I took my time getting ready this morning and didn’t get out of the garage until 7:49 a.m. It was 21º out and cloudy. My destination was to get up into some country NNE of Williston that I hadn’t been in for many years. This area was prime red fox country before coyotes started inhabiting this area in North Dakota. There was waaaay more evidence of oil activity up there now and there were lots of new roads.
I kept driving and angling to the northeast to get to some familiar calling spots. I finally stopped at a spot that I had looked at many, many times before, but had never called there. It was north of the gravel road and there is a nice creek bottom there and cropland on the north side. I hiked in and set my caller up facing the NW wind. I got back about 40 yards to the SE of the call and started out with some baby fox distress sounds. I eventually used some female invitation sounds and mixed in the fox distress stuff. At about the 18 minute mark I spotted a coyote coming from the WNW and moving along pretty fast. It was skirting my position and moving toward the ENE.
I got the baby fox distress sound going but the coyote just kept trucking to the ENE. It disappeared behind the rise to the north so I switched my gun around and got to where I could cover the north and northeast of where I was set up. The next time I saw the coyote it was moving along to the east at a pretty good rate of speed and disappeared behind the hill to the NE of me. I stayed on the stand thinking it might be working waaaaay around to the east of me, but it never showed up again. I headed back to the pickup and started angling up to the north and east on back roads.
I finally got onto a paved road that headed north to where it meets another highway that goes east and west. I went north on a gravel road into Divide County and eventually I spotted a coyote out on some ice, but it spotted me and ran away like its tail was on fire. I drove a mile or two further north and then headed west again into some country that has lots of water bank conservation acres that provide good cover for all kinds of wildlife. There was a place on the road I was driving on where the water had come up over the road and it was closed so I headed north on a two-track into some water bank-looking stuff. There was a huge slough up north and I decided to park my pickup out of sight and walk in and see if I could call in a coyote or two. I set the FOXPRO Fusion up on my little stick tripod and I sat alongside a P.L.O.T.S. sign looking north and started the call.
I started out with some baby fox distress again and then hit some female coyote invitation howls and kept alternating those sounds. At the 8 minute mark a coyote came out from the tall grass on the west side of the slough and was looking towards the caller.
Then it walked on the dark area you can see in the photo towards an island in the slough. It stopped there. I kept playing the fox pup distress sounds and it moved to the east again. It moved eastward a bit more and appeared to be circling around to the ESE to get the wind, but it would have to go a looooong way to get behind me. I had cranked my scope up to 20x and was following it in the scope. I guesstimated it was about 300 to 325 yards north of me. Then, it did a U-turn and started walking back the way it had come in. I barked it to a stop, held about 6 inches above its shoulder and squeezed off a shot. The shot sailed towards the coyote but didn’t hit the coyote. The coyote started running and I jacked in another shell. I squeezed off another shot and down went the coyote, it was screaming and then it got up and was spinning and biting at its right front leg. I jacked in another shell as it began moving to the north side of the island and I flung another shot at it. Right then and there the coyote put it into high gear and disappeared on the north side of the island. It’s right front leg was flopping, but it was moving along pretty fast. Here’s a view of the coyote’s incoming path and its exit path.
I started the wounded coyote sound on the caller in case there were other lingering coyotes, but there were no takers. I took out my Leica 1200 Range Finder and ranged to the south edge of the island—434 yards!!! Well, I guess my “guesstimation” of 300 to 325 yards was off just a wee bit. My shots at 425 yards would be hitting almost 17 inches low and I only allowed for about 6 inches of drop. When I was young and intelligent I used to range various objects out in front of my calling stand so I would know the distances. Too bad I didn’t do that this time STUPID MOVE!!! I didn’t think I could catch up to that coyote and I didn’t trust the ice either so I didn’t go after it.
I gathered up the caller and walked back to the pickup. I headed west and south looking for a spot to park on a hill so I could glass the area while I ate lunch. I spotted another Snowy Owl today too. I finally found a spot and had lunch. I looked back on the events of the morning and kicked myself for not ranging the distance to the island. I had seen three coyotes, so it wasn’t a total loss. I had lunch and took a 30-minute nap and was ready to go calling again.
The next spot I called at looked real juicy. The wind was blowing out of the SW now and I was calling into some country that had lots of little potholes with a mix of pasture and cropland. Ideal coyote country, but since no coyotes came in, maybe it wasn’t such ideal coyote country. I walked back to the pickup and headed south on the country roads and the headed west. I needed to find a spot for calling in this SW wind and I had a couple of spots in mind.
I finally found a good looking area and there weren’t any NO HUNTING signs on the first gate I saw so I drove about a mile to the west end of that pasture and there weren’t any NO HUNTING signs on that end either. I drove back to the first gate, drove my pickup off the road and into the pasture to the north of the road so it was hidden from view to the south. I hiked in about 1/2 mile and found a nice spot where I could see pretty well to the west, SW, south and also had a good view of the downwind side over to the SE and E. I walked 50 yards down the fence line and hung the Fusion on a wooden fence post. I started with the baby fox distress again and followed it up with some young coyote howls. After 3 minutes I increased the volume on the young coyote howls and then turned it down at the 5 minute mark and changed to the fox sounds. I kept scanning mostly to the SW and south, but at about the 6 minute mark I checked over to the SE and there was a coyote coming down a hill. I had my rifle pointed to the SW and when the coyote disappeared behind a hill, I swung it over and cranked the scope up to 12x. I was going to make sure this coyote got to a spot where I could get the correct “guesstimate” on the yardage. Finally, at about the 7 and half minute mark the coyote came up out of the low spot and stopped at about 125 yards away while it was looking at the e-caller which I had playing the fox distress sounds at low volume. I put the crosshairs on the coyote’s chest between the front shoulders and squeezed off the shot. WHAP!!! I could hear the bullet hit and saw the coyote crumple like a wet dishrag!!! Finally, SUCCESS!!! I picked up the remote and tapped it on my gunstock to get the FOXBANG working and played the wounded coyote cries for about 5 minutes, but nothing else was coming in. I gathered up my e-caller and stepped off the distance to the coyote. It was 125 good sized steps. The only blood coming from the coyote was coming out his nose. From the looks of his teeth I’m guessing he was probably 3 or 4 years old.
This was an extremely nice colored male coyote and showed no signs of rubbing. I was so excited I forgot to take a “Hero Photo.” But here is a look at the great looking fur on his back.
Here’s a photo I took from where the dead coyote was lying. It gives you view of where I had set up on a little knoll. The rifle is pointed to the SE (a little bit further south than where the coyote was lying) and the fence line runs north and south.
When I was pulling the coyote back to the pickup I “guesstimated" his weight at over 30 pounds. When I weighed him on my digital scale he only weighed 27.6 pounds. I may have to do an accuracy check on that scale!!! There would have been time to make another stand, but four stands would be my limit today. As I mentioned earlier, I’m still recovering from about four weeks fighting a bad case of bronchitis so I didn’t want to wear myself down too much.
“Hero Photo” the day after the hunt. I’m not angry, but the sun is shining directly in my face and my wife was taking her sweet time in snapping the photos!!! That coyote was getting real heavy to hold up off the ground and I was struggling mightily!!!
