Yotarunner
Custom Call Maker
Can't add the HOM Nomination image because the post is full of pictures, but this hunt is definitely nominated for Hunter of the Month.
This Valentine's Day was one of the local contests that I follow and contribute to and being it was Valentine's, my wife and I entered as a team. this is a brief recap. I don't have the same amount or quality of photos as usual but will show what we managed to take. Last year this hunt was conducted in frigid cold temps and snowshoes and this year we sat on dry ground and never had to even put on jackets.
Stand 1. Deadpit at the feedlot I work. Nothing.
Stand 2. Lots of distant howls. No call ins.
Stand 3. We called a cornfield surrounded by hayfields and native grass pasture that usually has lots of coyotes. 12 minutes into the stand we only had distant howls to show for it along with 2 that had busted out as we drove into the area. On the walk back to the truck the cresting sun shone off of a distant white patch and as one does I put glass on it to see that sure enough we had a coyote way off in the distance. We hit the deck and I blew some mournful wails on one of my closed reed handcalls and il be damned if he didn't start coming!
What turned out to be 2 coyotes charged in as I frantically blew my call and tried to figure out how we were going to kill these dogs in the absolute wrong position. They dove down a deep Coulee and now we had to wait and see where they would emerge. Morgan held her gun on the downwind while I knelt holding mine at Port arms as they would be emerging within 100 yards in tall grass. We waited... And waited... I blew pup distress... We waited some more. Finally my impatience won out and I crouch ran to the edge of the hill and sure enough they stopped on the fence line and were milling about like they knew something was up. The female saw me fighting to get a shot above the grass but the male hesitated and with only one bipod leg balanced on my boot I took the 150 yard shot and was rewarded with a hard WHUMP! The shot was a ways back and unzipped him pretty good but after a brief search he was recovered.
Stand 4. Called where we heard the howls on the last stand and called a pair in but swirling winds cut them short. Ran to another hill edge to catch them leaving. Made a guess at the range and what I guessed to be 350 turned out to be 250 and the bullet sailed over.
Stand 5. Blank.
Stand 6. Morgan stayed in the truck this stand to warm her hands and do her daily social media posts for her business.
This stand had the view of a vast open pasture. I opened up with baby bunny distress on one of my meatbawl handcalls. Not even through the calling sequence 2 coyotes busted out over a dugout bank and started sprinting in as pretty as can be. At 75 yards I sat up and anchored the lead female. Predictably the male hit the afterburners and as tempting as it was to keep sending rounds I waited and keyed TT den raid on the FoxPro. Sure enough at 700 yards he stopped and looked back for his mate. Slowly he began to come back and i keyed on TT Intensity which convinced him to come back. At 230 yards the coyote popped up on a hill to look for the massive fight. As the trigger broke my crosshairs wobbled ever so slightly to the right and the bullet cut hair on his right side and he was gone.
Stand 7.
With no good pictures from this stand il add a map to show the setup. Red dots is where we sat against the standing cornfield and black is the caller.
On this stand we sat straddling either side of a fence. Morgan looked into the cut hayfield and I looked down the edge of a standing cornfield.
Opening once again with distress on the meatbawl it was less than a minute before Morgan spotted a coyote on the edge of the bush in the hayfield. Since her shooting practice has been minimal she wasn't confident in the 300 yard shot so as soon as she finished telling me to take the shot I heard rustling to my right. Putting down my rifle and grabbing the shotgun in my lap I turned to see a coyotes face not 20 yards away staring me down through the corn. With the hard right angle my body couldn't turn fast enough so switching to left handed I put the bead on its chest and a swarm of hevi shot slammed him down.
Not needing anymore getting that close I switched to Mrs MCcottontail on the FoxPro and as I was finishing explaining what just happened to Morgan who had been expecting a rifle shot she exclaimed "oh $#(@ right there!!!" Sure enough trotting down the fence line was another pair of coyotes. After a hurried conversation about who's shooting and if we should double tap them she exclaimed "no time just shoot!" At this point 50 yards from the caller they had stopped. Just as I drew a bead on the right coyote there was an earth shattering KABOOOM as Morgan's 20inch 22-250 went off right beside me. turns out I had sat too far forward for that angle and the muzzle blast of her rifle rung my bell pretty good. With both coyotes running off I keyed pup dist 3 as I worked my jaw and rubbed my ears. Thoroughly flustered with the intensity of the stand and mad at herself for missing Morgan wasn't prepared for the 5th coyote that popped out into the hayfield. She asked me to shoot but with grass in my field of view I had no shot. Kaboom! Coyote number 5 took off running.
