With a blizzard blowing in this afternoon, I decided to try some coyote hunting this morning. I thought the approaching front might be encouraging animals to be looking for some food. Anyway, I hunted this particular property for the first time this morning. I walked up a fence line from the road to the woodlot, then picked a tree to sit up against. I had a panoramic view of my downwind side (to my left), as well as a good view straight ahead for at least 150 yards. I started blowing on my rabbitt distress call and this coyote popped out of the woodlot into the field about 100 yards in front of me. It was less than 10 seconds from when I first blew on the call, to when I saw this thing. My gun was still in my lap. After surveying the situation for a few seconds, it turned and walked back into the woods. This time I got my gun up on my knees before I called. I only blew into the call twice and it popped right back out where I saw it the first time. Then it trotted towards me for a few seconds and sat down, facing me head on. I put the crosshairs right on it's chest, and my .243 dropped it in it's tracks.
I was pretty pumped up until I approached the varmint and realized it had some issues. Looks like it had some sort of mange. Some clumps of hair missing here and there, as well as the 1/2 bald face. What an ugly critter! At least it's dead now...
I've been surprised how easy it is to get permission to hunt coyotes. I spent last Saturday talking to landowners and I've now got 5 properties to hunt. Only one land owner didn't want any hunting on their land. I'm hoping to shoot at least a couple coyotes with nice coats, so I can tan their hides and use them to make something-or maybe just hang one on the wall.
