doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com I hate coyotes- 2 barrels 2 triggers close enough?

So Saturday am I set up on a field edge�. Odd morning for sure. Shortly after setup I was confused by the sounds behind me. Low light still pre-tsun up, I see a partial black form in the brush 15 yards behind me� BEAR.

Nope. Cow. As daybreak moved in I see a second smaller black form laying past the next tree. Momma Cow still in the brush behind me. No particular sounds, I do a few clucks here and there. A Turkey left the roost pretty close but nothing, no notes, no gobbles. I am normally impatient and move to the sounds� but as there are none, I don�t have much better to do than sit.

I am on the field edge and have a dividing treeline over my left shoulder and another field behind that. Both corners often hold birds. The cow is moving around a bit, still has no idea I am there. She has moved out of the brush and is slowly feeding towards the field. The calf gets up and wobbles towards momma. She heads into the field and feeds directly towards me. Still unaware. The calf is really stuck at a log, unsure what to do. At exactly 7:00am I see two HUGE coyotes coming down the far edge of the field. They are following the perimeter about 200 yards out. They stop and two more come down the hill behind them. They seem to change direction and head into the woods possibly heading this way. Momma cow sees me at about 6 yards. She seems confused but not alarmed and heads back into the woods and gets the calf over the blow down. They both head up the hill to the herd.

I figure possible birth mess and a turkey could be tempting to the coyotes and cluck and purr and yelp. I got my second shell out of my pocket and remain in the brush ready for some visitors. I gave it an hour and nothing� no turkey sounds, either.

I decide to leave and stand up and turn to go look in the adjacent field corner� three steps and busted by two gobblers at 60-70 yards. Dang.



I walked the field edge and called a bit. Jump four deer form a little tree line and then found the calf skeleton the coyotes had been on in the field





I headed back Sunday, full turkey gear plus a rifle in tow. I set up on the treeline dividing the two fields. I turn the rifle scope to 9 and lean it against a tree. I am 40-50 yards further from the coyote spot and prime to catch a gobbler entering either field. Some definite coyote noises and yips at dawn and one very very distant, off property gobbler at dawn.

Nothing. I am content to sit. I have never scored a gobbler in the field to my right but have seen them and found them unresponsive to calls there later in the morning, numerous times.

At 7:20 3 soft clucks or putts 60 ish yard to my left possibly still in the tree. At 7:40 a lone hen in the field 100 yards to my right. At 7:50 I catch glimpse- of something coming down the far treeline to my left (same place the coyotes came from yesterday.) It appeared to be carrying something.

I grab the rifle and rush/ sneak out of the gully I am in as I cannot see the bottom of the field. I am standing in the corner, waiting for whatever was coming down the hill to clear an island of trees. I am doing a mental double take, was it a deer? Did I take too long to get out? I have my arm wrapped in the sling military style and am standing offhand� I put the rifle down at least twice, in what seemed quite long� Finally, unmistakably, a coyote carrying something comes into view at a full trot. I put it in the scope, and having previously planned my sight hold, I leveled off and squeezed. It crashed down in its tracks and rolled over the edge out sight for all but one leg kicking in the air. I chambered another round and waited. Some squealing followed and the only thing sweeter would have been a two-fer. But nothing appeared.


I crossed the field slowly, stopping at the first break in terrain and sitting for a minute in case another came. I am going to borrow a range finder and check it someday. But 200-220 seem about right� hands down the best shot I think I�ve ever made.

By the way it had a calf�s leg in it's mouth.



I don�t know how many mornings those 4 would cross there together (or singularly,) or how many mornings I have the time to sit there but I have a real disdain for the varmints and hope to give it another go or two. I told the farmer about the calf yesterday and showed them the coyote today. My permission for access has elevated from �cross their fields to hunt a neighbor�s property� To come hunt coyotes anytime.
Unfortunately I have to be at work for the foreseeable future.