After a brief discussion we decided there is no dog hogs in a contest and if I shot every one from now on that was fine by her. She would watch downwind and leave the rest to me.
Stand 8. Called in two from opposite directions with the meatbawl and at 75 yards the coyote was saved from death by a stick in front of his vitals. 2nd coyote disappeared.
Stand 9. At the 10 min mark a coyote showed his face over a hill edge and for some unknown reason I just flat out missed the front on head and neck shot. It was on the way back from this stand that I discovered I had blown a tire on my feet and my poor old work boots had chosen this point to give up the ghost. Finished the rest of the day like this.
Stand 10 blank.
Stand 11. Blank
Bonus. In between stands we spied a coyote in a friend's pasture. We turned down his long driveway and bailed out, after running to the fence and bracing against a fence post I made a miraculous 250 yard running shot for a nice bonus coyote.
Stand 12. The wind had picked up now and Morgan's poor hands were ice so she elected to stay back in the truck to warm up for the better stands coming up.
This stand I had little hope for but with time on our hands and knowing the area I took the gamble. Red is me black is the caller.
Sitting on the side of the dead end oil lease road. I faced north with the hope that I could get a coyote to poke its head out the cutline along the edge of the fence in time for a shot.
Once again blowing the meatbawl I put the call down to scan and by chance caught something far to my left. Standing on the bank not 20 yards away stood a coyote with his head cocked to the side. Quick before he could determine that I was not in fact a baby bunny in peril, I snapped up the browning Maxus and filled him with 1 5/8 oz of hevi shot. He just about won us the title of mangiest coyote.
Stand 13. For the last 2 weeks I had been in and out of this area for work and had seen coyotes constantly in and out of the cornfields, so I was excited. We sat on the edge of a large rock pile as the wind howled in our faces. Ran through meatbawl distress and was onto distress on the FoxPro when 100 yards ahead of me a fluffy ghost like apparition appeared. With a fence post in the way and the coyote looking unsure of the situation I wasted no time in leaning over and sending a 50 gr vmax past the post into the chest with a WHUMP
This was a beautiful big male so we took a bit extra time for pictures.
Stand 14. Wind was howling. No takers.
Leaving stand 14 we had parked on a low spot of the trail that was covered in sheet ice. I had parked to the side to allow Morgan to step out onto the dry ground. Well when I went to drive away the wheels spun and the truck broke free and slid backwards down the hill into the steep ditch.
Luckily I was close to work and one of the office girls was around to bring her dodge and a tow strap.
Stand 15. Had us starting to rush to get the last few stands in. We rolled through distress and as TTden raid echoed across the lake we were answered by a very pissed off coyote. She came barking and yipping all the way in but cut down to the bottom of the hill upon which we sat. Predictably at 100 yards she skylined us and took off. She ran back behind the hills and kept chirping and yelling. knowing the call wasn't going to bring her back I sprinted 200 yards to the next hill. Catching my breath I managed to wrangle my dancing crosshairs long enough to make the 180 yard shot. KerWHACK she dropped fast as the descending sun highlighted the wafting tendrils of fur, evidence of a high shoulder shot. Morgan went for the truck as I rushed down the hill to finish off the coyote I could see shaking the grass down below. Alas when I got there she had crawled unseen into a nasty patch of hawthorn and try as I might I couldn't find anything besides the tendrils of fur.
This photo is not from this day but exact same location and time of day to help paint the picture.
Stand 16. With the descending sun the wind now had a sharp bite to it so with no time to spare we rattled through sounds on the FoxPro. At 10 minutes a face appeared over the hill edge and in my rush to get the dog down he saw movement and left. Pissed at my idiocy for moving so fast Morgan spotted it between the hills. Back on the gun the shot broke and BOOM...what the... I missed? BOOM! Morgan took the running shot yet the lucky bugger made it out alive. I still don't know what I did to miss. Il blame the wind.
Stand 17. Not much time left Morgan dropped me off and I sprinted up the hill and ran through sounds for 10 min with no luck.
Stopped at the other ranch I work at just in case there was anything at the deadpit but no luck. Snapped a few pics and on to check-in. Sadly didn't place but had a pile of fun anyways.
