The other day I decided to go visit a few of the famers that I hunt on to say hello. One of them had a coyote up near the house and killed/ate one of his cats. His daughter was upset and asked if I could do something about it.
So with today’s wind forecast too rough for fishing the lake I decided to go out and give the coyotes a go. I set up around 6am and started playing a dying rabbit call from my e-caller. Within minutes I had a coyote howling from several fields away. I tired different calls to get this coyote to come in but no luck he wasn’t moving. At the 12 minute mark as I was playing the pup in distress call the first coyote shows up. He stopped a couple hundred yards out, sat there looking for the animal making the sound when that other coyote a few fields away sounds off again. My coyote turns and heads toward the standing corn. He gets into the corn and I lose sight of him. About 1 minute later he shows himself about 50yds away and I let him have it with my .223 Stevens hand loaded 55gr Hornady sp bullet. It drops like a rock. I continue playing my ecaller in hopes of another coyote showing up. After about a minute I hear some noise and look up and my first downed coyote is running away into the corn. WTF, this guy was down and out and a minute later splits….tough animals….I sit still hoping he did not make it far…. I continue to try and entice the other coyote into coming into my field. We call to each other back and forth for a while; I even get up and walk into the other field in hopes of catching some movement from the far field. No luck he is there somewhere, I can hear him but can’t see him. I decide to go back and sit in my original spot and call from there for a few minutes and then go silent. I was hoping this coyote would get curious and decide to come and have a look. I wait about 15 mins (silence) before I see something shiny a little hump out on the hill that wasn’t there a minute ago. (Curiosity got the better of this coyote) I raise my bino’s and sure enough its coyote number 2. Only his head is visible I try to get the crosshairs on him but he vanishes to the other side of the hill. He lets out a few barks. I try a quiet dying rabbit call, he sticks his head up again, once again I try and get a him in the crosshairs but he vanishes again, (a very skittish coyote) he continues to bark and howl…. This time I play crow frenzy, this gets him to come to the top of the little hill and I can see his shoulder through the grass and take the shot. He spins a couple times, turns and runs out of sight….I go over to the impact area, find some blood but no coyote, he must of vanished into the bush. I am surprised by lack of blood. I go over to the first coyote and check impact area where he was down and find no blood, no hair, nothing, check and double check, WTF… I walk in the corn field and begin looking up and down the rows and find him about 40 yds from where he was shot. Upon inspection, broken front leg, lots of internal damage but no exit hole. Little to no blood visible, for a moment I thought it died of a heart attack made by the noise of the shot…
A good morning for sure, but I got to say, not as nice as hunting them in the dead cold of winter …
PS the farmer and his daughter are happier…
So with today’s wind forecast too rough for fishing the lake I decided to go out and give the coyotes a go. I set up around 6am and started playing a dying rabbit call from my e-caller. Within minutes I had a coyote howling from several fields away. I tired different calls to get this coyote to come in but no luck he wasn’t moving. At the 12 minute mark as I was playing the pup in distress call the first coyote shows up. He stopped a couple hundred yards out, sat there looking for the animal making the sound when that other coyote a few fields away sounds off again. My coyote turns and heads toward the standing corn. He gets into the corn and I lose sight of him. About 1 minute later he shows himself about 50yds away and I let him have it with my .223 Stevens hand loaded 55gr Hornady sp bullet. It drops like a rock. I continue playing my ecaller in hopes of another coyote showing up. After about a minute I hear some noise and look up and my first downed coyote is running away into the corn. WTF, this guy was down and out and a minute later splits….tough animals….I sit still hoping he did not make it far…. I continue to try and entice the other coyote into coming into my field. We call to each other back and forth for a while; I even get up and walk into the other field in hopes of catching some movement from the far field. No luck he is there somewhere, I can hear him but can’t see him. I decide to go back and sit in my original spot and call from there for a few minutes and then go silent. I was hoping this coyote would get curious and decide to come and have a look. I wait about 15 mins (silence) before I see something shiny a little hump out on the hill that wasn’t there a minute ago. (Curiosity got the better of this coyote) I raise my bino’s and sure enough its coyote number 2. Only his head is visible I try to get the crosshairs on him but he vanishes to the other side of the hill. He lets out a few barks. I try a quiet dying rabbit call, he sticks his head up again, once again I try and get a him in the crosshairs but he vanishes again, (a very skittish coyote) he continues to bark and howl…. This time I play crow frenzy, this gets him to come to the top of the little hill and I can see his shoulder through the grass and take the shot. He spins a couple times, turns and runs out of sight….I go over to the impact area, find some blood but no coyote, he must of vanished into the bush. I am surprised by lack of blood. I go over to the first coyote and check impact area where he was down and find no blood, no hair, nothing, check and double check, WTF… I walk in the corn field and begin looking up and down the rows and find him about 40 yds from where he was shot. Upon inspection, broken front leg, lots of internal damage but no exit hole. Little to no blood visible, for a moment I thought it died of a heart attack made by the noise of the shot…
A good morning for sure, but I got to say, not as nice as hunting them in the dead cold of winter …
PS the farmer and his daughter are happier…
