My calling partner from Glasgow,Howler on several of the hunting boards) and I were up in NE Montana doing some coyote calling on President’s Day. The wind was wafting along out of the northwest at a pretty good clip and the coyotes were wary. We were in territory we had never hunted in before, so we were kind of blindly working our way through this new country. We made 9 calling stands. Only 2 of those stands were blanks. We called in a total of 9 coyotes. Here is our sad tale of woe and we are sticking to this story to the bitter end.
On the first stand I howled in a nice light colored coyote and my partner did a warning shot and turned that coyote loose. He pulled the trigger just as I was settling the cross hairs on the coyote’s throat, he missed and I had to take a Hail Mary shot as the coyote ran. I missed too and sent him on his way at an even faster clip.
Second stand, Howler was calling and I had hiked to the SSE of him to watch the down wind side. As I was getting to my intended lookout spot I saw two coyotes out hunting in the pasture to the SE of me. I radioed my partner to get on the howler and try to get them coming in before they got around to the SSW of me and got my scent. He started calling and they started coming. They were coming at an angle and it appeared that they were going to circle around and get the wind but I didn’t have a decent shot at either one. They disappeared behind a little rise and when they came back out they were heading to the west for the wind. I couldn't see much of their bodies and before I could get a shot off the one coyote must have hit my scent cone because he headed right out away from me and the other one was following right behind him. I flung a shot at them but missed. I stepped off the distance to where they were when I shot and it was about 380 yards. I made the one coyote turn, but from 380 yards, I figured my shot was low.
The third and fourth stands were dry.
On the fifth stand we crept over edge of a long ravine and had a valley out to the north of us with a creek bottom in the distance. I set the FoxPro out in front of me and aimed it into the NW wind. I set up on a little knoll that happened to be too flat and wide for one person to see both east and west from it. As it turned out, I should have either radioed my partner to come on down, or backed up the hill to the south and tried to find another spot to lie in. My partner looked real comfortable sitting back up behind me about 300+ yards to the SSE of where I set up, so I didn’t invite him to come on down. I already had the FoxPro set out in front of me about 50 yards, so I decided to go with calling from where I was. Well, about 17 minutes into the stand my partner radioed me that there were two coyotes coming in from the creek bottom. There was creek bottom to the north, northwest, and west of me so I wasn’t real sure where they were coming from. I couldn’t see any coyotes to the north or northwest of me, so I figured they must be coming from the only area I couldn’t see and that was directly west of me. My partner was over 300 yards away and he didn't dare shoot with those coyotes being very close to me. Both of the coyotes wound up within about 25 yards of my location before one of them turned and ran. The other one kept coming toward me because it popped up to my level on the knoll and was probably 15 yards away when I saw it--shotgun city!!! It turned and disappeared from my line of sight just as quickly as it had appeared. My partner did fling a shot at one of the coyotes as it ran over the hill to the west of him. Howler said it was a very interesting sight!!! Two more coyotes with an education!!!
The sixth stand was a blank.
On stand number seven, I set up so I was calling to the north from just below the rim of a nice long ravine. I set my partner up to the west of me about 50 yards away to cover a blind spot I had where I was going to set up and call from. At about 10 minutes into the stand I had a single coyote coming in from the north so I radioed Howler to let him know I had one coming. I had a little scoria butte to the NE of me and the coyote sneaked in behind that and when he reappeared he came right up to the top of the butte and stopped. I had the FoxPro playing the dying rabbit blues on low volume and he was staring right at it. He just stood there about 275 yards away from my position. I stopped the FoxPro, thinking he would advance. He just stood still. I started the FoxPro again and down the hill he came. I slipped off the safety and turned the power ring down to 6.5x in case he came in real close. When he got about 100 yards away, I barked at him to get him to stop, but he just put his head down and kept coming. I kept barking with my voice, but he wouldn’t stop. I finally put the crosshairs just on his nose as he was walking forward and pulled the trigger. Down he went, but he got back up and slowly staggered off to the north. I didn't really want to shoot again because I was pretty sure he was dead on his feet, but I hate trying to trail wounded coyotes when there is no snow on the ground. I lined up on him again and squeezed off another shot at his left front shoulder. At the same time I shot, I could hear Howler's rifle go off too. The coyote went down for good. He has considerable hide damage because all three bullets definitely hit bone on impact. We dragged him back up to the pickup and headed on to our next stand.
