we could call them onto land we had permission to hunt on. We drove back west and spotted a big hill that might work for us. My partner walked up to the top of the hill and signaled me that he wanted to call from there. I parked the pickup, but not carefully enough!!! The 3 coyotes to the NW were well over a mile away and lying in the snow. My partner called with his Tally Ho (dying rabbit blues) and at about the 10 minute mark I spotted a lone coyote coming in from the north. He was headed right at us. I lip squeaked at my partner to alert him that a coyote was coming. He spotted the coyote and began to lip squeak to keep him coming in. The coyote started to angle to the SE when he was about 600 yards out and we knew he was going to try to get around to our down wind side. He was about 300 yards away and walking on the side of a big hill when he did the "Oh $hi+" look and did a 180 degree turn and started trotting away. He had gotten high enough on that hill so he saw my pickup parked to the SE! I was going to drive it a little further west behind the hill, but thought if any coyotes come in they'll surely not come that way--WRONG!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif He got away without a shot fired at him. I may go out there again and play tag with him.
So, by now we had seen 12 coyotes and called in only one, but no shots were fired. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif It was nearing 2:30 p.m. and I had to get my partner back to town between 3:30 and 4:00 so we decided we'd do just one more stand. It was my turn to call. We walked in to the east of the lease road we were on and I set my partner up about 150 yards south of me. I was going to use the FoxPro, but I had accidentally moved the back dial off of the zero mark and it wasn't working right. So, I pulled out my Tally Ho and started doing the rabbit blues. At the 10 minute mark, I switched to my Bill Austin Howler. I did three female invitation howls and I immediately got a response from way out to the east of my stand. I imitated his howling and he howled back one more time. I imitated that howl and then he went silent. I got back on the Tally Ho and mixed in some howls once in awhile. At about 15 minutes into the stand, I spotted a lone coyote coming from the east in the bottom of the draw. I began to lip squeak and he kept coming. He was in and out of my sight and he finally stopped broadside to me looking south toward a farmstead. All I could see of him was the top 4 inches of his back and his head. It was too far away and not a high percentage shot. I squeaked some more and he began to come in again. He disappeared behind a little rise and a little while later his head popped over the rise. All I could see was his head looking my way. About this time I felt that the little breeze that there was seemed to be hitting me in the back of the neck! Oh, OH!!! His head disappeared and I kept on squeaking. At about the 21 minute mark I heard my partner's rifle go off! He had hit the coyote while it was standing quartering to him. The bullet went in just in front of the left front shoulder in the chest and came out half way back on the ribs on the right side. He spun and ran about 50 yards and expired.
This was the 13th coyote we had seen today--I guess you could call him old Unlucky Coyote #13!! He was a real nice looking male, only weighed 29 pounds, but had real nice color and not much damage from the shot. That is unusual for my partner's rifle. He usually tears huge holes in them. He uses 52 gr. BTHP match grade Sierra bullets in his 22-250. They have not been very fur friendly. We put our drag ropes on the coyote and dragged him back to the pickup. I took some "hero" photos and we headed back to town. I got him back to his wife at about 4:02 p.m. In the photo, I'm the guy with the Tally Ho and the Bill Austin Howler in my hands. My partner has the white cap on and I still have my ski masks pulled up off my face. The rifle with the coyote is my .17 Remington.
Here's a photo of the belly of the coyote.
Here's a photo of the back fur--really nice mane and super nice color to this one.
Well, I finally got out of the house to do some calling. My partner and I got out early this morning. Before we even got to our first calling stand I spotted two coyotes out hunting and they were east of where we were going to set up. We parked the vehicle out of sight, walked in about 1/2 mile and I started calling. The two coyotes were maybe a mile to the ENE of us and when I howled they would come a little ways and stop. Then I'd try the fawn bleat sound and they'd lose interest and start walking away. I'd switch back to the howler and they'd come towards us a ways and then stop. They just didn't seem that interested. My partner joined in on his howler and also did some wounded coyote screams, but to no avail. Since they were on posted land that I didn’t have permission to hunt, we gave up on them after 30 minutes.
We drove toward my next calling location. We stopped on the road and started glassing the far hillside to the north of us. I spotted a couple of coyotes way out to the north on a snowy hillside. Then my partner saw what he thought was a dark coyote with two lighter colored coyotes to the east of the two I saw. The two coyotes looked like they were picking on the dark coyote. Then all four of the light colored coyotes started trotting north and went over the hill out of sight. We glassed the dark coyote and soon discovered it was a deer, not a coyote. It had fended off two coyotes, so that was a pretty major task in itself. These coyotes were maybe 1 1/2 miles away when they disappeared.
