This is topic First coyote in forum Predator forum at The New Huntmastersbbs!.
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Posted by Cdog911 (Member # 7) on June 05, 2006, 07:46 PM:
Since we're all inextricably linked by brother coyote, it only seems right that we take an off-season moment to share our first coyote kill. How many of you guys can recall the first coyote you called and killed? I can. Seems like a long time ago, yet on the other hand, it doesn't seem that long ago at all.
I was about 14, I guess. I'd spent eleven years bumping around in the front seat of a pickup truck chasing them with greyhounds and rifles - coyote cowboys, to some of you guys - and I decided to try my hand at calling.
Dad had bought an old Olt call at Western Auto one rainy Saturday morning and he'd taken my brother and I out "calling". I'd have sooner bet the caterwauling and distress cries coming from my brother and me would have done a better job of attracting a predator than the gawd-awful sounds my dad was putting thru the window of that old shed above the creek timber. Anyway, I dug that barely used call out of the junk drawer and begged dad to take me out calling.
It was a weekday and he'd just gotten home from a day of welding black iron and didn't feel up to it. So, to my surprise, he threw me his truck keys, told me to stay on the backroads, and wished me luck.
I set up on a stump with my back against a huge pile of treelimbs that had been bulldozed in clearing the pasture I was in. I'd been calling with that Olt for about ten minutes, looking way to the east for the first hint of a taker when he appeared, running left to right, not twenty yards in front of me. I shouldered my Mini-14 "tackdriver" and slipped the safety off. That coyote circled and came to a stop not ten yards from me at 2 o'clock. I took aim, and squeezed. All I got in return was a loud metallic "click". I'd eased the bolt forward at the truck but hadn't let it go far enough to lock.
It only took a blink for me and that coyote both to figure out something had gone terribly wrong, and while I locked and loaded - again - he turned and beat feet straight away from me to the south. Looking thru the scope, I found his bouncing head and touched one off. Down he went. Forty yards or so. By the time I got to him, I was shaking like the proverbial dog shittin'
razor blades only to find he had no tail. Damned if my first coyote wasn't a disfigured mutant.
Oh well. I dragged him back to the truck, threw him in and drove him back to town to proudly show my dad. He was amused, but seemed somewhat indifferent to this whole "calling thing". It took him a couple more years to fully realize how hard that one coyote stuck with me, and how far that one shot would carry me up to now.
That was my first. Anyone else want to share?
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on June 05, 2006, 09:56 PM:
I'm just a little hazy, but I'll try. I spent about two years calling, not knowing what the hell I was doing, and saw two in the whole time, but never got a shot.
Then, (it was 1968) I went on a 24 hour Club Hunt with an experienced hunter and killed four coyotes and a bobcat. We had seven animals total and took second place; missed first by one animal. I was hooked.
Good hunting. LB
Posted by Locohead (Member # 15) on June 05, 2006, 10:05 PM:
Interestingly, I'd never been taught anything about calling coyotes I'd just always wanted to shoot one. I read Gerry's book and another by a Canadian guy named Wilf Pyle. Both Spectacular books. I bought a Circe cotton-tail in Denver. One morning I had to be home by 10:15 am for my wife. So i drove 2 hrs. East and I spotted a critter from the highway. I went a 1/4 mile further and found a dirt road that intersected the highway where I could hide the truck. I laid down in some tall wheat stubble and called in a completely different coyote. First time out and i called one. I was sooo lucky. I never shot. But man was it a heart thumper!
Later that same year, I was in some sand hills out in Eastern Colorado. I parked the truck, headed up and just over the back side of the top hill and sat in front of a tall yucca. I gave no regard whatsoever to the wind (well it seemed like a really good spot)and I called and shot a big ol' hairy-necked male. I got sooo lucky. That coyote ran to about 35 yards and stopped to stare at me. I lifted my rifle, rested it on my knees and shotified it. The coyote watched me the whole time and never even moved. I got sooo lucky man. I remember how badly I wanted to get home and show off the coyote and tell everyone the story. I thought I was so cool. ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
I had NO idea there was a whole fraternity of callers. I thought I was only one of a few. LOL Really, I'd just never heard of many people doing and I'd never met anyone that did.
