So I went to the meat cutters to pick up my Moose pepperoni and decided to take the long way home and find a place to try and call in some Coyotes.
I get to the road I want to go in and when I see it I am not sure how far I will make it as it hasn't had a lot of traffic on it in some time. I get the truck in about 1K and I'm not going any farther, I'm right at the end of the open area and the truck is out in the open but up against a cattle corral and the light is starting to fade so it's not sticking out like a sore thumb but not as hidden as I would like it to be.
I don't expect results anyway so I walk into the treed area at the end of the field, find some downed trees (kind of a natural blind) and sit my arse down. I grab the howler and let out a few greeting howls. *Crickets* Hmmmmmm....here we go again.
I wait a minute and decide it can't hurt to throw a few rabbit distress calls out, well holy crap. 6-700yds out into the trees at the top of the knoll, all hell breaks loose. Yip, yip, yip, yip, Hoooooooowwwll......yip, yip, yip, yip, howwwwllll. I'm getting challenge barks. Well my heart starts beating, adrenaline starts running.
I let out another distress call along with a few yelps shortly after. I missed the movement but I look up on the knoll (550ish yards out) and I see something that wasn't there before. I grab my bino's and sure enough there are 2 Coyotes on the hill, I look closer and there is another one off to the right in the scrub. 3 Coyote's......Heart starts trying to pound out of my chest now.......you would think I had a 190 class Buck in my sights I was so excited.
Not sure if they saw me moving or the fact that they could see my truck but they just held up on the hill, not moving. I lip squeaked as loud as I could and nothing, grabbed my cottontail call and gave a few distress calls on it. They moved some but held up again. I am wishing at this time that my Foxpro had showed up as I keep having to back and forth from bino's to calls making movements all the while. So I grab the open reed and give a few pup yelps, they move a few yards but hold up again. A few more yelps and the one on the right starts making his way toward me at a pretty good pace.
I get the rifle up, and give some loud lip squeaks. He starts in on me, goes down into the valley between us, I can't see him anymore. A few more loud lip squeaks and I see him come up over the hill. Of course 2 things are wrong here. 1. He's coming straight at me but from where I am sitting there is a branch in the scope with several small "branchlettes" off it blurring my sight picture and I know these are right in my line of fire. 2. I had left my rangefinder in the truck, so I have NO IDEA how far he is away.
He's getting closer and closer and then stops dead (He's at my 1-oclock). In the distance (off to my 10-o-clock) I hear a snowmobile, he hears the same thing and starts to head back toward where he came from. I think to myself it's now or never and even with the branches in my sight I line up as best I could on him and let one go, he turns and runs off. I load another one and take a running shot on him. He disappears down one of the small valley's and I can't see him anymore. I take one more shot, this time at one of the dog's on top of the hill that are making their way back into the bush. I give a 3ft holdover and let one more go but no connection.
I go back to the truck, grab my rangefinder and head out to where the close coyote was when I shot at him, I look around and not a drop of blood....clean miss. I range to where I was sitting and it's 147yds.
Best guess is the bullet hit one of the branches as it should have been an easy shot at that distance.
Anyway, now that I know where they are, would it be a good idea to go back out tomorrow morning or will they be wary of my calls now? Maybe let things cool down and head out there next weekend once I have the Foxpro in my hands?
I get to the road I want to go in and when I see it I am not sure how far I will make it as it hasn't had a lot of traffic on it in some time. I get the truck in about 1K and I'm not going any farther, I'm right at the end of the open area and the truck is out in the open but up against a cattle corral and the light is starting to fade so it's not sticking out like a sore thumb but not as hidden as I would like it to be.
I don't expect results anyway so I walk into the treed area at the end of the field, find some downed trees (kind of a natural blind) and sit my arse down. I grab the howler and let out a few greeting howls. *Crickets* Hmmmmmm....here we go again.
I wait a minute and decide it can't hurt to throw a few rabbit distress calls out, well holy crap. 6-700yds out into the trees at the top of the knoll, all hell breaks loose. Yip, yip, yip, yip, Hoooooooowwwll......yip, yip, yip, yip, howwwwllll. I'm getting challenge barks. Well my heart starts beating, adrenaline starts running.
I let out another distress call along with a few yelps shortly after. I missed the movement but I look up on the knoll (550ish yards out) and I see something that wasn't there before. I grab my bino's and sure enough there are 2 Coyotes on the hill, I look closer and there is another one off to the right in the scrub. 3 Coyote's......Heart starts trying to pound out of my chest now.......you would think I had a 190 class Buck in my sights I was so excited.
Not sure if they saw me moving or the fact that they could see my truck but they just held up on the hill, not moving. I lip squeaked as loud as I could and nothing, grabbed my cottontail call and gave a few distress calls on it. They moved some but held up again. I am wishing at this time that my Foxpro had showed up as I keep having to back and forth from bino's to calls making movements all the while. So I grab the open reed and give a few pup yelps, they move a few yards but hold up again. A few more yelps and the one on the right starts making his way toward me at a pretty good pace.
I get the rifle up, and give some loud lip squeaks. He starts in on me, goes down into the valley between us, I can't see him anymore. A few more loud lip squeaks and I see him come up over the hill. Of course 2 things are wrong here. 1. He's coming straight at me but from where I am sitting there is a branch in the scope with several small "branchlettes" off it blurring my sight picture and I know these are right in my line of fire. 2. I had left my rangefinder in the truck, so I have NO IDEA how far he is away.
He's getting closer and closer and then stops dead (He's at my 1-oclock). In the distance (off to my 10-o-clock) I hear a snowmobile, he hears the same thing and starts to head back toward where he came from. I think to myself it's now or never and even with the branches in my sight I line up as best I could on him and let one go, he turns and runs off. I load another one and take a running shot on him. He disappears down one of the small valley's and I can't see him anymore. I take one more shot, this time at one of the dog's on top of the hill that are making their way back into the bush. I give a 3ft holdover and let one more go but no connection.
I go back to the truck, grab my rangefinder and head out to where the close coyote was when I shot at him, I look around and not a drop of blood....clean miss. I range to where I was sitting and it's 147yds.
Best guess is the bullet hit one of the branches as it should have been an easy shot at that distance.
Anyway, now that I know where they are, would it be a good idea to go back out tomorrow morning or will they be wary of my calls now? Maybe let things cool down and head out there next weekend once I have the Foxpro in my hands?
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