Coyote Moon
Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2011 7:03 pm
Some say coyote callin' under a full moon doesn't work. Some say it doesn't matter.
I'm not gonna argue one way or another. But you can't call one if you don't try.
My son Colton and I figured we had time for two quick stands before dark. First was close to the neighbor's that had lost a couple of chickens in the last week to coyotes. We sat in front of an old adobe building that had seen better days but had lots tracks in the snow. Perfect place to make prey sounds. We had a big sagebrush arroyo in front and a wind from left to right. Anything trying to get our wind would have to come into the wide open on our right. I played the caller softly trying not to get the sound out too far knowing we would only have time to move a short distance if this set didn't produce. And it didn't.
We got our stuff and moved into the wind and parallel to the arroyo about 500 yards and set down in some sage. We had a wide open flat in front that dropped off into the arroyo. Ran the call for about 2 to 3 minutes when I spotted a familiar shape coming up onto the flat to our left. I muted the call and he stopped. I let him have a little more to get him started again, muted the sound again and again he stopped looking for the source. He was heading left to right trying to get downwind. He would trot a ways and check up, trying to locate that hot meal he heard a second ago. He was working his way into a position that would put him right in front of Colton. I gave him a few lip squeaks and he kept coming until he stopped in the perfect spot and I told Colton to shoot.
The coyote ran hard after the shot and I wondered if the shot was good. We walked to the fence and Colton waited while I went to look for blood. I found where he was standing and could see he jumped and started running. I followed and found blood at about 10 yards. I walked a little then followed the tracks with my eyes and saw him piled up over a little rise. He had run about 50 yards with a hole in the boiler room right above the top of the leg with no exit. Dang kid is getting good with the little CZ. I waved to Colton and he came over for pics but it was getting dark fast. The little pocket digital worked as usual and took a shot of the "Coyote Moon".
Another shot to the west with the Spanish Peaks in the distance made for a perfect ending to our hunt.
Hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as we did sharing it.
I'm not gonna argue one way or another. But you can't call one if you don't try.
My son Colton and I figured we had time for two quick stands before dark. First was close to the neighbor's that had lost a couple of chickens in the last week to coyotes. We sat in front of an old adobe building that had seen better days but had lots tracks in the snow. Perfect place to make prey sounds. We had a big sagebrush arroyo in front and a wind from left to right. Anything trying to get our wind would have to come into the wide open on our right. I played the caller softly trying not to get the sound out too far knowing we would only have time to move a short distance if this set didn't produce. And it didn't.
We got our stuff and moved into the wind and parallel to the arroyo about 500 yards and set down in some sage. We had a wide open flat in front that dropped off into the arroyo. Ran the call for about 2 to 3 minutes when I spotted a familiar shape coming up onto the flat to our left. I muted the call and he stopped. I let him have a little more to get him started again, muted the sound again and again he stopped looking for the source. He was heading left to right trying to get downwind. He would trot a ways and check up, trying to locate that hot meal he heard a second ago. He was working his way into a position that would put him right in front of Colton. I gave him a few lip squeaks and he kept coming until he stopped in the perfect spot and I told Colton to shoot.
The coyote ran hard after the shot and I wondered if the shot was good. We walked to the fence and Colton waited while I went to look for blood. I found where he was standing and could see he jumped and started running. I followed and found blood at about 10 yards. I walked a little then followed the tracks with my eyes and saw him piled up over a little rise. He had run about 50 yards with a hole in the boiler room right above the top of the leg with no exit. Dang kid is getting good with the little CZ. I waved to Colton and he came over for pics but it was getting dark fast. The little pocket digital worked as usual and took a shot of the "Coyote Moon".
Another shot to the west with the Spanish Peaks in the distance made for a perfect ending to our hunt.
Hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as we did sharing it.
Bill K