A TWO COYOTE DAY.... The weather is cooling a bit in the Bay Area so it was time for some coyote calling. Two coyotes out of three stands is not a bad day. Mondays (10/10/5) are good days for calling.

FIRST STAND & NO TAKERS.... The first stand was near the old Red Dairy Barn that years ago lost the last hint of red and in the last year has collapsed into a heap of vintage lumber. I got a male coyote there a few months ago and gave the location another try. There were a lot of ground squirrels and one was setting on a stump chirping at me during my calling session. This ground squirrel was my early warning system. I used the L&M Howler with the Utah Jack sound and sounded out 4 series of cries. After about 15 minutes I quit that and went through a number of calling sounds. Part of it was to possible call in a reluctant coyote and also for practice to see how each call sounded in the field. I spent 30 minutes going through my calling and nothing. About half way through the various calls, the chirping ground squirrel got tired and left the stump. There were numerous ground squirrels farther out that kept up the chirping. The ground squirrels sure are going to need some attention after the first rains. I see at least a brick of 17 HMR ammo being needed for this area.

STAND TWO IN OPEN COUNTRY.... The second stand was in very open country with stubble from recently harvested barley. The stubble doesn't offer much cover, so I sat in the shade of a big oak tree near some thistle weeds. I started with the L&M Howler. It is an experimental call that Lonny and Mike made and sent me for testing. It makes fairly good coyote howls, but the reed is a little too close to the mouth piece and it pinches off when I try to get a loud howl. I had recently listened to the Utah Jack jackrabbit sound used on the new FoxPro and the L&M Howler makes a really great Utah Jack sound. It is loud and gravely and I was able to capture the "cramped stomach" sound in short bursts.

HERE HE COMES.... I gave out a series of Utah Jack calls and waited. After about 3 minutes I gave out another series. A few minutes later, I see the male coyote at about 400 yards looking my way. He was just standing there looking straight at me. I froze and watched. He stared for another couple of minutes then started toward me. He was directly down wind, but behind me about 800 yards away over the hills was a well traveled 2 lane road and I wasn't too worried about my scent. The coyote had probably had human smells wafting his way from the road till he knew every woman's perfume by brand name.



THIRD STAND.... I moved over to the Marsh Creek area for the third stand of the day. This picture shows the East end of this year's Bragadon Fire. It covered about 4000 acres. I made the setup at the right edge of this picture down this little road cut, but came in from the right across the other side of the hill so no coyote could see my approach. The wind was blowing from the left to the right and I had the wind in my face.

MORE UTAH JACK.... I started out with the L&M Howler doing the Utah Jack imitation. I did about 3 series of calls over a period of 15 minutes. By this time it was about 3:00PM and getting a bit warm. I was sitting in next to the base of a large oak tree in the shade. I sat there for a few minutes more and this coyote bark-howl back at me. I was busted. Maybe? The wind was in my face, so he couldn't get my scent. I got out the Loess Hills Howler and gave him couple of challenge barks. I was ready to start up a conversation with him, but he didn't answer. I moved the Bi-Fur-Pod and rifle in the direction of the howl. It was a waiting game. After about 5 minutes, I was ready to give him another challenge bark and I spot his head above the tall grass. It was about 70 yards and all I could see was his head and a tiny bit of his neck. I centered just below his neck where his chest should be and touched one off. Bang! Whop! That was a very easy shot. The bullet entered in the center of his chest and there was no exit.

YOUNG MALE COYOTE.... Jackrabbit screams and a bit of a challenge bark brought his male coyote into view at 70 yards for an easy shot off the Bi-Fur-Pod sticks.



The complete story is here: [url]http://www.varmintal.com/coy5-20.htm[/url]

When I get a chance, I will record the sounds I make with the calls and make them MP3 files for download.

Thanks for taking the time to write this up. I enjoyed reading it and it's cool to have the pictures with it.