This Valentine's Day was one of the local contests that I follow and contribute to and being it was Valentine's, my wife and I entered as a team. this is a brief recap. I don't have the same amount or quality of photos as usual but will show what we managed to take. Last year this hunt was conducted in frigid cold temps and snowshoes and this year we sat on dry ground and never had to even put on jackets.
Stand 1. Deadpit at the feedlot I work. Nothing.
Stand 2. Lots of distant howls. No call ins.
Stand 3. We called a cornfield surrounded by hayfields and native grass pasture that usually has lots of coyotes. 12 minutes into the stand we only had distant howls to show for it along with 2 that had busted out as we drove into the area. On the walk back to the truck the cresting sun shone off of a distant white patch and as one does I put glass on it to see that sure enough we had a coyote way off in the distance. We hit the deck and I blew some mournful wails on one of my closed reed handcalls and il be damned if he didn't start coming!
What turned out to be 2 coyotes charged in as I frantically blew my call and tried to figure out how we were going to kill these dogs in the absolute wrong position. They dove down a deep Coulee and now we had to wait and see where they would emerge. Morgan held her gun on the downwind while I knelt holding mine at Port arms as they would be emerging within 100 yards in tall grass. We waited... And waited... I blew pup distress... We waited some more. Finally my impatience won out and I crouch ran to the edge of the hill and sure enough they stopped on the fence line and were milling about like they knew something was up. The female saw me fighting to get a shot above the grass but the male hesitated and with only one bipod leg balanced on my boot I took the 150 yard shot and was rewarded with a hard WHUMP! The shot was a ways back and unzipped him pretty good but after a brief search he was recovered.
Stand 4. Called where we heard the howls on the last stand and called a pair in but swirling winds cut them short. Ran to another hill edge to catch them leaving. Made a guess at the range and what I guessed to be 350 turned out to be 250 and the bullet sailed over.
Stand 5. Blank.
Stand 6. Morgan stayed in the truck this stand to warm her hands and do her daily social media posts for her business.
This stand had the view of a vast open pasture. I opened up with baby bunny distress on one of my meatbawl handcalls. Not even through the calling sequence 2 coyotes busted out over a dugout bank and started sprinting in as pretty as can be. At 75 yards I sat up and anchored the lead female. Predictably the male hit the afterburners and as tempting as it was to keep sending rounds I waited and keyed TT den raid on the FoxPro. Sure enough at 700 yards he stopped and looked back for his mate. Slowly he began to come back and i keyed on TT Intensity which convinced him to come back. At 230 yards the coyote popped up on a hill to look for the massive fight. As the trigger broke my crosshairs wobbled ever so slightly to the right and the bullet cut hair on his right side and he was gone.
Stand 7.
With no good pictures from this stand il add a map to show the setup. Red dots is where we sat against the standing cornfield and black is the caller.
On this stand we sat straddling either side of a fence. Morgan looked into the cut hayfield and I looked down the edge of a standing cornfield.
Opening once again with distress on the meatbawl it was less than a minute before Morgan spotted a coyote on the edge of the bush in the hayfield. Since her shooting practice has been minimal she wasn't confident in the 300 yard shot so as soon as she finished telling me to take the shot I heard rustling to my right. Putting down my rifle and grabbing the shotgun in my lap I turned to see a coyotes face not 20 yards away staring me down through the corn. With the hard right angle my body couldn't turn fast enough so switching to left handed I put the bead on its chest and a swarm of hevi shot slammed him down.
Not needing anymore getting that close I switched to Mrs MCcottontail on the FoxPro and as I was finishing explaining what just happened to Morgan who had been expecting a rifle shot she exclaimed "oh $#(@ right there!!!" Sure enough trotting down the fence line was another pair of coyotes. After a hurried conversation about who's shooting and if we should double tap them she exclaimed "no time just shoot!" At this point 50 yards from the caller they had stopped. Just as I drew a bead on the right coyote there was an earth shattering KABOOOM as Morgan's 20inch 22-250 went off right beside me. turns out I had sat too far forward for that angle and the muzzle blast of her rifle rung my bell pretty good. With both coyotes running off I keyed pup dist 3 as I worked my jaw and rubbed my ears. Thoroughly flustered with the intensity of the stand and mad at herself for missing Morgan wasn't prepared for the 5th coyote that popped out into the hayfield. She asked me to shoot but with grass in my field of view I had no shot. Kaboom! Coyote number 5 took off running.
