Persistence pays off.......but did he get the double this time?

[Rich_D]

Story and pics to follow.

(don't ya just hate it when this happens?) 😃

[Rich_D]

If you recall last weekend I fanned on the drive by double:
So with BC having the Family Day long weekend I figured this would be a good time to get out a few times and call some Coyotes. I had a good spot picked via some reconnaissance work on Google Earth and knowing that the entire area holds a shitload of dogs.

Saturday:
Up at 5AM, truck fueled up, breakfast in hand and on the hwy at 5:47.

Thermo in the truck says -24C.....perfect.

So I get to the road head (gps said so) about 6:40 (Thermo now reads -30C....brrrrrr), get my gear together and start walking . I walk, and I walk, and I walk some more and now I'm thinking "I should have come to road/trail that was supposed to head left about 800m from the main road" . Well a short while later I come across a 1K marker and know I'm on the wrong road. Well I'm already a K in I might as well keep going and see if there are any good spots up ahead.

I find a nice wide draw at about the 1.75K mark so I figure this is as good a spot as any. The wind is in my favor, bonus. I set out the e-caller, get cozied up under a tree and just sit for 15 mins to let things cool down from the walk in. I start with a few Howls on the hand call, wait a few mins then follow up with some rabbit distress. Wait another few minutes and fire up the Foxpro with a Female Long Howl, let it run for about 2 minutes and went to switch to another Female call when the Foxpro quits making noise all together, the jack decoy keeps moving but no sound. I move back to the hand calls with rabbit and pup distress sounds but nothings coming in. I pack up to go and I'm halfway up the small hill, heading back to the road, when I hear a Coy group chattering a few hundred yards to my right.

My toes and fingers are numb but I sit for a few minutes and try and draw them out but no luck.

I walk back the 1.75K to the truck and make the decision to head up the road to another spot just to see if anything's movin over there. I park the truck in the trees, walk up to a place I had called from before and started calling, about 5 minutes in there's barking and howling where I didn't expect it to come from (those things can be anywhere). I relocate to try and get it to come in but I think it busted me and saw the truck in the trees as the next bark/howl came from quite a bit farther away than the previous one did.

Heading home I decide to take the long way and lo and behold I get a drive by on the side of the road, I feel better about the day but it's still a drive by.

TBC......

[Rich_D]

Sunday AM:
Planned to head out to the ranch I have permission to hunt on, alarm goes off at 5:30, I reach over to hit the snooze button but apparently I turned it off completely, get up at 9:30. Screw it, I got work around the house to do. I'll go out tonight.

Sunday PM:
Head out again to the same area, only this time I plan to park at the right road. Well I get there and there's a car parked at the road head. "Damn". I find another unknown road a little further up and decide to walk in. I come to a beautiful little swamp area with a great spot to sit under a willow, set out the call, get under the bush and let things settle.

(having to do this in small spurts as the wife has me doing chores this afternoon)
TBC....... Again

[monasheemountainman]

sheep and bison, ok...but coyotes just tell us how many and throw up a pic!

[Rich_D]

sheep and bison, ok...but coyotes just tell us how many and throw up a pic!

Hey, I don't see too many posting up stories these days....grab a beer, sit back and enjoy the read. LOL :twisted:

Or come back tomorrow and check the thread if you want the condensed version.

[coach]

Keep it coming, Rich_D! Hope you're gonna throw up a few pics.. :-D

[Rich_D]

Rest of story up in 20 w/pics. Had to go out for BDay dinner. :)

EDIT: OK make it 2hrs, also had to finish skinning the paws and type up the rest of the story.

[Rich_D]

Sunday PM cont'd:
Called for about an hour, had 3 groups of dogs around me but just could not get any to come in, that is until almost dark. I had decided to pack up.....I got 20 paces from my gun heading out to grab the Foxpro, in knee deep snow, and of course I spot a Coyote cutting across the far end of the marsh. I tried to race back to the gun but by the time I got on the scope he was gone.

Monday AM:
5AM, coffee and smoke, get dressed, on the road at 5:25. Finally get to the spot I had been trying to get to all weekend, grab my gear and start the walk in.

