He Hesitated Too Much

[LongSpur39]

Last night was first of actual outright coyote huntin for me. Been too busy or too tired to get out. To do actually anything! My brother inlaw called and said he wanted me to go with him and his youngest brother Troy. Troy has never been on a yote hunt,and has never seen one shot. So taking him out at night,I thought what a good intro. Our first set up i was able to get some to answer way off,it sounded like two one to the right and one way out there. The second set up I hit them with a lone howl,notta. Then went to a serenade,after around 5 minutes,what sounded like a family group lit up some 500 yds away. And a few more off in the distance. The group went into a whole lot of serenading of their own for several minutes. I waited about 10 minutes and hit them with challenge howls and yips. Within a couple of minutes we could hear some comin in the crusted snow. One of them ran right past us. My bro inlaw had the light,I told him to wait til they all came runnin. We could hear them close so i told him to hit them with the light. Troy was shaking and hesitated. As soon as I saw eyes I was on em. I let er fly! I took what appeared to be the dominant male in the group. They were lookin for a fight for sure. Went to hit the pup distress after he went down. My brother in law dropped the light and poof!!,no light! We could hear em runnin in the crusted over snow. But couldn't see them in the scopes. A decent male and he had some age.


Our last spot for the night. Raised the hair on the back of this boys neck. I've been coyote huntin for 25 plus years. And i'm tellin ya oof! Creepy!LOL! We got a response from 3 or 4 yotes on a ridge about 250 yds. After we waited a few minutesafter the hand held calls. I switched over to the electronics. While runnin the call,ya can't hear real good if it is too close to ya. Well the setup was a bit tight ,as far as openess. Within minutes they were runnin around us and behind us in some thick brush. We couldn't move cause of how close they were. My shotgun was on my lap and rifle in hand. One or two were snarlin and growlin as they went by and stopped directly behind us. I dropped the rifle and grabbed the scatter gun with turkey loads. The one yipped and they were gone. Was a fun night . Troy was goin nuts ! He said he never thought it was that much fun. To hear them and see one get dumped,he said was unreal. I was over gunned too. Used the '06,had issues with the triple deuce at the range. But when they wanna get smoked ,don't care what I use. ;D ;D

[Kt29]

Man, thats exciting just thinking about a hunt like this. What a great story and a coyote ta boot. You probably got Troy hooked now. I've never hunted coyotes in the dark. I can only imagine ones senses are on full alert, especially when you can here them close by. What a great way to end the year. Congrats and thanks for sharing this hunt. It was great.

[LongSpur39]

Saturday night we went to a spot that was pretty cool. A small valley tucked back in the hills. In this valley there is a narrow field ,some 300 yds long x 100 yds wide. It had a small stream runnin through it. I used the electronic call. At first just a howl. Then went to the serenade. Not an answer. I waited some 15 minutes or so and threw a rabbit distress. It couldn't have been 30 seconds . When not even 60 yds away a yote pops up out of the creek. My brother in law was like," HOLY S#!T!!!""RIGHT THERE !!". He shot for the eyes,and shot right over it. It dropped into the creek. I jumped up and tried a poke and a hope. 3 feet of flame,flyin ice and snow. But no dawg! Just glad to have them comin in . Most of my buddies haven't been gettin good responses at all. Luck goes a long way! ;D ;D

[JerseyHunter]

Now that sounds like a neat hunt.

[grizz1]

I have not been this year but plan to this month. My bro has not had any luck yet, my cousin took one last week and 5 in Kansas this weekend. Wind has been a problem and clouds too. Dark as pitch every night.
We use the distress call most of the time, when you are making your yote calls are you using more than one call? We have a coyote call but have not had them come to it, they may answer but don't seem to come in, may be doing something wrong.
Seems like our luck goes something like this, we have several bad sets( no coyotes) then about the time you lose faith coyotes try to attack on the next couple sets. Have had no luck with bobcats here but my cousin calls them in quite often in Kansas, we have a lot of cats here but they are SHY.

[LongSpur39]

Jan 2, 2011 22:51:04 GMT -5 grizz1 said:

I have not been this year but plan to this month. My bro has not had any luck yet, my cousin took one last week and 5 in Kansas this weekend. Wind has been a problem and clouds too. Dark as pitch every night.
We use the distress call most of the time, when you are making your yote calls are you using more than one call? We have a coyote call but have not had them come to it, they may answer but don't seem to come in, may be doing something wrong.
Seems like our luck goes something like this, we have several bad sets( no coyotes) then about the time you lose faith coyotes try to attack on the next couple sets. Have had no luck with bobcats here but my cousin calls them in quite often in Kansas, we have a lot of cats here but they are SHY.

We haven't had much snow here so far this winter. It is here then gone. Here the coyotes have had access to plenty of food. And because most of the predator hunters have been using dinner bell calls around here. I have stuck with lone howls,wait several minutes,hit them with a serenade. And even then they had a delay in their responses. The one group didn't light up the other night until nearly 40 minutes after the last call. We know they are in these areas. So I said lets sit and wait. Just keep alert and wait. Then if they respond I let them do their thing and hit them with a challenge howl. Either with the hand held calls or the electronic. It will either bring them in or fire them up for a bit. I have also in the past,if they don't sound like they are comin, Will stay down wind and move towards them. And then hit them with a challenge howl close. Got my largest one ever doing that. The thing is,just like deer hunting ,you have to deal with bad swirling winds. Makes it very difficult to get away with anything. I prefer light breezes or no wind at all. A lot of predator hunters don't pay attention to wind direction and that is the end of more hunts than calling. I've also learned to give them way more time to come in. They are notorious for just sitting out there and watching or sniffin the breeze. And at night usually ,just out of range of the red light. All you see is reflectors the size of pinheads.
In late January and through february I prefer to hunt in the mornings. And breeding time is comin so i use female invite calls in Feb and March quite a bit. It can be tough to kill em here. A whole lot of luck and good timing. Keep at em eventually some come too close. BOOM! ;D ;D

[grizz1]

Thanks for the comment back LongSpur, I 'm probably being way too impatient. I've not had much experience calling at night but my bro has. He has used a light but prefers snow with good moonlight and a shotgun. Problem is those ideal conditions don't come around very often.
I have several locations that I know right where the yotes will be, I should probably give them a lot more time and have more faith in each set rather than try to make all the different hunts each time and counting the failures.
I've heard the cats almost always come in slow maybe the yotes are getting educated too and are being more cautious. Just know I love it when they come charging in at a dead run.

[Deerhunter95]

Good Job! Kill em' all!

[LongSpur39]

Jan 8, 2011 12:30:41 GMT -5 Deerhunter95 said:

Good Job! Kill em' all!

!!