My son and I went out after church on Sunday, 1-21-2007, to do a little coyote calling. I was getting cabin fever because I have had a bad cold and hadn’t been out calling for about 5 weeks!!! I was chomping at the bit to work some magic on Mr. or Mrs. Wiley Coyote!!!
We drove in to the west on a rural road about one mile and headed south about 1/4 mile in the stubble and parked. The wind was pretty much out of the WSW at this time. We walked in east side of a hill to keep us hidden from any coyotes that might be lying out of the wind and in the sun to the south or west of us. We set up overlooking a large flat out to the west and south. I set the FOXPRO up on a fencepost about 75 yards to the SW of our stand and called for about 20 minutes. No takers.
For our next stand, we drove about 5 miles north and then headed west on a prairie trail and parked behind a hill. I noted that the wind was just about straight out of the west at maybe 5 mph as we were walking in to the WNW. My son sat next to a fence post with his shooting sticks and I walked to the north about 75 yards so I could cover the down-wind side to the ENE as well as see the expanse of pasture land to the north and west. I set the FOXPRO out about 50 yards to the WNW of me and started out using the Fawn Distress sound for about 5 minutes. I muted the caller for a couple minutes and then I used the Interrogation howl sound for 3 howls, then the female invitation howl for 3 howls and then let the Coyote Locator sound run two full cycles. Then I muted the call for about one minute. There were no answering howls so I turned the Fawn Distress sound back on. At about the 15 minute mark, I took out my Bill Austin Howler and another higher pitched howler I have and let loose with some old dog boss of the domain howls and mixed in some pup in distress sounds with the high pitched howler. I turned the Fawn Distress sound back on and continued to scan the countryside. Every three minutes I’d use the Austin Howler for a couple of male challenge howls and then do a short series of pup distress sounds, while continuing to let the FOXPRO sound out with the Fawn Distress sounds.
At about the 23 minute mark I thought I saw something about 600+ yards to the NW that hadn’t been there before, but I didn’t dare move my rifle around to check it out with the scope. I switched the FOXPRO to the Interrogation Howl and let that play about 4 howls and muted it. The object I had spotted began moving my way. At that point, I could see it was a coyote even with the naked eye. It took its sweet time, but moved steadily to the east—not straight towards me, but on a path that would bring it well within range of my Savage 12VLP in .204 Ruger and the deadly 35 gr. FB HP Bergers!!! Finally, when it was about 400 yards away and it stopped broadside to me. I didn’t even think about shooting because I was certain I could get it much closer and 400 yards is a long shot, especially with a slight crosswind! I switched the FOXPRO to the Cal Taylor Cottontail Distress sound and the coyote moved a few yards closer and stopped again.
Then it began to move to the NE, slightly away from my stand!!! It got to a little saddle between two little hills and looked like it sat down. I could only see its head and front shoulder. My son said he could see the coyote, but he thought it was lying down there.
We were now about 30 minutes into the stand and that coyote just wasn’t coming any closer and it was too far for me to take the shot. I had been concentrating on working that coyote to the NW for the last 7 minutes and hadn’t been watching the area to the NE and north. I did a scan of the area to the N and NE and WHOA!!! There was a lone coyote standing out on a little rise almost straight north of me about 500 yards away. It was facing the spot where the other coyote was lying. I turned up the volume on the Cal Taylor Cottontail sound and the coyote to the north of me turned my way and started coming my way. It would stop and look towards the other coyote about every 25 yards as it came across a little low area to the north of me. It disappeared behind a rise to the NNE of my position and that gave me a chance to get my rifle and body turned around in that direction and I pushed the safety to the Fire position.
At about 35 minutes into the stand the other coyote out to the NW was trotting away towards the north. I moved my gaze back to the other coyote approaching from the NNE just as it poked its head up over the little hill about 300 yards to the NNE of me.
I was hoping it would come up onto the top of that hill and continue walking towards me. It did just that, but then there was another grassy knoll that it got in behind. Fortunately, when it appeared from behind the hill, it was heading almost straight my way. Its head, shoulders, and about half its body were in view and then it stopped. The coyote turned to look at the other coyote that was still trotting away to the north. Then it sat down, with only its head and left side visible to maybe 6 to 8 inches below the shoulder as it looked off to the NW at the other coyote. I cranked my Leupold VX-III 6.5-20x40mm long range scope up to the 20x mark, got the coyote in the scope and decided it was now or never. The wind was blowing slightly from my left to right and I guessed the distance to be about 225 yards,I had my range finder in my butt pack and had the butt pack sitting under the FOXPRO to get it up off the ground, so I wouldn’t be getting an exact yardage with that instrument!!!). I held the crosshairs allowing for about 3 inches of wind deflection and gently squeezed off the shot. I could see the coyote tip over to its right as it disappeared from my line of sight. I got on my howler and did my best imitation of a wounded coyote, hoping against hope that the coyote to the NW might get suckered into coming back. I must have kept up my wounded coyote sounds for three minutes, but I never saw the other coyote again. Oh well, at least I sealed the deal on one of the two that came in to my calling.
