Behest of The Beef Producer

[Big Lou]

Didn’t take long at all for a request to come in. A farming friend lost the very first calf of their calving season to coyotes. Or was suspected anyway. Despite having called close to there about a week ago, I was off.

Stand #1

I figured I may as well return to the scene of the crime. Coyotes tracks abounded in the 2 day old snow. But with no cover for a mile in all directions, who knows what could happen. I made a nook in a big drift so I had some shadows and got to calling. 7-8 minutes of distress produced nothing seen in any direction. On to coyote vocals. My howls were answered but the respondents were well over a mile away. If they did come, it would take a bit. I continued with howls and eventually into some pup distress. Still, I had seen nothing. I fired up some Baby Coyote and to my delight, saw a coyote and then another coming my way but still 1000 yards out or more. I kept wailing and they kept coming. As they got closer, The Bitch had lagged and was 300 yards behind the Tom. I had let him close to 70 yards or so and he was swinging to get downwind. I had hoped The Bitch would make up some ground but it wasn’t going to happen. I started my turn with the rifle just before he caught my track, which he did and wheeled. As he was loping back the way he came, I was trying desperately to get him stopped but it took a touch longer than I had thought it would but, he eventually did. A gentle squeeze of the trigger at 173 yards and - you guessed it - BOOM! CHOP! echoed through the crisp morning air. Getting the rifle swung and on to The Bitch, she got behind some drifts on another fence line and was peeking over, trying to locate her mate. I screwed around trying to get her into the open, which she eventually did at what I figured was 500 yards or so. It was calm enough so I figured I’d try a poke. Dialled up and touched off only to see the bullet spray the snow at her feet. “Just a touch further than you had thought hey?” I had a chuckle to myself as I watched her depart, collected my gear and the coyote, a beautiful pale Tom and headed back to the truck.

I apologize for the photo. Not my best work and I have no excuse for not taking a better one.

Upon getting back to the truck, I ran into my friend who was just finishing up chores. Told him I had gotten one and asked if he was interested in joining me, to which he was quite receptive.

We proceeded to do two blank stands despite having several answers to howls. Nothing produced more than Magpies and a neighbours Great Pyrenees so, we decided to go try right beside the Feed Lot. The tracks there, my god. It wasn’t even a question as to whether we would call one here.

Stand #4

I set up with us, about 15 yards from the caller in the shadows of some poplar. A large slough bottom to our south and west, backed by bush, open field to the north. He loves his shotguns and I had high hopes there would be some up close action. Despite all the coyote tracks, rabbit tracks were in equal abundance. Rabbit it is. After a short series of distress, I spied a very dark coyote along the edge of the slough bottom and then watched it vanish back into the edge. Seconds later, a much more pale coyote broke into view and closing on a steady lope. I told my partner that we had one inbound and to ready himself for it to be taken close to the caller. As it came into full view of the decoy which was flicking and flopping, the game was soon to be ours as it broke into a run. His shotgun barked and the coyote came to a proofing stop in the snow at 12 yards. Getting on some pup distress, maybe 30 seconds later, I saw the dark coyote and a huge pale Tom on the edge of the trees again looking our direction. I let loose with some Pound Town and they broke towards our hide. I’m sad to say, I really botched my portion of things. The Tom started swinging wide to the downwind side but The Bitch was closing. At about 45 yards, she spied something amiss and stopped, the Tom about 80 yards out. I was so sure we would be double teaming with shotguns that I was in a bad spot. Shotgun in hand, coyotes not coming closer. “God! Why are you such a glutton? Can’t just be satisfied with an easy rifle kill. No. Have to try and kill everything.” I made my move, emptying my shotgun at The Bitch and I tickled not a hair. On the rifle for the Tom and sent one at him before he made a hilltop and escaped the scene. Also, a gloriously poor miss. It was of course, a calculated risk and this time, the coyotes came out on top. Despite the outcome, it was an exciting stand and my friend got a shotgun victim. Still happy for him though as he was jacked up. He was elated; myself, deflated.