Here's a photo of where I was set up and my rifle is pointing at about where the coyote was when I pulled the trigger for shot #1. He was just above that long white patch of snow just above the end of the barrel.
Here's a little wider view of that same area.
And here's the hero shot of the coyote hunter and his prey. The area we were calling in on this stand was just over my right shoulder,left side of the photo).
Stand eight was Howler's turn to call and he managed to get some coyotes off to the SW of us about a mile all riled up and howling about 12 minutes into the stand. I cranked my scope up to 20x and scanned the hills over there, but never did spot them. They didn't come in either. About 30 minutes into the stand Howler radioed me that he had a coyote spotted up on the north end of the draw he was set up in. It was down below some little hills to the north of me and I couldn’t see it. Finally, after about 35 minutes the coyote started coming in toward Howler. When it got to about 250 to 300 yards or so from Howler, it turned and headed east up out of the little valley we were in. I saw it heading east into another little draw. I kept watching while Howler climbed up the hill to the east of where he had been set up to see if he could spot the coyote circling around to get the wind. We never saw that coyote again. Since it didn't come in for a shot, we won't count that one against our record.
We had time for another stand before we headed back home and decided to circle around to the south side of where we had heard the coyotes howling from on the previous stand. The wind was still out of the WNW. Howler decided to sit up behind me and look to the west and I walked to the north of him about 125 yards and set my FoxPro on the top of some alfalfa plants in a CRP field. I walked back up the stubble field hill and was about 50 yards south of the FoxPro. At about 10 minutes into the stand Howler radioed me that he saw a coyote coming in from the north and it was headed to the east side of the stock dam out to the north of us.
When I finally spotted that coyote, it had a partner with it and they were both looking towards the FoxPro from alongside the stock dam. I cranked the power ring on my scope up to 16x to have a good look at them. They were both very light colored coyotes. They were about 350 yards north of me. I had the FoxPro on the dying rabbit and had it down to fairly low volume. I turned the FoxPro off to see if they'd move forward. No deal. I turned it back on and the coyote farthest east headed off to the SSE and the other one stayed back. The one heading to my right was coming pretty fast. He got to a fence line that ran east and west and ducked under that and began heading right straight towards the FoxPro. The other coyote had now begun to come in and it was running pretty fast right straight towards the FoxPro. I had the coyote to my right in my scope and decided I had better crank the power down from 16x to 6.5x in case I couldn’t get him stopped. Well, I had no sooner reached up and turned the power ring down than that doggone coyote did a 180º turn and was headed right back the way he came. I knew he hadn’t spotted me cranking on the power ring and was wondering if Howler had moved or if the coyote could see Howler’s outline from down below the hill. Something had alerted that coyote.
That coyote turned on the after burners. I was yelping on my Bill Austin Howler trying to get him to stop. The other coyote had also turned tail and was heading off to the west. As the coyote to the north of me crossed under the fence he really turned on the jet assist rockets! I finally got the crosshairs in front of his nose about a foot and squeezed off a shot. It sounded like it might have hit him and he looked like he stumbled, but disappeared to the north by the stock dam. Howler couldn't get a shot at the other one as it ran west.
Before I walked out to see if I had hit the coyote, I tested the wind direction again and sure enough, the wind had switched and was now blowing right from Howler and me to where the coyote had done the 180º turn and ran away. I walked out to see if I had hit the coyote. As I walked out there, I stepped off the distance to where I had taken the shot at the running coyote. It was about 325 yards, so now I was sure I had shot low. I searched for blood sign or a dead coyote and didn't find either one. Two more educated coyotes!!! We were really running a school for coyotes today!!! Seven coyotes now held advanced degrees in foiling coyote callers and the one mangy looking one probably already had and advance degree.
