Ramblings and Such From Hunting Coyote

From what I have experienced often she will stay in that area if she is heavy with pups. I have seen them pick up another helper sometimes a male but often a younger female that isn't bred in my area. once or twice, they moved to another area if it was a younger female and was heavy with pups getting with another pair. Most of the time when I had that happen to me, I went back the following morning and just gave one long lone howl and waited for a minute for a response, she most times would get on a high place and answer back, but I also took the male with me when I left so she or if I killed the female, I took her, they couldn't find it. being a handheld howler, I had the option of using a male or a female howl. After waiting and not getting an answer I just did the interrogation howls (two regular length howls two quick barks and one regular length howl) wait for up to a minute and repeat if they didn't reply and do it for maybe 20 minutes watching to see if they came up on a high place to watch or ran in toward me. So many times, if she is still there and by herself now, she will set and watch you from a distance after one long lone howl. But from the sound of it you have a lot of coyotes in your area, so they are moving around and talking with each other a lot, so chances are good she has a helper.
 
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My wife and I took a little trip today. We have had some good warm days although they have been windy. The snow drifts have been melting and I see some green grass that was sprouting under them and I'm sure ready to see it. I haven't seen any blue birds or meadow larks as of this time but then I haven't been south of here for a while. I have the rifle cleaned and a good scope on it, if the wind lays down, I will have it sighted in tomorrow. We are still getting winds running a pretty steady 20 mph with gusts up to 60 mph a lot of high wind warnings and some road closures to high profile and light weight vehicles. It switched from the west to coming out of the north so the temperature will drop not much good for hunting coyotes with the winds even with the fronts moving in and out of the area. I am hopeful that everyone is having good hunting and weather.
 
It's March! Blustery and stormy. We just had another storm blow through. The day before the storm, I watched three coyotes on an open ridge about five miles from our house. They spent the entire day out in the open, sleeping and mousing in the full force of the 20-35 mph winds. It was about 40* and sunny. It would be quite an expedition to get to them with the snow, but I might have to try it. The next three days look to be good coyote hunting weather—very little wind.
 
We too are getting our spring showers I have been watching the snow snakes slithering around. It was supposed to not be very windy here today and they were right it's only been blowing at 15 mph average. I have learned so much from watching the coyotes do what they do without them knowing I was around. Knowledge gained from them is invaluable they may not know that they are the best teachers but for me they were. I don't know where else I could have learned so much about them. Yes, there is a ton of study materials out there when you figure out where to look for it so much was done in the 60's and 70's by some good biologists and is still being done today. I even read some studies that were done in the 1800's and early 1900's the old government trappers did a lot and reading some of their monthly reports yielded some interesting observations about more than just coyotes. One of the government guys in Wyoming was breeding coydogs in the 1920's that he used for hunting coyotes. So much has changed in our world in just the last 50 years or even in the last 25 years but the coyote still is a master of survival. Today we have some fine rifles, scopes, rangefinders, bullets and even loaded ammo that are readily available to most of us that even in the 70's and 80's weren't out there for the average shooter or hunter. My grandson has a gun safe full of grandpa's older rifles and pistols while grandpa has a few newer ones and a few specialty build ones that he still likes to play with. Stay warm dry and safe.
 
I went shopping the other day they had a Ruger American Predator for 120.00 less than suggested retail price. The price of ammo was unreal averaging over 2.00 a round and they only had one bullet weight. Loading components also were sky high. I'm sure glad that I don't need much in the way of shooting supplies my ammo is all sealed the way that the military does and kept at an even temperature in the 70's with lower humidity, that's not hard where I live, we normally don't have very high humidity, any of my powders and primers are kept in the same manor they will break down with time. I had a guy telling me about how he had loaded some rounds using the same bullets brass primers and powder as he did two years before. His first round ruptured in the chamber luckily, he wasn't hurt. His rifle was so he didn't get to use it for his hunt. I asked him what the powder looked like was it kind of rusty colored? He said he hadn't paid any attention, latter he said that it was how did I know it would be? Because it was breaking down he didn't keep it in a controlled atmosphere. I see a lot of people that can't help themselves they have to shake the can of powder when they pick it up the powder is coated with graphite as a way to control the burn rate according to the person at Hodgdon when I called to ask them about burn rates and powder breaking down with time. He told me that people will throw a box of ammo in the dash of the truck and just leave it there in the sun then all winter getting cold then hot and vibrating letting the granules of powder rub on each other rubbing the coating off of them thus destabilizing the burn rate and causing the powder to break down in the cartridge. I have seen this and then people would say well that ammo from so and so isn't very accurate. I shot at a coyote this morning just down the road from my house and missed it then I shot at a fox around noon and blew it to pieces. The ammo was below zero in the morning and by noon it was ready to cook off from lying next to the defroster vent all morning, or it had been riding around in the truck for over a year rattling around in the magazine in the gun rack, there shouldn't be a problem with that should there? I've seen where I got in my truck at 4500 feet elevation in the morning went and sighted my rifle at the range at 60 degrees F then drove up on the mountain to 9000 feet elevation and 90 degrees by afternoon and had an impact shift of a couple of inches. Temperature, air density, humidity all changed during the day and the change in altitude all play a role in it. So many people think about this kind of thing but yet so many people don't simply because they really aren't exposed to it by where they live. People will get the chance to come to the mountainous states for a hunting trip from lower altitudes it's just one more thing to be considered the change in altitude affects more than just the sight in in their rifles it affects their bodied as well, I'm tired, I walked 5 miles a day at home, but it wears me out to walk a mile here I only climbed that hill over there oh the O2 level is 19-20 percent here now I understand it now. It's just kind of fun to think about things like this.
 
