Well, the Brown truck delivered a new FoxPro FX3 caller and carrying case to my house on Thursday. I purchased some new 2500 mAh batteries and a charger that night and got the batteries cooking on the charger so I could use the caller today, Friday, December 8.
I got out of town a little later than I'd like, but that couldn't be helped. The wind was stronger than the weather forecasters had predicted, blowing at 10 to 15 mph out of the SW. The first stand was a no show. I put on about 1 mile round trip on my old legs to get to that stand and back. I did call in about 7 or 8 magpies. There were coyote and deer tracks all over where I was calling from. I headed south of there, but the road I wanted to take into some good spots was snowed over so I headed back north.
I parked on the approach into a telephone communications tower and gathered all my stuff. This is a spot that I have called at three times in the last four years--two of those times I have taken coyotes here. I didn't call from here last year, so I figured this spot owed me a coyote this year. I set up by placing the FX3 FoxPro about 40 yards straight west of me down a fairly steep slope. The place I lay prone at is a nice flat spot. I have an excellent view of the area below and to the west and NW. On this stand I used the Cal's Cottontail Distress sound and mixed in some howling both from the FX3 and my mouth call. At about 20 minutes into the stand I spotted a coyote head looking at the FX3 from the top of the hill to the NW. I turned the volume down a wee bit and the coyote came down the hill like it was on a string. When the coyote disappeared behind a big rock outcropping in front of me about 75 yards, I move my rifle over and slipped off the safety. I had my scope set at 8X so I didn’t want to let this coyote get too close. When she came up out of the bottom and passed on the east side of the rock outcropping, she was still motoring pretty fast and only about 65 yards away from me. I barked at her two times, she stopped, looked up at me, I put the cross hairs about even with the base of her neck and about level with her shoulder. I didn't want to shoot too low for fear the bullet would exit out the bottom of her chest. I got the cross hairs steadied on my aiming point and squeezed off the shot. She yelped one time and tipped over sideways and kind of backwards a wee bit. Her tail flopped a couple times and that was it. I looked at my chronograph and 21 minutes and 29 seconds had elapsed since I started calling. I got on my howler and did the wounded coyote cries for about a minute. I kept the FX3 playing and continued with the coyote yelping, but after about 3 or 4 minutes, nothing else showed up.
I had not taken my camera with on my walk into this stand, so I left the FX3 and the bag right where they were and hiked back to the pickup to get my camera. It was about 600 yards back to the pickup. Here are a few more photos. The first one below is a view from over my gun barrel and down at the coyote lying just in front of the rock outcropping right in line with my gun barrel.
The photo below shows the coyote just the way she was laying when she expired. Notice her left front leg is totally out of place. I think the bullet must have done a lot of damage to the muscle up in her chest, maybe even tore up some bone. That leg was pretty floppy. There was only a small bead of blood where the bullet went in and she bled a bit when I held her up by the hind legs to drain the blood out. She made some sloshing sounds when I moved her around. The old Savage 12VLP in .204 Ruger and 35 gr. FB HP Berger did the job again!
Here's a photo with a pretty shaky red line showing the approximate path this female coyote took down the hill. It sure didn't take her long to get from the fence line to where I took the shot!
I had taken my small camera tripod with from the pickup so I could take a "Hero" photo!!! The coyote looks pretty dark in these photos, but she was really a nice light colored coyote. I'd guesstimate she is about 2 or 3 years old. I didn't weigh her yet, but I'm guessing she weighs around 25 to 28 pounds or so.
I dragged the coyote and all my gear back to the PU and strung her between the sides of the pickup box and headed north. I drove in on a low maintenance trail and had to dodge a few deep drifts across the road. I put the pickup into 4-WD and plowed my way 2 miles west on this trail. There isn't a soul living for miles and miles, and miles in this area and I wanted to see if I could bag another coyote. I ate lunch and then I found a nice low spot to park the PU out of sight and headed north on a snowed in trail. There was a huge, deep and long coulee up to the NNW of where I parked and it looked like the ideal place for coyotes to lie up out of the wind and in the sun.
