Ramblings and Such From Hunting Coyote
- Thread starter DSheetz
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I too am always in awe of mother nature. With waterfowl, turkey, and deer it's all just second nature to me but that's what I've spent most of my life chasing and honing skills towards. Much as you've done on the coyote. Your insight here has definately sped up my learning curve on the coyote way of life!!
nealm66
Well-Known Member
When I worked a short time for Columbia helicopter in Idaho because the spotted owl shut the old growth cutting down I met 2 brothers from Montana that raised a cougar from a cub till it died of old age. They said it made some god awful sounds, one being described as a woman screaming. Was interesting stories from some of those guys in camp
I have heard a few of the sounds that mountain lions make , low murmuring growls to the screams they make and for me all of their sounds were , while fascinating , enough to make me have goose bumps . You can just feel the power of the animal making those sounds .
It's pretty warm here we are in the mid to upper 90's , above what we usually are at this time of the year . In my area the coyote are out camping and laying low during the heat of the day the same as most of the animals are now . At this time of the year hunting them means being there when it's cooler and doing a lot of listening as well as tracking them . Knowing your area and having knowledge of where they have laid up in the past at this time of the year goes a long way toward successful hunting of them . Coyote from this generation tend to like the same places that the coyote from years past liked for the same reasons . They will gravitate to the same areas as their predecessors did time after time it's the same with denning for them , summer time hunting , fall and winter areas . At this time of the year doing as Reemty J . does works well locate them by sitting and listening for them to tell you where they are then cautiously slip in on them find where they are bedded down and snip them . For most of us it's in the challenge that coyote present for us as to why we keep hunting them . Hot dry weather increases that challenge , water and more water for us our dogs and them is key to sucess . knowing where the watering holes are is where I like to start if I'm tracking . I will walk around the watering hole and find their tracks in the mud you will find that they are consistently hitting it on one side or place then going back to where they are laying up . I do the same when I'm denning in the spring as I do the rest of the year check the watering holes and get an idea as to where they are spending most of their down time and use that as a starting place . Generation after generation of coyote will use the same areas . I was going down a power line right of way road to a watering hole that was spring fed one day after the morning hunt . It was in August and the temperature was nearing 100 . I dropped down a hill and slipped around a curve towards the watering hole . Off to my left down in the bottom of the draw was the small dike with fresh standing water . Laying in the shade of a willow near the dike was an old male coyote resting in the cool water . He stood up walked to the base of the tree and stood there looking at something who had disturbed his peace and quiet . It was an easy 200 yard shot . He had been crossing under a 4 lane interstate high way killing lambs . I could have put snares in the culvert fencing but it was better for me to get him that day for sure . I got lucky and he made his last mistake by cooling off in the only water around just like your dog does . He knew where it was as did I . I didn't know he would be there laying in the water but I did know that he would be using it to get a drink from . And that would tell me where to start tracking him back to his lay up spot .
nealm66
Well-Known Member
My neighbor offered me a 6-800 shot where he would be cutting hay. Of course work had other plans for me but he said he would bait them in the same spot when I get time. Pretty stoked to see what damage the bullet does to the hide before I lend the gun to my buddy Kyle in October. I'm thinking about finishing up load work up with the 83 hammers and maybe putting yard markers on a a piece of masking tape around the turret to see how they do. I've been surprised how accurate the hammers have been at distance but it sucks not having them in my kestrel library.
Even when you have the computer generated drops I still like to do my own drops by putting shots down range for me it's all just a starting place as I find there are so many outside influences on performance , such as wind , temperature , humidity , altitude up hill , down hill angles ect. .
Years ago they made a retractable tape that was white about 1/2" wide and would mount on the tube of your scope that you could write your scope , bullet dope on . They were handy and stayed out of the way I don't know if they are still made or not .
Bucklowery
Well-Known Member
Kenton industry makes a sticker you can customized for your bullets. They are quite nice
Thanks
Buck
Thanks
Buck
nealm66
Well-Known Member
I really need to get better with my kestrel. There's a way to put the info info manually instead of choosing from the library.
That's kind of like me and my phone . I'm walking around with a better computer in my shirt pocket then the one I bought my kids when they were in high school . I was in the service with a computer programmer ,who enlisted over being drafted , because he couldn't find a job . If I recall correctly he told me they used 1 1/2 " Betamax tape and a small computer would take up a 12' x 16' room . Some things have changed a bunch while other things have hardly changed any . Coyote are still intelligent , cautious , and multiplying but they haven't figured out how to not leave tracks , they still are well camouflaged by nature for the most part and can lay still for long periods of time just observing the world , that part we could for the most part do well in learning from them . It's going to be another hot day and I have some outside work to do before it gets too hot you all have a good day stay safe and healthy .
nealm66
Well-Known Member
You as well
We have been getting near 100 every day . The grass is drying and turning brown . My Grandma always said that the cured grass had better nutritional value to it for the livestock and the wildlife . What I have seen is that in the spring when the new green grass sprouts the herds of cattle and sheep nearly run as they are picking the new grass and then they will get the runs and have watery diarrhea . There is an art to us walking in the dried grass and not making a loud crunching sound as we step . I rase my foot but not overly high and slide it foreword pushing the grass over instead of breaking it as I apply downward pressure . No I don't shuffle my feet and drag them I actually take steps but I don't lift my feet very high and set it down on top of the grass breaking it off . Walk softly and my big stick has a 223 round or 4 in it . I have over the years practiced walking quietly enough that I walk with out making much of a sound as I walk putting my foot down without a lot of quick hard pressure . You can listen to a lot of people walking and they sound nearly as if they are stomping as they set their feet down on a hard wood floor or similar flooring without carpet on it , even if they aren't wearing shoes . These are the same people who when out hunting are making a lot of noise just by walking , letting tree limbs fly as they push through them having the limbs slide over their clothing and making an un- natural ripping sound , breaking sticks and crunching the grass and litter on the ground . As with most of the other parts of calling and hunting coyote walking to and from the stand is a learned art that most people have to work at learning because it just doesn't come naturally to humans , we have big feet and bulky bodies not the streamlined bodies of the rest of the animal kingdom . Several years ago I got a call from a guy that was raising some bum lambs . He was loosing a lamb ever other night . Do you have a place to put them up for the night instead of leaving them out in the pasture , yes okay I'll be out in the morning . You will need to keep them penned at night till I get it figured out where the coyote are coming from and get them killed if you would . I showed up the next morning and he showed me where the lambs were being pastured . There was a small creek running through the pasture that had cut banks along most of it on one side or the other of it that were maybe five feet high . So as is my normal way I wanted to walk the creek to find where they were watering and find tracks to tell me which way to go after them . I put my gun belt on grabbed a few snares and the wire to hang them then went to the creek . As I stepped up on the edge of the cut bank and looked down laying five feet below me was the small female coyote sleeping in the shade and cool dirt . A 22 lr round ended her career . I took her back to the truck so that her partner wouldn't find her did my tracking and hung a couple of snares where they had been coming into the pasture at the fence crossing along the creek on the west end of the pasture . Yup luck is also a big part of control work but you need to be pretty well ready to take advantage of it when it's presented to you . The next morning as I pulled into his home site he told me you have a coyote down there on the creek in a snare . The tracks in the mud had told me where they were traveling as well as that I only had two coyote a small female and a bigger male . another job completed luck and being prepared had paid off once again for me .
