timeout
Silver $$ Contributor
I've done much in my life to make oneself think he is crazy, but perhaps the night before last was on the top of that list! Previously I had dabbled unsuccessfully into the world of coyote calling. Now I have trail hounded coyotes for most all of my adult life. Not only here, but in a bunch of other states. I am also an accomplished canine trapper/snareman. I've been able to figure out most anything in the out of doors that I set my mind to. This calling thing was bugging me a bit. So when a friend offerd to bring his good friend and take me calling, I jumped at the chance. The only catch was that scheduling mandated they come Friday afternoon and Friday nite. I have snowmobiled and ran hoiunds many, many times, with temps well below zero. I must say though that I was looking forward to calling at night when the temps are below zero, with some degree of trepidation. The guys arrived Friday afternoon as planned. After we visited for awhile, we piled into the truck and I proceeded to take them on a tour of my hunting areas. Just before first dark, we made stand number one. There was a shot fired at 4 minutes into the stand. It turned out to be a miss. I'll not name names, but fortunately it was mot me that had fired. Stand two brought no takers to the supper table. On to stand 3 and 4 1/2 minutes brought another hungry critter to gunpoint. This time a shotgun blast, then two more. That coyote is still running! Once again I won't name names, but thankfully I had not been the unfortunate one to miss. The two buddies could now razz each other regarding markmanship, or rather lack thereof. I stayed out of that, not wanting to jinx myself! Stand # 4 again failed to produce. Stand # 5 brought in Wiley Coyotee at 7 1/2 minutes. This time I saw him coming from my vantage point. He paused at about 110 yards and I squeezed the trigger. Much to my relief, that rascal dropped straight down. It was a big 40 pound male with a prime pelt. We made two more empty stands and called it a nite. All this took place in some very frigid temps. It was minus 16 in the lowlands and around minus 11 on the high ground. I got to bed about 12:45 AM. I had been warned before leaving not to put my feet on the missus when I crawled into bed! I woke up about 4 AM and wondered if I would be thawed out before July? Couple the frigid temps with being dug into a snow drift while not moving a muscle, now that is COLD!! Those boys showed me how to call 'em. I showed them how to shoot!
