Sometimes it is better to be lucky then good!
I had a land owner call me this week telling me about the coyotes he is seeing around his cattle pens.
Despite the wind gusting over 20 MPH I made the 45 minute drive to his place!
It was a cold, windy sunrise! For us anyways!
With the temps in the low 20s and a 20+ MPH wind I questioned my mental condition more then once!
But I got set up where the land owner had been seeing the perps and started with some distress sounds on my Double Buck diaphragm from Reese Outdoors. I tried different tones and intensities and got no response!
Just over 20 minutes in I decide to try some vocals on my Double Reed howler diaphragm. I let go with a few high pitched howls and scan the tree line to my north. Nothing!
Now I am thinking either they are bedded down in this wind and don't want anything to do with me or they just can't hear me! So I give it everything I got with some high pitched howls and I get several coyotes howling back just over a levee to the north. After they quit I come back with a non threatening high pitched howl and scan the tree lined levee where I expect them to appear! Nothing!
Now 15 minutes after they howled I am thinking of the saying, "If you hear 'em you ain't gonna see 'em"!
I howl again and start answering myself with the e-call. I throw out a scenario that sounded good to me and I shut-up for a bit and watch.
About the time I am thinking about the wind and temps and how good it will feel to be back in the truck, three coyote come out into the field about where I had been expecting them for the last half hour! But they are about 250 yards out and cruisin straight south!
I do everything but yell stop and can't get no more then a glance my way! I decide that if I am going to drop some fur I am gonna have to launch some lead!
I plop down prone in the snow to get as steady as possible and let out a scream/kiyi! The larger trailing coyote that had been limping hard stopped and looked my way.
I hold high on it's back and account for the wind and send a round! The report and fur cyclone confirm a hit!
The other coyotes scramble but hold close to the spinning male. As soon as I get the shot I send another round. No report and all three coyote evacuate the area! The big male I shot isn't setting any land speed records but he is up and moving straight at me.The other two are moving across the field to the northeast and increasing this distance between us fast! I'm not sure if I finally bark or yelped on my diaphragm just right or if they couldn't run because they were laughing at me, but they finally stopped! A quick survey suggested they were just over 300 yards. I decided I didn't have anything to loose and held to accommodate the distance and wind and sent another round.
BANG! THWACK! FLOP!
Double down baby!!
Two coyotes found guilty and executed!
I stepped off each coyote and the first coyote and it was 259 paces and the second was 335 paces! Each one was my furthest kill shot with my .223 Savage. I was stoked!
Here is a shot of the field with both coyotes waiting to be recovered!
http://i946.photobucket.com/albums/a...227_074633.jpg
The male was a beast of an alpha male weighing in at 40lbs 7ozs! He had a scar on his right eye, his teeth were worn to the gums and his bottom right canine was broken and worn smooth again. His right front ankle was broken and he was walking on the inside of his paw and his left rear leg looked like it had been chewed on a bit this morning!
http://i946.photobucket.com/albums/a...227_083841.jpg
The other was a nice looking female that tipped the scales at 30lbs 14ozs.
http://i946.photobucket.com/albums/a...227_091124.jpg
Two less coyotes aggravating this land owner!!
He and I both were happy!
