Sure, I carried the rifle, but I wasn't "hunting", I was looking.
It was a good day to be out. It started out refreshingly cool, and warmed up to about 75F. I was traipsing around the shrub steppe in jeans and purple tee shirt, covering ground.
My first pleasant surprise was when I heard unusual bird sounds. I looked around to spot a pair of curlew, landing about 100 yards from me. I only see curlew about once every five years or so, so I thought this to be great fortune, to see the pair.
I went on to another area about 5 miles away and was vigorously harassed by two pair of curlews. These birds came toward me, and tried to lure me away from their nests (which I never looked for). They stayed with me for about a half a mile over CRP (open grassland), quite determined that I would not be troubling their nests. So, three pairs of curlew in one day.
My best fortune with regard to coyotes came when I headed off the road toward a "great unknown". The terrain is generally so flat that I find it hard to hunt, or even to find suitable sites for a stand (with good visibility). My march began through chest deep "wheat grass", which was discouraging. It was so tall one would never see a coyote in it. I could only hope for better features ahead.
I saw an odd bit of irregular terrain, like a wind sculpted ridge, showing me only maybe 20 ft of elevation change (the soil here is wind-blown loess). What I found when I got there inspired me. On the other side was an even slope downward, creating an area in which to shoot. The terrain later rose again, not as high, with CRP for a couple of miles. I had found a good place for a stand this fall.
Moving along this ridge I penetrated a block of CRP that may be 2 miles by 5 miles across. After finding another useful stand-site, I thought I ought to glass the area. My approach had been not particularly stealthy, but mostly concealed by the terrain. As I brought up my glasses at a random spot in the distance, I was shocked to find a coyote looking back at me from about 400 yards (still don't have the rangefinder)! I sat and found it in my scope, but he was too far for my skills. I let him slink away. He had 'made' me all right. That didn't feel good. I'd like to see them before they see me. But hey, I wasn't in camo.
Figuring that I had picked a point "at random" and spotted a coyote right way, I theorized that "I couldn't be that lucky", and that there must be a dozen coyotes out there looking at me. Well, maybe there were, but they weren't looking back when I surveyed the rest of the scene.
On my trek back to the car (over a mile) I flushed a rooster ringneck nearly at my feet. Would have been an easy shot, going away.
A nice day. I believe it will be helpful come fall, to have scouted out new places!
