Made two unproductive stands in a new area....coyote sign everywhere.
Temperature in the teens, enough snow/frost for a good background, then the third stand.
Hiked up a draw, and stopped just before I topped out. I had never been there before, but I have learned to call before topping out, so the coyotes don't see me.
i figured that with the cold weather, food would be a priority, so I used my mouth call. My prey distress call is more of a 'tweener; somewhere between rabbit, and fawn. It works for me.
I had an open view for a couple hundred yards to my right, as it was a a little below me, but to my left I had limited distance....about 75 yards. I set up so that I had a low bush between me and the limited view, but a bush with a shooting gap in it.
I called for probably five minutes, when I saw a coyote through the gap in the bush at about fifty yards, facing me. I slowly swung my rifle around to the gap, centered on his chest, and dropped him. I continued calling for a few more minutes, then went to the dead coyote. Now I was on top, and sure enough, there was another coyote out about 200 yards. Dang! I should have waited longer! HE didn't wait, and lit a shuck outta there!
I looked things over, and could see a fence line out about another 300 to 400 yards, with a commanding view, so I decided to go over and make a stand there. It was a good set up, with another low lying bush to sidle up to, and a great view. I was facing a shallow draw that went on forever, and I was at the top of it with favorable wind direction, so I sent out another dinner invitation. Probably two minutes later, three coyotes are hard-charging, right up the draw! I swung the rifle to bear, and one of them spotted the movement, and stopped. I put one through his shoulders, and he dropped. The other two turned tail. I got on one of the runners, and dumped him! About then, things got confusing. After the smoke cleared, I put it all together.
The runner was spinning, the third coyote came back, and I dropped it, then I went back to finish the spinner. In all it took three shots to take him, but I got her done!
At the time, I was just reacting....if I saw a coyote on it's feet, send it a round. Like a shooting gallery! It seemed like I fired a lot, but it turned out to be five rounds total, and every one hit fur.
I was using my bolt action M70 Winchester, in.222, topped with a Leupold 3x9 'scope that was set at three. Range was around 100 yards.
So, I had four coyotes, a rifle and shotgun, to pack 3/4 mile. I spent a lot of time walking back and forth, but finally got everything to the truck....two of those coyotes went 32 pounds each.
The pictures of this hunt are in my previous post, from a couple of days ago.