I also found a small 8 point shed antler.
46 pound female
ULA Model 20 in 250-3000 Ackley Improved.

Well, Mark, I love stories with lots of photos, and yours is a dandy. Thank you.

The loss of that calf is a significant loss to the farmer. Don�t know if it was stillborn which it might have been. Stan likes Coyotes because they eat a lot of small deer. Deer are another major source of crop damage and hence income loss so I understand his view. So in one area coyotes can be tolerated and another reduced as much as possible. I have not seen any on my little farms near where I live but know they are in the area and so far none are back East on those farms but in time they will be there as well.

Adaptable is one word for them. Wolves would not tolerate coyotes who won�t tolerate red foxes who won�t tolerate silver foxes. That�s what the Ohio DNR says these days. But who wants wolves brought back into areas they have not been in a century? I know, people who don�t live there and people who won�t loose any animals when wolves act like wolves.

You don�t want wolves. Trust me on that.

Nice story, Mark.Good work.

Best,
Ted

Our MI DNR idiots want to spend the licensing $ that fund their way large salaries to transplant a MN wolf population to Isle Royale, in Lake Superior- why? Because the resident Moose population there is destroying all the marshland vegetation found on that remote island, and wolves enjoy a nice moose dinner whenever they can kill a cow -and her young-- predators are predators- to use them to control a game animal species that may have over-populated an area is insane. Open up the hunting regs. on moose is one possible answer.

We don't encounter moose in this part of MI-- some elk reside in the Pigeon River forest tract up near Vanderbilt- but we do get coyotes- My favorite coyote "medicine" is a 55 grain Hornady ballistic tip from my scoped SAKO L59 BA in .243Win-- put one of those in a coyote's boiler room- devastation to the 9th degree-

For wolves or Black Bear-- either of my scoped pre-War M70's, 30-06 or .300 H&H-- 180 grain Core-Lokt-- I wish they offered a bounty on coyotes here- they invade the suburbs and kill domestic pets- and they seem to get bolder (until hunters start to get busy putting an end to their bad habits.. RWTF

I thought there were already wolf out on Isle Royale? It would be a tough hunt, but something else if they tried a little science and offered a few moose tags out there. Great memories of a some really good fishing. On a side note, coyotes might adjust some, but they're more than around in wolf territory. Maybe if they get pushed off bigger prey, upland nests and birds get more pressure.

edit to add, I liked the story too Mark

I will take coyotes all day long and twice on Sunday. I like my upland bird and waterfowl hunting too much not to.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/3809108?seq=1/analyze

A shooting friend in Kentucky tells me that black vultures kill calves of at least 80 lbs. Not every dead calf is a coyote kill.

Agree with Brent. When the coyotes recovered from the poisoning campaigns, numbers of striped skunk, racoons, and red fox went down and, in conjunction with lots of CRP fields, we began to see more duck and upland game broods. Skunks were the worst in the uplands and racoons got the over-water nesters like Canvasbacks, Coots, and Ruddy Ducks. Red fox now seem mostly restricted to the heaviest cover, especially around farms and the edges of towns and the larger, now cattail-choked abominations we used to call prairie wetlands. Hunters keep coyote numbers down to where we still have enough white-tailed deer and cattle raisers lose few calves as few are born out on the open range any longer.

Coyotes are about the best friend a rancher and quail hunter has. That is, in reasonable numbers. Studies have shown coyotes to be of minimum threat to quail and they prey on other creatures that are death on quail. Such as coons, snakes, skunks, possums, mice, and feral hogs (who might be the worst). Growing up on a West Texas ranch I was taught to kill all coyotes, regardless. And I shot them, trapped them, and poisoned them. But the years passed and research and common sense prevailed. I no longer kill coyotes but consider them a very valuable partner preserving our wild quail. Besides I can�t imagine a west without packs of coyotes howling at night�it�s right up there with the bugle of a bull elk ....wild and beautiful!

Last Years Coyote hunt...Second Day