I've been hunting coyotes for several years. I've called in quite a few...but all of them that were shot were shot by someone else. I was always the one tucked in the brush calling, never squeezing a trigger. Three coyotes have been shot at with my compound during deer seasons past, and all three lived. This past archery season, I had a close call with a coyote the morning I killed my first trad deer on public ground. Had I not rushed things and bumped an arrow off my string, I'm pretty sure I would have gotten a recurve shot at a dog. After that day, I hung a trail camera for a 2 week soak and got multiple coyote pics, so I knew there were some using the area.
Saturday morning, I made the nearly 1 1/2 mile hike in and up the ridge. I chose to set up on a point off the main ridge, hoping the coyotes would either be a point or two over from me or on the back side of the ridge when I entered. I waited about half an hour for suitable shooting light, using my little Primos critter decoy set up 30 yards away as a gauge for how well I could see in the woods. Initially, I gave 2 howls on a Primos Lil Dog, and followed that up with three howls from an old howler I pieced together. I think the mouth piece might have been Woods Wise, with a Johnny Stewart plastic megaphone jammed on it. It's loud.
The calm before the storm.
Immediately I heard something, multiple things, running on the bench that connects the point I was on to the next point off the main ridge. I assumed it might have been deer. Then it stopped, and I waited. After several seconds, one of them started moving and I caught glimpse of a coyote dropping off the bench into the hollow in front of me. It appeared to be trying to circle downwind of me. The other, that I couldn't see, followed the main ridge out towards where my point connected. I knew if the one got downwind it was over, so I pulled my hand-made rosewood distress call up off my neck and gave a couple of soft distress calls. I heard the dog in the hollow change course and start coming right up the bank at me. At the same time, the other coyote up on the main ridge spotted my decoy and came in hard-charging. So fast I knew there was no chance I was going to hit it with a rifle when it blitzed by me at 20 yards. I waited on the coyote coming up the bank and it showed about the time the blur coyote sailed by. He turned his head to look at the decoy and I gave him a .17HMR round to the temple, which dropped him like a sack of bricks. I tried to get on Dog 2 as he flew out of there but couldn't get a shot off at him streaking through the woods. I finally got a chance to pull the trigger and got my first coyote, a pretty good sized male with interesting coloration.
As a fly tyer, I was pumped to get my hands on so much material. I use coyote on a few patterns and this thing will be a near lifetime supply for me. The fur wasn't great, really thin, over the front shoulders and neck. I saved from the front shoulders back to the tail. It's stretched on a piece of wood in the shed now, coated in Borax to help cure it.
Before anyone jumps me for carrying a 17HMR instead of my .22-250, here's my reasoning for taking it. I knew shots would be close up there if I got any shots, more than likely sub 60 yards. Also, thinking about being a little quicker in getting a shot off, my 17HMR is substantially lighter in weight than my bull-barrel .22-250. The .22-250 is a great shooting gun, but I was confident in the scenario I was in the 17HMR would take care of business. And it did. That dog was dead before he hit the dirt. 30 yard shot to the temple, it was lights-out. This was my 60 yard group with it a few days before the hunt.
Now it's time to go get another one. Because there's always another one when it comes to coyotes.
Saturday morning, I made the nearly 1 1/2 mile hike in and up the ridge. I chose to set up on a point off the main ridge, hoping the coyotes would either be a point or two over from me or on the back side of the ridge when I entered. I waited about half an hour for suitable shooting light, using my little Primos critter decoy set up 30 yards away as a gauge for how well I could see in the woods. Initially, I gave 2 howls on a Primos Lil Dog, and followed that up with three howls from an old howler I pieced together. I think the mouth piece might have been Woods Wise, with a Johnny Stewart plastic megaphone jammed on it. It's loud.
The calm before the storm.
Immediately I heard something, multiple things, running on the bench that connects the point I was on to the next point off the main ridge. I assumed it might have been deer. Then it stopped, and I waited. After several seconds, one of them started moving and I caught glimpse of a coyote dropping off the bench into the hollow in front of me. It appeared to be trying to circle downwind of me. The other, that I couldn't see, followed the main ridge out towards where my point connected. I knew if the one got downwind it was over, so I pulled my hand-made rosewood distress call up off my neck and gave a couple of soft distress calls. I heard the dog in the hollow change course and start coming right up the bank at me. At the same time, the other coyote up on the main ridge spotted my decoy and came in hard-charging. So fast I knew there was no chance I was going to hit it with a rifle when it blitzed by me at 20 yards. I waited on the coyote coming up the bank and it showed about the time the blur coyote sailed by. He turned his head to look at the decoy and I gave him a .17HMR round to the temple, which dropped him like a sack of bricks. I tried to get on Dog 2 as he flew out of there but couldn't get a shot off at him streaking through the woods. I finally got a chance to pull the trigger and got my first coyote, a pretty good sized male with interesting coloration.
As a fly tyer, I was pumped to get my hands on so much material. I use coyote on a few patterns and this thing will be a near lifetime supply for me. The fur wasn't great, really thin, over the front shoulders and neck. I saved from the front shoulders back to the tail. It's stretched on a piece of wood in the shed now, coated in Borax to help cure it.
Before anyone jumps me for carrying a 17HMR instead of my .22-250, here's my reasoning for taking it. I knew shots would be close up there if I got any shots, more than likely sub 60 yards. Also, thinking about being a little quicker in getting a shot off, my 17HMR is substantially lighter in weight than my bull-barrel .22-250. The .22-250 is a great shooting gun, but I was confident in the scenario I was in the 17HMR would take care of business. And it did. That dog was dead before he hit the dirt. 30 yard shot to the temple, it was lights-out. This was my 60 yard group with it a few days before the hunt.
Now it's time to go get another one. Because there's always another one when it comes to coyotes.
