Temperatures finally dropped last weekend and gave us some relief from the hottest summer we've seen in a long time! We've been putting off some pre-season calling because of the nasty heat and humidity, but last Friday night was our first chance at an enjoyable hunt.
My cameraman cancelled on us late in the game so we had to step back and reorganize equipment a little. The first stand produced a cat, a coon and six deer... at least we had something to look at?!
Our next setup was spoiled by some cattle and a motion light, so we reconsidered our options and shuffled on over to a farm we've been hunting for years. This guy has a lot of coyotes but the property is really tough to call for some reason. Wanting to clense the area of all coyotes- his trapper neighbor has been his savior in years past... but we got an early jump on him Friday night.
The setup was pretty simple and cookie-cutter. The caller was placed upwind about 50 yards and we started off with medium volume distress sounds. Less than 60 seconds into the call I spotted a coyote about 300 yards away, quartering away slowly. I quickly lost track of him but upon spotting him the second time I noticed he was hauling the mail for a distant woodlot.
Disgusted, I continued running a "Kitchen Sink Stand" until after one soundchange I saw a set of eyes bouncing over that distant ridge. Slightly to the right of where the coyote had retreated, a coyote was coming... HARD. My shooter turned cameraman got on the Canon, I got on the AR and he trotted right in for a 75 yard head-on shot. I had him lined up pretty good in the scope so I didn't wait on him to stop- smoked him in the brisket for a nice bang/flop. Good video footage too. (Thanks Dennis)
Sorry- just the bullet impact for now.
By this time it was getting early and Dennis had only about 4 hours before work so I took him home. After dropping him off I headed for a couple other farms where our pre-season presence had been requested. The next couple stands sure seemed like gravy stands with perfect wind direction and great cover and crop changes. It took a couple hours to find another hot one- but it was worth it.
This stand was on the north side of a 100 acre patch of standing corn... all other sides had been shelled. An old roadbed ran E/W on the north end of the standing corn, so with the N wind on my right shoulder I stood watch of the corn stubble. I blew softly on a distress call for about 10 seconds then stopped... within 30 seconds I had eyes coming out of the corn 200 yards away.
The coyote came out into the stubble about 4 rows... right where I was standing... and proceeded my direction. Holding the call silently in my mouth I watched him trot my way then stop, then trot some more. When he reached 60-70 yards I blew him a kiss and stopped him. Again with the crosshairs on the brisket- BANG/FLOP- Number 2 in the truck.
Called up a couple more Gray Foxes but no more coyotes... season opens in a few weeks and I have great expectations this year. Looks like it could be a good numbers year for me. ???
My cameraman cancelled on us late in the game so we had to step back and reorganize equipment a little. The first stand produced a cat, a coon and six deer... at least we had something to look at?!
Our next setup was spoiled by some cattle and a motion light, so we reconsidered our options and shuffled on over to a farm we've been hunting for years. This guy has a lot of coyotes but the property is really tough to call for some reason. Wanting to clense the area of all coyotes- his trapper neighbor has been his savior in years past... but we got an early jump on him Friday night.
The setup was pretty simple and cookie-cutter. The caller was placed upwind about 50 yards and we started off with medium volume distress sounds. Less than 60 seconds into the call I spotted a coyote about 300 yards away, quartering away slowly. I quickly lost track of him but upon spotting him the second time I noticed he was hauling the mail for a distant woodlot.
Disgusted, I continued running a "Kitchen Sink Stand" until after one soundchange I saw a set of eyes bouncing over that distant ridge. Slightly to the right of where the coyote had retreated, a coyote was coming... HARD. My shooter turned cameraman got on the Canon, I got on the AR and he trotted right in for a 75 yard head-on shot. I had him lined up pretty good in the scope so I didn't wait on him to stop- smoked him in the brisket for a nice bang/flop. Good video footage too. (Thanks Dennis)
Sorry- just the bullet impact for now.
By this time it was getting early and Dennis had only about 4 hours before work so I took him home. After dropping him off I headed for a couple other farms where our pre-season presence had been requested. The next couple stands sure seemed like gravy stands with perfect wind direction and great cover and crop changes. It took a couple hours to find another hot one- but it was worth it.
This stand was on the north side of a 100 acre patch of standing corn... all other sides had been shelled. An old roadbed ran E/W on the north end of the standing corn, so with the N wind on my right shoulder I stood watch of the corn stubble. I blew softly on a distress call for about 10 seconds then stopped... within 30 seconds I had eyes coming out of the corn 200 yards away.
The coyote came out into the stubble about 4 rows... right where I was standing... and proceeded my direction. Holding the call silently in my mouth I watched him trot my way then stop, then trot some more. When he reached 60-70 yards I blew him a kiss and stopped him. Again with the crosshairs on the brisket- BANG/FLOP- Number 2 in the truck.
Called up a couple more Gray Foxes but no more coyotes... season opens in a few weeks and I have great expectations this year. Looks like it could be a good numbers year for me. ???
