Big Sky
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I know this wasn't long range, but it rarely is with coyote calling if you do it right. It was a lot of fun though. Here is how things went down this past Saturday evening:
It was cold as in -15 degrees and I really debated going out and freezing my frozey off. However there wasn't much wind, more or less just a light breeze, and that's rare around here. I figured I better take advantage of it. So I headed out to make a quick evening hunt before the sun went down. My first stand I just didn't feel comfortable with and after Elmer Fudding around for 20 minutes, with nothing showing up I decided to relocate. I was hunting along a bluff above a creek bottom. I moved about ¾ of a mile further down the creek and set up again. On my first stand I used a rabbit distress call, but nothing seemed interested so I decided to change things up on the second stand. I started with a female invitation howl. I waited nearly two minutes and there was no response so I decided to try a long lonesome howl next. I wasn't 5 seconds into the howl when I got an immediate and angry male interrogation response. So I switched it up and gave him some of his own medicine by giving a male interrogation howl right back. Also added a couple barks for effect. He totally flipped out and sounded like he was having a complete come-apart. In the middle of his fit I also heard a female chime in and figured it must be a pair. While this was going on another coyote sounded off relatively nearby but much further to the east off the pair. Sounded like a young coyote though. The more I taunted the male the more vocal he responded. Darn near sounded like Satan himself I had him so worked up. After exchanging insults for about 3 minutes he went silent and I figured I either buggered him off or he was coming in to kick my tail. I waited a couple minutes in silence, but nothing happened so I decided to pull my ace card and throw a pup in distress at them. Man, it did the trick. Here they came across the creek bottom flat below me. They were hauling so fast they kicked up a little rooster tail of snow behind them as they ran. When I figured they were about 100 yards away and in the clear I barked with my mouth causing the lead coyote to pull up and stop broadside. The second dog was just coming up out of creek bottom a few yards behind him. I shot the lead coyote and he ran about 10 yards with his partner right at his side as he tried to return from where they had just come from. He dropped dead in mid-stride. This confused the female and she spun around and actually started running towards me. The only problem was there was a little hill between us. I thought she would come around the side of it, but instead she popped up right on top in front of me only about 30 feet away. I promptly shot right over her. (I hate it when they surprise me that close.) This motivated her and she baled off the hill and cut underneath the creek bank. I decided to pull a Les Johnson, jumped up and ran about 30 yards uphill to get the coyote back in view. When I arrived the she was doing about 200 mph across the creek bottom, quartering away from me, at 120 yards. I threw my rifle to my shoulder and dropped her with the first shot. She died in spectacular fashion looking a lot like an Evil Knievel wipe out. She must have tumbled and slid 20 feet before coming to a stop. I did a little happy dance and war whoop completely forgetting about the third coyote I had heard howl earlier. Probably scared it out of the county. Oh well, I'll give the area a rest for a couple weeks and maybe go back and get him as well. Fun times and you just have to love it when luck goes in favor of the hunter for a change.
This photo shows the creek bottom in the back ground. The coyotes came from the hills on the far side of the creek. There is a diagonal line running parallel just below the rifle barrel. They came from that draw.
It was cold as in -15 degrees and I really debated going out and freezing my frozey off. However there wasn't much wind, more or less just a light breeze, and that's rare around here. I figured I better take advantage of it. So I headed out to make a quick evening hunt before the sun went down. My first stand I just didn't feel comfortable with and after Elmer Fudding around for 20 minutes, with nothing showing up I decided to relocate. I was hunting along a bluff above a creek bottom. I moved about ¾ of a mile further down the creek and set up again. On my first stand I used a rabbit distress call, but nothing seemed interested so I decided to change things up on the second stand. I started with a female invitation howl. I waited nearly two minutes and there was no response so I decided to try a long lonesome howl next. I wasn't 5 seconds into the howl when I got an immediate and angry male interrogation response. So I switched it up and gave him some of his own medicine by giving a male interrogation howl right back. Also added a couple barks for effect. He totally flipped out and sounded like he was having a complete come-apart. In the middle of his fit I also heard a female chime in and figured it must be a pair. While this was going on another coyote sounded off relatively nearby but much further to the east off the pair. Sounded like a young coyote though. The more I taunted the male the more vocal he responded. Darn near sounded like Satan himself I had him so worked up. After exchanging insults for about 3 minutes he went silent and I figured I either buggered him off or he was coming in to kick my tail. I waited a couple minutes in silence, but nothing happened so I decided to pull my ace card and throw a pup in distress at them. Man, it did the trick. Here they came across the creek bottom flat below me. They were hauling so fast they kicked up a little rooster tail of snow behind them as they ran. When I figured they were about 100 yards away and in the clear I barked with my mouth causing the lead coyote to pull up and stop broadside. The second dog was just coming up out of creek bottom a few yards behind him. I shot the lead coyote and he ran about 10 yards with his partner right at his side as he tried to return from where they had just come from. He dropped dead in mid-stride. This confused the female and she spun around and actually started running towards me. The only problem was there was a little hill between us. I thought she would come around the side of it, but instead she popped up right on top in front of me only about 30 feet away. I promptly shot right over her. (I hate it when they surprise me that close.) This motivated her and she baled off the hill and cut underneath the creek bank. I decided to pull a Les Johnson, jumped up and ran about 30 yards uphill to get the coyote back in view. When I arrived the she was doing about 200 mph across the creek bottom, quartering away from me, at 120 yards. I threw my rifle to my shoulder and dropped her with the first shot. She died in spectacular fashion looking a lot like an Evil Knievel wipe out. She must have tumbled and slid 20 feet before coming to a stop. I did a little happy dance and war whoop completely forgetting about the third coyote I had heard howl earlier. Probably scared it out of the county. Oh well, I'll give the area a rest for a couple weeks and maybe go back and get him as well. Fun times and you just have to love it when luck goes in favor of the hunter for a change.
This photo shows the creek bottom in the back ground. The coyotes came from the hills on the far side of the creek. There is a diagonal line running parallel just below the rifle barrel. They came from that draw.