Back in the coyote classroom this morning. I was hunting the foothills about a mile from a calving pasture. Some WT deer on alert with their tails straight out said "coyote" in the draw below them. I hiked up to an adjacent ridge and set up. Rabbit and woodpecker distress calls didn't get any response, so I turned on the female howl and let it play for about a minute. Howling coyotes interrupted me and I spotted them on the end of the ridge across from me at 285 yards. I shot the most visible one (female), and then hit the coyote fight button and waited. After probably a minute or so, the male popped up on the ridge at 235 yards and I got him. I'm amazed how effective that call is!
3-18coy1.JPG


Then I hiked a high ridge peaking into the territory of the yote I had missed twice and succeeded in getting him this time at 500 yards. A good morning!
3-18coy2.JPG
 
I love your classroom! I hunt areas like it here. What is your elevation 7000 feet or so? Can you describe the female coyote sounds that you are playing? Are they mostly howls with very few barks or do they have some wounded coyote squalls.
Yeah, I love my classroom too! The foothills here are about 4800 feet, not the high plains like in Wyoming. The female howl on my caller is just long howls. The coyote fight is continuous yips and yelps, and hurting sounds. I hit a coyote with a low heart shot the other day and it made similar sounds before it died.
 
The longer lone howls are what I talk about doing at the first when you get to a stand. The yips and screams are the ones that I talk about as being a wounded or injured coyote sound and being used after making a shot on a coyote out of a pair or triple to get the other or others to stop and come back. Those sounds are what I like to use till late May or early June and starting around January when I quit using rabbit and bird sounds changing to coyote vocalizations. As the coyote start to have their pups you will probably notice them not talking back to them for a while, but you will likely hear them using some lone howls to get together. It doesn't matter how many years you hunt them it's a challenge and an art to get them to respond changing with the seasons.
 
Windpants
What a great job of hunting and shooting.
You bring out the best of that Wheeler rifle.
Eric Cortina did a interview with Alex Wheeler.
It is a long interview PACKED full of the latest up to date info.
It was posted on the accurate shooter forum,it's probably on utube also.
Alex freely shares what it takes to build a world record breaking rifle.
Keep posting your coyote hunting stories.

Hal
 
Windpants
What a great job of hunting and shooting.
You bring out the best of that Wheeler rifle.
Eric Cortina did a interview with Alex Wheeler.
It is a long interview PACKED full of the latest up to date info.
It was posted on the accurate shooter forum,it's probably on utube also.
Alex freely shares what it takes to build a world record breaking rifle.
Keep posting your coyote hunting stories.

Hal
I watched that video. Alex is very generous with his time and knowledge helping others to learn. He lead me step by step through the long range load development on my first barrel to get me to shooting sub-1/4 at a 1000+ yards. Then I was able to do it on my own with this barrel. I was really interested in what he said about positive compensation, because this barrel shoots 1.5 MOA at 100 yards and sub-1/4 at 1000. Some windless morning I'd like to check that out on paper at different ranges, when I'm not busy chasing coyotes.
 
The longer lone howls are what I talk about doing at the first when you get to a stand. The yips and screams are the ones that I talk about as being a wounded or injured coyote sound and being used after making a shot on a coyote out of a pair or triple to get the other or others to stop and come back. Those sounds are what I like to use till late May or early June and starting around January when I quit using rabbit and bird sounds changing to coyote vocalizations. As the coyote start to have their pups you will probably notice them not talking back to them for a while, but you will likely hear them using some lone howls to get together. It doesn't matter how many years you hunt them it's a challenge and an art to get them to respond changing with the seasons.
Do you generally use a female howl, or male too? I've tried both with not much luck. This is the first time I've got them to come out and howl back. I've noticed that young lone males tend to get nervous and leave when I use the female howl to stop them. I dont know if they're nervous about being in another's territory, or if they've just been shot at too many times this late in the season. For a while the female howl worked great to get them to stand for a shot. It still does for pairs that I haven't missed already.
 

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