My brother and me participated in the 2013 Great Plains Coyote Hunt in Minco, OK. We have participated in several coyote hunts in the past several years with surprising success. Last year we placed 3rd in this Contest with 3 coyotes. This year we wanted to improve our results from last year, but we knew the challange was going to be tough.
First thing that morning as I went to my brother's house at 6:00, he said he wanted to have 4 coyotes by noon. I laughed as we always seem to set the lofy goals, but really 4 by noon could be done, if we did it right. As we headed to our ranch for the opening set, we almost ran over a coyote as he ran across the road in front of us! We thought that was funny but at the same time it wasn't really a good sign. If they already up moving, it probably meant they had been moving all night because it was a full moon and they were just now going back to bed down for the morning.
Our fist set we postioned by a bale yard we use to feed our cattle. It can be an easy meal for coyotes and bobcats hunting for mice or birds amongst the bales. We turned the call on to our favorite tune and began to wait. About 5 minutes in my brother nudge me and a lone coyote was making its way towards the call. We were sitting back to back, the coyote off to my right going behind me to my brother's left. I told him to shoot because he had the better angle, when in actuality my fingers were too damn cold to pull the trigger. He waited until she came as close as she was going to, she either smelled our vehicle or where we had walked and stopped, looked directly at the call then directly at us. My brother squeezed the trigger and she went down with a thud.
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After the opening stand success, we thought we were gearing up for a great day. We continued to call different draws and creeks on our ranch. Dry set after dry set. We ended up leaving our ranch with only one coyote, which is a damn shame because it is some outstanding ground and we know there are coyotes there, they just weren't responding. We headed to a couple more spots with no success and we decided to try our 'honey hole' as we call it. Its a deep creek on the backside from a wheat field right next to some railroad tracks. There's a pond about 300 yards to the south, so they have cover and water. We've called several coyotes in there before but the last two times we've tried it we came up empty handed. There's kind of an open bowl in the middle of the creek so I got in the bottom with the shotgun and the call, placed the call about 10 yards away and I backed into a cedar tree to hide. My brother stayed up top so he could see everything and also down both edges of the creek and wheat field in case one circled around. Turned on the call and about two minutes in I hear a crash coming from my 1 o'clock, I go to get on it when my brother shoots, coyotes start running everywhere. They ran from my right to left and I picked one out and shot, they were about 25 yards out and my first shot missed. I quickly shot again and knocked one down in some weeds, he started to get back up and run so I shot and hit it again. My shotgun was empty so I grabbed a shell from my pocket and dropped it in the port and closed the bolt. As I walked up to where the coyote was, he was dead right there. The coyote my brother shot was still running and we never found it. He said there was three that came in. We got one.
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Made another set behind my brother's house in a stand of trees. He has a blue heeler and says she barks all night and he's seen coyotes coming up to the house, so we know they're there. We setup along a fence row by a stand of trees and turned the call on. Three coyotes came running towards the trees, one stopped on a terrace in a wheat field, I settled my cross hairs on it and my brother said "let him have it". I shot and the coyote dropped in an explosion of fur. Another took off running and we continued to shoot. We were all over it but couldn't connect. The one I shot was 240 yards away. My face is red from draggin him so far through our muddy wheat field. He was also our heaviest coyote at 37.4 pounds.
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It was almost 11:00 o'clock so we knew we would have to hurry to get our 4 coyotes by noon. We headed to a 2 mile dead section, meaning its two miles without any county roads running through it. We setup in the middle on a pond dam with the call behind us. About 7 minutes into the set I hear my brother move and I glance over to see a coyote jumping off the pond dam we are sitting on and start runnning away. My brother mad a 50 yard running shot, hitting it in the neck, and putting it down. The coyote had ran up on the pond dam to my brother's left and was going to walk across the dam to get to the call, we just so happen to be in his way. It was 11:15 and we had 4 coyotes.
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We continued to make a lot more stands all coming up dry. We decided to try another pond dam. The pond was across a wheat field away from a county road with a creek running along the backside of it. We put the call on the side of the pond away from the creek and setup so we could spy the pond dam and down the creek. About 4 minutes in a coyote runs up on top of the pond dam, it would have been a perfect shot but the pond dam was covered in willow trees. From my brother's angle I didn't think he had a clear shot, and he didn't. So it was up to me. Luckily the spot she stopped was just about as perfect as it could be, I had a decently clear shot. I turned to my right as far as I could and she looked at my brother, she was about to bolt. I put the crosshairs in the middle of her body and squeezed. She went down immediately.
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That would be that last coyote we shot at, and we only saw one more the rest of the day.
