Night hunt for coyote

[Ryan S Albright]

I wanted to go hunting. I couldn't drum up any partners and was filling a little under the weather even though the weather has turned quite warm all of a sudden here in So Cal. So I hit the sack early and woke up at 12:30 am so I got out of bed and brewed some coffee and set out. I decided to stay close to home. So I drove down the road and found a spot on a dry river bed. I made a stand on the bank in a elevated spot and turned on a $5 dollar walkman with a little speaker with a cotton tail tape in it. It didn't take 90 seconds and this coyote came trotting by at about 200 yrds out looking sideways at me. I barked the best I could to stop him then decided to take the shot free hand on the move. Two nights be for I had missed a shot at 200 yrds off a sand bag the next day I readjusted my sights with a few practice shots it worked.This was a large male there was not a mark on him from the 204 I went out to take a look at him when a another coyote started barking from a field close by so I went back to my stand and tried calling some more when I figured it was a no deal I went back and had to use the pistol to finish the coyote off. When I picked it up to get the hero shot I noticed that he had rolled in some god awful smell and it was now all over me and I was not packing any diper wipes yuck.

[Red]

NICE!

Heckuva shot.

[steve]

nice one ryan . what happend to your electronic call you bought?

[Captqc]

Nice looking dog Ryan! Thanks for posting. Gary

[Ryan S Albright]

I found its better to start quite when calling and go loader when you need to get there atention. The Prey Master is loud even on its lowest setting. I have had good results with a small speaker and the walkman. I sometime use two walkmans one with only head phones on it. To draw them in. This coyote heard the small speaker from where ever he was at and zeroed in on me at two hundred yards. It was a very dark night no moon and very quite out. He came running. I am trying to be as real as posible. Two night before I did the same thing and had one come charging by at over two hundred yards and I missed the shot but he herd the small speaker well enough to come running. I noticed that a lot of the coyote will come cross wise at a distance looking side ways you can't always stop them. I figuer these are the more experienced or careful ones. ON the way home I tried to take the picture of a young coyote that came out of a housing tract and crossed the road in front of me but it didn't come out. It stood just to the side of a house at the edge of a field for several minutes this is a un educated coyote. I try and make my stands where I believe the coyote to be close by so I need to becareful with the sound.

[steve]

have you been on the mountain lately ? I saw alot of deer hunters up there during the season .

[sgp5163]

Ryan, That is a great yote!!! I haven't seen one that nice in a while!

[Ryan S Albright]

Yes I've been on the mountian, there are a lot of coyote there but they have been hunted quite a bit. The coyote here in So Cal have nice pelts. I have seen some mangie ones around but alway in urban areas. I sure could use spell check this morning. I have been out making stands every night and have had no luck I went to the desert and the wind kicked up so bad I had to return to the valley. I decided to hit a spot on the way back and had to dig out my compass it got so foggy. I found my way out but it was just by luck. It was starting to rain and I was afraid that I would not be able to get back up the hill or would slide off the road. There where large bare spots and roads leading every where and with my head lights going up and down I couldn't keep track of my tire tracks and I knew there were roads that led into very difficult terain. Finely I hit what I thought was a dead end when I got out to walk the road out with a flash light I could here traffic and see the glow of head lights in the fog. Some of the problem was that trails woud drop of so steep that your head lights would shine out into the fog. When I would get out with a light to look down the hill you could not see the bottom of the trail and some of them where so steep that walking down them or up was defficult as the clay was starting to get quite slick. This was an area where four wheelers and motor cyclist had ridden all over so in thick fog it could get quite confusing as there where large areas with no land marks. Finely I came to the hwy not where I intended but not near as bad a road as I had taken in. With that dun I dropped down in elevation and got under the cloud cover and made two more stands no luck.

[walleyeman]

Thanks for the story and pictures. That coyote does look to have very nice color!