Coyote Hunting - Saturday 06 FEB

Got up before the sun on this fine crisp Saturday morning.  Alex and I picked up Krueger at 0715.  It was 24 degrees F with a slight 4 mph wind out of the S.  It was a clear morning, which means there was a heavy frost and the sound waves traveled really well on the air.

We drove to Marshall's S farm.  As we passed 600W, we saw 2 deer out eating in the twilight.  Then when we walked in, we saw 18 more on Marshall's farm.  Most were eating in the back swamp, but 6 were in the woods right next to where we set up.  We spooked them.  But we set up anyway, and before we could even start the call, we had a coyote out by the grain bin.  We all watched her for about an hour (Her?  Yes, I watched her pee.  Her for sure).  She would not come into the call.  We left for Marshall's N woods.

Sunrise on Marshall's S farm.  2/6/2016
Note the hard frost on the ground.


Look closely, There are two hunters in this photo somewhere.

We parked on Neal and walked N along the fence and sat on Marshall.  We called for a bit but saw nothing but crows and geese.

We drove to Tippecanoe Co. and called.  Nothing but crows.

We drove back to Thompson's and Bonds.  I sat up in a fence row next to an old stump.  Michael and Alex walked E to the fence that was south of Bond's.  They saw the deer coming - and laughed to themselves.  I was facing S and only heard "Thunder."  That thunder was 11 deer running up my backside.  Eight of them jumped the fence, almost landing on me.  The other 3 ran behind me, heading W.  I could have touched any of them with my gun.  What spooked them we wondered?  Coyotes was the unanimous answer.

We called it quits and headed to drop off Krueger.  And just N of Bond's were 3 coyotes.  Krueger got out and set up in the field.  He adjusted 2 mil dots up in elevation and fired.  And Missed.  And although we were 100% legal, that did not deter a LPD officer from stopping to find out what was going on.  He said a State Trooper lives here - to which I replied, I know, he's the one shooting right now.  We thanked him for checking and he drove on.

Krueger's shot was spot on, relative to height, but he missed 2 feet left (E) - the coyote was slowly walking W and the wind.  Krueger plugged 2 mil dots into his ballistics calculator and it spit out 420 yards.  That coyote was 420 yards away.

Finally, we had to drive back out to Neal's to pick up Alex's hat.  It got knocked off his head by a branch.  He didn't notice because he was also wearing a face mask.

You wanna know how difficult it is to find a camouflage hat in a fence row?  Ask Alex.  We did find it.

All in all it was a good morning:  31 deer, 4 coyotes, countless crows, and about 5 geese.  Plus we met a beautiful sun rise.  Winning!

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