SmallCaliberCentral

I left Williston around 3:00 p.m. and headed up north. When I got to a gate that heads south to an old gravel pit, I headed on down that prairie trail. I parked just a bit SW of the gravel pit and got my gear out of the pickup and started walking to the SE. The wind was out of the SSE and I wanted to set up looking in that direction and I wanted to call to the SE. I walked in about a three quarters of a mile, set my FX5 FOXPRO down near the bottom of the draw. I walked back up on the hillside to the west about 75 yards to give myself a better view of incoming critters. I was set up so I was looking to the SE, but I could still turn my head around and see behind myself to the NNW, which was the downwind side.

I started off using the Lightening Jack sound for the first 6 or 7 minutes. Then I played several female invitation howls, followed by several interrogation howls and then back to the Lightening Jack sound. At about the 10 minute mark, I played a long series of Male Challenge Howls and then went back to the Lightening Jack. At about the 12 minute mark I switched back to the Male Challenge sound and slowly moved my head around to look behind me. I made a slow head movement back to the east southeast and WHOA!!!!—there was Mr. Coyote coming in from the SE at a steady lope from about 400 yards away.

I fumbled for the remote so I could mute the sound and in my haste, I must have missed the button because the male challenge sound was still blaring out at Volume setting 40!!! I hit it again and wasn’t sure I had muted it so I hit Mute again and instead of stopping the sound, I had turned it back on. Man Oh Man!!! I’m making rookie mistakes, just like I’ve never done this before.

I finally got the caller muted, pushed the safety button forward into firing position, cranked the scope power ring up to 16x and watched through the scope as the coyote moved in a little closer to the FX5. When the coyote was about 75 yards from the call, he stopped giving me a broadside shot at him. I put the crosshairs right behind his left front shoulder and squeezed off the shot. WHAP!!! Down he went and he didn’t appear to even twitch after he hit the ground. The old 39 grain Sierra BlitzKing from my Savage 12VLP in .204 Ruger had done the job again. I used Preset #1 to switch the FX5 to the Wounded Coyote sound and watched to see if he had a partner that would come in to check out the wounded coyote sound. I noted on my chronograph that it had been just 14 minutes since I started the stand.

I played the wounded coyote sound for about 5 minutes and then switched between the male challenge sound and the Lightening Jack sounds for another 10 minutes. Nothing appeared to be coming in. I got up and picked up my backpack and got out my camera for a few photos. I took a couple pictures from behind the rifle to where the coyote had come over the hill.



Then I took a few photos from behind the rifle with the rifle barrel pointed at the coyote.



Here's a photo of the FX5 with the coyote lying up above the caller on the hillside.



I picked up my rifle, backpack and shooting sticks and headed over to get a closer look at the coyote. As I was walking toward the coyote, I could hear another coyote off to the SE giving me a scolding. The coyote I had shot was a male. Perhaps the coyote to the SE was his mate?

Here’s a picture of the coyote and my Savage 12VLP showing the entrance side. Note the bad rubbed spot on the left rear haunch:



Here’s a photo of the side opposite where the bullet entered. No exit wound.



Then, of course, we have to have the “Hero Photograph” too.



This coyote was a very good sized male—maybe in the 28 to 30 pound range. He had good color, but was rubbed a bit on the rear haunches. He apparently had found some green grass because when he lost control of his bowels, gobs of green grass blades came out of his anus. UGLY SIGHT!!! Unfortunately, for you dung lovers, I didn’t bother to photograph that sight--SORRY!!! After I finished taking photos, I could still hear the coyote to the SE scolding me, so I decided to climb up to the crest of the hill to the SE to see if I could locate this noisy coyote.

Part 2 Below:

Part 2:

I crawled up to the crest of the hill and spotted him off to the SE of me about 500 yards away. I pulled out my Critr Call and gave him a few toots on that. He didn’t seem to enjoy my music and turned and began to trot away to the SE. He got to about 750 to 800 yards away before I pulled out my Bill Austin Howler and gave him a few short howls on that. He stopped, turned around, and stood looking my way. I gave a few more short howls and to my surprise he began coming back my way!!! He closed the distance between where he had been and my position. When he got to maybe 600 yards away, he stopped at the crest of a little rise. I gave him another howl. He started down the side of that hill, but he was headed in a northwesterly direction—no doubt he was going to circle around and try to get my scent. When he disappeared down in a little valley, I got up from my position and ran as fast as I could to the NNE to try to get to a spot where I could see him as he tried to circle around to get my scent. I crept up to the top of the rise, hoping to spot him before he spotted or smelled me. No coyote!!! Just then I spotted him running to the east, away from me. Evidently my “run as fast as I could” wasn’t fast enough! He must have gotten around on me and smelled me. I laid down and got my rifle up on my bipod and cranked the scope up to 18x. I had my Bill Austin Howler in my mouth and did my best imitation of a wounded coyote. He stopped and looked back over his right shoulder. I really didn’t have a good idea about how far away he was, but I knew he was a LOOONG way away. I put the crosshairs about 6 inches above his shoulder and squeezed off the shot. WHAP!!! I could hear the bullet hit and down he went, but he got up and started doing the old spin move. I jacked in another shell and when he moved off to the north a bit and stopped, I lobbed another bullet his way. I could see blood on his rear end so I thought the wind must have pushed my first shot from my “just behind the shoulder hold” back to his rear haunches. That’s quite a bit of drift, but then I could have wiggled a bit when I shot too. This second shot sounded like I hit him, but he didn’t fall over. I cycled the bolt and chambered another shell. I lobbed another shot at him and that one sounded like it hit him and he fell down. He was still moving around on the ground, but appeared to be down for the count. Just then he got up again and I lobbed another shell his way. Once again it sounded like the bullet hit flesh and he fell in a heap. I watched for movement and he was still.

