I found a low spot to park the rig and unloaded the ATV and got my rifle and backpack on the ATV and headed north on the rough prairie trail. I rode in about a mile and stopped to make a calling stand. The wind was still out of the SE. I set up so I would be calling and looking up a long, deep draw to the SE. I called for 25 minutes and nothing came in. I hiked back to the ATV, cased my rifle, got it fastened onto the rifle holders, and headed north on the rough trail again. There were some hairy places to ride through, with cedar tree branches overhanging the narrow trail, huge chunks of petrified tree stumps jutting up out of the trail, and deep ruts that looked like they could swallow you up! I did manage to stop once in awhile and I think I found many good places to call coyotes from come fur season next fall.
I kept going up, and up, and up, until I came to a gate at the top of the hill. I stopped, opened it up, rode through, and then closed the gate behind me. I was up on the top of the bench land and the trail headed off in a westerly direction. It was a magnificent view (SORRY, no photos--someone might recognize the place). Once again, I was finding all kinds of places that would be good for calling coyotes depending on the direction the wind was blowing. I was tempted to stop in several places to call again, but decided to keep riding to get more scouting time in. The trail began to head back to the north and finally, around 6:15 p.m., I spotted an odd looking hill to the north. I checked the wind and it had switched and was now coming from the west northwest!! The odd hill I had spotted was covered with sandstone rocks and I was hoping there would be a spot on the northwest side that I could call from. I parked the ATV in a low spot about 500 yards from the rock covered hill and walked in. Here’s the hill looking to the NE.
I walked around to the NW side of the hill, set the FX5 on my homemade tripod and climbed up the hill and sat among the rocks with my shooting sticks deployed. The FX5 was about 50 yards from my hiding spot. Here's a photo of FX5 looking to the NE.
I had my rifle up on my shooting sticks with the barrel pointed to the NW. I threw a little dirt up into the air to check the wind againâ€â€still from the WNWâ€â€very strange, since it had been blowing from the SE all day? I started the FX5 on the Female Invitation Howls and had only been calling for about a minute when I spotted a coyote coming in from the east. I quickly switched the FX5 to Preset #3 which is the Goldfinch Distress sound on volume setting 15. The coyote stopped and seemed to be looking for the coyote she heard howling or for the distressed bird. She started walking toward me again and that’s when I took my rifle out of the shooting sticks very slowly and moved over to a big rock to my right that I could rest my arms on to make the shot on this coyote. I got the scope on the coyote and held the rifle up off the rock and against my shoulder with my left hand and made the awkward reach with my right hand to crank the power ring on the scope up to 18 power. I wanted to try to get this coyote stopped and take the shot soon because she would soon be getting into my scent cone. I kept the coyote in the crosshairs, and barked sharply two times. The coyote slowed way down, but did not stop completely, so I decided I better take the shot even though she was still moving. I squeezed off the shotâ€â€WHAP!!!â€â€she dropped like a sack of rocks. I changed the FX5 to my Preset #1, which is the Wounded Coyote Screams. I checked my watch and noted I had been on the stand for only 2 minutes and 30 seconds!! I let the wounded coyote sound play for about three or four minutes.
Nothing was coming in, so I switched back to the Female Invitation Howl for about 5 howls and then changed the sound to the DSG Cottontail Distress. I had a couple of golden eagles flying overhead, but they didn’t attempt to pick up my FX5. I threw in some Male Challenge Howls once in awhile and stayed on stand for a total of 20 minutes. I couldn’t stand waiting any longer to see what sex this coyote was. So, I set my rifle up on my shooting sticks and went down to retrieve the FX5 and snapped several photos of my rifle up amongst the rocks. Even with the arrow pointing out the rifle and sticks, it is hard to see.
Maybe you can see it in this photo?
I took a few photos looking at the coyote from behind the rifle again to give you the shooter’s perspective. Here’s a photo with a wide angle view from behind the rifle. To take this photo, I deployed the bipod legs and set the rifle up on the rock I used to rest my arms on when I took the shot. The coyote is the white spot right above the black Velcro dot at the end of the rifle barrel. I used my Leica 1200 Rangefinder and determined the distance of the shot was only 100 yards.
I walked toward the coyote to get a look at exactly where I had hit this coyote, since it was moving right straight towards me when squeezed off the shot. When I got about 50 feet away, I stopped to snap a couple more photos and I thought I could see a rock that had some red moss or lichens on it lying in front of the coyote’s nose. It looks like a dark spot in the photo below and is located about 2 feet from the coyote’s nose.
Continued in next post below here:
