Page 1 of 1

Called in Two on 1-23-2012--Photos Included

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 12:26 pm
by Silverfox
I got up the morning of January 23, 2012, and had lots of things to do before going out after coyotes. I had my ATV on my trailer and that was hooked to my pickup because I had a silencer installed on the exhaust system last night and didn’t take time to unload the ATV last night. I got that unloaded and put the tarp back over my trailer and parked it in its spot on the west side of my north driveway. I also had some errands to do before I could leave town and by the time I got those done it was about 1:30 p.m. It was about 1:40 p.m. when I left town. Traffic was pretty heavy, but I made it to my calling area without getting run into. I drove north on a lease road to an area I used to call frequently.

The wind couldn’t have been blowing more than 5 mph out of the SE and the sun was shining brightly. There was a lot of oilfield noise even though I was over a mile from the highway. I parked the pickup at about 2:00 p.m. and as I was walking to where I wanted to call, I noticed someone else had walked the same path. I probably should have gone back to the pickup and moved to a different spot, but the tracks looked to be four or five days old and I thought it would be a good challenge to try to call a coyote where someone else might have called one in earlier. After nearly 30 minutes of calling, nothing had come in so I bagged it and got back to the pickup around 3:00.

I left that spot at 3:07 and drove back to the main road and then turned south towards the rancher’s place. There was a pipeline that had been laid this fall and I turned off on the right-of-way and drove east about a quarter mile in a stubble field and parked the pickup. I left the pickup at 3:19 p.m., walked in about a half mile and set up in the shadow of a hill with a nice little juniper bush as a back rest. There were some pieces of heavy equipment I could hear busily constructing a drilling pad over a mile to the south and it sure was noisy. I hung the FX5 on a fencepost overlooking a real nice long wooded draw that had several finger draws. Here’s a wide angle shot from where I was sitting and looking to the ESE.

Image

Here’s a close-up of the FX5 e-caller hanging on the fence post.

Image

Forty minutes of calling produced absolutely nothing. On my walk back out, I heard a coyote howling to the SSE that sounded like it was coming from east of the rancher’s yard.

I got back to the pickup at 4:20 p.m. and headed to the rancher’s yard. I drove east of his yard and parked near some farm machinery well out of view of where I planned to set up and call. I got out and started walking at about 4:32 p.m. As I was walking the heavy equipment to the south was really, really loud. I walked in about 3/4 of a mile to the ENE and used jackrabbit distress, group howling, female invitations sounds, etc. for about 35 minutes. I did manage to call in two magpies, but nothing else. :wink: I got back to the pickup at 5:34, started driving back home at 5:39 and was parked in the garage by 5:56 p.m.

When I got into the house I found out that my wife had made supper consisting of fried potatoes and roasted pork ribs, whole wheat bread, and we also had beet pickles and fresh baby carrots. I was hungry after all the hiking I did and the fresh air I got to breathe in. Life is good even though all I called in was two lousy magpies!!!

Re: Called in Two on 1-23-2012--Photos Included

Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2012 6:54 am
by windy
I've called many magpies in lately. Not too many coyotes in the last few weeks. It was good that you found a day with no wind.

You must be frustrated with all the oil activity around your area. We have been getting a little activity around our area and it sucks to try and call when you can hear the drilling and trucks driving around.

Re: Called in Two on 1-23-2012--Photos Included

Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2012 9:14 pm
by Silverfox
Windy--where are you from?

I wouldn't mind the oil activity if I was making some bucks off of it, but all it has done for most of us in this area is cause prices of most everything to increase, plugged our roads up with hundreds and hundreds of trucks and other oil field vehicles, caused long waiting lines at fast food joints, retail merchants, etc., and there seems to be an almost constant haze of dust from the traffic. It isn't a lot of fun, nor is it very safe out on the streets or sidewalks. Now, if I get a producing oil well on my land I might change my tune a little bit.

Re: Called in Two on 1-23-2012--Photos Included

Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 6:45 am
by windy
I'm south of you in Glendive.

Re: Called in Two on 1-23-2012--Photos Included

Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 9:07 pm
by Silverfox
Howdy Neighbor!!!

That's some beautiful country down there. I'll bet you have lots of coyotes and probably a bunch of prairie dogs too.

Re: Called in Two on 1-23-2012--Photos Included

Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 1:44 pm
by Dennis81082
Leroy I feel your pain. We don't have many magpies around here anymore (bird flu some one said) but they are starting to come back. Now every time I'm calling and I see a magpie I get excited. Lately it's been like the hunt you described. Oh well if you don't go you never know, it could be one of those magical days.