Woke up early this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. Thought I would go coyote hunting if I could find my electronic call. So at 5:00 AM I went rummaging around in the garage till I found my call in a box in the corner. When I got it back into the house it wouldn't work, so I took it apart and put it back together, then it worked. It seemed like maybe it needed to be warm to work... Anywho, I grabbed my rifle, a white shirt, and an orange vest ( in case I ended up hunting past daylight ) and headed out.
I am not an expert at coyote hunting, but I get by. I don't follow the way most people hunt coyotes. The common way is to cover a lot of ground and keep moving. I agree its not worth it result wise to spend a huge amount of time in one area, but I believe in skipping the mediocre areas and hunting areas I have pre-scouted for sign.
While deer hunting the last couple years on a buddies farm near Farminton Wisconsin I have noticed a ton of coyote sign and see them quite frequently. I also took note where I had seen them bed, and travel the most both with sign and actual sightings.
My plan was to set up along a fence line that divided a hay field covered with snow and an old brushy CRP field. The fence line ran from west to East and intersected with a swampy thick area that the coyotes always seem to hang on the edge of, but more out into the bean field than towards the edge. When I got there the wind was wrong for the treeline / fenceline. So I changed my position to an island of trees in the middle of the bean field hoping my scent would drift off more to the North exposing the coyotes in the open field if they tried there old trick of winding the set up...
Wouldn't you know the call wouldn't work again after setting it up 40 yards from me to keep the yotes attention off of me. I kept hitting the remote, but it just wouldn't turn on so I went back into the field and got the call and returned to me seat. After messing with the call for several minutes it turned on and I was forced to sit with the call right beside me.. I let the cottentail rabbit squeal call run for over 5 minutes solid then shut it off. Within seconds of shutting it off I saw a dark object come over the hill in the moon light and circle to catch my wind. I new he would catch my scent fairly quick where he was heading to so I slid my 30-06 to my shoulder and found him trotting in my scope. I was hesitant about shooting a trotting animal at over 350 yards, but felt it was now or never. At the crack of the rifle the coyote spun around and ran a wide circle allowing me two more shots. My second shot appeared to hit him. He ran over the hill and back towards the big swamp.
As it got lighter out I gathered up my stuff and headed towards where I last saw the coyote. As I closed the distance I could see blood on the snow . My 1st and second shots both hit him. Not bad for a hillbilly, eh?
I followed the blood about 100 yards up to the edge of the swamp where I found the coyote dead... One interesting note, I always like to back track in the snow and figure out where the animal came from, and what he was doing while I was calling. interestingly he did not come from the swamp where I had expected, he came from my right where on the other side of the CRP field is a little swamp. He came straight at me out of the swamp ( while the call was going off ) and as soon as he hit the open CRP field, he stopped, paced a little then ran in a huge circle about 600 yards to almost straight down wind of me where he finally exposed himself to me just before getting down wind.
Hear is a pic of the island in the middle of the bean field. I set up on the right side of the island near the tip. The tree / fenceline is just to the right.
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Here is where I set up. I kicked the snow out and put down my vest to sit on.
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From a little farther back
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View from my set up. The trees way back there is the big swamp. The coyote was shot just as he came over the hill as far back as you can see snow.
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Blood trail in a circle on the top of the hill...
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An actual piece of coyote liver lying where the second shot hit him...
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Track in snow
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End of the trail
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