Picked Mike up at 1:30 PM at a Walmart parking lot. Headed East then North, got to Peck and took Peck road West to a big crop farm. This one is new to us, I volunteered Mike and I to do the follow up when I was talking to Eric Tuesday.
John Mathews had called early Tuesday morning told Erics girl he had a pair of coyotes raid his yard Sunday evening and nearly got the family yappy dog.

I had called in the morning and made sure John would be around when we got there to set up, who we were a picture of the whole group, where to park, property lines. And all that stuff, John proved to be a nice fellow big hands with big calluses. Loaded us in his pick up and drove use to see the south east and west lines road is to the north. One big sloth connected to the wood lot where he has a sugar shack and has a lot of maple trees taped and lines running back to the tank beside the sugar shack. Says the sap isn’t flowing very well yet but according to the weather guessers should be going boom next week.

Mike and I decided we would give it a try this afternoon since John said he had been driving back to the sugar shack regular checking things and taking the propane tank back there to hook up to the boiler.


We set up near the east line fence with the wind in our faces. Went with the piglet in distress sound and having two decoys set out. At about 22 minutes we saw our first coyote slinking thru some brush then back behind it about 25 yards was a second one. My zone so signed Mike should take the lead and I would take the trailing one. Worked like a charm Mike fires on my signal as I squeezed off the shot. We waited the full 30 minutes, went to pick up our equipment then check the coyotes. Mikes was a young female, mine was a old long in the tooth female. Wrapped them in plastic to drag back to the truck, as we were loading them John came out of his shop and said you guys don’t waste time do you.

After talking a bit more we left there thinking we could get in at least 4 more farms.

Next road north we took for 8 miles to a sheep farm Reggie White owner and a very nice fellow in his mid 60’s.
There is a big wood lot on the place about 100 acres they have sectioned off and log off. So some is really clean due to the sheep pasturing in there and some thick with new growth.
We set up and decide to use a mating call. That sound has to start working soon as it did tonight with 3 males showing up.
We got all three Mike got two.

Back at the truck continued north another 6 miles to another sheep farm. It is Reggie Whites brother Zack, they have a sloth on the place and a couple drainage ditches that converge on the place and where we have had the coyotes in the past come from. We again go with the female coyote mating sound for 30 minutes and saw nothing.

Leave there and make the swing back west again cross the county line and find the dairy farm we were going to hunt next. They use loafing pens and feed bunkers here. They have a large grassy swamp at the back of the property where we set up again decided not to go with the mating sound again but the piglet sound. At about 18 minutes a coyote come thru the grass toward the decoys. Mikes zone and Mike has another coyote.

We decide if we are quick we can drive 19 miles west and hunt another farm as it is just after 6:15 PM.
It is another dairy farm a large set up that uses feed bunks and loafing pens. Lots of automation here with inslage coming out of standing silos to be augered down trays into the feed bunks. There are two sons and one hired man who care for the cows and 4 woman who are the milking maids doing 6 hour shifts.

We work back in the fading light to an area of woods along a creek and a large marsh area where they pump water from to irrigate the summer fields of corn.
We decided to again go with the piglet in distress call. At 24 minutes I see a coyote in my zone and wait to see if one is trailing but don’t see one. The Swift jumped on the rest and a coyote was laying in the snow.

Get back to the truck and drive to Mikes truck. I told him I would skin the coyotes for him but he declined. As we were transferring them to his truck a guy stopped by seeing what we were doing and started taking to us about all the coyotes around his place. He is 18 miles north of the Walmart, owns 25 acres of woods and another 135 of crop lands he grows hay on for the horse people.
We made a date to check out the farm on Friday afternoon.

Note to self transfer dead critters in a less trafficked area than a 24 hour store parking lot.


Al