Coyote Callin' 13 FEB 2021

 It was a cold, blustery day on 13 FEB here in central Indiana with snow covering everything.  Just such a day that coyotes would be out in search of food.  It was 17 F (-8 C) with a NE wind blowing at 12 mph.  So it felt like it was 4 F (-15 C).  Nice...

Michael, Alex, and I headed W from the farm toward the ditch in hopes of calling coyotes from the W and NW.  No such luck.  As we walked in, we jumped 2 coyotes that promptly ran NW, staying in-line of houses or the highway the entire time.  In other words, we had no shots.

We drove S on County Line, across the interstate, to another location.  'Twas a square woods that had produced 'yotes during the trapping season, but still had activity (sightings and tracks).  We called there to no effect.  However, we did see pheasant tracks.  That was exciting!

From there we drove over to Manson.  As we walked in, we again saw 2 coyotes running NW, away from us.  They were so far away and moving so fast that there was no shots regardless of what laid in the background.  We called anyway - to no one's surprise - to no avail.  There was an open culvert at this location.  And since there were no tracks going in or out, Michael and I decided to climb in for a photo op.  Why?  Because it was there.

We then hit the golf course.  We saw one deer and the blue jays indicated that we got something up and moving with our calls.  But alas, no coyotes there either.  I will say, though, that my eyelashes were gathering ice / freezing.  I had a face mask on, but the tears caused by the wind & cold froze into my eyelashes.  Only sane people would be out in search of song dogs on days such as these.  <-- That may be a typo...sane...

Here's what we figure.  The snow was so cold that it crunched under our weight.  The sound traveled far and wide giving up our position and intention.  We either need to figure out a sneakier method of travel or wait for the weather to help hide our footsteps.

Regardless, we had a great time.  The pictures tell the story...

Michael & me in the culvert.  Yes, it was a tight squeeze, but what a great hiding spot!

Pheasant tracks in the snow.

Michael sits on the golf course while he runs the electronic call.
Alex stands with my .300 Black Out AR15 on a tripod.

This is the sight down the gun barrel from my perspective.
I was using Michael's 6XC tucked into a Bog Pod for stability.
The call and the decoy are in the tree directly left of the gun's aim.
All we needed was for a 'yote to show up and we'd a' had 'im.


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