Not Wile E. enough

[Toby Bradshaw]

It was a little chilly this morning -- just right for calling coyotes, and a good opportunity to use my snow camo.



As usual, I left my rifle in the truck overnight to prevent condensation from forming by bringing a cold rifle into a warm(ish) cabin. After missing a coyote last year when the grease in my Kelbly Atlas Tactical bolt congealed in the cold, I had cleaned my bolt and reassembled it dry, so I was ready (or so I thought) for the single-digit temperature.

Just after sunup I was standing at the edge of an opening in the sagebrush with my 22BR on the Bog-Pod and the Lucky Duck Revolt on the ground about 50 yards out. Six minutes of "shelterbelt" had an adult male coyote galloping in from my left. I swung the rifle on him and caught up just as he reached the caller. As expected, he pivoted immediately and headed for the horizon. I had a pretty good bead on him, but when I squeezed the Jewell trigger I got another light strike and FTF. I don't know if there was some frozen moisture in the bolt, or the clearances tightened up in the cold, but needless to say I was apoplectic.

Luckily I didn't have time to yell a few choice profanities before the coyote's mate came down the same trail that he had taken. I re-cocked the bolt, not really expecting any better outcome, but when the female ran over the Revolt and lit the jets I held for her nose going straight away. The 40gr NBT caught her in the back of the skull, rolling her in the snow.

I've got my bolt apart now, being sure that it's perfectly dry inside. It's supposed to be cold again tomorrow, so I'll give it another go.

 

[Toby Bradshaw]

It "warmed up" to 3*F this morning. Calm and light overcast -- probably the best day this week to call coyotes. I kept my rifle warm overnight to forestall another FTF.

I drove to an area about 30 miles away that is more open than my usual hunting grounds, hoping to see the inbound coyotes at a distance for a change. Sure enough, on the first stand a coyote appeared 500+ yards out, loping towards the caller. At about 300 yards it disappeared into a little draw. The next time I saw the coyote it was galloping straight to the call from my left, maybe 40 yards from me. I whooped to stop it before it ran into my track to the caller, but it didn't hesitate -- it wheeled and blew out of there at top speed. I missed the running shot.

My next stand was dry, but the third stand had a young female headed my way less than 2 minutes into "shelterbelt" (cottontail distress). I got to watch her close the distance from 400+ yards to 99 paces, where she stopped, facing me. I saw a fur cloud on impact, and she collapsed.

Since I had only called for 2 minutes, I kept calling, switching from "shelterbelt" to "luckypecker" after about 6 minutes. After 12 total minutes on the stand I finished with "pup chaos". An adult male materialized instantly, 32 yards to my right. He must have been waiting for some time. He was broadside behind a spindly dead sagebrush. I took a chance on threading my shot through the sagebrush, worried that he would spook if he got closer to the caller. Luckily the stand-up Bog-Pod tripod makes it possible to swing the rifle 90 degrees without moving too much (unlike a bipod from the sitting position). I put the crosshairs right behind his shoulder, and the 40gr NBT had the desired effect.

 

[krumfola]

Do you have any more pics of your tripod?

 

[Toby Bradshaw]

Do you have any more pics of your tripod?

 

[Brians356]

It "warmed up" to 3*F this morning.

From 2 deg to 3 deg? That's a 50% surge! I guess the climate "scientists" are right after all - twelve years until doomsday.
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[Brians356]

Curious about the morning temperatures in central OR, I stumbled on this useful presentation:

https://graphical.weather.gov/sectors/oregon.php
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[helmut in the bush]

Nice going, keep shooting them

 

[Toby Bradshaw]

My buddy was hunting rabbits with his goshawk and dogs a couple of months ago in Washington (state). The goshawk caught a cottontail in a Himalayan blackberry thicket. The screaming rabbit attracted one of the many local coyotes. No doubt the coyote would have killed the goshawk, but one of my buddy's little 10-pound Jack Russell x beagle crosses defended the hawk, and the coyote nearly killed the dog before my buddy could hack his way through the blackberries to save his hunting team. The poor JRT-beagle had a broken jaw and deep lacerations in her neck. She was unresponsive at the scene, but somehow managed to pull through after almost a month of intensive care at home.