We decided to drive farther west to call a different area. We called in one spot for about 25 minutes and nothing showed up. We decided to drive back to where we spotted the four coyotes and walk in toward where we last saw them and try to get at least a half mile closer to them. When we were walking in, we spotted two of them. We got in to where we decided to call and I did some howling and used the Brad Holzer antler call to do some rabbit distress sounds, but the coyotes weren't interested. My partner chimed in with his howler and we had one coyote that started to come our way, but he soon lost interest and lay down and went to sleep. We spent about 50 minutes trying to coax these four coyotes to come in without any success. Two of them went over the hill to the north and the other two were lying on the snow sleeping when we left! Disgusting! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
It was about 12:30 p.m. so we ate lunch and began to drive into our new calling area. When we get across the railroad tracks, I stopped to glass the area to the NW. I spotted a coyote eyeing some pheasants about 400 yards NW of us and my partner spots another coyote just going over the hill to the NW way over a half mile away. The coyote by the pheasants didn't even seem to know we were there. However, he was on posted land so he was safe from us. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
We drove into a school section on an oil lease road trying to decide where we should set up to call. We got up on top of a very tall hill and I wheeled the pickup around so we could glass to the north. My partner spotted three coyotes way out to the NW on the other side of the railroad tracks. We tried to figure out how we could call them onto land we had permission to hunt on. We drove back west and spotted a big hill that might work for us. My partner walked up to the top of the hill and signaled me that he wanted to call from there. I parked the pickup, but not carefully enough!!! The 3 coyotes to the NW were well over a mile away and lying in the snow. My partner called with his Tally Ho (dying rabbit blues) and at about the 10 minute mark I spotted a lone coyote coming in from the north. He was headed right at us. I lip squeaked at my partner to alert him that a coyote was coming. He spotted the coyote and began to lip squeak to keep him coming in. The coyote started to angle to the SE when he was about 600 yards out and we knew he was going to try to get around to our down wind side. He was about 300 yards away and walking on the side of a big hill when he did the "Oh $hi+" look and did a 180 degree turn and started trotting away. He had gotten high enough on that hill so he saw my pickup parked to the SE! I was going to drive it a little further west behind the hill, but thought if any coyotes come in they'll surely not come that way--WRONG!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif He got away without a shot fired at him. I may go out there again and play tag with him.
So, by now we had seen 12 coyotes and called in only one, but no shots were fired. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif It was nearing 2:30 p.m. and I had to get my partner back to town between 3:30 and 4:00 so we decided we'd do just one more stand. It was my turn to call. We walked in to the east of the lease road we were on and I set my partner up about 150 yards south of me. I was going to use the FoxPro, but I had accidentally moved the back dial off of the zero mark and it wasn't working right. So, I pulled out my Tally Ho and started doing the rabbit blues. At the 10 minute mark, I switched to my Bill Austin Howler. I did three female invitation howls and I immediately got a response from way out to the east of my stand. I imitated his howling and he howled back one more time. I imitated that howl and then he went silent. I got back on the Tally Ho and mixed in some howls once in awhile. At about 15 minutes into the stand, I spotted a lone coyote coming from the east in the bottom of the draw. I began to lip squeak and he kept coming. He was in and out of my sight and he finally stopped broadside to me looking south toward a farmstead. All I could see of him was the top 4 inches of his back and his head. It was too far away and not a high percentage shot. I squeaked some more and he began to come in again. He disappeared behind a little rise and a little while later his head popped over the rise. All I could see was his head looking my way. About this time I felt that the little breeze that there was seemed to be hitting me in the back of the neck! Oh, OH!!! His head disappeared and I kept on squeaking. At about the 21 minute mark I heard my partner's rifle go off! He had hit the coyote while it was standing quartering to him. The bullet went in just in front of the left front shoulder in the chest and came out half way back on the ribs on the right side. He spun and ran about 50 yards and expired.
This was the 13th coyote we had seen today--I guess you could call him old Unlucky Coyote #13!! He was a real nice looking male, only weighed 29 pounds, but had real nice color and not much damage from the shot. That is unusual for my partner's rifle. He usually tears huge holes in them. He uses 52 gr. BTHP match grade Sierra bullets in his 22-250. They have not been very fur friendly. We put our drag ropes on the coyote and dragged him back to the pickup. I took some "hero" photos and we headed back to town. I got him back to his wife at about 4:02 p.m. In the photo, I'm the guy with the Tally Ho and the Bill Austin Howler in my hands. My partner has the white cap on and I still have my ski masks pulled up off my face. The rifle with the coyote is my .17 Remington.
Here's a photo of the belly of the coyote.
Here's a photo of the back fur--really nice mane and super nice color to this one.