I walked back to the pickup and drove about another 1/4 mile further east and parked behind a hill and walked east to a rock pile. I set the call up on a wooden fence post to the SE of my hiding spot and started the call. About 15 minutes into the stand I could hear coyotes howling in answer to my howling. The sound was coming from the NE of my location and I couldn’t see very well in that direction. I got up and moved over to a spot where I could see to the north, northeast and east better and I could also see to the SE as well. I continued to hear those coyote howl, but they weren’t coming in to the call. I also heard coyotes howling from the SSE of my location too. I shut the call down after 35 minutes and packed it up and walked right to the NE where I thought the howling was coming from.
I set up the caller about 150 yards from where the farm land ends and the rough breaks begin to the ENE of my chosen calling spot. I placed the FX5 on my homemade tripod and started off with Lightening Jack sounds. After three minutes, I started the Randy Anderson Locator Howling. That got some howling going in return. At the 10 minute mark I turned the caller to the Lightening Jack sound on about volume level 15 and let that run. I checked my watch and I had been on stand for a little over 12 minutes. When I looked up from my watch there were three coyotes running toward the FX5 at about Mach IV!!! I quickly lowered the volume to about 10 and tried to get my crosshairs on the lead coyote. They covered the distance from the fence line to the caller (about 150 yards) in no time flat. I tried barking to get them to slow down, and all that succeeded in doing was it made them turn around and start back out the way they had come in. I couldn’t get a bead on either one of those coyotes while lying prone. It is just too hard to lead running coyotes with your elbows anchored to the ground. The third coyote was still fixated on the FX5 and he finally came to a stop and stood broadside to me. I put the crosshairs on his rib cage and squeezed off the shot. He staggered about 10 yards and piled up dead. I used one of my presets for wounded coyote sounds and ran that for about 5 minutes, but no coyotes came back.
I took some photos. Here’s a photo from where I laid and was looking to the northeast. I had a backdrop of a weed row between two fields that kept me from being sky lined. The coyote I shot was a male. He was about 75 yards away from my stand when I shot. The bullet passed through his body, but didn’t do much damage.
Here’s the view from the rear end of the coyote back to my setup spot. I wish I would have bothered to take the red fox decoy or the Jack-in-the-Box decoy with me. I think the first two coyotes might have come in a little slower. I just couldn’t get the crosshairs on the lead dog. It was the nicest colored one of the three. That’s the way it goes though. If I would have had some Dead Coyote Shotgun shells and a tight choke on my shotgun, I might have had two coyotes on this stand. As it is, I am happy to have been able to bag one.
Here's the obligatory “Hero Photo.â€Â
I dragged the coyote to the south in the direction I had heard the howling coming from those other coyotes. I left him lying in the stubble about 1/2 mile straight east of where I had my pickup parked. I kept on hiking to the south and east to see if I could entice that other coyote bunch to come in. I used the Randy Anderson Locator sound again and the Lightening Jack sound on this stand. I heard the coyotes answering my howls, but they were way southeast of my stand and didn’t come in. I quit calling after 35 minutes and headed back to where I left the coyote and dragged him a little over 1/2 mile to the pickup. I loaded him up, drove in to about 200 yards south of my last calling stand and had lunch at about 1:30 p.m. After lunch I hiked in to the south and east about 1/2 mile to see if I could work that other bunch of coyotes.
I was right on the edge of the big breaks where the land just falls away into some real pretty badlands type country. I wanted to stay up out of that and try to work the coyotes up onto the prairie. I set the FX5 up on my tripod. The clouds had broken up and the sun was shining, so I didn’t want to set up looking to the south into the sun. The wind was out of the ESE so I I walked to the south and west of where I had set up my caller and laid down on a little hillside. I started out with the DSG cottontail sound at about volume level 15 for a couple minutes and then increased the volume to 20 for about 30 seconds. I waited a minute and then played the Randy Anderson Locator howls and muted the call. I got howls in answer, but they sounded like they were way south of my location. I played the RA Locator sounds again. Then I turned on the DSG cottontail sound again. I just got done looking at my watch and noted I had been on the stand for a little over 9 minutes. As I scanned the area to the east of my location a coyote came over the rise at almost a full run. I muted the call and flipped off the safety on my rifle. The coyote did a double-take when it got about 25 yards from the call. I don’t know what it was thinking, but it didn’t seem to like what it saw and it turned a little sideways to the caller. When the coyote stood still, the front of her chest was pointing right straight at me. I had the crosshairs right on the center of her chest and squeezed off the shot. The coyote folded like a wet rag. I looked to the east as I picked up my Bill Austin Howler and started the wounded coyote sounds. I was pretty sure I saw a coyote disappear back over the rise. I started the Wounded Coyote sound on the FX5 too and kept that up for about 5 minutes. No coyotes came in after that.
Here's a photo taken from right behind my rifle. You can see the end of the barrel in the lower left-hand corner of the photo.
I picked up my rifle and backpack and crossed over the fence to take a look at the coyote I had just bagged. I took a few more photos. Below is one taken from right behind the FX5 on my home made tripod toward the nice female coyote.
This was a female and really nice colored. She has super nice guard hairs on her back and a really nice light colored chest and belly.
The “Hero Photo†below that shows her belly has a dark spot in the middle of her belly so it doesn’t look real white, but it is. The dark spot you see is just where the fur is parted and you can see her skin.
As I packed her out and got over the little rise to the NNW of where I had been calling, I noticed a fresh set of coyote tracks coming from the ENE and traveling to the WSW. I checked the tracks and when they got to downwind from where I had been set up, the tracks did a turn and headed back to the ENE. Evidently, a third coyote had been coming in to the downwind side and completely out of my line of sight behind that hill. It either turned and ran when it caught my scent cone or turned when it heard the shot. I got back to the pickup and loaded up the coyote. I drove to the ranch of the fellow who gave me permission to call here and showed him the coyotes and thanked him. I drove up north of that area and called in one more spot just before sunset. I got a couple of answering howls, but no takers. I was home by 5:40 p.m.
I had a GREAT day of calling. This is the first time I have spent a day out calling this entire fur season. I was out and called on one stand in late October and saw nothing. I also rode my ATV around my farm on an extremely windy day and made four worthless stands. On December 2nd I did a 4½ mile walkabout that afternoon. I made four stands and between my third and fourth stands I scared up a big, dark coyote and couldn't get off a shot because he was over the hill in an instant. After that outing, I got a bad cold and have been nursing that until Wednesday.
I made six stands on Wednesday, called in three coyotes on the third stand and bagged one. On the fifth stand of the day I called in two, possibly three, and bagged one. I only fired two shots with my Savage 12VLP and was using WW brass, Remington 7½ primers, 39 gr. Sierra BlitzKing bullets and H4895 powder. The bullet went completely through the first coyote, but the entrance and exit holes are tiny. The bullet didn't exit the second coyote as it was a straight head-on shot to the center of the chest. When I hung the coyotes up in the back yard, she started to leak a little blood from her nose and mouth. This morning when I checked on them, there was some blood dripping from her chest where the bullet had entered. No major damage to the hide.
Thanks for sharing!