Needless to say, there was a score to settle.

I had this morning free. The weather was calm, cloudy, and just at freezing cold -- perfect for the overdue revenge hunt.

Because the rabbit hunting spot is in an industrial area in tight cover, my buddy brought a shotgun and I brought a .22LR (Remington 541S, RWS match ammo). Centerfire rifles are not legal for hunting in that part of the county.

Since it is the coyote breeding season, coyote vocals were the sounds of choice on the Lucky Duck Revolt. I wasn't 5 minutes into "twisted sister" (a mating vocalization) when this yearling female materialized from the blackberries 50 yards away, staring at the caller. Surprisingly, the first shot from the .22 dropped her on the spot. I must have nicked her spine just behind her shoulder. A brain shot finished her.

There were at least 2 more coyotes barking at us, but we couldn't entice them out of cover. Maybe next time ...

Here's my buddy with public enemy #1:

 

[Toby Bradshaw]

Normally I don't like to hunt coyotes this time of year -- I'd rather wait until August when the pups aren't being fed constantly by their parents and will respond to prey distress calls. But when a local off-grid rancher calls with a coyote problem, and the promise of many more square miles of prime hunting ground in fall and winter, I can't refuse.

I was expecting to have the best chance with pup distress sounds, but this young adult male (yearling?) coyote came to "shelterbelt" (Lucky Duck cottontail squeals). He was too smart to approach the caller, and was already leaving when I caught sight of him cresting a greasewood-covered dune. He paused to look back at the caller, and the 22BR/40gr NBT dropped him in his tracks at 133 paces. I texted the photo below, and the ranchers welcomed me back anytime ...

 

[BRGUY]

Excellent!

 

[WyleWD]

Did you try calling again a minute or two after you dropped this one? This time of year it has yielded most of my doubles and all of my triples. I acknowledge that we live on opposite ends of the country, but the fellow that told me how to do it was from out in your end of the country. Just curious. And good shooting and making a rancher happy. WD

 

[Toby Bradshaw]

Did you try calling again a minute or two after you dropped this one?

Always!

 

[WyleWD]

Always!

View attachment 1185411

You da man!!! WD

 

[Toby Bradshaw]

The combination of building a new cabin and hunting jackrabbits with my hawks hasn't left much time for coyote hunting, but yesterday the hawks overindulged on jackrabbit meat, so I gave them this morning off to digest a light meal and intensify their desire to catch more jackrabbits tomorrow.


It was chilly (27F) and dead calm just before sunup when I set the Lucky Duck Revolt in a small clearing in the sagebrush. I tried "luckypecker" for about 5 minutes before switching to the old reliable "shelterbelt". At 11 minutes a smallish coyote came straight in towards the caller. It wouldn't stop and was about to cut my inbound track, so I took a moving shot and missed. The coyote loped off -- the fact that it didn't light the jets told me that this was a particularly inexperienced youngster. I kept calling, and sure enough, the same coyote (I think) circled back through the clearing. This time I led him just a bit as he crossed an open area and rolled him with the 22BR at about 60 yards.

Within a few seconds a larger male came trotting towards the caller, right past his dead packmate. He stopped briefly around 75 yards out, but my snap shot went just over his back. Now you'd think a coyote that just heard 3 big booming rifle shots would head for the hills at warp speed, but this one just resumed his trot. I put the crosshairs on the front of his chest and sent the 40gr NBT on its way. The bullet clipped his spine right above the shoulder blades and dropped him on the spot.

I don't usually see a pile of neck-turned Lapua brass on the ground after a coyote stand, and normally if I take more than one shot the rest of the shooting is at running coyotes -- almost by definition a waste of ammo. It just goes to show that dumb coyotes can make up for some bad shooting.

 

[BRGUY]

Great pictures and story. Thank you for sharing!

 

[Brians356]

It was chilly (27F) and dead calm just before sunup

What's the elevation there?
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[Toby Bradshaw]

What's the elevation there?
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4300 feet.

 

[Monte F]

Just a bit further North of us Brian.

