Yotarunner
CGN Regular
- Location
- Eastern Alberta
This Valentine's Day was one of the local contests that I follow and contribute to and being it was Valentine's, my wife and I entered as a team. this is a brief recap. I don't have the same amount or quality of photos as usual but will show what we managed to take. Last year this hunt was conducted in frigid cold temps and snowshoes and this year we sat on dry ground and never had to even put on jackets.
Stand 1. Deadpit at the feedlot I work. Nothing.
Stand 2. Lots of distant howls. No call ins.
Stand 3. We called a cornfield surrounded by hayfields and native grass pasture that usually has lots of coyotes. 12 minutes into the stand we only had distant howls to show for it along with 2 that had busted out as we drove into the area. On the walk back to the truck the cresting sun shone off of a distant white patch and as one does I put glass on it to see that sure enough we had a coyote way off in the distance. We hit the deck and I blew some mournful wails on one of my closed reed handcalls and il be damned if he didn't start coming!
What turned out to be 2 coyotes charged in as I frantically blew my call and tried to figure out how we were going to kill these dogs in the absolute wrong position. They dove down a deep Coulee and now we had to wait and see where they would emerge. Morgan held her gun on the downwind while I knelt holding mine at Port arms as they would be emerging within 100 yards in tall grass. We waited... And waited... I blew pup distress... We waited some more. Finally my impatience won out and I crouch ran to the edge of the hill and sure enough they stopped on the fence line and were milling about like they knew something was up. The female saw me fighting to get a shot above the grass but the male hesitated and with only one bipod leg balanced on my boot I took the 150 yard shot and was rewarded with a hard WHUMP! The shot was a ways back and unzipped him pretty good but after a brief search he was recovered.
Messenger_creation_AEF8F534-DFD9-4501-9372-85C235E7A835 by brad harder, on Flickr
Stand 4. Called where we heard the howls on the last stand and called a pair in but swirling winds cut them short. Ran to another hill edge to catch them leaving. Made a guess at the range and what I guessed to be 350 turned out to be 250 and the bullet sailed over.
Stand 5. Blank.
Stand 6. Morgan stayed in the truck this stand to warm her hands and do her daily social media posts for her business.
This stand had the view of a vast open pasture. I opened up with baby bunny distress on one of my meatbawl handcalls. Not even through the calling sequence 2 coyotes busted out over a dugout bank and started sprinting in as pretty as can be. At 75 yards I sat up and anchored the lead female. Predictably the male hit the afterburners and as tempting as it was to keep sending rounds I waited and keyed TT den raid on the FoxPro. Sure enough at 700 yards he stopped and looked back for his mate. Slowly he began to come back and i keyed on TT Intensity which convinced him to come . At 230 yards the coyote popped up on a hill to look for the massive fight. As the trigger broke my crosshairs wobbled ever so slightly to the right and the bullet cut hair on his right side and he was gone.
Stand 7.
With no good pictures from this stand il add a map to show the setup. Red dots is where we sat against the standing cornfield and black is the caller.
Screenshot_20260215-113812~2 by brad harder, on Flickr
On this stand we sat straddling either side of a fence. Morgan looked into the cut hayfield and I looked down the edge of a standing cornfield.
Opening once again with distress on the meatbawl it was less than a minute before Morgan spotted a coyote on the edge of the bush in the hayfield. Since her shooting practice has been minimal she wasn't confident in the 300 yard shot so as soon as she finished telling me to take the shot I heard rustling to my right. Putting down my rifle and grabbing the shotgun in my lap I turned to see a coyotes face not 20 yards away staring me down through the corn. With the hard right angle my body couldn't turn fast enough so switching to left handed I put the bead on its chest and a swarm of hevi shot slammed him down.
Not needing anymore getting that close I switched to Mrs MCcottontail on the FoxPro and as I was finishing explaining what just happened to Morgan who had been expecting a rifle shot she exclaimed "oh $#(@ right there!!!" Sure enough trotting down the fence line was another pair of coyotes. After a hurried conversation about who's shooting and if we should double tap them she exclaimed "no time just shoot!" At this point 50 yards from the caller they had stopped. Just as I drew a bead on the right coyote there was an earth shattering KABOOOM as Morgan's 20inch 22-250 went off right beside me. turns out I had sat too far forward for that angle and the muzzle blast of her rifle rung my bell pretty good. With both coyotes running off I keyed pup dist 3 as I worked my jaw and rubbed my ears. Thoroughly flustered with the intensity of the stand and mad at herself for missing Morgan wasn't prepared for the 5th coyote that popped out into the hayfield. She asked me to shoot but with grass in my field of view I had no shot. Kaboom! Coyote number 5 took off running.
After a brief discussion we decided there is no dog hogs in a contest and if I shot every one from now on that was fine by her. She would watch downwind and leave the rest to me.
Stand 8. Called in two from opposite directions with the meatbawl and at 75 yards the coyote was saved from death by a stick in front of his vitals. 2nd coyote disappeared.
Stand 9. At the 10 min mark a coyote showed his face over a hill edge and for some unknown reason I just flat out missed the front on head and neck shot. It was on the way back from this stand that I discovered I had blown a tire on my feet and my poor old work boots had chosen this point to give up the ghost. Finished the rest of the day like this
PXL_20260214_225012395.MP by brad harder, on Flickr
Stand 10 blank.
Stand 11. Blank
Bonus. In between stands we spied a coyote in a friend's pasture. We turned down his long driveway and bailed out, after running to the fence and bracing against a fence post I made a miraculous 250 yard running shot for a nice bonus coyote.
Stand 1. Deadpit at the feedlot I work. Nothing.
Stand 2. Lots of distant howls. No call ins.
