Airedale56
Member
DoubleCK hollered at me and was in Laramie with Spud's sister Tucker from the (Stryker/Sage-Dasher's) litter after Spud's. She's 9 months old and the image of their Daddy, dark-brindle, while Spud is red-brindle colored like their momma and 16 months old.
I picked him and Tucker up in Laramie at daybreak and headed out of town into the winter wonderland. Albany County had about 10" of snow so we headed toward Platte County between Wheatland and Laramie. Called a rancher buddy and he said to come on in.
While on the way we saw this bighorn sheep ewe
and this mule deer buck
Got to the ranch and set up on our first stand. Double CK used his e-caller to really get 3 different groups to howl back. Waited a while for something to show up. Spud and Tucker played around a lot chasing each other. Purdy sat it out by me as usual.
Moved toward one of the packs and got into position overlooking a creek bottom in a canyon. Worked into their territory. Sun at our backs, breeze in our face, we sat under some trees in the shade for camo. Had one large pine between me and and an unobstructed view of the far side of the canyon.
I used a Psycho Tweety call to send some high-pitched distress calls and sat back to watch the response. Spud and Tucker were doing their thing exploring below us. Purdy was sitting just in front of me and DoubleCK. One little call was all....
I was examining the far side of the canyon and saw a gyp coyote standing about 500 yards out looking at the dogs. I told DoubleCK about her, but he couldn't see her because the pine tree blocked his view.
I wondered where the rest of her pack was and figured she was hanging back. I lowered my binocs to tell DoubleCK to watch for incoming coyotes, glanced below me and to my left just in time to see FIVE (!) coyotes come boiling out of a draw and surround Spud.
HOLY SMOKES! he looked like Colonel Custer on a little knob surrounded by advancing coyoes out for his scalp! They fanned out and surrounded him, tails held high, ears back and closing. Tucker was not in sight. I think she was above and behind Spud.
The regal dog-king, Spud, stood his ground; swole up with hair on end and ready to do battle. His Destiny was to vanquish his foe. Bared teeth, dripping with venomous hatred for the interloper in their territory, the five stalked ever closer. Their god had sent them a victim to be sacrificed on the sacred knob... ever closer the five... (edited for drama, just watched "300" again)
It looked like Spud was gonna take a wuppin' or even be a goner. We, the vanguard of Spud's army must act without delay!(Okay, "300" mode off) DoubleCK was on my right and swung toward them. I told him to hold up and dragged Purdy out of his line-of-fire.
His Ruger .223 spoke and he hammered the one that was nose-to-nose with Spud. The coyote collapsed at the shot and the other 4 were headed back to the creek bottom at Mach 1. I swear Spud cast a grateful glance up our way.
I barked and one stopped, showing me his right side. I centered the reticle of my Leupold Vari-X III 4.5-14x40 Tactical Mil-dot on my 700VS carbine .223 on his shoulder. The Hornady 55V-max sped toward its mark and impacted behind the shoulder. He went down, looked like an instant kill, but he layed there and Ki-Yi'ed for about 5 seconds.
Meanwhile the other three headed off to an important meeting they had forgotten about. We waited about a half an hour, expecting them to show up to look for their brothers, but they never returned.
Spud and Tucker came up to us, relief on his face. The first coyote down was flagging his tail. Spud went down to investigate and Purdy went with him. They played tug of war and shake the coyote. We walked down and got Tucker to get involved. DoubleCK shook the coyote and encouraged her to grab hold and she did! She did a great job.
I got Purdy and Spud to go with me, cast them downwind of the coyote I shot, told them to find that coyote. Spud was ahead and as soon as he hit the scent he turned left and burned straight in, grabbing the chest and crunching down hard. Purdy of course had to take it away from him. She gets a bit possessive of coyotes.
We posed our coyotes and the dogs and took some hero shots to share with you guys. DoubleCK will post some more when he gets home.
Hope you enjoy these. First time out with DoubleCK. Great guy to hunt with!
Tucker, Spud and Purdy
I picked him and Tucker up in Laramie at daybreak and headed out of town into the winter wonderland. Albany County had about 10" of snow so we headed toward Platte County between Wheatland and Laramie. Called a rancher buddy and he said to come on in.
While on the way we saw this bighorn sheep ewe
and this mule deer buck
Got to the ranch and set up on our first stand. Double CK used his e-caller to really get 3 different groups to howl back. Waited a while for something to show up. Spud and Tucker played around a lot chasing each other. Purdy sat it out by me as usual.
Moved toward one of the packs and got into position overlooking a creek bottom in a canyon. Worked into their territory. Sun at our backs, breeze in our face, we sat under some trees in the shade for camo. Had one large pine between me and and an unobstructed view of the far side of the canyon.
I used a Psycho Tweety call to send some high-pitched distress calls and sat back to watch the response. Spud and Tucker were doing their thing exploring below us. Purdy was sitting just in front of me and DoubleCK. One little call was all....
I was examining the far side of the canyon and saw a gyp coyote standing about 500 yards out looking at the dogs. I told DoubleCK about her, but he couldn't see her because the pine tree blocked his view.
I wondered where the rest of her pack was and figured she was hanging back. I lowered my binocs to tell DoubleCK to watch for incoming coyotes, glanced below me and to my left just in time to see FIVE (!) coyotes come boiling out of a draw and surround Spud.
HOLY SMOKES! he looked like Colonel Custer on a little knob surrounded by advancing coyoes out for his scalp! They fanned out and surrounded him, tails held high, ears back and closing. Tucker was not in sight. I think she was above and behind Spud.
The regal dog-king, Spud, stood his ground; swole up with hair on end and ready to do battle. His Destiny was to vanquish his foe. Bared teeth, dripping with venomous hatred for the interloper in their territory, the five stalked ever closer. Their god had sent them a victim to be sacrificed on the sacred knob... ever closer the five... (edited for drama, just watched "300" again)
It looked like Spud was gonna take a wuppin' or even be a goner. We, the vanguard of Spud's army must act without delay!(Okay, "300" mode off) DoubleCK was on my right and swung toward them. I told him to hold up and dragged Purdy out of his line-of-fire.
His Ruger .223 spoke and he hammered the one that was nose-to-nose with Spud. The coyote collapsed at the shot and the other 4 were headed back to the creek bottom at Mach 1. I swear Spud cast a grateful glance up our way.
I barked and one stopped, showing me his right side. I centered the reticle of my Leupold Vari-X III 4.5-14x40 Tactical Mil-dot on my 700VS carbine .223 on his shoulder. The Hornady 55V-max sped toward its mark and impacted behind the shoulder. He went down, looked like an instant kill, but he layed there and Ki-Yi'ed for about 5 seconds.
Meanwhile the other three headed off to an important meeting they had forgotten about. We waited about a half an hour, expecting them to show up to look for their brothers, but they never returned.
Spud and Tucker came up to us, relief on his face. The first coyote down was flagging his tail. Spud went down to investigate and Purdy went with him. They played tug of war and shake the coyote. We walked down and got Tucker to get involved. DoubleCK shook the coyote and encouraged her to grab hold and she did! She did a great job.
I got Purdy and Spud to go with me, cast them downwind of the coyote I shot, told them to find that coyote. Spud was ahead and as soon as he hit the scent he turned left and burned straight in, grabbing the chest and crunching down hard. Purdy of course had to take it away from him. She gets a bit possessive of coyotes.
We posed our coyotes and the dogs and took some hero shots to share with you guys. DoubleCK will post some more when he gets home.
Hope you enjoy these. First time out with DoubleCK. Great guy to hunt with!
Tucker, Spud and Purdy
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