Well yesterday was kind of a bust! Our plans were to spend the day calling Coyotes and viewing the wintering herds of Elk, Deer, Antelope and Moose! All was going well for my friend and I as we drove the 30 miles to my chosen calling area. We were seeing lots of Elk, Mule Deer, Whitetailed Deer, Antelope and flying Varmints in the early morning. But when we were within 2 miles of the calling area the road in front of the VarmintMobile went sour! There was a long (100 yards or so) drift of snow covering the gravel road. We looked at the drift and decided that the 4WD Dodge diesel could push through it. Wrong! The resulting attempt at pushing through the drift resulted in a ploop noise as the VarmintMobile sank into 20" deep wet snow on top of ice! Damn! The resulting 1 1/2 hour ordeal of trying to shovel snow and install chains in the deep snow really cooled us off! Extraction (in reverse) from the one and only snow drift on the remote road put an end to our calling venture but the day turned entertaining just after that. We had not seen another vehicle on our way out this remote road but had seen a small plane flying low over the sage brush valley. As we headed backhome we were amazed to see a small plane parked in the middle of the one lane dirt road! Two men were standing beside the plane drinking coffee. Our ensuing visit was most delightful. It turns out these men were respectively a contracted pilot and the other man was a Government Trapper/Hunter. They were shooting Coyotes from the air! The stories that ensued during our visit covered everything from Game populations to Wolves to Cougars and Coyotes and airplane values! What a neat long visit that was. It was still early in the day and this was the two mens first leg stretching break after 2 hours of flying (Hunting). There lay on the ground near the plane 7 spent shotgun shells but I did not ask for a harvest report from the day. We stood by as the men loaded up and then took off from the road for more Hunting. The mechanics of the flying, side slipping, aiming from the air and proper "lead" for running Coyotes were all new to me. Foremost was the mandate of NOT hitting the small wing support on the plane while shooting left me a little apprehensive about this endeavor!
We saw one Coyote on our return home but he would not respond to our calling after we hid the VarmintMobile. It was beautiful here yesterday another one of those "I wish I had brought my camera" days! It is warming here today (high 46 predicted) and the winds that formed this snow drift recently should melt the drift in a day or two. I will try that valley again even though it has been plane Hunted.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

[ 03-11-2003, 20:31: Message edited by: VarmintGuy ]

VG, Good Luck hope the hunt improves with the weather. Local Dogs may be prop/big bird shy but shouldnt be call shy....