The "Almost" Perfect Coyote Hunt

Last weekend, Jason and I decided to head out for an afternoon coyote hunt. We packed up our Primos Power Dogg electronic caller and headed out. As we neared the area we where going to hunt we spotted two coyotes trotting across the middle of a small lake. Quickly checking the wind we parked the truck well ahead of the coyotes and grabbed our gear and hustled down to the lake shore. When we reached the shoreline the coyotes where about 600 yards out and heading straight for us!! I set the call up got my video camera ready and we loaded our guns, at this point the coyotes turned for no reason and started jogging across the lake away from us!! They where almost a ¼ mile away when I finally got the caller into action. I hit serenade but watching the coyotes through my binoculars I could see there was no reaction. They where getting further away by the second so I switched to female invitation and maxed the volume!! This sound is quite a bit higher pitched and the coyotes spun around and locked on our position! Within 10 seconds they both broke into a run straight towards us! I was struggling trying to get my gun ready for a shot and get the video rolling but somehow managed to get the coyotes on camera. At 200 yards I shut the caller off and as expected the coyotes kept right on a coming. When the lead coyote got to 80 yards he stopped and tried to find the source of the calling, his mate had hung up at about 140 yards and was looking really nervous, as the lead coyote was behind a tree limb I focused the camera on the furthest coyote and told Jason “I’ll take the close one on the left you take that one on the right, ok? Ok. Shoot em” and I pulled the trigger and watched my target hit the snow in a heap. However Jason wasn’t quite ready and his coyote took off on a dead run! After both of us emptied our guns on the streaking coyote with no success I spotted the first coyote limping away but by the time we reloaded he had managed to get over a ridge in the lake. To make a long story short Ishot low and broke a leg and the result was we had to hike about a ½ mile through deep snow to make a follow up shot and kill our coyote. The moral of this story is coyote calling is exciting but just because you get them to come in doesn’t mean it’s a done deal, but that makes it a challenge and that’s why I love it! Cheers to the wily coyote!!

A Coyote Hunting Video is in the making and I hope to have it up soon!!

Here is some pics

after a long hike in the bitter cold

The Primos Power Dogg Caller