I told my son to go pick up the FOXPRO and I’d walk over and drag the coyote back to the hill we were on. I headed out and counted 215 big steps between where I had been set up and to the spot the coyote lay dead. There was no visible entrance wound, but there was a tiny bit of blood coming out the exit side. Not a big hole though. I got back up to the hill where my son was and snapped some photos. This was a nicely colored female, perhaps two years old or so. I haven’t weighed her, but I’d guess she weighs in the 25 to 28 pound range. Here’s a photo of the female coyote and the rifle that did the deed.
Here’s a hero-shot of the happy caller/shooter:
I checked out the exit wound on the coyote this morning, but still didn’t weigh her. From where the bullet exited,I still haven’t found the entrance hole), I can see that I almost didn’t allow enough for the wind deflection!!! You don’t have to misjudge the wind speed by much to change a hit into a miss. In hindsight, it appears I should have held for at least 6 inches of wind deflection instead of only 3. Good thing my target animal was a coyote in size instead of a prairie dog!!!
As I thought back on that first coyote and wondered why it wouldn’t come any closer, I decided that it could have been the fact that my son was sitting next to that left fence post in the upper right-hand corner of the picture above and the coyote could clearly see his silhouette against the skyline and didn’t like what it saw. The coyote that came in from the NE could not see my son because he was sitting behind the crest of a little hill that screened him from view from the north. Thank goodness for that!!! Then too, another possibility might have been that I was calling from a spot that was right between the territories of these two coyotes and the one to the NW wasn’t willing to invade the other’s territory, especially since it could clearly see the other coyote.
We drove around looking for another spot to call and finally made one more stand. We were only on the stand for about 15 minutes and it was getting so dark we couldn’t see. We decided to call it a day and headed back for home. There was a beautiful sunset and I apologize for not taking any photos. Maybe I'll get the camera out and snap some sunset photos next time.
We drove in to the west on a rural road about one mile and headed south about 1/4 mile in the stubble and parked. The wind was pretty much out of the WSW at this time. We walked in east side of a hill to keep us hidden from any coyotes that might be lying out of the wind and in the sun to the south or west of us. We set up overlooking a large flat out to the west and south. I set the FOXPRO up on a fencepost about 75 yards to the SW of our stand and called for about 20 minutes. No takers.
For our next stand, we drove about 5 miles north and then headed west on a prairie trail and parked behind a hill. I noted that the wind was just about straight out of the west at maybe 5 mph as we were walking in to the WNW. My son sat next to a fence post with his shooting sticks and I walked to the north about 75 yards so I could cover the down-wind side to the ENE as well as see the expanse of pasture land to the north and west. I set the FOXPRO out about 50 yards to the WNW of me and started out using the Fawn Distress sound for about 5 minutes. I muted the caller for a couple minutes and then I used the Interrogation howl sound for 3 howls, then the female invitation howl for 3 howls and then let the Coyote Locator sound run two full cycles. Then I muted the call for about one minute. There were no answering howls so I turned the Fawn Distress sound back on. At about the 15 minute mark, I took out my Bill Austin Howler and another higher pitched howler I have and let loose with some old dog boss of the domain howls and mixed in some pup in distress sounds with the high pitched howler. I turned the Fawn Distress sound back on and continued to scan the countryside. Every three minutes I’d use the Austin Howler for a couple of male challenge howls and then do a short series of pup distress sounds, while continuing to let the FOXPRO sound out with the Fawn Distress sounds.
At about the 23 minute mark I thought I saw something about 600+ yards to the NW that hadn’t been there before, but I didn’t dare move my rifle around to check it out with the scope. I switched the FOXPRO to the Interrogation Howl and let that play about 4 howls and muted it. The object I had spotted began moving my way. At that point, I could see it was a coyote even with the naked eye. It took its sweet time, but moved steadily to the east—not straight towards me, but on a path that would bring it well within range of my Savage 12VLP in .204 Ruger and the deadly 35 gr. FB HP Bergers!!! Finally, when it was about 400 yards away and it stopped broadside to me. I didn’t even think about shooting because I was certain I could get it much closer and 400 yards is a long shot, especially with a slight crosswind! I switched the FOXPRO to the Cal Taylor Cottontail Distress sound and the coyote moved a few yards closer and stopped again.
