Mustang
12-12-2009, 09:23 PM
As most of you know my trip to Arizona has been extended due to unforeseen circumstances. I'm fortunate to have a great wife who wanted to stick around the house this morning and didn't mind if I went hunting.
There's a gentleman that I met from another forum that I've been hunting with (Alan) and he knows the area pretty well. We've been on 3 trips and hadn't called anything in so we've been pretty discouraged. Could be that a front just passed through, full moon who knows. Today the drought broke.
For gear I mix it up a little and bring my wife's CZ 527 M1 American 223 with a 3-piece Beartooth Products gun & scope cover in Mossy Oak Brush, FoxPro Fury, Mossy Oak Brush outfit and a Dan Thompson PC-2 Cottontail in distress call for backup. Ammo: 42 gr Calhoun hollow points. Alan was shooting a Savage 22-250 (I forget which model).
Second Stand of the morning:
Time of Day: 0800
Temp: 55 Deg
Wx: little to no wind
Time on set: 6 min
Distance of shot: 75 yards
Location: overlooking a small flat with a draw on the back side
I start off with some light snowshoe in distress for about 30 seconds then waited for 2 minutes. When I turn it back on I turn it up a couple of "notches" and let it run for 10 seconds then wait another 2 minutes. This time when I turn it on the volume is at about "half" and with no wind there is a decent echo and I let it run for another 10 seconds. During this 'wait' I see a coyote pop up out of the draw and head straight for me. He stops at 75 yards and I shoot him. Didn't make the best shot and ended up shooting him too far behind the shoulder. He hopped around for about 15 seconds then runs off in a draw. Right after I shoot I hear two coyotes, one of which is a distinct male challenge howl across the draw so I immediately switch to my male challenge howl on the FoxPro and then the talking begins. After a few minutes of this I switch to a fawn bawl and 2 minutes later I see him at the edge of the flat about 350 yards away just standing there howling and yipping. I try an assortment of howls and barks followed by the fawn bawl but he wasn't buying what I was selling and ran back into the draw. Me and Alan call it after a few more minutes. The first thing we look for is the locatation the coyote was standing when I shot him and sure enough we find it. Huge pile of blood and a blood trail running towards that draw. We search for a good 15 minutes then decide to call it and move on. Frustrating not find that coyote but it was nice getting to talk to the other one.
Third Stand:
Time of Day: 1000
Temp: 65 Deg
Wx: little to no wind
Time on set: 2 min for the coyote, 20 for the bobcat
Distance of shot: 100 yards
Location: overlooking a large dry river bed with moderate to steep banks on both sides
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/IMG_2110.jpg
The picture above was taken from our location. It's hard to tell how steep the slope is downwards from our sitting position. The foxPro was placed in the tree in the bottom right hand corner and is 100 yards from our position. Me and Alan are set up on the side of the slope in the tall grass. From our vantage point it looks as if we'd stick out like a sore thumb but when I walked down to the tree to place the FoxPro and looked up at Alan it was actually hard to pick him out. Sweet! I start off with some soft snowshoe in distress for about 30 seconds then wait 2 minutes. As soon as I start calling the second time a little louder I see a coyote running out of the creek to my left and I whisper to Alan "here he comes". I immediately paused the FoxPro. He keeps running towards the slope instead of the foxpro so I unmuted the FoxPro for 2 seconds to redirect him and sure enough he turns towards the tree. A couple yards short of the tree I shoot her and she drops in her tracks. I needed that after not locating that last coyote. Now I unlease the FoxPro at half volume with the snowshoe in distress for a good minute. Then I wait 4-5 minutes. After another 10 minutes or so of this I see that cat come up out of the riverbed to the left of the big live oak in the above picture. I look over at Alan to say "here he comes" and Alan beat me to it. I immediately turn the FoxPro down to a very low volume and leave the snowshoe running. He's doing the typical cat thing and coming slowly and cautiously. Once he started coming good I hit the mute buttom on the FoxPro EXCEPT I HIT THE WRONG BUTTON. I hit the ZERO, which is right next to the MUTE and the ZERO is preset to a Ki-Yi at %75 volume. What the hell. I cursed myself and I'm sure Alan didn't agree with my calling technique but I assured him it was a mistake. The Ki-Yi was only on about 2 seconds but it stopped the cat in his tracks and I thought it was over. He was actually at 200 yards which isn't out of range but I wanted him in closer. After about 2 minutes of awkward silence I start the soft snowshoe again and sure enough he starts coming again. Shew...close one. Once he gets within 30 yards of the FoxPro I mute it and see he does. He almost gets to the tree and I decide to shoot. Now this first shot I just plain miss. I'll admit I was a little excited and even Alan commented on my breathing. I shot underneath him and the cat jumped straight up a good two feet then lands and freezes. As soon as he landed I had enough time to work the bolt, chastize myself and make a good shot. Wow. What a stand. I felt bad because Alan hadn't done any shooting yet but he was just as excited and told me he gets just as excited watching. The coyote was a young female and the cat was a big male.
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/IMG_21071.jpg
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/IMG_2108.jpg
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/IMG_2106.jpg
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/IMG_2102.jpg
Great stand and non-typical "double".
