My Coyote hunting partner called me up yesterday afternoon and wanted to do a little calling early this morning. We both had to be back to town by noon so we set out just before day break. Our first stand did not produce any coyotes, but we did manage to call in around a dozen does and fawns. Our second stand did not produce, so we decided to try an area a few miles down the road where I have had success in the past. We setup on the edge of a sage flat that is about a half mile wide and around a mile long. He set up the Foxpro about 100 yards in front of us and began to call. I got the range finders out and shot several bushes, the open country can be tricky and dogs can appear closer than they are. I was scanning the tree line about 800 yards out and saw some movement during the first round of calls. Here was the scenery in front of our stand.



The coyote showed up and came about 100 yards into the flat the sat down sat down. My buddy gave a short rabbit squeal and the dog was on the run right at us. She ran about 200 yards and sat down and scanned the area. A quick jack rabbit squeal and she was on the move toward us again. At about 200 yards out the dog made a hard left turn and started circling down wind. She went into this tree line and I watched her go behind us. Thinking we may be busted I worked around so if she showed her self again I may have a shot. Well lo and behold she came back and stopped about 20 yards into this tree line to my right that I ranged earlier for 100 yards.



Late last night I had lashed together a couple arrows to make some poor mans shooting sticks. I quickly learned using field points was a BAD idea. The sun hit the dog and she glowed in my scope...just perfect. I put the cross hairs behind the shoulder and the sticks began sinking into the ground about three inches...dammit now I don't have a good shot. I quickly picked the sticks out of the ground and laid them on my legs. I steadied the cross hairs on the dog again and squeezed off a round. The the V-Max found it's mark!! She spun half way around and flopped...done.






She was a rather small dog and was dry(no signs of a litter). She did have a pretty reddish coat and did not look bad for this time of year. The bullet made a .30 caliber sized hole on the near side and did not exit...very nice.

This is one of the coolest calling experiences I have had thus far. Seeing the dog at a half mile away and watching her come in across the flat...just magic. This is one morning I won't soon forget.

Oh and I forgot, we found a dumb one last weekend too.

Great pics and story,congrats on the dog.What cal are you throwing at them?

We were using a Foxpro this weekend and had the best success the past few weeks with a jack rabbit in distress. We haven't gotten a response with the pup in distress yet this year. The rabbit in distress will call dear in as well. Our first stand was silly with the ammount of deer were comming in.

Sorry,I caught the call.I was curious to what caliber.

No worries. I was shooting a Savage 12FV in .223. The gun is a little long and a bit cumbersome in the woods with a 26" heavy bull barrell, but is an absolute tackdriver!

The dog in the last pic was shot at 50 yards with a .17 Fireball. Tiny entrance and no exit either.

Cool,thanks for the info.

Nice story and pics

Right on! thanx for the pics and story Nice hunting area to. BTW did you use a decoy?

We did not use a decoy in this case. We found it can be difficult to stop the dog in the open areas like this when they are keyed into the decoy. On the other hand if we had used one I don't feel the dog would have circled around us as much as she did.