He was right74honker, you get experience by remembering what you did wrong and what you did right . In order for that to happen you have to do it . Paying attention to what others have to say that have done it helps out also . I don't know it all and am still willing to learn from others . The mistakes stay with me longer I chew myself out more then any one else could get away with .
Ramblings and Such From Hunting Coyote
- Thread starter DSheetz
- Start date
Help Support Long Range Hunting Forum
Amen DSheetz! I've always been harder on myself than anything. Since I'm so late to the party I'm trying to teach myself on VERY educated animals while trying to also outsmart the others that educated them to start with. I feel like I'm in college and skipped over HS lol. Every story you guys tell has been a lesson that I'm learning without burning any dogs so keep them coming!
this thread has been a real pleasure...recalling past experiences is always very interesting. Treating others well is a sign of a good upbringing or learned by age....Remember we were sent to earth to help others, not just ourselves.......that statement right there has made me a better person than I used to be. Would really enjoy a Mondamtana coyote hunt with some of you, I would put you covering the down wind side and we all know that person gets the shot more often than not................
in my 10 years of hunting lions, I had the blessing of some good dogs, had 5 over that time period, but one was heads and tales better than any dog I have ever seen or hunted with (buddies dogs) his name was Tack..........he was a class act, poise dignity and also had a very humble side... there was many a time, whether it was a coon, bobcat or lion, if the track was hard to sort out and the dogs were confused, Tack would sort it out. there were a few times other hunters would say, "Tack is over there and he is off the track" and we would come to find out, He had the track.....he had a sixth sense about understanding his quarry. It was nothing I did, it was what he was born with. Whenever we had a lion, or coon on the ground, he was a hell of a warrior, in there going for the kill............but when we got home, he would let my 3 girls climb all over him and lay there like the gentlest dog ever. In his career he was in on 59 lions treed, couple handfuls of bobcats and too many coons to count...The last lion he was in on was in the big belt mtns, 70-80# female had a mule deer doe killed and she had been on it a couple days. Tracks going every which way, 5 dogs there, 2 of them were mine... we spent close to an hour trying to sort that track out, finally caught all the dogs but no one could find Tack (keep in mind he was 12 years old at the time) all of a sudden my buddy says he can hear Tack chopping treed........we go around the ridge a 1/4 mile and there he is with that little female up the tree..............I was chock full of pride and respect for that ol hound......his last time on stage, and he steals the show, what a way to go out.....my buddy says to me "GOD blessed you with one hell of a dog there".......so you can get the picture in your mind what he looked like, Tack was a black and tan, about 65 #, I used to take my hounds to work every day so I would road them 3 to 4 miles (exercise) they were hard as nails, never hunted with anyone whose dogs were in better shape. He was very muscled up, cut defined shoulders, my opinion, very nice looking dog, when he was sitting down, he would lean back and hold his head in a way that made him look kinda stately or regal, he had a high sattigal crest on his head which gives you strong jaws............he lived till he was 14....... He was a gift/blessing from GOD, my buddy was right!!!
I got another story on him, it was the biggest Tom we ever killed and he did a heck of a job on him......another time
I got another story on him, it was the biggest Tom we ever killed and he did a heck of a job on him......another time
Last edited:
nicholasjohn
Well-Known Member
When I was a youngster, my uncle had a Brittany named Ginger. We were pretty sure that grouse & fezzinks in our part of western PA were going to go extinct. That dog was absolutely amazing. Like ReemtyJ's lion hound, she was also good with little kids. I have to agree with DSheetz here - you only get one of those in a lifetime. Thank God for it, and enjoy it while you've got it.
GOD has also blessed me and my family with some good dogs over the years. All black labs (sorry there's only one real color lol) and all mainly waterfowl/bird dogs since I was guiding for that all over the country. One in particular was BULL. Built like an abrams tank. Although he had a scarely large vocabulary for a dog, quit was not one of them. He was my right arm. His freshman season made over 1200 retrieves from leaping 3 feet off the ground to snag a cripple trying to fly away to going plum out of site tracking one down that sailed off, to diving out of site underwater, nothing had a prayer against him. Many a day I would never fire a shot and yet have a bird or two on my limit. Hunting flooded crops and heavy cover I would send him on a line for a dead bird and he'd come back with a live bird crippled from the days before from another hunter. And when the hunt was over his head laid on my lap for the drive home. Lost him way to young and his ashes sit on my desk next to his picture. I hate to admit this but I've shed more tears over the loss of our dogs than I ever had a human. Family or friend. I'm sorry if that sounds wrong to some but they ARE part of our family just like kids.
DMP25-06
Well-Known Member
When you have called a coyote in , and then someone misses the shot , which I have NEV . . .( I just noticed my nose is growing ), when I missed the shot , you will witness some broken-field running that NFL running backs can only dream about . Zigging and zagging through sage brush , cactus , prickly pears , and other vegetation at a speed of Warp-Factor 6 . I don't know how they keep from running into something and killing themselves .
I have not witnessed it , only read about the use of running Greyhounds to hunt and kill coyotes . That must be something to see .
It definitely would be worth the price of admission !!!!!
I have not witnessed it , only read about the use of running Greyhounds to hunt and kill coyotes . That must be something to see .
It definitely would be worth the price of admission !!!!!
nicholasjohn
Well-Known Member
That was why it was so much fun to watch beagles chase cottontails. The zigging & zagging was downright amazing. My Uncle Mario had a dog named Butch, and he was quite the artful runner. We was so slick that he would quite often catch the rabbit. I don't know how many times I dropped by to see him, and there would be a bunch of skinned bunnies there and one of them wouldn't have any holes in it. They could run pretty well, but not as well as Butch. I think that a couple of long-legged greyhounds doing the same thing with a 'yote would be a sight to behold. There had better be a couple of them, though, in case they actually do catch one. One dog would have his hands full with a coyote.
I hate to admit that I have witnessed this phenomenon a time or two lol. While you ALWAYS shoot what you're aiming at....sometimes you just ain't aiming in the right spot!
nicholasjohn
Well-Known Member
My old uncle used to say "There's a lot of empty space around them, isn't there ???!!!!"
if they are under 50 yards and I have a shotgun, they get a free cart wheel lessons, if I have a scoped rifle, up close like that, all they get is noise around them. I have a hell of a time hitting them in close with a rifle......its easier at 200 yards.
nicholasjohn
Well-Known Member
Yes, Sir - and too many times somewhere in the "empty space" was where my bullet went. It's very frustrating when I get everything right, and the 'yote presents me with a nice shot ...….. and I screw it up and miss. I have found, though, that if I don't get too heavily into the self-scolding and analyze the whole encounter I can often figure out what I did wrong.
Most of my misses have occurred when the coyote showed up right away, and was approaching rather aggressively, and I just got too excited. Or, in about four more steps he's gonna be downwind and I'm busted - and I hurry the shot. When one takes a long time to get close enough to shoot, and I've seen it coming for quite a while, there doesn't seem to be as much empty space for my bullet - and the yote ends up in the back of the pick-up. I think it's a matter of letting the initial adrenaline rush settle down, and more frequent coyote encounters is probably the answer for that one. The quick surprises, though, are the ones I often miss. That may be a set-up issue. Do you have any helpful suggestions ?
