So today, after sleeping off an unplanned hang over I decided to go out and get skunked coyote hunting for what feels like the millionth time. Seeing as I wasn't leaving the house until around noon I certainly wasn't very optimistic.
I went to my first stand which is a river that is used as a travel corridor while its frozen over. Last year I jumped a few yotes moving into my stand but I was never able to get one in that spot. Same old same old. Nothing.
I then decided to drive around a couple neighboring properties I can hunt. Maybe I'd get lucky and see something out in the open. Nope. I parked my car behind a barn and started the 7-800M walk with snow shoes on to get to my planned look out/ calling spot. It is a tall hill that is great for glassing around. I got 1 yote on it last year by more or less fluke as he was standing in the field when I pulled up so it was an easy go. I jumped another 2 while retrieving that body. They had been on the backside of the hill.
I was hoping I might catch something sleeping on the hill as it was sunny and its happened before. About 4-500M away something catches my eye, my binos are in my back pack so I took a quick look through my scope, but off hand at 500M isn't the most stable. I was pretty sure it was a yote so I re adjusted my route to ensure I put a large patch of scrub brush between myself and the dog so he couldn't see me. I had my dog with me, the farmers dog decided to come with us too. So they were running around like idiots, I was certain they would get me busted, but yelling at them would have guaranteed that. I made it to about 300M and moved up the side of the hill a bit more with my binos to confirm what I thought I saw. Sure enough a big ball of reddish fur. I thought it was maybe a reddish yote as I have never seen a fox in this area. I was able to get my dog to stay in the low ground but the farmer's dog kept following me as I crawled the last 15-20M to get to slight rise to get a shot. I knew the farmer's dog wouldn't sit still long so I had to make it quick. I got my rifle into position and settled in behind it as quickly as I could. I was looking at the animals rear end and back, not really where I wanted to shoot it. I gave a loud quick "HEY" to get it to look around. It worked, the fox quickly lifted its head to see where the noise came from. It's head came up perfectly in my cross hair, I broke the shot and it just laid it's head right back down. Before I moved into position I had ranged the tree it was sleeping under, and my planned shooting position I didn't want to be trying to range it from where I was going to shoot from, some very simple math and I have a 140M shot.
I was pretty excited to get a fox, and break my dry spell which has lasted the ENTIRE winter. Unfortunately a 105 amax from a 243AI is a little much for a fox, I don't think having it mounted is in the cards.....
I spent the rest of the day doing a few more stands and not seeing anything.
From the shooting position
You can see the fox just down and left of the little tree that's centered in the picture. (After the shot)
Where I ditched my bag, glasses and 1 of the dogs. The dog in the picture is the farmer's dog, after the shot he decided to go home pretty fast.
Don't think it's going to get stuffed.....
I went to my first stand which is a river that is used as a travel corridor while its frozen over. Last year I jumped a few yotes moving into my stand but I was never able to get one in that spot. Same old same old. Nothing.
I then decided to drive around a couple neighboring properties I can hunt. Maybe I'd get lucky and see something out in the open. Nope. I parked my car behind a barn and started the 7-800M walk with snow shoes on to get to my planned look out/ calling spot. It is a tall hill that is great for glassing around. I got 1 yote on it last year by more or less fluke as he was standing in the field when I pulled up so it was an easy go. I jumped another 2 while retrieving that body. They had been on the backside of the hill.
I was hoping I might catch something sleeping on the hill as it was sunny and its happened before. About 4-500M away something catches my eye, my binos are in my back pack so I took a quick look through my scope, but off hand at 500M isn't the most stable. I was pretty sure it was a yote so I re adjusted my route to ensure I put a large patch of scrub brush between myself and the dog so he couldn't see me. I had my dog with me, the farmers dog decided to come with us too. So they were running around like idiots, I was certain they would get me busted, but yelling at them would have guaranteed that. I made it to about 300M and moved up the side of the hill a bit more with my binos to confirm what I thought I saw. Sure enough a big ball of reddish fur. I thought it was maybe a reddish yote as I have never seen a fox in this area. I was able to get my dog to stay in the low ground but the farmer's dog kept following me as I crawled the last 15-20M to get to slight rise to get a shot. I knew the farmer's dog wouldn't sit still long so I had to make it quick. I got my rifle into position and settled in behind it as quickly as I could. I was looking at the animals rear end and back, not really where I wanted to shoot it. I gave a loud quick "HEY" to get it to look around. It worked, the fox quickly lifted its head to see where the noise came from. It's head came up perfectly in my cross hair, I broke the shot and it just laid it's head right back down. Before I moved into position I had ranged the tree it was sleeping under, and my planned shooting position I didn't want to be trying to range it from where I was going to shoot from, some very simple math and I have a 140M shot.
I was pretty excited to get a fox, and break my dry spell which has lasted the ENTIRE winter. Unfortunately a 105 amax from a 243AI is a little much for a fox, I don't think having it mounted is in the cards.....
I spent the rest of the day doing a few more stands and not seeing anything.
From the shooting position
You can see the fox just down and left of the little tree that's centered in the picture. (After the shot)
Where I ditched my bag, glasses and 1 of the dogs. The dog in the picture is the farmer's dog, after the shot he decided to go home pretty fast.
Don't think it's going to get stuffed.....
