so, a co-worker of mine has a couple acres and a couple of kids. seems 3 coyotes have been having the run of the place, coming through the back yard and such. last week he asks how to get rid of them.... well gee! i can help that! so i headed out saturday morning to his place. about halfway there, the fog gets THICK. hmmm... maybe it'll burn off. when i pull into the driveway, i can barely see 50 yards. he and i headed out to get the lay of the land a bit. i found a nice little rise with some old farm equipment parked there... perfect to set up in. we headed back to the house and watched some cartoons with his son and talked about life. fog lifted an hour later and we headed back to our spot. i set up my coyote caller, an old (but brand new) CD based system with 2 speakers. had my ghillie suit on, a .300 win mag with 130 grainers (no scope on the 22/250), .22 for finishers if needed, and Chris had my 1928 model 12 16 gauge with #4's if they snuck up on us. i hit play on the caller and did a fawn distress track for about a minute, minute and a half. waited 5 minutes or so and hit the coyote serenade, then a little rabbit distress for a minute. waited another five minutes and nothing was moving. i've never used a coyote call before, they've always been a target of opportunity. "well Hell, maybe it wont work today" I start to think. caught some movement out of the corner of my eye... yup, 3 coyotes on their way in! i moved into a better position and watched as two milled around looking for the goodies about 200 yards off. the third dog was still coming. i got on it with the scope and it stopped broadside at 143 (lasered after the fact) yards. i smacked it in the spine and turned to the other two. they were headed off at a run, and i took a second shot just in case. missed of course. they headed off for parts unknown.

chris and i checked on the coyote i shot. female, young, healthy. we took her tail and a couple of pics. 130 grain .30 caliber bullet is nasty on a small dog. there was a six inch notch missing from her mid spine. the gun is dead-nuts at 300, and i held low to compensate. coyote was smaller than i expected, and with a little jerk on the trigger on my part, i about missed!

so we packed up and headed back to the house. trampled through the stiff snow, tough going since we kept breaking through. put all the stuff back in the car and chris says "Listen!" one of the other coyotes was howling, and sounded close! i spotted it 400 yards off against a fence and ran around the house to get a better look. it was just standing there, howling. we headed through the field to close the distance. i lost sight of the dog and we had to get even closer. ended up at the same piece of equipment i took the first shot from. the dog was still standing still, and i tried to get calmed down. as i squeezed the trigger, felt myself tense up and knew it the shot was bad. the gun (rem 700 with ported barrel) is SO LOUD after 2 shots i developed a flinch! should have remembered ear plugs! saw the coyote running across a field, but it wouldnt stop, even with a mouth rabbit distress call. interesting part is, these coyotes were kinds hemmed in, as my friends place backs up onto fairchild AFB, and there is a 90 degree corner that kinda traps them. in a couple weeks, i'll be back to check to make sure the dogs dont come back. we were both amazed at how well the calling worked. they came running with no worries! what fun!

heath

Welcome to the world of varmint hunting. Now you are hooked!!!!!!!! Congrats on the yote,,,go get some more.

Good hunting and a great read!!

apparently at least one of the remaining 2 are still hanging around and howling. must have been big sister i shot. so i'll be back for the others!

Congrats!

Here's hoping we see more pictures very soon...