Construction Coyotes Member Robert M. Walshaw
ll summer construction equipment had roared over my favorite northeast Oklahoma hunting spot, an overgrown farm between two oak studded ridges where I had hunted deer for more than ten years. Trees were bulldozed and burned and roads were laid out for a housing development. Housing construction did not begin immedi- ately and by December all was quiet. I continued to hike in the area and although deer tracks were few there was coyote scat on every new road. I was working in the hunting department at a large outdoor prod- ucts store and I had been amazed by the number and variety of mouth and electronic predator calls that were being sold, in addition to motion and even life-size decoys. To find out more about this, I spent a weekend with a predator caller friend who re- moves coyotes from sheep and cattle ranches and also does some wildlife filming.
A
He showed me how to set up a calling stand, and emphasized the importance of getting to the stand quietly, the need to have the wind in your face and using good camouflage techniques. He also demonstrated a number of calling methods as well as letting me know that I would be up against a very smart animal. When I saw him call in and shoot a coyote, I was hooked. Other hunting seasons are short, but you can hunt coyotes all year in Oklahoma.
I spent the next week scouting and selected four calling sites so that I would have choices, depending on wind direction. I purchased an elec- tronic caller with a remote speaker that would emit rabbit and rodent distress calls, as well as a number of other sounds, and added a battery operated bird decoy, a mouth call and a mouse squeaker. Several evening howling sessions told me that I would be dealing with at least two separate packs of coyotes. Early morning and late afternoons usually are best for calling, although coyotes can be called
at any time, especially in cold weather when food is scarce. Night calling also can be very successful but it is illegal here without a special permit. Three of the calling sites that I selected were where shots would be less than 50 yards so I planned to use my full choked 12 gauge semiauto shotgun with No. 2 shot. I would have preferred to use 00 buckshot but this is illegal for all wildlife in Oklahoma. The remaining site overlooked an open area and I planned to use my deer rifle with flat shooting ammu- nition. Fur prices were so low that saving fur was not a consideration. Late one afternoon I slipped quietly into one of the shotgun stands and set up with a light breeze in my face. I wore camouflage clothing, sat against a tree to break up my outline and wore a face mask. I sat for 10 minutes and then used the mouse squeaker several times. This is impor- tant as coyotes may be close enough to hear it and may respond to it from as far as 200 yards away. Going im- mediately to a full call mode may spook those close-in animals. A few minutes later I powered
up the bird decoy and turned on the rabbit squeals at a low volume. As I was told to expect, crows and a red- tailed hawk showed up first. Then I heard them coming, two yearling coyotes that raced each other to sniff at my remote call. Their noses were inches apart and the shot of a lifetime put them both down. Neither moved more than 10 feet from the speaker. Even in my excitement I remembered my mentor’s advice to keep calling af- ter a shot as occasionally another ani- mal will come in. I found out later that several shotgun pellets had hit my call but it never stopped working. Shot marks on the casing are a reminder of that special day. I kept the rabbit calls going for another 10 minutes and then switched to rodent distress calls. Although I did not hear her come in, a few minutes later the alpha female made the mistake of peering around a clump of honeysuckle.
What a day! Three coyotes on
my solo calling hunt! It took two trips to bring them and my equip- ment home, but walking on air made that easy. I will be a predator hunter for the rest of my life. My trapping friend who, with tongue in cheek, had agreed to take any coyotes that I shot was incredulous. He actually looked for signs of road kill, and didn’t be- lieve the "two for one" shot until he saw the similar shot patterns when he skinned the two young coyotes. I now believed that I was an expert predator hunter, but I soon found out how wrong I was. Those coyotes had not been hunted before, and my first experience, no matter how successful, was certainly not a typical one. With the same equipment and approach, I came up empty on my next three hunts. I reviewed what I was doing, moved into calling sites earlier and later, used other calls in addition to the rabbit and rodent distress calls and began to have some success. I called in a gray fox and two more coyotes in the next two weeks, one on my rifle stand which I shot at nearly 200 yards.
Another highlight of my first predator calling year came on the last day of bobcat season. I had worked late the previous evening and got up short of sleep for an early morning hunt. After setting up and turning on the call I promptly fell asleep in my stand. I woke up to see a large tom bobcat staring at the speaker from a few feet away. As I slowly raised my shotgun from my lap he hunkered down as a cat often will instead of dashing away as a coyote would have done. This really made a believer of my trapping friend.
Houses are now being built in that development, and I have moved on to call and hunt in other areas as has happened in the name of progress to many other hunters. I hope there always will be places left for those of us who wish to trap, fish and hunt.
www.varminthunter.org Page 133
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196