Stand 3. We called a cornfield surrounded by hayfields and native grass pasture that usually has lots of coyotes. 12 minutes into the stand we only had distant howls to show for it along with 2 that had busted out as we drove into the area. On the walk back to the truck the cresting sun shone off of a distant white patch and as one does I put glass on it to see that sure enough we had a coyote way off in the distance. We hit the deck and I blew some mournful wails on one of my closed reed handcalls and il be damned if he didn't start coming!
What turned out to be 2 coyotes charged in as I frantically blew my call and tried to figure out how we were going to kill these dogs in the absolute wrong position. They dove down a deep Coulee and now we had to wait and see where they would emerge. Morgan held her gun on the downwind while I knelt holding mine at Port arms as they would be emerging within 100 yards in tall grass. We waited... And waited... I blew pup distress... We waited some more. Finally my impatience won out and I crouch ran to the edge of the hill and sure enough they stopped on the fence line and were milling about like they knew something was up. The female saw me fighting to get a shot above the grass but the male hesitated and with only one bipod leg balanced on my boot I took the 150 yard shot and was rewarded with a hard WHUMP! The shot was a ways back and unzipped him pretty good but after a brief search he was recovered.
Messenger_creation_AEF8F534-DFD9-4501-9372-85C235E7A835 by brad harder, on FlickrStand 4. Called where we heard the howls on the last stand and called a pair in but swirling winds cut them short. Ran to another hill edge to catch them leaving. Made a guess at the range and what I guessed to be 350 turned out to be 250 and the bullet sailed over.
Stand 5. Blank.
Stand 6. Morgan stayed in the truck this stand to warm her hands and do her daily social media posts for her business.
This stand had the view of a vast open pasture. I opened up with baby bunny distress on one of my meatbawl handcalls. Not even through the calling sequence 2 coyotes busted out over a dugout bank and started sprinting in as pretty as can be. At 75 yards I sat up and anchored the lead female. Predictably the male hit the afterburners and as tempting as it was to keep sending rounds I waited and keyed TT den raid on the FoxPro. Sure enough at 700 yards he stopped and looked back for his mate. Slowly he began to come back and i keyed on TT Intensity which convinced him to come . At 230 yards the coyote popped up on a hill to look for the massive fight. As the trigger broke my crosshairs wobbled ever so slightly to the right and the bullet cut hair on his right side and he was gone.
Stand 7.
With no good pictures from this stand il add a map to show the setup. Red dots is where we sat against the standing cornfield and black is the caller.
Screenshot_20260215-113812~2 by brad harder, on FlickrOn this stand we sat straddling either side of a fence. Morgan looked into the cut hayfield and I looked down the edge of a standing cornfield.
Opening once again with distress on the meatbawl it was less than a minute before Morgan spotted a coyote on the edge of the bush in the hayfield. Since her shooting practice has been minimal she wasn't confident in the 300 yard shot so as soon as she finished telling me to take the shot I heard rustling to my right. Putting down my rifle and grabbing the shotgun in my lap I turned to see a coyotes face not 20 yards away staring me down through the corn. With the hard right angle my body couldn't turn fast enough so switching to left handed I put the bead on its chest and a swarm of hevi shot slammed him down.
Not needing anymore getting that close I switched to Mrs MCcottontail on the FoxPro and as I was finishing explaining what just happened to Morgan who had been expecting a rifle shot she exclaimed "oh $#(@ right there!!!" Sure enough trotting down the fence line was another pair of coyotes. After a hurried conversation about who's shooting and if we should double tap them she exclaimed "no time just shoot!" At this point 50 yards from the caller they had stopped. Just as I drew a bead on the right coyote there was an earth shattering KABOOOM as Morgan's 20inch 22-250 went off right beside me. turns out I had sat too far forward for that angle and the muzzle blast of her rifle rung my bell pretty good. With both coyotes running off I keyed pup dist 3 as I worked my jaw and rubbed my ears. Thoroughly flustered with the intensity of the stand and mad at herself for missing Morgan wasn't prepared for the 5th coyote that popped out into the hayfield. She asked me to shoot but with grass in my field of view I had no shot. Kaboom! Coyote number 5 took off running.
After a brief discussion we decided there is no dog hogs in a contest and if I shot every one from now on that was fine by her. She would watch downwind and leave the rest to me.
Stand 8. Called in two from opposite directions with the meatbawl and at 75 yards the coyote was saved from death by a stick in front of his vitals. 2nd coyote disappeared.
Stand 9. At the 10 min mark a coyote showed his face over a hill edge and for some unknown reason I just flat out missed the front on head and neck shot. It was on the way back from this stand that I discovered I had blown a tire on my feet and my poor old work boots had chosen this point to give up the ghost. Finished the rest of the day like this
PXL_20260214_225012395.MP by brad harder, on FlickrStand 10 blank.
Stand 11. Blank
Bonus. In between stands we spied a coyote in a friend's pasture. We turned down his long driveway and bailed out, after running to the fence and bracing against a fence post I made a miraculous 250 yard running shot for a nice bonus coyote.
. How long have you had them? Inquiring minds want to know. Looking at the leather I’m guessing you endured many a day with a wet sock and I can honestly say I’ve watched guys on the floor with boots a close second to yours. Guys making $40/hr with a boot allowance too ho figure. We only get 2 feet and we gotta take care of them but like a dummy I’ve frozen mine too many times and now at 60 deal with neuropathy. Those incidents were usually wrong choice of boots for how the day actually turned out. 
are two serious choices a hunter and ice fisherman make. Write that down lol. 
these are good quality Terra's that my brother gave me before going to Australia. They have a winter of mild oilfield work and lasted the longest of any work boots I have had in recent years. Roughly a year and a half. Anytime weather gets wet I switch to rubbers so not many wet socks. With no boot allowance I run them right to the bitter end as is evident 
