Ramblings and Such From Hunting Coyote

[Reemty J]

Saturday was a heavy day, snowing on and off all day, wind out of the northwest, low ceiling, one of those days where the white camo blends you in just super, coyotes are hard to see but you are also. Was hunting breaks/fields, coyotes were still layed up, no tracks per say, probably waiting for snow to end. 1st stand was a side drainage off a major river and around the corner to my right was a smaller drainage coming into the major river. I was seated facing north, wind was coming in from northwest, behind me to my right I could see 400 yards, expected coyotes to come from the north or northeast. Snow in the air, 8 to 10 mile an hour wind, sound was not traveling far. 1st series of calls and a bunch of magpies came in, hung around a long time, I was into that stand 20 minutes when coming around the breaks from the right I spot a coyote, just walking taking its time but coming direct. Watched it for 200 yards and then it was at a shallow coulee in front of me that had brush in it, was just a little under 100 yards, coyote stopped and turned quartering, had the crosshairs on the inside of its shoulder/chest area, let a 39 grain SBK go and dead flop. Looked up and behind her 150 yards was a pup that trotted off, kiyi's didnt stop it, so no chance to kill it as it was around the breaks out of site. Coyote was an older female, fat as a tick, could not find entrance hole, no blood on her body. Next stand was in that smaller drainage, went a mile away and walked 1/2 way down the breaks and got on a knob with some sage brush, had a great view of my down wind. Got set up and 2 minutes after I started calling another female popped up 250 yards away to my left in some sage brush, a few lip squeaks got her just a hair over a 100 yards, put one behind her shoulder and dead flop. Continued calling for another 15 minutes nothing else seen.
See if I can explain the 3 rd stand, it was on a brush, two rows of russian/caragandas going north/south and 300 yards east of them is that smaller drainage, probably

 

[Reemty J]

straight shooter, yes you can, am headed east tomorrow to work them over again......tell Bags hello.................get em all

 

[Reemty J]

300 feet deep, I was at the north end and this row of brush was thick, figured there may be some layed up in there. Keep in mind the wind was out of the northwest, I put the caller on the fence line pointing south west and sat 100 yards east of it in some knee high grass facing south, my wind was going to where I just killed that second female, figured one out of the brush line would come straight down it to the caller. I was completely white only face was showing, after 3 series of calls and 20 minutes I was thinking about moving on, to my left darn near down wind a male was walking in headed to the caller, the more he walked the farther from my wind he was getting, he stopped a couple times so teh 3rd time I put the crosshairs behind his shoulder and as I was squeezing the trigger he moved and I hit him in the hips, dam shouldn't have forced it, let it play out instead. He was flopping around and I could see he back end was taken out, waited for him to stop moving and finished him. 1st bullet laid a huge hole across his hips, just like a 22-250 but the second in his ribs, you couldn't tell where it was. darn and he was the best colored one of the day, wooley heavy coat on him.........lessoned learned, still love shooting that .204 with 39 gr SBK, as long as I do my part and put them into the body cavity........

 

[Ohlongarm]

300 feet deep, I was at the north end and this row of brush was thick, figured there may be some layed up in there. Keep in mind the wind was out of the northwest, I put the caller on the fence line pointing south west and sat 100 yards east of it in some knee high grass facing south, my wind was going to where I just killed that second female, figured one out of the brush line would come straight down it to the caller. I was completely white only face was showing, after 3 series of calls and 20 minutes I was thinking about moving on, to my left darn near down wind a male was walking in headed to the caller, the more he walked the farther from my wind he was getting, he stopped a couple times so teh 3rd time I put the crosshairs behind his shoulder and as I was squeezing the trigger he moved and I hit him in the hips, dam shouldn't have forced it, let it play out instead. He was flopping around and I could see he back end was taken out, waited for him to stop moving and finished him. 1st bullet laid a huge hole across his hips, just like a 22-250 but the second in his ribs, you couldn't tell where it was. darn and he was the best colored one of the day, wooley heavy coat on him.........lessoned learned, still love shooting that .204 with 39 gr SBK, as long as I do my part and put them into the body cavity........

Nice write ups about your exploits, hopefully I'm heading your way to give it a go.Gotta love that 204,sure like my cheapo Thompson, gets the job done.

 

[Reemty J]

4 coyotes yesterday, should have had another 2 or so..............remembered what Dsheetz said about coyotes territories, I was in a spot that was in between, last call of the day, remembered from 15 years ago......male and female came with 660 yards but would not come closer, worked on these two for an hour and no luck...next time I will come down (depending on wind) right above them...the calling side one coyote came in 3-4 minutes, same stand second one 30 minutes later....another one took 45 minutes, he answered me so I knew he was there, took his own sweet time getting there, but still came within sub-100 yards......they were more interested in coyote sound than prey sound.