 

[Toby Bradshaw]

The wildfire smoke hanging over central Oregon has it upsides. First, the thick haze blocks much of the sun's light, so even by 9:30 this morning the temperature was still in the mid-30s(F). Second, the reason that the smoke is so persistent is that there is no wind, even in the afternoons. So, after the hawks rolled 3 jackrabbits this morning, I put them out on their perches to digest their breakfast and take a bath to wash off the dust and blood from their struggles. Then I grabbed my coyote calling gear and headed out.

I walked about a half mile from my cabin into the sagebrush/rabbitbrush and set up on a little rise adjacent to a relatively clear area. Within 10 minutes I saw a coyote sneaking parallel to the caller, unwilling to commit but also unwilling to pass up a free meal. I lost sight of it for a minute or two, then switched from cottontail distress to kangaroo rat squeaks, knowing that the coyote was close by. I scanned around and spotted the coyote's head mostly concealed by a sagebrush, looking at the caller, about 125 yards out. I hate to shoot through brush, but this coyote wasn't going to come to caller, so I took the shot. I either missed (no way! ) or the 40gr Nosler BT fragmented on a twig, but in either case I went back to the truck empty-handed.

I drove a mile down the 2-track and set up again. Four minutes into "shelterbelt" I saw a coyote circling the caller, never leaving cover to cross the opening where I had placed the Revolt. With no wind (and maybe with reduced ability to use his nose because of the smoke), the coyote just didn't trust his ears enough to approach the sound. Luckily he stopped 99 paces from me, looking at the caller, giving me a head-on shot. You can see the entrance wound in his chest.



After the shot I looked over at the caller and a coyote pup was staring at it from about 5 feet away. It must have caught my movement, and loped off. I couldn't get my act together for a shot, but I'll be back!

Having called 3 coyotes in 2 stands, I decided to make another stand before lunch. I set up under a big juniper on a hillside overlooking a sagebrush/rabbitbrush flat. It isn't very open, but often the coyotes will come all the way to the caller and give some sort of peek-a-boo shot opportunity. Three minutes into "shelterbelt" a coyote pup came in from my left -- she must have walked within 50 yards of my parked truck on her way to the caller. Fortunately for me she didn't cross my track to the caller, but looped around it and then came back towards the screaming rabbit sound. She was only about 10 feet from the caller when I whooped to stop her, but she kept trotting, so I had to take a moving shot (which I don't like to do) at 52 paces. The NBT caught her behind the shoulder and left a huge mess of lung tissue on her off side.

 

[Toby Bradshaw]

My hawks had a good day yesterday, catching a few jackrabbits and this sagebrush endemic, a pygmy rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis). A fully-grown adult pygmy rabbit only weighs about a pound, and they are the only native North American rabbit that digs their own burrows. The hawks like to catch pygmies because they don't put up the punishing fight that a 6-pound jack does.



Today's weather forecast called for freezing temperatures in the morning, and light winds all day, so the hawks got the day off while I went looking for coyotes. My first stand was within sight of my cabin. It's been productive over the years, and it's one place where I'm surprised if a coyote doesn't show up. I played 5 minutes of "luckypecker" (bird distress) before switching to the ever-popular "shelterbelt" (cottontail distress). Two minutes later this handsome fellow appeared 52 paces out, stopped to check out the caller, and took the 40gr Nosler BT (still whistling along at nearly 4000 fps) in the chest.



Afterwards I picked up an older friend of mine who is always asking to go out calling. He has limited mobility, which isn't compatible with most of the places I hunt. But I have a few spots where coyotes can be called within 100 yards of the truck, so we tried a couple of them. On the first stand, in the shade of a juniper overlooking a sagebrush flat, we had an adult coyote respond to "pup chaos", but he never stopped moving and never got closer than about 350 yards. At the second spot, a weedy abandoned pasture surrounded by sagebrush, we set up on a fenceline and called in a pair of adult coyotes. They probably spotted us (my buddy was sitting in a white lawn chair!), trotting parallel to the fenceline about 150 yards out. So my friend didn't get to air out his .22-250, but we did manage to attract some coyotes, and saw at least another dozen mousing the alfalfa pivots (which have just been cut for the third time this season) while we were driving around.

With any luck there may be an evening hunt opportunity ...