I set up my red fox decoy about 50 yards to the west of where I laid down and had the FX3 right by the decoy. I started the FX3 on the Cal's Cottontail Distress sound at medium volume. About 5 minutes into the stand I took out my howler and blew a few tunes on it. At about 8 minutes into the stand I heard howling off to the SW of my location. At about 8 minutes and 20 seconds into the stand the FX3 QUIT!!!! I fiddled with the remote but couldn’t get it to start playing again. I sure am glad I always carry mouth calls with me.
I continued calling with my Tally Ho and my howler until about 30 minutes into the stand. I couldn't see any coyotes coming, so I packed up and went down to the FX3. The digital readout said LO!!! This was a brand new set of 2500 mAh NiMH Energizers. However two of those batteries didn't test up as high on the voltage meter as the other six after I took them off the charger this morning, so I thought they might be defective. Anyway, I had a spare set of 8 batteries along that were only 1600 mAh batteries, but I put those in. I checked the call to see that it worked and it was OK again. I walked to the SW to see if I could catch up with those coyotes. When I had walked about 1/2 mile I set up again. Once more I could hear howling to the SW, but no coyotes came in. I walked another 3/4 of a mile to the SW and set up again. No coyotes answered this time and none came in. Now, I was well over a mile from the pickup and that's a long way for and old fellow like me in the snow. I made it back to the pickup, but I sure could have used a ride!!!
I headed to another spot and that road was snowed in so I just drove into the land owner's yard and visited with his wife for a while and then went home. I was home in time for supper. I hung the coyote up between my garage and the neighbor's lilac bushes and her dog is going berserk over there. I think it got up around 37 or 38 above here today. The wind made it feel a lot cooler than that.
I tested the 8 new batteries and two of them were way lower in voltage than the other 6. I will have to head out to Wal-Mart tomorrow and get them replaced. I am enjoying the new caller. I had to type up some labels to put on the back of the remote because I can't see the words on that little card FoxPro puts on the back of the remote. I make labels that have bigger print.
My eyes are pretty tired from looking into the wind and also a bit tired from the reflection of the bright sun off the white snow. I haven’t walked that far in one day for several years. I’m about ready to hit the shower and get some sleep!!!
I got out of town a little later than I'd like, but that couldn't be helped. The wind was stronger than the weather forecasters had predicted, blowing at 10 to 15 mph out of the SW. The first stand was a no show. I put on about 1 mile round trip on my old legs to get to that stand and back. I did call in about 7 or 8 magpies. There were coyote and deer tracks all over where I was calling from. I headed south of there, but the road I wanted to take into some good spots was snowed over so I headed back north.
I parked on the approach into a telephone communications tower and gathered all my stuff. This is a spot that I have called at three times in the last four years--two of those times I have taken coyotes here. I didn't call from here last year, so I figured this spot owed me a coyote this year. I set up by placing the FX3 FoxPro about 40 yards straight west of me down a fairly steep slope. The place I lay prone at is a nice flat spot. I have an excellent view of the area below and to the west and NW. On this stand I used the Cal's Cottontail Distress sound and mixed in some howling both from the FX3 and my mouth call. At about 20 minutes into the stand I spotted a coyote head looking at the FX3 from the top of the hill to the NW. I turned the volume down a wee bit and the coyote came down the hill like it was on a string. When the coyote disappeared behind a big rock outcropping in front of me about 75 yards, I move my rifle over and slipped off the safety. I had my scope set at 8X so I didn’t want to let this coyote get too close. When she came up out of the bottom and passed on the east side of the rock outcropping, she was still motoring pretty fast and only about 65 yards away from me. I barked at her two times, she stopped, looked up at me, I put the cross hairs about even with the base of her neck and about level with her shoulder. I didn't want to shoot too low for fear the bullet would exit out the bottom of her chest. I got the cross hairs steadied on my aiming point and squeezed off the shot. She yelped one time and tipped over sideways and kind of backwards a wee bit. Her tail flopped a couple times and that was it. I looked at my chronograph and 21 minutes and 29 seconds had elapsed since I started calling. I got on my howler and did the wounded coyote cries for about a minute. I kept the FX3 playing and continued with the coyote yelping, but after about 3 or 4 minutes, nothing else showed up.
