FROM THE FRONT STEPS Member Randy Roede
These coyotes were taken from the front steps of this abandoned house.
covered South Dakota prairie this frigid February morning. A light breeze out of the west was responsible for keeping the temperatures down into the single digits. Our winter has been long and hard this year! Coyotes were my target for the
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day. Three had been spotted regularly visiting a pasture holding about 200 head of Black Angus heifers. The heifers were just starting to drop their calves and the rancher was concerned for the newborns’ safety. After a phone con- versation the night before he agreed to put off his morning chores until I had a chance to get a shot at these coyotes. The east edge of the pasture is
bordered by one of the few highways we have in the western half of South Dakota and this is where I was going to have to enter. As I pulled off the highway and unfastened the gate I gazed south across the pasture to a hayfi eld about a mile from my location. I noticed two objects that appeared out of place to the naked eye. I grabbed my Leupold binocular and searched the horizon for those same two spots. Carefully I focused in on them and like magic they turned into
he morning sun had just started to light up the snow-
Randy Roede is employed by South Dakota's Game, Fish & Parks and spends much of the winter hunting coyotes.
two thick furred coyotes. Scanning for number three, I spotted him a mere 100 yards behind the fi rst two … following as if they were all tied together on a string. All were coming in a line directly toward the pasture. I still was about a mile from the
cattle so I hurried to come up with a plan of attack. First, how’s the wind … still from the west and the coyotes are to my southwest. Where can I hide my truck? As you enter the pasture an abandoned building site stands right off the highway. A house, barn, and a metal building are all that’s left of the old homestead. This is where I will make my stand. I pulled the truck and trailer holding the snowmobile behind a row of big round bales. I grabbed my Nat Gear Snow
Camo and rushed to get the bibs and parka on. Next, I reached for my caller, the Mighty Atom and remote from Wildlife Technologies. My Remington 700 BDL 22-250 found its home on my shoulder, loaded with HSM 52-grain A-Max bullets. I’m almost ready … a hat, gloves, and a pair of Sharp Products shooting sticks and I was off. A quick scan of the area where the coyotes were revealed nothing. They
must be moving my way. I headed through the thigh high snow by the old house and toward the falling down barn. The woodpile between the two was chosen for the location of my caller. This would elevate the caller about two feet off the ground, pointing in the direc- tion the coyotes should be approaching from. I then scrambled to fi nd a place I could sit and still be able to see the coyotes. I need some elevation and the steps of the old house just might work. As I reached them and got settled, my plan starts to falls into place! The draw holding the coyotes
leads directly up to the barn, so if all goes well they should come right up into the building site. I carefully pushed the buttons on the remote to send a soft series of rabbit distress calls across the prairie. Immediately after the fi rst series is fi nished echoing across the prairie I spotted two coyotes coming in hard toward me. Showing no fear, they were headed directly for the old homestead, and tracks in the snow revealed they had been there many times before. Where was number three? There he is, 200 yards behind the fi rst two, reluctant to get too close. In another blink of the eye the fi rst two coyotes came bounding
www.varminthunter.org Page 137
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