NE double & access = great people.
DDW (a pal not on this forum) & I just started hitting up NE ranches/agri-farms for coyote access this season. The fact that NE allows nite vision & thermal DDW has jumped in both feet while I am still deciding. DDW now has the FLIR PS32 and D740 gen 3 night vision scope.
Saturday evening we hit the CO ranches we stay at and a few other regular spots for night hunting with standard lights & not night vision since its not allowed in CO. Saw a few but since they know us by name & smell none were takers so we crashed at 3am.
Got up at 2pm Sunday & procceded to hook up his night scope on his supressed AR15 & ready to hit NE. Driving up to NE from the CO ranch we stay it is 13 miles or so.
We stop at a nice looking farm and talk to a sweet 83 yr. young woman who lives out there alone w/2 cats & she says YES shoot those darn things, BUT dont shoot my cows.
We give her our lowdown & she marks her land in our NE map book & sends us to her helping man who is also a farmer/rancher that takes care of hers also.
That man invites us into the house & we meet his family and says YES for his farm/ranch as well. I am giving my coyote cards to everyone.
We stop at another farm/ranch and YUP another nice NE woman comes out and after our intros get a YES after her son comes over from his house across from hers (her husband was out combining but told her YUP) and we all talk for a bit and scratch the dogs heads & talk coyote & other hunting.
We ask about the property next to hers and she says well let me call her to say you are coming by. She gives us directions to her place, go down the road till it ends turn right 1 mile you cant miss it.
Its all canyons w/agri fields in the bottom about 2 miles + long and screams coyotes!
Well we pull into the driveway and right off see a pickup truck with another varmint sites stickers on it and I say DARN it another caller already here!
The woman who is the matriarch BOSS and sweet as heck like the 1st & 2nd women is outside with her families and having a BBQ.
We get introduced and get another YES get everyone you can and her her grandson happens to be the guy who owns the truck. His GM says take them out and show them the property & after DDW shows him the night goods and says if yer free why dont you go with us. BAM...he is giddy as girl going to the prom. Let me ask the wife...hahaha
She says go ahead honey.
He says he has not shot a coyote in 4 years with raising his sons, work, family and farming.
The 1st stand we make had DDW up on a hill 100 yds from me at a corner field post and young guy 40' to my left. We have 1 coming in at full bore from 1200 yards out like a roadrunner in about 5 minutes. It hits the taller sunflower stuff & I lost it & see nothing for a bit & look to see DDW laying prone. I think he has it, then nothing & we get up.
DDW says we had 2 come in, the one I did not see was around the corner from me & DDW did not shoot due to distance and being pretty much over my head from the angle.
The kid says he never seen that before and has not had any coyotes come running like that.
DDW says he heard at least 6 coyotes sounding off. My hearing fails to catch those thanks to my military time with my head in jet exhaust to many times.
Its now dark and we swap over to the night guns & thermal. We hit a few other spots and have them barking and coming in & busting out.
Im thermal scanning, DDW is on Foxpro duty and we have the kid on the AR as we told him its your place and we will get them to you & you drop them since its been a dry time for you. Its dark as heck, but like daytime with the night goods.
We get back into the canyons and after a few min I see a white spot coming in fast at the kids 12 oclock. I say it is 500 yds out see him? He is still trying to get the night scope thing down but lines it up.
Coyote comes in quick stops at maybe 80yds I say shoot it, but he is having a hard time with his sticks and fails to shoot.
DDW takes the FLIR and I take the AR15 to find it as its just below us behind a rise.
DDW says its on the hill across from you, I find it the 1st time I use his night vision. I pop off a round & was sure I hit it since it spun, but over the hill it went & we move on to another set in which the kid did not shoot another DDW got in and I tracked it on thermal for the guy.
Exactly 30 min later DDW & I are set up on his GM property not 150 yds from the road over a small rise. I scan and see cattle at least 1000 yds off up the hills & think a coyote will come from that spot. I sure do see hundreds of rabbits all over the place so food source is 100%.
DDW is scanning w/his AR15 outfit & maybe 17 min into the set I see a coyote coming in from the grasses below the cow. HOW I missed seeing it was found out after I realized there is a small drainage that runs that area. Im still looking and BAM a LARGE image in my lap just about...DDW sees it and Twaaapppppfttthhhh the suppressor goes....THWAP it drops DRT and I say coyote running off at 3 oclock & it spins back around on its own coming back at us yap yap yap yap yap...its calling for dead one. DDW barks back at it & it stops & drops with another hard THWAP & another DRT. A NE double & we are darned stoked!!
We walk to the 1st one and say holy huge male coyote & I try to lift it up and about bust my back as its just heavy. I say to DDW Ill bet its 37lbs, he lifts it up a bit and says nope bigger. I go to the female and we drag them to his jeep & take pictures.
I pull out my scale & strain to lift it up & cant get it all off the ground its that long. DDW reads it and says 40lbs. I have to see that so DDW lifts it on the scale and I see its reading 40lbs...ok I belive it now.
I say to DDW you know with a winter coat it would be at least another 5lbs. This is the biggest coyote we have dropped to date. I take the head for my collection.
The coats on them both are very nice, not a spot of mange I can see with the green scanning light, but very thin summer coat.
http://i321.photobucket.com/albums/n...otehunt014.jpg