So, like I mentioned earlier, it was an exciting day, even though we only got one coyote out of the 9 we saw. I guess that's better than not seeing or bagging any. Our reason for such a poor performance is that the wind didn't really help us all that much and we probably would have done WAAAAY better had the wind not been blowing so hard, but then who knows??? Final score:
Howler and Silverfox: 1 :,
Coyotes: 7!!! :cry:
and one coyote we aren't claiming to have educated
On the first stand I howled in a nice light colored coyote and my partner did a warning shot and turned that coyote loose. He pulled the trigger just as I was settling the cross hairs on the coyote’s throat, he missed and I had to take a Hail Mary shot as the coyote ran. I missed too and sent him on his way at an even faster clip.
Second stand, Howler was calling and I had hiked to the SSE of him to watch the down wind side. As I was getting to my intended lookout spot I saw two coyotes out hunting in the pasture to the SE of me. I radioed my partner to get on the howler and try to get them coming in before they got around to the SSW of me and got my scent. He started calling and they started coming. They were coming at an angle and it appeared that they were going to circle around and get the wind but I didn’t have a decent shot at either one. They disappeared behind a little rise and when they came back out they were heading to the west for the wind. I couldn't see much of their bodies and before I could get a shot off the one coyote must have hit my scent cone because he headed right out away from me and the other one was following right behind him. I flung a shot at them but missed. I stepped off the distance to where they were when I shot and it was about 380 yards. I made the one coyote turn, but from 380 yards, I figured my shot was low.
The third and fourth stands were dry.
On the fifth stand we crept over edge of a long ravine and had a valley out to the north of us with a creek bottom in the distance. I set the FoxPro out in front of me and aimed it into the NW wind. I set up on a little knoll that happened to be too flat and wide for one person to see both east and west from it. As it turned out, I should have either radioed my partner to come on down, or backed up the hill to the south and tried to find another spot to lie in. My partner looked real comfortable sitting back up behind me about 300+ yards to the SSE of where I set up, so I didn’t invite him to come on down. I already had the FoxPro set out in front of me about 50 yards, so I decided to go with calling from where I was. Well, about 17 minutes into the stand my partner radioed me that there were two coyotes coming in from the creek bottom. There was creek bottom to the north, northwest, and west of me so I wasn’t real sure where they were coming from. I couldn’t see any coyotes to the north or northwest of me, so I figured they must be coming from the only area I couldn’t see and that was directly west of me. My partner was over 300 yards away and he didn't dare shoot with those coyotes being very close to me. Both of the coyotes wound up within about 25 yards of my location before one of them turned and ran. The other one kept coming toward me because it popped up to my level on the knoll and was probably 15 yards away when I saw it--shotgun city!!! It turned and disappeared from my line of sight just as quickly as it had appeared. My partner did fling a shot at one of the coyotes as it ran over the hill to the west of him. Howler said it was a very interesting sight!!! Two more coyotes with an education!!!
The sixth stand was a blank.
On stand number seven, I set up so I was calling to the north from just below the rim of a nice long ravine. I set my partner up to the west of me about 50 yards away to cover a blind spot I had where I was going to set up and call from. At about 10 minutes into the stand I had a single coyote coming in from the north so I radioed Howler to let him know I had one coming. I had a little scoria butte to the NE of me and the coyote sneaked in behind that and when he reappeared he came right up to the top of the butte and stopped. I had the FoxPro playing the dying rabbit blues on low volume and he was staring right at it. He just stood there about 275 yards away from my position. I stopped the FoxPro, thinking he would advance. He just stood still. I started the FoxPro again and down the hill he came. I slipped off the safety and turned the power ring down to 6.5x in case he came in real close. When he got about 100 yards away, I barked at him to get him to stop, but he just put his head down and kept coming. I kept barking with my voice, but he wouldn’t stop. I finally put the crosshairs just on his nose as he was walking forward and pulled the trigger. Down he went, but he got back up and slowly staggered off to the north. I didn't really want to shoot again because I was pretty sure he was dead on his feet, but I hate trying to trail wounded coyotes when there is no snow on the ground. I lined up on him again and squeezed off another shot at his left front shoulder. At the same time I shot, I could hear Howler's rifle go off too. The coyote went down for good. He has considerable hide damage because all three bullets definitely hit bone on impact. We dragged him back up to the pickup and headed on to our next stand.
