Sometimes The First Time
Is A Charm Member Jeffrey Duckworth
just love to hunt. In my office I have a stack of photos of hero shots with me dressed in either camo or blaze orange, holding onto whatever animal I happened to have bagged. When a visitor who I know is a hunter stops in I often will find a reason to pull out the photos. When we come to the photos of me and a coyote or two, it seems to pique their interest. Quite often someone would tell me that they had never been coyote calling and would like to try it someday. I would courteously say that some day we would get together and go, knowing full well it wouldn’t happen.
In my circle of friends it is common knowledge that I
One day Todd, a friend, was in the office and that is exactly how our conversation went. Todd sells skid steer loaders along with all the attachments and other construction equipment. Having done business with Todd for a number of years, we have grown to be friends. Todd told me that the week before, while scouting for the upcoming deer season, he had seen a coyote one evening in a hayfield and that it would be a perfect place to go calling. He said he would like to take me out there to try and get that dog. I found myself telling him that we will have to give it a try, but really had no intention of doing so. I thought I needed to change my ways so I asked Todd how about this Thursday afternoon (it was Tuesday). He said, “You bet.” On Thursday afternoon we drove to the farm and walked to the hayfield where Todd wanted to set up. He pointed to a rock pile about 60 or so yards from the north edge of the field. He said the coyote came out of a large chunk of heavy cover that was to the west of the hayfield. There was stand- ing corn on the north side of the field and the wind was out of the southeast. He looked really disappointed when I told Todd that we couldn’t set up there as a coyote would remain in the corn, circle and catch our scent. The chance of seeing a coyote would be slim to none. I think I hurt his feelings a little bit but he understood the logic. Looking the field over, I noticed another rock pile about 50 yards from the south end of the field. I pointed to it and told Todd that is where we need to be. We hiked around to the rock pile and set up. It was a perfect spot. We sat against the rocks and brush looking west toward the heavy cover about 200 yards away. There was a rise in the field about 125 yards in front of us with the heavy cover beyond. Our scent was blow- ing down a little valley toward the northwest corner of the field and we could see downwind close to 300 yards. The rise between us and the cover was just off our scent line. Perfect! Todd is a good hunter, having taken a number of bucks with gun and bow, but I could tell when it came to coyotes he was rather green. He just didn’t have that “edge” that some
Page 146 Winter 2013
guys do. He did have a nice rifle, though. He was carrying a new Savage 22-250 with good glass and a Harris bipod. The local sport shop had set him up pretty well. I asked him where it shot, and with confidence and without hesitation he said it was dead on at 100 yards. His answer left no doubt that if he had a good shot he would connect.
We arrived a little early so while we were waiting for the sun to set behind the trees, a few deer worked out into the hayfield, feeding as they went along. A few does and a couple of scrub bucks. The deer eventually worked their way out of sight behind the rise in front of us. Just before I began to call, I told Todd to extend his bipod, put the gun to his shoulder and train it on the rise in the field, as that is where a coyote very likely would pop up. He did as I asked but I could tell he thought I was full of crap. I pulled out my Pee Wee Crit’R•Call and ripped off a half dozen low volume squeals, waited 15 or 20 seconds, and squealed some more. Within 30 seconds four of the deer came running out from behind the rise to our right, with a couple more coming out to our left. The deer stopped and intently looked back behind the high ground from where they had just come. I knew what that meant … we had a dog coming. I whispered to Todd to get ready. I was a little surprised when Todd lifted his binocular to watch the deer. I knew we had something coming and Todd should be ready. Sure enough, on top of the rise, as if it just dropped out of the sky, there stood a coyote looking dead at us. I hissed to Todd, “Right there.” Instead of slowly lowering his binocular, he jerked them down and popped his head up like a jack-in-the-box. I thought it was over. The coyote had to have seen all of that movement. Now I was lip squeaking for all I was worth, hoping to keep the dog from running away. The dog stood there glaring at us while Todd settled into his scope. I was still lip squeak- ing and thinking that in just another second or two this dog is done for. I waited, and waited … and waited some more. Then Todd’s whole body jerked slightly. Oops! Todd forgot to take off the safety. He reached up with his thumb and clicked it off, and once again settled into his scope. By now my gums are bleeding from all the lip squeaking I was doing. I figured it was over – there is just no way this dog is going to stick around any longer. Boy, I was wrong! Before Todd could shoot, the coyote began loping down the hill toward us. I just could not believe this. The coyote stopped again at about 75 yards, quartering slightly toward us. I knew this coyote was headed for the big gut pile in the sky. I slowly reached up with my right hand and plugged my right ear (Todd was sitting next to me on my right). Boom! Whop! The coyote went down like he was body slammed. I immediately began
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