We ended up with 5 coyotes to check in and placed 3rd in the 2013 Great Plains Coyote Hunt in Minco, OK. It was one of my funnest hunts even though we didn't have the success we had in the past. Our shooting percentage was was the best we've ever had.
First thing that morning as I went to my brother's house at 6:00, he said he wanted to have 4 coyotes by noon. I laughed as we always seem to set the lofy goals, but really 4 by noon could be done, if we did it right. As we headed to our ranch for the opening set, we almost ran over a coyote as he ran across the road in front of us! We thought that was funny but at the same time it wasn't really a good sign. If they already up moving, it probably meant they had been moving all night because it was a full moon and they were just now going back to bed down for the morning.
Our fist set we postioned by a bale yard we use to feed our cattle. It can be an easy meal for coyotes and bobcats hunting for mice or birds amongst the bales. We turned the call on to our favorite tune and began to wait. About 5 minutes in my brother nudge me and a lone coyote was making its way towards the call. We were sitting back to back, the coyote off to my right going behind me to my brother's left. I told him to shoot because he had the better angle, when in actuality my fingers were too damn cold to pull the trigger. He waited until she came as close as she was going to, she either smelled our vehicle or where we had walked and stopped, looked directly at the call then directly at us. My brother squeezed the trigger and she went down with a thud.
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After the opening stand success, we thought we were gearing up for a great day. We continued to call different draws and creeks on our ranch. Dry set after dry set. We ended up leaving our ranch with only one coyote, which is a damn shame because it is some outstanding ground and we know there are coyotes there, they just weren't responding. We headed to a couple more spots with no success and we decided to try our 'honey hole' as we call it. Its a deep creek on the backside from a wheat field right next to some railroad tracks. There's a pond about 300 yards to the south, so they have cover and water. We've called several coyotes in there before but the last two times we've tried it we came up empty handed. There's kind of an open bowl in the middle of the creek so I got in the bottom with the shotgun and the call, placed the call about 10 yards away and I backed into a cedar tree to hide. My brother stayed up top so he could see everything and also down both edges of the creek and wheat field in case one circled around. Turned on the call and about two minutes in I hear a crash coming from my 1 o'clock, I go to get on it when my brother shoots, coyotes start running everywhere. They ran from my right to left and I picked one out and shot, they were about 25 yards out and my first shot missed. I quickly shot again and knocked one down in some weeds, he started to get back up and run so I shot and hit it again. My shotgun was empty so I grabbed a shell from my pocket and dropped it in the port and closed the bolt. As I walked up to where the coyote was, he was dead right there. The coyote my brother shot was still running and we never found it. He said there was three that came in. We got one.
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Made another set behind my brother's house in a stand of trees. He has a blue heeler and says she barks all night and he's seen coyotes coming up to the house, so we know they're there. We setup along a fence row by a stand of trees and turned the call on. Three coyotes came running towards the trees, one stopped on a terrace in a wheat field, I settled my cross hairs on it and my brother said "let him have it". I shot and the coyote dropped in an explosion of fur. Another took off running and we continued to shoot. We were all over it but couldn't connect. The one I shot was 240 yards away. My face is red from draggin him so far through our muddy wheat field. He was also our heaviest coyote at 37.4 pounds.
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It was almost 11:00 o'clock so we knew we would have to hurry to get our 4 coyotes by noon. We headed to a 2 mile dead section, meaning its two miles without any county roads running through it. We setup in the middle on a pond dam with the call behind us. About 7 minutes into the set I hear my brother move and I glance over to see a coyote jumping off the pond dam we are sitting on and start runnning away. My brother mad a 50 yard running shot, hitting it in the neck, and putting it down. The coyote had ran up on the pond dam to my brother's left and was going to walk across the dam to get to the call, we just so happen to be in his way. It was 11:15 and we had 4 coyotes.
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We continued to make a lot more stands all coming up dry. We decided to try another pond dam. The pond was across a wheat field away from a county road with a creek running along the backside of it. We put the call on the side of the pond away from the creek and setup so we could spy the pond dam and down the creek. About 4 minutes in a coyote runs up on top of the pond dam, it would have been a perfect shot but the pond dam was covered in willow trees. From my brother's angle I didn't think he had a clear shot, and he didn't. So it was up to me. Luckily the spot she stopped was just about as perfect as it could be, I had a decently clear shot. I turned to my right as far as I could and she looked at my brother, she was about to bolt. I put the crosshairs in the middle of her body and squeezed. She went down immediately.
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That would be that last coyote we shot at, and we only saw one more the rest of the day.
We ended up with 5 coyotes to check in and placed 3rd in the 2013 Great Plains Coyote Hunt in Minco, OK. It was one of my funnest hunts even though we didn't have the success we had in the past. Our shooting percentage was was the best we've ever had.
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