posted December 04, 2007 08:11 AM             

quote:

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But in any case for me personally the times I have done poorly at a contest is because of lack of scouting time.

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I agree, that is why Tyler and I spent several weekends scouting the Navajo *** and other areas of the state.
We finally settled on a long strip of the Gila River where we had called in 23 coyotes in four hours back in August.
We spent several days in there locating and GPS marking 31 stands. We spent all day Wed. howling along the route and we were absolutely confident that we were going to do very well in there. It is just north of an area that we called in 15 coyotes and killed 14 of those the previous year. We were ready.
Thursday morning the Bronco gave up.
We rented a pick up from U Haul which is just up the street. Didn't need 4WD for the hardpack farm roads we were going to hunt.
Fri morn we did one stand in a drizzle and brought a coyote in and then the deluge started.
Heavy rain and strong wind quickly flooded the area. We sank up to the frame mid morning and spent most of the day digging out enough to drive 4 or 5 feet and sink again. Mid afternoon I walked a couple of miles to a farm house and paid a young man to pull us out to the road with a tractor. By then the roads were slick and slimy and I almost slid off into a canal. We got to high ground and waited for the wind and rain to subside enough to at least make an effort. Finally I told Tyler that since there was no way to call a coyote into the truck that I was going to walk out a few yards into the wind and rain and blow a call. Tyler said "Good Luck" and went back to his nap.
I walked out 40 yards, backed into a mesquite, and standing up blew a series toward a thick wash less than a hundred yards away. A couple of minutes into the series a coyote walked in from the wash, head down, soaking wet, looking like a drowned rat. It was focused on my position until it stopped less than 10 yards out then turned it's head toward the truck, which was in full view. I brought the rifle up quick and smooth, like I've done many times before, and saw nothing in the scope except fog and rain drops. I let the coyote go.
We could see that the lower parts of the valley were flooded and we couldn't even see the roads. It was after dark when we finally made it to the freeway after some scary slipping and sliding, didn't want to spend the night out there.
We called our back up ranch up north but the manager told me that they were flooded also and it was still pouring down. We went home and slept in our own beds.
Cal, I scouted the Colorado ranch that we chose for St Francis last year. A blizzard dumped on us. Snow up to our hips. Ice closed down I40.
I'll be sure to properly scout for next years World Contest also.