Guns taken (for the gun loonies) were (2) .22-250 with factory 55 grain soft points, (1).204 Ruger loaded with 35 Berger HP's over Benchmark, and (2) 12 gauges shooting 4 Buck and 1 Buck....
Before the trip I carried a shotgun on 95% of my stands but after this break I will ALWAYS have a shotgun with me at all times.....
Day 1 was mostly a scouting trip as we got to the hunting area with 3 or so hours of light left.
Day 2 was misty rain and windy so the calling was slow....We called this same exact area 2 months previously with excellent results but this time was different. We called in 1 coyote in 10 hrs. of calling. However, it was a memorable experience. I was blowing a L'il dog and after about 12 minutes in I heard the coyote coming before I saw it. I was set up with my .204 on my sticks and my brother had the shotgun 15 feet or so to my left. I saw him at about 20 yards and he was on an all out full speed run on a string to me. I had zero time to react as a coyote on a run can cover 20 yards quickly. He did not slow down one bit as I was camoed pretty good and I had to yell at him and wave my arms. He skidded to a turning stop at exactly 1 yard while throwing sand on me and proceeded to trot directly to my brother at my left. Somewhere in here I yelld at my brother as it happened so quick and he shot the coyote as it was around 10 yards in front of him at a dead run AWAY this time. He nailed the coyote but only managed 1 shot as someone had loaded my shotgun with 3" shells as I shoot an old Sears shotgun that only takes 2 3/4" shells. The coyote rolled around and thrashed for 10 or so seconds as his gun would not eject the shell. I did not have a shot with the rfile because it was through some brush so I only managed 2 pot-shots as the coyote ran full speed away with a bloody coat that I saw through my scope. Long story short we tracked it for 200 yards and it started raining destroying our blood trail.
Day 3 started off slow as we were planning on heading back to TX if things did not pick up. We just believe the areas we were in just did not have the numbers of coyotes for some reason as every responded stand the coyotes literally almost ran us over. Definately not call shy.
I was able to call in 3 coyotes we heard yipping at 1 1/2 miles away. This is a VERY conservative estimate of the ridge they were on. Took them 19 minutes to make it my way but they did. This was rolling hill/flat country so we did not carry a shotgun with us for the FIRST time all trip. We paid for it as they came to about 15 yards before my first shot took out a yucca as I was following them through my scope. The reaction time between mind telling tripper to pull and the shot striking was just enought to take out the yucca. Shot 2 I connected offhand at 80 yards or so at the only available angle I had, the Texas Heart Shot. Shot 3 I thought was a connect at 200 or so offhand but could not find coyote or blood. The 35 Berger went in just above the pooper and the coyote died right there....
My brothers ended up taking one more with a shotgun so this trip ended with way fewer dogs than we were expecting but we were able to take a few more on the way home.
Here are some pictures of the country and of the coyotes. Both had excellent fur and were 30 (I believe) pounds each on my brothers fish scale....
Enjoy!!
GW
The little guy is my littlest brother who was overjoyed when we said he could come along....
PS...the fox is a little guy we got just this morning back in TX. My foot is for size reference...
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