[ June 05, 2006, 10:08 PM: Message edited by: Locohead ]
Posted by JD (Member # 768) on June 05, 2006, 11:44 PM:
I had been calling a few times with a friend but never was afforded a shot until one day I took him to some land that my wifes uncle owned & he promptly called in a group of five, once they were close enough he fired at one & I jumped right in & started shooting at coyotes as fast as I could work the bolt on my 6mm & when it was all said & done I had strewn lead from heck to breakfast & didn`t hit a single thing, my buddy shot twice & connected both times, I never felt like more of a schmuck than I did after that gawdawful display.
So I went back to that place on Christmas morning after some range time & a good ass chewing about taking my time & not getting so worked up when a group drops in & I set up in the same place & called until I couldn`t blow the call anymore & nothing showed up so I put my mittens back on & headed back over the hill toward the truck & just over the crest of the hill I stood face to face with a pair of coyotes that were sneeking in the back door, I still remember the suprised look on that lead coyotes face, I swear his eyes bugged out of his head, I was only about 10-15yds away but I had those blasted mittens on & I couldn`t rid myself of the damn things for what seemed like an eternity but I finally slung the mitten off my right hand & rested the crosshairs on his ass at about 80 yds & promptly spread his entrails out over the hillside.
I then ran past that coyote, who wasn`t dead yet & tried to bite me on the way by, in order to get over that next ridge where the other one ran & when I saw him he was out about 300yds & looking back so I lay prone on the hilltop & he stopped just a little ways further, turned around, sat down & started barking at me, man this is just to easy, so I rested the crosshairs somewhere close to his chin & was about to squeeze the trigger when I noticed that directly behind the coyote WAAAY off in the distance along the treeline was a guy who was appearantly cutting firewood or some such, so much for that coyote, man I would`ve given my left nut to take both of those coyotes home that day but it was still fun, besides when I think about some of the things I`ve done or seen happen while out calling it makes me chuckle, usually at myself. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Posted by DAA (Member # 11) on June 06, 2006, 05:36 AM:
First couple I killed were targets of opportunity, shot while out walking the sage brush popping jack rabbits. First called coyote, I was 12 years old, and my Dad called the coyote in using a reel-to-reel tape deck that took like a million D cell batteries with a big old JS speaker on about 50' of wire. I had to carry that rig to the stand, along with my then brand spanking new M70 in .270 Win. (purchased with a whole summer worth of lawn mowing wages). So, even though Dad decided where to setup, and pressed the Play button, I reckon I did my share in calling that coyote .
Didn't call one in on my own until I was old enough to drive and go out by myself. Got two, that first day calling on my own. I think there is a Smith's grocery store and a strip mall there now, where I made those stands.
- DAA
Posted by Tim Behle (Member # 209) on June 06, 2006, 06:13 AM:
My first couple of coyotes that I called in, I let walk. I was calling at night and had never seen a coyote before. All I knew was that what ever animal I had responding, was too big for a fox.
But it tweaked my interest, and I started looking up pictures of them.
My first couple of trapped coyotes got the same fate. I turned them loose thinking I had caught someone’s dog.
I can remember that first one I decided to kill though. I must have circled him for 15 minutes or more with that flashlight. I took him home and skinned and dried him, but wouldn't take him to a local buyer. I had just opened an account with North American Fur Auctions earlier that year, so I put him in a bag and shipped him off. I didn't check anything on the label as to animal description. I half expected to get a note back condemning me for mailing someone's dog to an auction house.
I was quite pleased when I got that receipt back from them for a coyote. I think I trapped and shipped 10-12 more that year?
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