Finally killed Wiley-Coyote

With the lack of ice here in the northern most parts of IL, I decided the only logical thing to do was go try to put some fur down.
Well, today for the first time it finally all came together. Walking in to sit in a fencerow, looked out into the fields and probably 350-400 yards out there he was just walking along, so instantly I just stopped next to a fencepost and started calling. He headed my way and when he hit the magical 100yd mark I let loose with the ole H&R Handi Rifle, not sure if I connected on the first two shots at 100yd and then 55-60yds running, yes he started running towards me after the first shot. Then at about 30 yds as he kept coming towards me I rolled him. I was pretty amazed how fast the whole things happened and I think it spoiled me cause it won’t always be that easy, but for the first one I have actually killed solo I’ll take it.

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You’ll never forget that first time.

AWESOME!!!!

Perfect way to end your semester and a little stress relief from finals! Congrats

Awesome story. Congrats. Of course, you realize now that the ONLY thing you’ll want to do is to get out there again and bag #2?

Take ’em any way you can get them. They don’t ask how, they just ask how many.

The best part of your story–this part really made me smile–was the fact that you managed to get off three shots. With a Handi-Rifle! I’m seriously impressed. Not only have you bagged your first coyote, but you may have set a Handi-Rifle rapid fire world record in the process.

Congrats!

Grouse

I was debating before going on whether to take the H&R in .223 or the Marlin Bolt-Action .22 Mag, which I know is on target at 100yd and would do the trick with a head shot, but since I connected with the H&R I don’t think I’ll be carrying anything else unless its the .12 gauge.

It charged you? You’re gonna need to carry a sidearm! Lol

Coyote hunting/calling is a disease. A word to the wise, don’t tell any of your hunting buddies about your coyote experience or pretty soon everyone with a call and a rifle will be educating the dogs. A good definition of a coyote is 4 legs holding up an empty stomach and a bushy tail. On occasion you will have multiple dogs come to the call…you might want to think of a rifle that fires multiple times with out having to reload after each shot.

NICE WORK!!! Congrats!

Hey, since most of you that have replied have some experience in predator hunting, how far do you guys actually move between sets? All the properties that I have permission to hunt are easily within a couple miles of each other. Some where I remember hearing a 1/4mile between sets is enough, but I also know that everybody has a different opinion on these things, and I was wondering if any of you have had a situation or hypothetically moved say about 1000yds and been able to reach a coyote from the new site you were unable to reach before? Wanting to make the most sets out of the properties.

Look at quality sets over number of sets. Location is everything.
it’s not a matter of how far to move away from where you previously called. The key is understanding a packs range and the natural barrier that divide a packs territory. I’ve seen coyotes range as little as a few hundred acres and others in square miles. I like getting out at night and listen for them to crank up the music. Listening to them and understanding how many packs you have and density will in part determine the amount of area for to cover

I’d add just one thing to the points Randy and Nicholas make above.

I hunt an area that has mostly cattle ranching and dairy farming and nobody who raises cattle likes coyotes. The problem this produces is that coyotes in my area learn real fast that if they get caught out in the open, they get shot at. They already have a level of wariness that is very high.

I’m trying very hard NOT to educate the coyotes in the area any further or to do things that make them even more skittish. So I’m being VERY careful about overcalling in a given area or overlapping so that coyotes potentially hear a call from one place and suddenly they’re hearing another wounded animal calling from 400 yards in the other direction.

Just my opinion, but anything that makes a coyote think “What the…” and potentially arouses their suspicion is a BAD thing. A suspicious coyote is a wary coyote and if you make a coyote even more wary than they already are in my area, that’s doubling down on an already tough situation.

So what that means as far as distance between stands is that sometimes I’m willing to make stands a few hundred yards apart. And sometimes I skip good stands entirely because, let’s say it happens to be very calm day where I think the sound will carry farther than normal and overlap with another stand. So I won’t call from that overlapping stand on that day because of the risk of it seeming suspicious to the coyote.

But on a windy day with lots of “cover” noise, I might call two stands that are only 200-300 yards apart.

The thing, IMO, is just to think about how far can a coyote hear on a given day and plan your stands accordingly. Also, the situation that I want to create as often as possible is that the coyote hears the call, it sounds like free lunch, so they come running in and get whacked. Dead coyotes don’t get any smarter, so I’m trying to call to a given area as little as possible before Mr. Coyote comes out and gets wacked.

Grouse

Solution to grouse’s concern. Mix your calls up. Don’t do the same ones every time in a singles area.

I do mix up my calls, Randy, but I’m still concerned that after a coyote is hearing things that sound like either wounded food waiting to be eaten or other coyotes saying, “I’m in your territory, come and get me!”, a coyote could well start to suspect that something’s up.

At the end of the day, there isn’t much to mix up. Either it’s a food call or a call from another coyote. Everything else is just a variation of these two themes and I’m trying to avoid having the coyotes identify the themes and get suspicious.

Gouse