same position Jim had used to make the shot. A smile comes to his face as he speaks. “A strand of fence wire is cut.” Jim hit the center strand of three wires, preventing him from making the kill. What are the odds of that? Our next stand was one of the few
where we did not see a coyote. It prob- ably was the way we hunted it and not that there wasn’t a coyote around. The wind wasn’t quite right but, given the property line and terrain, we chose to make a stand. We were about half a mile from where Jim had cut wire. Another half mile into the wind
This stack of rocks is a boundary marker common to the area. He set the FoxPro on top of the marker and this coyote came in from the left, responding to coyote puppy screams.
the setup is complete there is a gunshot from Jim’s direction. Jim is a very ca- pable shot and we may have a coyote. I continue to set up when another shot is heard. Enough is enough and gear starts going back into the backpack. Jim and Jeff gather around. We have some questions for Jim. Jim was approaching his stand looking down a power line. As he got
into position he saw coyotes crossing back and forth ... fi ve coyotes including a very dark, almost black one. (More on the black coyote later.) He has a good shot at the fi rst one and can’t understand why he missed it. The second shot was a 350-yarder. Jim saw the bullet hit snow just low of the vitals. As a group we go over to inves- tigate Jim’s miss. Jeff sits down in the
and we found a honey hole. The bound- ary turned into an east-west fence going up the side of a hill. Jim agreed to take a position at the bottom of the fence. He was watching a valley and had a spectacular view of the other side. I sat midway up the hill and Jeff sat about 200 yards west of me. According to our aerial map Jeff will watch a two-track. It is a great place to intercept incoming coyotes. All was in place as I played the
coyote puppy scream. Seven to eight minutes into it I hear a shot from Jeff’s direction. The FoxPro continued playing for the full 25 minutes before calling it enough. Jim comes up the hill with a huge smile on his face. After Jeff shot, a coyote came from in front of me and down the hill right to him, stopping only for a moment right behind a tree. (You know it.) When the coyote decided to go it was in afterburner mode and Jim had no chance for a shot. On top of the hill we fi nd Jeff. He saw two coyotes coming from the west and took a quick shot as they crossed the two-track. A bullet trail through the snow showed he had been very close – but no blood. We were fairly close to the lodge
at this point and headed in for a quick bite. From here we would hunt straight back along a north property line. The wind wasn’t perfect but at the back of the property we can get the wind in our face. Coyotes were sighted but they used the roll in the land to evade us. We know the setup wasn’t perfect but the country screamed coyotes. The next stand was perfect. We
This bobcat track in the snow is compared to a .243 cartridge at left, which is 2.67" long. Ranchers said big 'cats have been seen in the area.
Page 162 October — December 2011
had a valley below and the wind blow- ing right to left. This time Jim took the caller. Jeff stayed at the property line while Jim moved 200 yards into the
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