I had not taken my camera with on my walk into this stand, so I left the FX3 and the bag right where they were and hiked back to the pickup to get my camera. It was about 600 yards back to the pickup. Here are a few more photos. The first one below is a view from over my gun barrel and down at the coyote lying just in front of the rock outcropping right in line with my gun barrel.
The photo below shows the coyote just the way she was laying when she expired. Notice her left front leg is totally out of place. I think the bullet must have done a lot of damage to the muscle up in her chest, maybe even tore up some bone. That leg was pretty floppy. There was only a small bead of blood where the bullet went in and she bled a bit when I held her up by the hind legs to drain the blood out. She made some sloshing sounds when I moved her around. The old Savage 12VLP in .204 Ruger and 35 gr. FB HP Berger did the job again!
Here's a photo with a pretty shaky red line showing the approximate path this female coyote took down the hill. It sure didn't take her long to get from the fence line to where I took the shot!
I had taken my small camera tripod with from the pickup so I could take a "Hero" photo!!! The coyote looks pretty dark in these photos, but she was really a nice light colored coyote. I'd guesstimate she is about 2 or 3 years old. I didn't weigh her yet, but I'm guessing she weighs around 25 to 28 pounds or so.
I dragged the coyote and all my gear back to the PU and strung her between the sides of the pickup box and headed north. I drove in on a low maintenance trail and had to dodge a few deep drifts across the road. I put the pickup into 4-WD and plowed my way 2 miles west on this trail. There isn't a soul living for miles and miles, and miles in this area and I wanted to see if I could bag another coyote. I ate lunch and then I found a nice low spot to park the PU out of sight and headed north on a snowed in trail. There was a huge, deep and long coulee up to the NNW of where I parked and it looked like the ideal place for coyotes to lie up out of the wind and in the sun.
I set up my red fox decoy about 50 yards to the west of where I laid down and had the FX3 right by the decoy. I started the FX3 on the Cal's Cottontail Distress sound at medium volume. About 5 minutes into the stand I took out my howler and blew a few tunes on it. At about 8 minutes into the stand I heard howling off to the SW of my location. At about 8 minutes and 20 seconds into the stand the FX3 QUIT!!!! I fiddled with the remote but couldn’t get it to start playing again. I sure am glad I always carry mouth calls with me.
I continued calling with my Tally Ho and my howler until about 30 minutes into the stand. I couldn't see any coyotes coming, so I packed up and went down to the FX3. The digital readout said LO!!! This was a brand new set of 2500 mAh NiMH Energizers. However two of those batteries didn't test up as high on the voltage meter as the other six after I took them off the charger this morning, so I thought they might be defective. Anyway, I had a spare set of 8 batteries along that were only 1600 mAh batteries, but I put those in. I checked the call to see that it worked and it was OK again. I walked to the SW to see if I could catch up with those coyotes. When I had walked about 1/2 mile I set up again. Once more I could hear howling to the SW, but no coyotes came in. I walked another 3/4 of a mile to the SW and set up again. No coyotes answered this time and none came in. Now, I was well over a mile from the pickup and that's a long way for and old fellow like me in the snow. I made it back to the pickup, but I sure could have used a ride!!!
I headed to another spot and that road was snowed in so I just drove into the land owner's yard and visited with his wife for a while and then went home. I was home in time for supper. I hung the coyote up between my garage and the neighbor's lilac bushes and her dog is going berserk over there. I think it got up around 37 or 38 above here today. The wind made it feel a lot cooler than that.
I tested the 8 new batteries and two of them were way lower in voltage than the other 6. I will have to head out to Wal-Mart tomorrow and get them replaced. I am enjoying the new caller. I had to type up some labels to put on the back of the remote because I can't see the words on that little card FoxPro puts on the back of the remote. I make labels that have bigger print.
My eyes are pretty tired from looking into the wind and also a bit tired from the reflection of the bright sun off the white snow. I haven’t walked that far in one day for several years. I’m about ready to hit the shower and get some sleep!!!