The last stand was the grey fox and showed up less than 30 seconds into the first call.
There you have it, the good, bad and ugly.
There's a gentleman that I met from another forum that I've been hunting with (Alan) and he knows the area pretty well. We've been on 3 trips and hadn't called anything in so we've been pretty discouraged. Could be that a front just passed through, full moon who knows. Today the drought broke.
For gear I mix it up a little and bring my wife's CZ 527 M1 American 223 with a 3-piece Beartooth Products gun & scope cover in Mossy Oak Brush, FoxPro Fury, Mossy Oak Brush outfit and a Dan Thompson PC-2 Cottontail in distress call for backup. Ammo: 42 gr Calhoun hollow points. Alan was shooting a Savage 22-250 (I forget which model).
Second Stand of the morning:
Time of Day: 0800
Temp: 55 Deg
Wx: little to no wind
Time on set: 6 min
Distance of shot: 75 yards
Location: overlooking a small flat with a draw on the back side
I start off with some light snowshoe in distress for about 30 seconds then waited for 2 minutes. When I turn it back on I turn it up a couple of "notches" and let it run for 10 seconds then wait another 2 minutes. This time when I turn it on the volume is at about "half" and with no wind there is a decent echo and I let it run for another 10 seconds. During this 'wait' I see a coyote pop up out of the draw and head straight for me. He stops at 75 yards and I shoot him. Didn't make the best shot and ended up shooting him too far behind the shoulder. He hopped around for about 15 seconds then runs off in a draw. Right after I shoot I hear two coyotes, one of which is a distinct male challenge howl across the draw so I immediately switch to my male challenge howl on the FoxPro and then the talking begins. After a few minutes of this I switch to a fawn bawl and 2 minutes later I see him at the edge of the flat about 350 yards away just standing there howling and yipping. I try an assortment of howls and barks followed by the fawn bawl but he wasn't buying what I was selling and ran back into the draw. Me and Alan call it after a few more minutes. The first thing we look for is the locatation the coyote was standing when I shot him and sure enough we find it. Huge pile of blood and a blood trail running towards that draw. We search for a good 15 minutes then decide to call it and move on. Frustrating not find that coyote but it was nice getting to talk to the other one.
Third Stand:
Time of Day: 1000
Temp: 65 Deg
Wx: little to no wind
Time on set: 2 min for the coyote, 20 for the bobcat
Distance of shot: 100 yards
Location: overlooking a large dry river bed with moderate to steep banks on both sides
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/IMG_2110.jpg
The picture above was taken from our location. It's hard to tell how steep the slope is downwards from our sitting position. The foxPro was placed in the tree in the bottom right hand corner and is 100 yards from our position. Me and Alan are set up on the side of the slope in the tall grass. From our vantage point it looks as if we'd stick out like a sore thumb but when I walked down to the tree to place the FoxPro and looked up at Alan it was actually hard to pick him out. Sweet! I start off with some soft snowshoe in distress for about 30 seconds then wait 2 minutes. As soon as I start calling the second time a little louder I see a coyote running out of the creek to my left and I whisper to Alan "here he comes". I immediately paused the FoxPro. He keeps running towards the slope instead of the foxpro so I unmuted the FoxPro for 2 seconds to redirect him and sure enough he turns towards the tree. A couple yards short of the tree I shoot her and she drops in her tracks. I needed that after not locating that last coyote. Now I unlease the FoxPro at half volume with the snowshoe in distress for a good minute. Then I wait 4-5 minutes. After another 10 minutes or so of this I see that cat come up out of the riverbed to the left of the big live oak in the above picture. I look over at Alan to say "here he comes" and Alan beat me to it. I immediately turn the FoxPro down to a very low volume and leave the snowshoe running. He's doing the typical cat thing and coming slowly and cautiously. Once he started coming good I hit the mute buttom on the FoxPro EXCEPT I HIT THE WRONG BUTTON. I hit the ZERO, which is right next to the MUTE and the ZERO is preset to a Ki-Yi at %75 volume. What the hell. I cursed myself and I'm sure Alan didn't agree with my calling technique but I assured him it was a mistake. The Ki-Yi was only on about 2 seconds but it stopped the cat in his tracks and I thought it was over. He was actually at 200 yards which isn't out of range but I wanted him in closer. After about 2 minutes of awkward silence I start the soft snowshoe again and sure enough he starts coming again. Shew...close one. Once he gets within 30 yards of the FoxPro I mute it and see he does. He almost gets to the tree and I decide to shoot. Now this first shot I just plain miss. I'll admit I was a little excited and even Alan commented on my breathing. I shot underneath him and the cat jumped straight up a good two feet then lands and freezes. As soon as he landed I had enough time to work the bolt, chastize myself and make a good shot. Wow. What a stand. I felt bad because Alan hadn't done any shooting yet but he was just as excited and told me he gets just as excited watching. The coyote was a young female and the cat was a big male.
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/IMG_21071.jpg
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/IMG_2108.jpg
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/IMG_2106.jpg
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/IMG_2102.jpg
Great stand and non-typical "double".
The last stand was the grey fox and showed up less than 30 seconds into the first call.
There you have it, the good, bad and ugly.