 

[Reemty J]

Funny story about the coyote that answered and took 45 minutes to come in.....it was breaks and sage brush country, he answered about 1/2 mile away........worked him and worked him, never saw him the whole time. Was just getting ready to leave, sitting there, took the shell out of the CZ chamber (rookie mistake), released the set trigger......looked around one more time..................there he was walking out of a 4' deep draw directly below me.....cloudy over cast day, I was all snow camoed, he was looking to my right 35 yards at the caller, which was now silent.....and he was slow walking to my left downwind. Just as slow and as quiet as I could I moved the sticks so I could shoot him, every time he looked away I moved some.....then....I had to get a shell back in the chamber, after what seemed like a week I finally did and when I set the set trigger, he heard the click and looked right at me for the first time directly, backed up and was getting ready to leave, one "whoof" and he turned and faced me, then a 39 grain SBK in the chest, dead flopped him. looks like the key to the 39 gr. SBK is to put it in the chest or behind the shoulder, because one of them at 200 yards yesterday I hit in the scapula, went thru, but the hydrostatic pressure blew the top of his back out, 5" hole, going to try not to do that again. Just get it in teh body cavity and it stays in there most of the time.

 

[TRnCO]

way to stick with the patience and gettin' er done Reemty.

Once I get through elk season, I'll be getting after em myself.

 

[Reemty J]

seems to me, after 37 years of continued learning (or should I say home schooling? ) to me it seems the coyotes do not come like they used too, wide open full bore to distress calls, but I have gravitated to using more coyote vocalizations also. I would assume this has to do with more people participating with electronics making it somewhat easier. So we are dealing in some areas with smarter coyotes................TRnCO.....look forward to hearing some of your new hunts!! One other thing I have found is that less sound is better, not just volume I mean duration, if the coyote shows up looking for you because the sound is just now and then, seems like the killing opportunity is better.

 

[DSheetz]

Reemty , You have come far Pilgrim . LOL . It always amazes me how far a coyote can hear such a small click like that of your set trigger . Yes even this time of year they will hesitate to cross over into another's area . You are 100% right they have figured out the E-callers and distress sounds and became more cautious when coming in . That sir is why we keep after them they are so adaptable that we have to be also it's a challenge . No luck here yesterday the elk , antelope and deer hunters were thick as fleas on a red fox up on the mountain . The coyote will be spooky for at least a month and a half up there now . I too have found that in a lot of instances less calling is better and that may be part of the reason hand calls are working better here you have to stop calling then start again just like the real thing does . Try that with your E-caller and let me know if it makes a difference for you if you would please . Once again just setting and looking after the calling is done paid off for you . So many times people will just shut their caller off , stand up and leave . That is another reason the coyote are slower coming in now they came in after the people had already left but their smell was still there .

 

[DSheetz]

I use 55 grain Sierra HPBT's in my 223 running around 2900 fps at the muzzle and have also found that a chest , or just behind the shoulder is more fur friendly . I don't like head shots ( too much of a mess ) . I hit a cat in the nose one time with them as that was the only shot I had and he was killing lambs I couldn't skin him and I don't have a week stomach .

 

[Reemty J]

Dsheetz........time for you to put your teaching/opinion/experiance hat on.....just found out some individuals had some cattle in a pasture...it had a corral hooked to it, some of the cattle were in the corral, high winds blew the gate shut, no one checked them for a few days as they were in the pasture now there are 1/2 dozen or more dead in the corral, corral is right on the south edge of some large long breaks, intermixed with some CRP....normal wind is southwest or west........ this is a place a person could sneak within 300 yards or less and snipe them, but sound wise? Challenge howls, coyote fight, what say you mister Dave??
This spot is a mile west of where that pair hung up for an hour at 600 + yards. Every coyote I have killed this week are fat as ticks and have full bellies.............so Distress calls on a full belly may not have the appeal as it does when its colder. Saturday and Sunday we are going to be -1 below...............

 

[DSheetz]

They should be hungry even if they have full bellies with the front coming in . I would try ( with a hand howler ) two short howls and two quick barks then wait a minute or two and repeat . Do that for a few times then just set and wait for awhile . That's just asking the ones around where are you and lets get together to feed this time of the year . In the spring if you have taken the adults or the pups that's asking the ones left to come to the one howling . Around here they normally won't feed on dead cows or livestock because for too many years we had people put out poison bait stations using them . I was out locating for the helicopter one morning ( after I had taken half grown pups the day before ) and that's what she was doing so I answered her in she came . It was a good thing for me as the chopper ended up needing to be worked on and couldn't make it that morning .

 

[Straight Shooter]

Also, hurt pup cries work good this time of year.

 

[DSheetz]

Straight Shooter , are you using older pup calls instead of baby puppy sounds like the ones that are made on a howler after you shoot one out of two or three that came in ?