I walked back to where I had left my backpack and shooting sticks and got my Leica 1200 Rangefinder out so I could range the distance of my shots. I got to the hill where I had shot from and ranged the distance three times. I got readings of 340, 338, and 340. I figured I’d call it a 340 yard shot. I put my rangefinder back in its case, and loaded 5 more rounds in my rifle. I began to walk around on the north side of the hill that lay between me and the coyote to try to approach this coyote from the NW just in case he was still alive. I got to within about 150 yards and looked at him through the scope again. He wasn’t moving a muscle. I figured he was dead. When I got to about 75 yards, he jumped up and disappeared over the hill in a flash!!! OH NO!!!! I didn’t want to follow this coyote all over the prairie, but I sure wasn’t going to let him suffer if I could help it. I dumped my backpack off and crept up to the next rise. Luckily, he was lying down at the bottom of the hill about 125 yards away. I got into position, got him in the crosshairs, flipped off the safety and put him down for the final count. This one was a huge coyote. I wish I would have had my scale along. I would guess he would have tipped the scale at around 32 to 35 pounds. He was probably well fed on good old North Dakota beef. I dragged him back to where I had hit him on the first shot and snapped a bunch more photos.



The obligatory “Hero Photograph” had to be taken with this coyote too!!!



Here’s a look at the area to the SW from where the second coyote bit the dirt.



Here’s the view to the SE of where I shot the last coyote.



This last coyote had some very nice teeth too!!!



I checked for entrance wounds on the coyote and the only one I could find was where a bullet had entered just in front of where the tail joins the backbone. I also checked on the ground to see if I could find bullet furrows. I only found one furrow, so I surmised that of the four shots I took, three of them hit the coyote and one missed. I didn’t want to dig around in his fur and get fleas all over me, so I quit looking for entrance holes. There were no exit holes.

I began to do an inventory of all my equipment before heading back to the pickup. OOOPS!!! Where’s my red Tally-Ho call???? I carefully checked every pocket, each pouch and zippered area of my backpack, but no Tally-Ho. I figured I must have dropped it when I got my Bill Austin Howler out to try to get this fellow to come in. I hiked back to the spot where I had called from and after a short search; there was the Tally-Ho in all its Red Glory! Thank goodness I found it. So, now I could head back to the pickup. . I can usually walk a mile in slightly less than 20 minutes on my slow jaunts back to the pickup. It took me nearly 30 minutes to hike back from where I snapped the photos of the second coyote and it probably took me a couple minutes to find the Tally-Ho. I guessed I had been around 1.5 miles from the pickup when I started back.

I had one more spot I wanted to try to call from. A rancher has spotted quite a number of coyotes around his place and had one right in his farm yard about a month or so ago. I headed over there and stopped to glass a great big creek bottom near where I had called in a BIG Black Angus bull this past January 25, 2008. Sure enough, there was a coyote out mousing in a hay field, but he had to be about 1½ miles to the south of the road I was on. I drove into the rancher’s yard and stopped at the house. He came out and I explained where I had spotted the coyote and he said “Go get him!” I drove in behind some old buildings that would hide my pickup. I got my equipment out and walked in to where I could see if he came in to my calling. He had disappeared from the hay field I had spotted him in, but I figured he could be close by and might come in to my calling. I used my Critr Call and my Bill Austin Howler. I stayed on stand for about 30 minutes, but I never saw him again. I guessed the coyote might have heard or spotted my pickup when I was driving in. This creek bottom area is very flat and almost impossible to sneak in on without being detected. It was close to sunset, so I called it a day. I got back home around 7:30 p.m. and Marsha had supper ready and waiting for me. It was a VERY GOOD DAY!!!

Great shooting silverfox,and as usual an excellent story

Great Recap of a good day! good shooting too.

Cool write up again SF!! As per your usual hunt descriptions. And good shootin!!

Another fine story and pictures as well. Nice shooting! Thanks for the details as I always pick up tips from your stories.

SF: Excellent in all regards! I always feel like I'm behind the rifle in your stories, and look forward to your reports. Great photos and graphics too....do I detect a book or magazine article in your future?

Silverfox, that there is just awesome. WTG

In Christ,

Song Dog

Silverfox never say loong..................Just very well written.
Glade to hear the big one didn't get away...............thanks to you and a trusty 204.
Thanks for sharring
Keep the reports coming. You get an A+ in my book!
Later
Ray P

Thanks to all of you for the nice comments on the narration of my little hunt last Monday. These hunts are always a lot more fun when you have a little success. It isn't often that I have a 100% success ratio and I was very doubtful I'd be able to call that second coyote back in. He sure was giving me the razz with his warning barks and howls. However, you never know what a coyote is going to do and if you don't give it a try, you'll never get them to come in.

Rick in Oregon--I'm completely happy just writing up my little reports for the Boards. If I got into writing a book, then it would be a JOB!!! At that point I think it would stop being fun and I wouldn't like that.

I have written articles for magazines and had them published. One was for the North Dakota Outdoors magazine and it took me a looooong time to get it polished up and all pretty for general public consumption. That's not my bag.

Thanks for sharing your hunt and pictures with me Silverfox. Awesome! It was fun reading about your hunt on this snowy miserable day in Colorado. Well, I guess it's a good time to load up some 6.5x55s and get ready to hunt yotes soon as the weather cooperates. Great story, looking forward to the next!

Silverfox - another great story from North DaColder, my friend! As usual, the descriptions, photos and ancedotes were outstanding.
Looks like all your snow has disappeared.....at least that's a good thing. It looks like we're finally going to get a nice week-end to go out and chase the sage rats.

Keep after those 'yotes and keep those stories coming!

Rgds, Gerry