Labor day last week I decided I'd better get up early and hit the coyotes. I hadn't been out after them since last winter. I went to a place that has delivered in the past, a big bowl of sagebrush and CRP just outside of town in the foothills. I'm near certain that there is a den in a little draw on the far side of this bowl.
I parked above the cliffs about 1 hour before sunrise as there's no good way to drive close without everything in the bowl seeing you drop in. So I left the truck for a hike of about 1 mile, scaling down about a 12" cliff then down a steep slope and up over a couple small hills to my stand, overlooking sage and CRP. It always takes longer than you expect covering all that up and down.
I set the FoxPro out 30 yds in front of and below me, then pulled out the rangefinder and ranged a few landmarks at likely angles of approach. With my back to a thick juniper. I began calling softly with coyote pup barks and slowly raised the volume. After about 18 minutes of no response I switched to female long howls and quickly got a response from about 500 yards out in the sage at my 2:00.
I might mention that this August southern Idaho has been getting near record rainfall and the weeds and brush are much higher than usual, waist high in spots, which makes spotting game much more difficult.
The howls picked up immediately and I spotted a pair about 350 yards out in the sage brush and could hear a 3rd coyote off somewhere to my right that I couldn't spot. At this point they hung up but kept barking and howling continuously, that's when I made a mistake (I think).
I switched to the coyote challenge scream, thinking that with these dogs all worked up I could get them to charge in and hopefully get a double. But the change had the opposite effect. The dogs melted into the thick brush and shut up immediately. I thought I was cooked. I kept searching and finally saw the head of a smaller dog where she was sitting down with just her head visible above the brush. I guessed her to be about 280 yards out, so I put the reticle high on her chest and pressed the trigger- dust kicked up right behind her and she took off running straight towards me into even thicker brush and I lost sight of her. I kicked myself for a bad shot while turning down the magnification and scanning. Luckily I picked her up running off towards my left at a quick trot and my second shot hit the mark just behind her shoulder and with a satisfying THWACK she dropped out of sight.
I switched over to a kiyi and sat and watched for several minutes but never saw the other dogs in the group. A few minutes later I found the surprisingly nicely furred up female and ranged my shot at 218 yards. Sorry for the long winded novel but I just get all excited about coyotes and have to tell someone about it since the wife doesn't seem so interested.
Let's see your 2015 coyote pictures and hear the stories!
I parked above the cliffs about 1 hour before sunrise as there's no good way to drive close without everything in the bowl seeing you drop in. So I left the truck for a hike of about 1 mile, scaling down about a 12" cliff then down a steep slope and up over a couple small hills to my stand, overlooking sage and CRP. It always takes longer than you expect covering all that up and down.
I set the FoxPro out 30 yds in front of and below me, then pulled out the rangefinder and ranged a few landmarks at likely angles of approach. With my back to a thick juniper. I began calling softly with coyote pup barks and slowly raised the volume. After about 18 minutes of no response I switched to female long howls and quickly got a response from about 500 yards out in the sage at my 2:00.
I might mention that this August southern Idaho has been getting near record rainfall and the weeds and brush are much higher than usual, waist high in spots, which makes spotting game much more difficult.
The howls picked up immediately and I spotted a pair about 350 yards out in the sage brush and could hear a 3rd coyote off somewhere to my right that I couldn't spot. At this point they hung up but kept barking and howling continuously, that's when I made a mistake (I think).
I switched to the coyote challenge scream, thinking that with these dogs all worked up I could get them to charge in and hopefully get a double. But the change had the opposite effect. The dogs melted into the thick brush and shut up immediately. I thought I was cooked. I kept searching and finally saw the head of a smaller dog where she was sitting down with just her head visible above the brush. I guessed her to be about 280 yards out, so I put the reticle high on her chest and pressed the trigger- dust kicked up right behind her and she took off running straight towards me into even thicker brush and I lost sight of her. I kicked myself for a bad shot while turning down the magnification and scanning. Luckily I picked her up running off towards my left at a quick trot and my second shot hit the mark just behind her shoulder and with a satisfying THWACK she dropped out of sight.
I switched over to a kiyi and sat and watched for several minutes but never saw the other dogs in the group. A few minutes later I found the surprisingly nicely furred up female and ranged my shot at 218 yards. Sorry for the long winded novel but I just get all excited about coyotes and have to tell someone about it since the wife doesn't seem so interested.
Let's see your 2015 coyote pictures and hear the stories!
