Sidewinder (Hal) and I took to the field today, and had a lovely day of hunting. (Uh,oh. I don't think they shot anything!)
It was crisp (15F) and clear in the MidColumbia. On our first stand we saw the rays of dawn slowly wash over the terrain in front of us. The glint of sun off the ice-crystal frost was amazing. We had the sun behind us and no wind. Perfect.
On our second stand, Hal had one coming in to the call, approaching from a frozen marsh across short grass. At 250 yards the critter turned sideways, none the wiser of us, and Hal took his shot. And missed. It was out of sight before I could draw a bead on the moving critter. Hal was rather surprised at the miss and said he will take the rifle back to the range to confirm its sight-in.
We were working our way along the hillside above the frozen marsh when Hal spotted fleeting patch of brown dashing through the sage ahead. This inspired us to set up in a location that was less than 400 yards from the previous stand. I was skeptical of setting up so close to our previous stand, but we did it anyway.
About 10 minutes (at least) into this stand, I hear Hal trying every call in the book. Prey squalls, howls, ki-yi's. I don't make anything of it as I watch the terrain in front of me. Out of nowhere, it seems, I spot a coyote slinking into the trees at the edge of the marsh! How'd he get there? He wasn't spooked, so I was hopeful.
I brought my scope up and couldn't see him at first. After a minute or two, I see him beyond the trees a bit, and in the clear. I take the shot, and miss. My only excuse was that he was sitting, facing me, and was 270 yards away. I just missed. OK, then I followed it up with a few shots at the running game, to no avail.
Hal had been watching that coyote for several minutes, waiting for me to take the shot. He spots them better than I, for sure. Oh, it was in the open alright. I have no excuses.
I was rather surprised that we were able to make stands pay off (well, sort of) that were
so close together. I was also surprised to learn that Hal's e-caller and mine communicate on the same frequency! His commands were putting up different sounds out of mine, when we had them both out together. We refrained after that.
