A TWO COYOTE DAY.... The weather is cooling a bit in the Bay Area so it was time for some coyote calling. Two coyotes out of three stands is not a bad day. Mondays (10/10/5) are good days for calling.FIRST STAND & NO TAKERS.... The first stand was near the old Red Dairy Barn that years ago lost the last hint of red and in the last year has collapsed into a heap of vintage lumber. I got a male coyote there a few months ago and gave the location another try. There were a lot of ground squirrels and one was setting on a stump chirping at me during my calling session. This ground squirrel was my early warning system. I used the L&M Howler with the Utah Jack sound and sounded out 4 series of cries. After about 15 minutes I quit that and went through a number of calling sounds. Part of it was to possible call in a reluctant coyote and also for practice to see how each call sounded in the field. I spent 30 minutes going through my calling and nothing. About half way through the various calls, the chirping ground squirrel got tired and left the stump. There were numerous ground squirrels farther out that kept up the chirping. The ground squirrels sure are going to need some attention after the first rains. I see at least a brick of 17 HMR ammo being needed for this area.STAND TWO IN OPEN COUNTRY.... The second stand was in very open country with stubble from recently harvested barley. The stubble doesn't offer much cover, so I sat in the shade of a big oak tree near some thistle weeds. I started with the L&M Howler. It is an experimental call that Lonny and Mike made and sent me for testing. It makes fairly good coyote howls, but the reed is a little too close to the mouth piece and it pinches off when I try to get a loud howl. I had recently listened to the Utah Jack jackrabbit sound used on the new FoxPro and the L&M Howler makes a really great Utah Jack sound. It is loud and gravely and I was able to capture the "cramped stomach" sound in short bursts.HERE HE COMES.... I gave out a series of Utah Jack calls and waited. After about 3 minutes I gave out another series. A few minutes later, I see the male coyote at about 400 yards looking my way. He was just standing there looking straight at me. I froze and watched. He stared for another couple of minutes then started toward me. He was directly down wind, but behind me about 800 yards away over the hills was a well traveled 2 lane road and I wasn't too worried about my scent. The coyote had probably had human smells wafting his way from the road till he knew every woman's perfume by brand name.
THIRD STAND.... I moved over to the Marsh Creek area for the third stand of the day. This picture shows the East end of this year's Bragadon Fire. It covered about 4000 acres. I made the setup at the right edge of this picture down this little road cut, but came in from the right across the other side of the hill so no coyote could see my approach. The wind was blowing from the left to the right and I had the wind in my face.MORE UTAH JACK.... I started out with the L&M Howler doing the Utah Jack imitation. I did about 3 series of calls over a period of 15 minutes. By this time it was about 3:00PM and getting a bit warm. I was sitting in next to the base of a large oak tree in the shade. I sat there for a few minutes more and this coyote bark-howl back at me. I was busted. Maybe? The wind was in my face, so he couldn't get my scent. I got out the Loess Hills Howler and gave him couple of challenge barks. I was ready to start up a conversation with him, but he didn't answer. I moved the Bi-Fur-Pod and rifle in the direction of the howl. It was a waiting game. After about 5 minutes, I was ready to give him another challenge bark and I spot his head above the tall grass. It was about 70 yards and all I could see was his head and a tiny bit of his neck. I centered just below his neck where his chest should be and touched one off. Bang! Whop! That was a very easy shot. The bullet entered in the center of his chest and there was no exit.YOUNG MALE COYOTE.... Jackrabbit screams and a bit of a challenge bark brought his male coyote into view at 70 yards for an easy shot off the Bi-Fur-Pod sticks.
The complete story with more pictures is here:
http://www.varmintal.com/coy5-20.htmWhen I get a chance, I will record the sounds and make them MP3 files for download.