I gotta ask,, whats with the Utah Jack sound? What is it? I've been calling for close to 30 years and have no idea what you mean. I made my own yipper/ howler but have not found good read material. Mine cracks easy. Nate

I heard the Utah Jack sound of a FoxPro caller. Then I got out my calls and tried to find one that would duplicate the sound. I think it is sound #233 on the FoxPro. If you go to their web site, you play a snippet of the sound, but it has a voice over. It sure seems to work well with the L&M Howler. I will soon try to record the sound I made and post a MP3 file of it.

Hey Varmint Al: I mentioned you and your website in a story I did in VHM. Hope you don't mind. Your site is very good. You definitely are an authority.

AnotherAZWriter,
Thanks for the mention. I am also a member and would like to read the article. Which issue of the magazine?

Varmint Al:

It was a story about Ten Shooting Myths; I think in the July issue. One myth I talked about was the issue of fluted barrels being stiffer than non-fluted ones, and referred to your website.

Keep up the good work. I will borrow from you in the future if you don't mind. Not hard to tell you know what you are talking about.

AnotherAZWriter,
Thanks for the reply. You are welcome to use anything you like from my web site. All that I ask is that you give credit to the source. I started the web site for a fun hobby and it sure has grown. My web site is now my way of supporting the Second Amendment. Instead of trying to get people to join NRA etc. I figure if they find out that the hunting/shooting sports are fun and buy a gun, they automatically become very interested in supporting the Second Amendment.

I will. SSCoyote is another guy that I have learned from.

I got two this morning. While sitting on my stand (deer hunting), I saw two yotes working on a dead calf about 200 yards out. My first shot blew the front right leg off of one of the yotes. Both yotes started to run directly toward me. At about 150 yds out I finished the first one and then dropped the second one. Although I didn't get a buck, I didn't have to clean them either.

Dr. Lou,

Way to go. Good shooting. I figure that each coyote taken saves about 20 deer per year. I have sure seen an increase in our deer herd near my cabin where I have worked on the coyote population.

Al, what coyote call do you recommend for a rookie? I have shot many coyotes over the years but they are those unfortunate ones that happen to cross paths with me when I have my rifle.

quote:

but have not found good read material. Mine cracks easy. Nate

Nate,

Don't know if you have tried this stuff yet, but it works for me. Usually in the sewing/quilting section of your local department store you will find what I think is called "pattern material". It is 8.5" X 11" plastic sheets. I have found it in two thicknesses. The thicker stuff is exactly the same thickness you will find on howler reeds, and the thin stuff works for a lot of the distress calls.

They come in a bag of about 6 sheets. Enough for exactly 279 reeds.

Jim

Dr. Lou,
I think the easiest call for a beginner is the Circe Cottontail call. It is easy to blow. When you make the screams, visulize a coyote chewing on your leg and taking a big bite. Make the hurt sounds you would respond to that and in short bursts. Cottontails and Jackrabbits don't have very big lungs so can't make long drawn out sounds.

You can listen to the sounds on my web page to get an idea of what works.

quote:

Originally posted by AnotherAZWriter:
I will. SSCoyote is another guy that I have learned from.

Thks much my friend. Still waiting for my article, "On the Tactical Pursuit of Coyotes" to come out in VHA. I gave u some of the credit u deserve in there. Be hard to put it all in there. Those articles u wrote about applying the scope reticles for long-range shooting turned a light on in my head-- still refer to them to this day. Mr. Al's website is great-- INFORMATIVE articles also.

Al, thanks for the info. How do feel about electronic calls?

Thanks PDH, I'll have to go check it out.

I made a call out of deer antler and used a reed from a supply house in Az IIRC and it sounds great for a metal reed. After years of trying different calls I'm of the opinion the natural barrel mat'l for calls has better tone. I have probably called more in using a wood lohman, or an old Circe. Lost the Circe and now that I'm making my own I have kind-of quit looking. Nate

Great story and the pictures are tops-sounds like your doing a good job of keeping the coyote #'s down.


-Grizz