Guess I’m not done yet. I’d still be out but, dinner plans with friends for a Birthday this evening. Maybe more to come this weekend, if I don’t get overly banged up tonight. We shall see…..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Smokinyotes]

Awsum job Lou. Just love these stories.

[Groundhogger]

Thanks for posting, just an awesome telling of your hunt. I appreciate the effort!

[Big Lou]

Originally Posted by Smokinyotes

Awsum job Lou. Just love these stories.

Thanks man. I think I enjoy sharing just as much as you do reading.

Originally Posted by Groundhogger

Thanks for posting, just an awesome telling of your hunt. I appreciate the effort!

Thank you and you’re very welcome.


I did get pretty banged up last night. Not brutal but, bad enough that I feel like I just played a game of football with no equipment. Just finished my second soak in the hot tub this morning. Perhaps if the wind dies down later today, a couple of stands could be in order.

[waldedw]

Great job Lou and another good read, I knew the lure of the dog would drag you back out, the addiction is strong

[Big Lou]

Originally Posted by waldedw

Great job Lou and another good read, I knew the lure of the dog would drag you back out, the addiction is strong

Truth Ed. The ugly truth. Strong it is.

Did you manage to get out yet since getting on the mend?

[waldedw]

Originally Posted by Big Lou

Truth Ed. The ugly truth. Strong it is.

Did you manage to get out yet since getting on the mend?

No I haven't we had such ugly wind chill's since the snow storm and all next week I'm in Edmonton for appointments

[roper1]

Another beauty thread Lou!!! What a great little read in the evening. Thanks a bunch. Well done!!

[JD848]

I was just rolling thru the threads and seen you went back out .I had a good smile on my face. Wasn't to sure if you would head out with the wind howling ,but you did .

Good for you Lou ,great thread ,pics story the whole nine yards ,Real deal .

Wishing you plenty more great hunts and hope to see many more in the future .

Cheers
JD

[Big Lou]

Originally Posted by roper1

Another beauty thread Lou!!! What a great little read in the evening. Thanks a bunch. Well done!!

Originally Posted by JD848

I was just rolling thru the threads and seen you went back out .I had a good smile on my face. Wasn't to sure if you would head out with the wind howling ,but you did .

Good for you Lou ,great thread ,pics story the whole nine yards ,Real deal .

Wishing you plenty more great hunts and hope to see many more in the future .

Cheers
JD

Thank you fellows. As always, glad you enjoyed.

[Twisted Canuck]

Master of Boom Chop, yeah man!

[Big Lou]

Been working lots since my last posting. Not much time for anything outside of that, despite having some calls for people having coyote issues whilst calving.

I was off today and had taken a call from a friend whose FIL had 5 coyotes in and around his calving pen morning before last. After a nice chat on the phone with him, I had a plan in place and a warm welcome to call in a spot I had thought of calling on several occasions but, just hadn’t made the effort. While gathering up my gear, I received two text messages from another friend. He is also a farmer and the texts, were two videos of him in his calving pen last night. In the video, you can hear his side x side running, he’s is scanning around steadily with his spotlight and yelling at no less than 5 coyotes all around him. A couple were even advancing towards him. The lack of fear was concerning to him. Later this morning, his video camera recorded coyotes harassing a cow that had just calved. Three of them were darting in and out and nipping but the old girl had played a round or two of this game before by the looks and fended them off.

Long story short, I was off to call two spots.