Here's a photo of where I was set up and my rifle is pointing at about where the coyote was when I pulled the trigger for shot #1. He was just above that long white patch of snow just above the end of the barrel.
Here's a little wider view of that same area.
And here's the hero shot of the coyote hunter and his prey. The area we were calling in on this stand was just over my right shoulder,left side of the photo).
Stand eight was Howler's turn to call and he managed to get some coyotes off to the SW of us about a mile all riled up and howling about 12 minutes into the stand. I cranked my scope up to 20x and scanned the hills over there, but never did spot them. They didn't come in either. About 30 minutes into the stand Howler radioed me that he had a coyote spotted up on the north end of the draw he was set up in. It was down below some little hills to the north of me and I couldn’t see it. Finally, after about 35 minutes the coyote started coming in toward Howler. When it got to about 250 to 300 yards or so from Howler, it turned and headed east up out of the little valley we were in. I saw it heading east into another little draw. I kept watching while Howler climbed up the hill to the east of where he had been set up to see if he could spot the coyote circling around to get the wind. We never saw that coyote again. Since it didn't come in for a shot, we won't count that one against our record.
We had time for another stand before we headed back home and decided to circle around to the south side of where we had heard the coyotes howling from on the previous stand. The wind was still out of the WNW. Howler decided to sit up behind me and look to the west and I walked to the north of him about 125 yards and set my FoxPro on the top of some alfalfa plants in a CRP field. I walked back up the stubble field hill and was about 50 yards south of the FoxPro. At about 10 minutes into the stand Howler radioed me that he saw a coyote coming in from the north and it was headed to the east side of the stock dam out to the north of us.
When I finally spotted that coyote, it had a partner with it and they were both looking towards the FoxPro from alongside the stock dam. I cranked the power ring on my scope up to 16x to have a good look at them. They were both very light colored coyotes. They were about 350 yards north of me. I had the FoxPro on the dying rabbit and had it down to fairly low volume. I turned the FoxPro off to see if they'd move forward. No deal. I turned it back on and the coyote farthest east headed off to the SSE and the other one stayed back. The one heading to my right was coming pretty fast. He got to a fence line that ran east and west and ducked under that and began heading right straight towards the FoxPro. The other coyote had now begun to come in and it was running pretty fast right straight towards the FoxPro. I had the coyote to my right in my scope and decided I had better crank the power down from 16x to 6.5x in case I couldn’t get him stopped. Well, I had no sooner reached up and turned the power ring down than that doggone coyote did a 180º turn and was headed right back the way he came. I knew he hadn’t spotted me cranking on the power ring and was wondering if Howler had moved or if the coyote could see Howler’s outline from down below the hill. Something had alerted that coyote.
That coyote turned on the after burners. I was yelping on my Bill Austin Howler trying to get him to stop. The other coyote had also turned tail and was heading off to the west. As the coyote to the north of me crossed under the fence he really turned on the jet assist rockets! I finally got the crosshairs in front of his nose about a foot and squeezed off a shot. It sounded like it might have hit him and he looked like he stumbled, but disappeared to the north by the stock dam. Howler couldn't get a shot at the other one as it ran west.
Before I walked out to see if I had hit the coyote, I tested the wind direction again and sure enough, the wind had switched and was now blowing right from Howler and me to where the coyote had done the 180º turn and ran away. I walked out to see if I had hit the coyote. As I walked out there, I stepped off the distance to where I had taken the shot at the running coyote. It was about 325 yards, so now I was sure I had shot low. I searched for blood sign or a dead coyote and didn't find either one. Two more educated coyotes!!! We were really running a school for coyotes today!!! Seven coyotes now held advanced degrees in foiling coyote callers and the one mangy looking one probably already had and advance degree.
So, like I mentioned earlier, it was an exciting day, even though we only got one coyote out of the 9 we saw. I guess that's better than not seeing or bagging any. Our reason for such a poor performance is that the wind didn't really help us all that much and we probably would have done WAAAAY better had the wind not been blowing so hard, but then who knows??? Final score:
Howler and Silverfox: 1 :,
Coyotes: 7!!! :cry:
and one coyote we aren't claiming to have educated
