Ramblings and Such From Hunting Coyote
- Thread starter DSheetz
- Start date
Help Support Long Range Hunting Forum
It is a Blessing to have a father in the home who, Kicks your butt or smacks you when you have it coming. We all need to be taught, that there is a line.............
I don't know what the service is like now but when I was in they didn't put up with people screwing up much as it would get people killed besides your self they didn't mind much if you thinned yourself out as being a Darwin award winner just don't take anyone else with you . I like you had a dad and grandfather that had little tolerance for what they had been taught was wrong doing Reemty J so I picked up on that fast .
I find it to be enjoyable to take an inexperence person calling and have one come charging in hard and close . Back in 1989 I went up to my uncles in Montana to call coyote with him and his sons . My uncle and his sons had tried calling but said they hadn't had any luck with it . There was just a skiff of snow on the ground the temp was in the 20's and no wind . We went out to some pine ridges walked down one and sat up on a large rock over looking a large draw . I got my uncle set up next to a large pine and took up a seat by a small bush myself . I waited a few min then let out a long howl . a few seconds latter my uncle whispered that he saw a coyote moving around down the draw on his side . Ilet out a couple of short howls and heard a boom . So being me I ask did you get him , silence so I ask again and got a reply of I don't know if I like this calling &%$@ I'm not sure if I got him or not it landed on the rock right beside me and all I could see was a blur in my scope . About 6 feet from him was a blood pool and over the edge of the rock was one very dead coyote . We went on to call in 4 more coyote that day . Where his ranch was at that time not many people called and they hadn't been educated my Uncle Max decided he liked calling just not getting that close .
nicholasjohn
Well-Known Member
It sounds like those 'yotes were what my old buddy in New Mexico calls "gentle." When the animals aren't too edgy and nervous about people, whether they be deer or coyotes, that how he describes them. It's always a special treat to find one's self among predators that haven't heard a call, and really do think they're going to get an easy dinner. When two or three of them are in a foot-race to get to the source of the squeaking, the biggest trick is to keep from getting too excited and screwing up a good shooting situation.
When you hunt coyote as control work you see a whole new aspect of coyote life . If you are out there with them most of the days of the year and not just during the fur season you get to see what they do differently with the changing of the seasons . I have seen where there were two male coyote running together that acted like a denning pair and dug den holes out . Or a dry pair that did the same and were hard on the lambs but weren't really interested in coming to the call , snares and tracking work the best at getting them . I have seen them adapt to what the resident trapper or hunter were doing and be hard to get until something new was introduced to them . I have watched them hid in plain sight from planes and helicopters but got them in a snare when they ran from the aircraft . They may just lay down in a cow trail and not move as the aircraft flies over head . I have watched as they wait to come in to a call until they figure that the caller has left , I sat and waited as another caller got up went to the truck and drove off ,then they got up from a long way out and worked their way in cautiously . Some coyote I have had to track and figure out where I could set up a hid and snip them , as they didn't want to be called were snare and trap smart to my ways . I had one old dog coyote that I killed two females off of but he was still raising the pups . The pups gave him away one morning in early August as being kids they moved when the helicopter went over them . The pilot saw him after four pups were shot but he was still just laying there not moving . The pups answered the howls but he kept quiet and they were in a rock pile about a mile from the sheep they were dining on . I harbor no hate for the coyote but a healthy dose of respect for them . They are for the most part very family orientated with both the adults , and may be another younger coyote , rearing the pups . They learn and adapt to what ever we do to try to eradicate them .
I have seen where there were two male coyote running together that acted like a denning pair and dug den holes out---------------think these were some of the first "rainbow parade" coyotes?
Last edited:
Several years ago I got a call to hunt some coyote up on the mountain . When I got up there the ranch had some Peruvian ranch hands , with work permits , they laughed at the thought that I could call and kill coyote . The terp. and two of them went with me . I sat them up in hides and had the terp. tell them not to move around or talk . Then I got set up and started calling as I was by the den hole with pups in it that , I had found earlier , I let out a lone howl waited a few min then started with some puppy squeaks and squeals in she ran almost on top of them I got her shot took the den . The ranch hands weren't sure about me they didn't know what to make of someone talking to coyote some were a little afraid of me but they all called me Mr. Coyote after that .
I'm not sure what their preferences were but they were yearlings when I got them killed . I thought that they just didn't find girl friends to hang out with that year . The spring before I took mostly dens with male pups in them maybe at the rate of 4 male pups to one female . It seems like when the numbers are up they have more male pups and when the numbers are down they have more female pups . I have also noticed that if the food base is low they don't have large litters for the most part . I think it's due in part to the health of the breading female and the amount of food she is getting or not getting . The largest litter I took had 13 pups 7 female and 6 female all the males in one hole and all the females in a different hole . That female had been denned for a few years by someone else that used to leave her one or two female pups a year . Fur farming not lamb saving . I've seen them get mad and kill 30 -40 lambs in one night for that .
Wow, so they show emotion similar to people. Always interesting learning from people closer tto nature every day as they have opportunity to learn at a faster rate than us pilgrims.......thanks for the information/stories. Did you work with bears and wolves also?
DSheetz, you have probably forgot more than I could possibly ever learn. Thanks for coming back to the thread to educate us more. You have definately paid attention to the little things but in your line of work you had to. The little things set you apart from the crowd. It is interesting how mother nature works sometimes. It's always amazing really.
nicholasjohn
Well-Known Member
Everybody I have ever known who was exceptionally good at his profession was a detail guy. The other quality that ALL the real masters displayed is patience.
You meet as may interesting people as you do coyote when you do control work . I got a call one evening from a guy that told me he had found the den and took it and the female coyote but the male was hard to get . He said that he had been trying for two weeks every day and still couldn't get him but it was killing at least a lamb every night . I set up to meet him in a couple of days from the call . I got out there to his place we visited and I told him I couldn't promise him any thing but would try for him . He said he would show my where the pasture was that the coyote was killing . He had a dodge ram with a flat bed loaded down with all sorts of rattling banging stuff on it , it was bright blue and silver with duel exhaust coming up behind the cab and was a diesel to boot . I'm pretty sure that I couldn't have sneaked up on a deaf , dumb and blind coyote driving that truck but it sure looked nice . I followed him out to the pasture we got to the gate going into the pasture where he pointed to a ridge told me the den had been on the back side of it in a valley then left me to hunt . I walked over and got set up in some rocks just over the top of it . I glassed the valley there was some grease wood patches and a draw in the bottom of it . after about a half hour I let out a few lamb blats and saw movement to my left in one of the grease wood patches he moved to the edge of the patch and peeked out I did a couple more low blats . He came on a trot when he was around 75 yards out he stopped I shot he spun clockwise several times then got lined out heading for the draw . I had hit him in the right shoulder . I watched as he dropped into the draw then followed him he was laying just down in the draw a little ways but was still breathing so I shot him again drug him to the truck and headed back the the ranch house I had gotten lucky again and it hadn't taken long to end this job . I got back met the rancher he says to me you missed didn't you I heard two shots . I smiled and said no he' s in the back of the truck . We looked him over and visited about the morning hunt . The rancher reached in his pocket pulled out a hundred dollar bill . I said that I didn't have change he said that was ok I had saved him more then that . It paid to be lucky that morning .