Stand #1

I had killed 4 off of this 1/4 already this season and I didn’t want to stray much further from the outskirts of the calving pen as the offender(s) probably weren’t terribly far away. I opted to climb up into the bale borders of his silage pit to gain some vantage. With the caller 50 yards away, I loosed into a series of howls. I heard three answers - south, east and north west of me. Nothing overly close though. Keeping with coyote vocals, I had just started with some pup distress when I caught movement to the south east of my hide. About 250 yards away, there was no mistaking the outline of a coyote. I dialled down the volume and fired up a fight sound. Almost immediately, the coyote broke into a canter towards me. I had adjusted myself slightly but still wasn’t in a good position to shoot. It came to about 80 yards away. I muted the caller and knew I would have to let it do its thing before I’d be able to complete my move. It was pretty neat watching it over the next several minutes, trying to sort out why it couldn’t see what it had heard. It rolled in the grass once. Sat on its arse a few times. Losing interest, it started trotting away to the east. My moment had arrived and I completed my move. “WOOF”. Coming to a stop in the crosshairs at 157 yards, the writing was on the wall. BOOM! CHOP! and it folded up like a lawn chair as the 75gr V-Max went to work. I continued calling for another 15 minutes but, no takers. Oh well. I neglected to bring my phone with me on this stand so, no picture but, it was a mature Tom and #63 of the campaign. My friend was very happy to be one less.

Stand #2

Travelling to a pasture I could access from, I had a half mile hike in to where I figured I want to set up. I’d looked for sheds here years ago so I had some memory of how the hills rolled, low spots and such. I was able to stay extremely well hidden on my way in and came around the bottom of a shaded hillside to deploy the caller. As I was doing so, I noticed a coyote travelling and mousing a bit about 500 yards from my position. I let it do its thing and waited for it to get out of sight before getting up the hill and tucking in beneath the rise. A gopher mound provided a nice bit of support to lean into couple with my seat cushion. There were gophers sounding off all over the place on my walk in - when in Rome? I opened up with some Prairie Dog Distress. It had only been a few minutes since the coyote I had seen had disappeared. To my delight, maybe 4 minutes after starting to call, I saw it peeking around a hill side about 300 yards away. After about 2 minutes of it standing there, I figured it needed ti hear something else to be triggered. I hadn’t used Blue Jay at all yet this winter so I figured why not. Immediately, the coyote broke into a lope and disappeared into a low spot, I made a quick adjustment and was on the rifle, waiting for it to crest the knoll at 60 yards. Above the buck brush, ears, eyes, nose neck “WUFF!” Settling the crosshairs on the chest, the rest was automatic as the trigger broke. BOOM! CHOP! Let me just say this. A 75gr 6mm V-Max, doing nearly 3600fps at a distance of 60 yards, is not conducive to clean field photos. We will leave that one out. Honestly, I’m going to dial back this load. Kills were much cleaner down around the 3400fps area.

Calling again, as it hadn’t been overly long into the set, I proceeded with some howls, pup distress and fight sounds. I could hear magpies going steady back in the direction that I had accessed but, I couldn’t see behind the hill. I was debating getting up so I could peek over but figured I’d try some prey distress again as I was sure there was another coyote close. I opted for some Grey Fox and after 30seconds or thereabouts, another coyote came into view to my south. I switched to a coax and it started to close on a trot. When it hit a low spot, I made a shift and expected to see it crest the rise and stop. It must have still had line of sight to me because next I saw it, it came out of the low spot on the far side and was travelling up the hillside about 150 yards away. I made another quick adjustment and gave a long “WOOOOO”. The error was made as it slowed pace and came to a stop facing directly at me. BOOM! CHOP! With two coyotes down and a satisfied grin; “That was a pretty textbook double”, I thought to myself.

Apologies for only having the one picture but not having my phone for the first and the second one being a mess, one photo will have to do. I won’t be doing any more calling for myself until this fall. If I get a request from a farmer like today or something of that nature, sure but, for myself; that’s a wrap. Hope you enjoy the read. It’s been a great season and I’ve enjoyed sharing it immensely.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[1hogfarmer]

**** ya! Dead dog is a good dog

[CBintheNorth]

Your threads and pictures are always awesome and looked forward to.
Thanks for taking us along this year!

[waldedw]

Beauty Lou, the BOOM CHOP just keeps rolling

[roper1]

Sure look forward to your updates Lou. Many thanks!!

[Smokinyotes]

As always Awsum job Lou.