I get to the edge of the lake about 50yds in from the end, find some nice cover, light up a smoke and try and figure out a game plan. There was little to no wind but what wind there was happened to be coming more off my back than what I would have like, so the plan was to leave the Foxpro out in front of where I was and move back the 50yds to the end which would put the wind from my left side and the caller upwind and 50yds in front of me.

From where I was sitting there was a small peninsula to my left that rose up from the lake and another straight out from me that also rose up putting me in a small bay, as I was moving my stuff around figuring out what to leave at the spot (had my snowshoes with me that I had actually carried in) and what to take to the end with me, I look up on the peninsula to my left and something doesn't look quite right. I grab my bino's and sure enough there's a Coyote staring right at me, I had ranged the hill top earlier at 217yds.

Here is a Panoramic View from the spot I was about to move from, you can see the rise on the left hand side:
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj311/CyaN1de_01/Hunting/20140210_070839.jpg

See original http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj311/CyaN1de_01/Hunting/20140210_070839.jpg~original

I slowly get the gun into position, get on the scope, 1. I am elated that he is still there and didn't run from my movement, 2. He now has a friend with him.

Knowing they are 200yds+ away I am hoping I can get them in closer, I let out a few lip squeaks and away they come like they were on a string and reel. They run in about 100yds and slow up, I put the crosshairs on the chest of the farthest one, BANG-FLOP, it's mate turns to run so I let out a few barks and she stops and doubles back a few steps, BANG-SPIN-RUN....dammit!!!!

I watch her run up the hill to the left of the lake but couldn't get a shot at her through the trees. I know I hit her so I figure I will make some pup distress sounds, see if any others come in, and track her after a bit.

I sat and called for another 10 mins and nothing was coming in so I grabbed my gear and headed off to get some pics of the downed Yote, fix up a dragging rope, and then go track it's mate down.

Bad pic of me, my baggy eye's and a dead (30lb) male Yote:
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj311/CyaN1de_01/Hunting/20140210_073026.jpg


Turns out, in my excitement, I must have pulled the shot because it didn't go into his chest as I had planned, it hit him square between the eyes:
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj311/CyaN1de_01/Hunting/20140210_072402.jpg


So I get him sorted out, go over to where his mate was, and sure enough there's blood on the snow. I drag him up the hill a bit, leave my Foxpro and the Snowshoes and head off to find the walking dead, or so I thought.

She was spraying blood pretty good while she was on the run up the hillside:
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj311/CyaN1de_01/Hunting/20140210_075557.jpg

http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj311/CyaN1de_01/Hunting/20140210_075442.jpg

I could see where she had sat and rested as she zig-zagged through the cut block but as she slowed...so did the blood trail until it was slow drip every few feet. After following her tracks for about 800yds I am about 200yds from the edge of the cut block where the thick stuff starts when I spot her coming out of a valley in the cut.

I put out the bipod legs (did not extend them, just put them down), gave a bark and she stopped, I hit the belly to get into the prone position and I can't see her due to a rise between her and I. I sit up and quickly get the legs of the bipod extended, get her in the scope......now by this time I have been walking 800yds, in crappy snow, with several layers of clothing on so I am sweating, completely out of breath and my heart rate is through the roof (I really need to exercise more and quit smoking)......so she's in the scope and on the move, I do my best to keep the crosshairs on her and let one fly. Well I see the bullet splash in the snow just below her.....dammit again!!!!!

I track her to the edge of the cut block where she had gone down an embankment into the thick forest which I was not about to follow as the embankment was quite steep and I was not about to hurt myself trying to track her into it. I hate to leave an animal wounded like that but I did my best to find her and put her down.

Hopefully the story was worth the wait......sorry for those who got pissy about it. (Insert Devil Smiley and Big Grin here, apparently they count as pics in a post)

2nd week in a row I blow a double, but this guy has an awesome coat and only 1 non-natural hole in the pelt (no exit wound) so I think he's a great candidate for a rug.

[Rich_D]

5 pic rule, here is the As It Lay pic:

http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj311/CyaN1de_01/Hunting/20140210_072349.jpg