After a brief discussion we decided there is no dog hogs in a contest and if I shot every one from now on that was fine by her. She would watch downwind and leave the rest to me.
Stand 8. Called in two from opposite directions with the meatbawl and at 75 yards the coyote was saved from death by a stick in front of his vitals. 2nd coyote disappeared.
Stand 9. At the 10 min mark a coyote showed his face over a hill edge and for some unknown reason I just flat out missed the front on head and neck shot. It was on the way back from this stand that I discovered I had blown a tire on my feet and my poor old work boots had chosen this point to give up the ghost. Finished the rest of the day like this.
Stand 10 blank.
Stand 11. Blank
Bonus. In between stands we spied a coyote in a friend's pasture. We turned down his long driveway and bailed out, after running to the fence and bracing against a fence post I made a miraculous 250 yard running shot for a nice bonus coyote.
Stand 12. The wind had picked up now and Morgan's poor hands were ice so she elected to stay back in the truck to warm up for the better stands coming up.
This stand I had little hope for but with time on our hands and knowing the area I took the gamble. Red is me black is the caller.
Sitting on the side of the dead end oil lease road. I faced north with the hope that I could get a coyote to poke its head out the cutline along the edge of the fence in time for a shot.
Once again blowing the meatbawl I put the call down to scan and by chance caught something far to my left. Standing on the bank not 20 yards away stood a coyote with his head cocked to the side. Quick before he could determine that I was not in fact a baby bunny in peril, I snapped up the browning Maxus and filled him with 1 5/8 oz of hevi shot. He just about won us the title of mangiest coyote.
Stand 13. For the last 2 weeks I had been in and out of this area for work and had seen coyotes constantly in and out of the cornfields, so I was excited. We sat on the edge of a large rock pile as the wind howled in our faces. Ran through meatbawl distress and was onto distress on the FoxPro when 100 yards ahead of me a fluffy ghost like apparition appeared. With a fence post in the way and the coyote looking unsure of the situation I wasted no time in leaning over and sending a 50 gr vmax past the post into the chest with a WHUMP
This was a beautiful big male so we took a bit extra time for pictures.
Stand 14. Wind was howling. No takers.
Leaving stand 14 we had parked on a low spot of the trail that was covered in sheet ice. I had parked to the side to allow Morgan to step out onto the dry ground. Well when I went to drive away the wheels spun and the truck broke free and slid backwards down the hill into the steep ditch.
Luckily I was close to work and one of the office girls was around to bring her dodge and a tow strap.
Stand 15. Had us starting to rush to get the last few stands in. We rolled through distress and as TTden raid echoed across the lake we were answered by a very pissed off coyote. She came barking and yipping all the way in but cut down to the bottom of the hill upon which we sat. Predictably at 100 yards she skylined us and took off. She ran back behind the hills and kept chirping and yelling. knowing the call wasn't going to bring her back I sprinted 200 yards to the next hill. Catching my breath I managed to wrangle my dancing crosshairs long enough to make the 180 yard shot. KerWHACK she dropped fast as the descending sun highlighted the wafting tendrils of fur, evidence of a high shoulder shot. Morgan went for the truck as I rushed down the hill to finish off the coyote I could see shaking the grass down below. Alas when I got there she had crawled unseen into a nasty patch of hawthorn and try as I might I couldn't find anything besides the tendrils of fur.
This photo is not from this day but exact same location and time of day to help paint the picture.
Stand 16. With the descending sun the wind now had a sharp bite to it so with no time to spare we rattled through sounds on the FoxPro. At 10 minutes a face appeared over the hill edge and in my rush to get the dog down he saw movement and left. Pissed at my idiocy for moving so fast Morgan spotted it between the hills. Back on the gun the shot broke and BOOM...what the... I missed? BOOM! Morgan took the running shot yet the lucky bugger made it out alive. I still don't know what I did to miss. Il blame the wind.
Stand 17. Not much time left Morgan dropped me off and I sprinted up the hill and ran through sounds for 10 min with no luck.
Stopped at the other ranch I work at just in case there was anything at the deadpit but no luck. Snapped a few pics and on to check-in. Sadly didn't place but had a pile of fun anyways.
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