Then it began to move to the NE, slightly away from my stand!!! It got to a little saddle between two little hills and looked like it sat down. I could only see its head and front shoulder. My son said he could see the coyote, but he thought it was lying down there.
We were now about 30 minutes into the stand and that coyote just wasn’t coming any closer and it was too far for me to take the shot. I had been concentrating on working that coyote to the NW for the last 7 minutes and hadn’t been watching the area to the NE and north. I did a scan of the area to the N and NE and WHOA!!! There was a lone coyote standing out on a little rise almost straight north of me about 500 yards away. It was facing the spot where the other coyote was lying. I turned up the volume on the Cal Taylor Cottontail sound and the coyote to the north of me turned my way and started coming my way. It would stop and look towards the other coyote about every 25 yards as it came across a little low area to the north of me. It disappeared behind a rise to the NNE of my position and that gave me a chance to get my rifle and body turned around in that direction and I pushed the safety to the Fire position.
At about 35 minutes into the stand the other coyote out to the NW was trotting away towards the north. I moved my gaze back to the other coyote approaching from the NNE just as it poked its head up over the little hill about 300 yards to the NNE of me.
I was hoping it would come up onto the top of that hill and continue walking towards me. It did just that, but then there was another grassy knoll that it got in behind. Fortunately, when it appeared from behind the hill, it was heading almost straight my way. Its head, shoulders, and about half its body were in view and then it stopped. The coyote turned to look at the other coyote that was still trotting away to the north. Then it sat down, with only its head and left side visible to maybe 6 to 8 inches below the shoulder as it looked off to the NW at the other coyote. I cranked my Leupold VX-III 6.5-20x40mm long range scope up to the 20x mark, got the coyote in the scope and decided it was now or never. The wind was blowing slightly from my left to right and I guessed the distance to be about 225 yards,I had my range finder in my butt pack and had the butt pack sitting under the FOXPRO to get it up off the ground, so I wouldn’t be getting an exact yardage with that instrument!!!). I held the crosshairs allowing for about 3 inches of wind deflection and gently squeezed off the shot. I could see the coyote tip over to its right as it disappeared from my line of sight. I got on my howler and did my best imitation of a wounded coyote, hoping against hope that the coyote to the NW might get suckered into coming back. I must have kept up my wounded coyote sounds for three minutes, but I never saw the other coyote again. Oh well, at least I sealed the deal on one of the two that came in to my calling.
I told my son to go pick up the FOXPRO and I’d walk over and drag the coyote back to the hill we were on. I headed out and counted 215 big steps between where I had been set up and to the spot the coyote lay dead. There was no visible entrance wound, but there was a tiny bit of blood coming out the exit side. Not a big hole though. I got back up to the hill where my son was and snapped some photos. This was a nicely colored female, perhaps two years old or so. I haven’t weighed her, but I’d guess she weighs in the 25 to 28 pound range. Here’s a photo of the female coyote and the rifle that did the deed.
Here’s a hero-shot of the happy caller/shooter:
I checked out the exit wound on the coyote this morning, but still didn’t weigh her. From where the bullet exited,I still haven’t found the entrance hole), I can see that I almost didn’t allow enough for the wind deflection!!! You don’t have to misjudge the wind speed by much to change a hit into a miss. In hindsight, it appears I should have held for at least 6 inches of wind deflection instead of only 3. Good thing my target animal was a coyote in size instead of a prairie dog!!!
As I thought back on that first coyote and wondered why it wouldn’t come any closer, I decided that it could have been the fact that my son was sitting next to that left fence post in the upper right-hand corner of the picture above and the coyote could clearly see his silhouette against the skyline and didn’t like what it saw. The coyote that came in from the NE could not see my son because he was sitting behind the crest of a little hill that screened him from view from the north. Thank goodness for that!!! Then too, another possibility might have been that I was calling from a spot that was right between the territories of these two coyotes and the one to the NW wasn’t willing to invade the other’s territory, especially since it could clearly see the other coyote.
We drove around looking for another spot to call and finally made one more stand. We were only on the stand for about 15 minutes and it was getting so dark we couldn’t see. We decided to call it a day and headed back for home. There was a beautiful sunset and I apologize for not taking any photos. Maybe I'll get the camera out and snap some sunset photos next time.
