1 st yote

The morning started at 5:30 had to get my twin 10 year boys up and ready for the day ahead....wife had to work....so they were coming out for a hound hunt with me and step son and our group of guys. We got our morning Timmies and got on the road by 6:20. We hadn't even left Port Hope yet when we seen our first yote of the morning running across the road in front of us. We had a good drive up to our hunting area....my 26 year step son is just getting into hunting and with a young family was pretty excited about getting out....it was one of those drives were you can have a great conversation with your son and realize how much he has truly grown up and into a man. We met up with the rest of the gang at 7:30 at our hill top lookout. Right off the bat we spotted 8 yotes out in one the fields we have permission for feeding on a dead cow. We had less then perfect conditions to run the hounds with no fresh snow and a little crust on the snow. But with eight volunteers down in the field we figured we should be able to get a chase going once the yotes disappeared into the pod bush into the south of the property. By about 8 the yotes had head back to the bush with a belly full of roast beef. We had 5 hounds at our disposal to run today...1 plot, and 4 walkers...3 of which are younger walker hounds that are coming along pretty good. The plan was to get the 3 youngers hounds down into the pod bush and hope they can get a chase going. After about half an hour with still no chase we let the plot hound go into the bush and he has a great nose and off he goes cold trailing. with in 15 minutes you can hear the plot tonguing as the chase was on!!! the 3 younger dogs harked right in one the chase too. I was setup north of the bush in case the chase came that way. after about 20 mins the chase went south heading for the next concession. I hurried back to the truck to get ahead of the chase.... but by the time I got to the south of concession the yote and the dogs had headed down into a section of bush we don't like to run. we were able to catch 2 of the dogs as they crossed over the road but two had gotten threw as they were right on the yotes ! after about half hour the yote doubled back on its tracks and headed north over the hard top again at the same crossing it used heading south. We caught the last two dogs and figured we would try and get another chase going. we checked a couple of bushs out but couldn't any fresh tracks so we headed back to the pod bush we started on figuring there still had to be some yotes in that bush. we really wanted to get the young dogs working so back in they went. It was about 11:15 and I had to leave at 12 to get my one son to his sledge hockey game in Peterborough for 1:15. so I figured I drove back into the bush with the guys that had the hounds in there trucks and I would wait just north of the bush again but close enough that my boys would get to hear the hounds if they jumped something. It didn't take long for the hounds to jump a coyote and the chase was on again....this time close enough that my boys were able to hear the dogs tonguing away. it was going on 11:45 and it sounded like the chase was heading south again so I figured I would get changed and get ready to pack up. just as I finish unloading my gun and put the trigger lock on it....my oldest son sees a "sneaker" heading north out of the pod bush at about 100 yards out.....here I am scrambling to get my trigger lock off and get my gun loaded and up to the fence post....gun loaded and stable rest the coyote is about 200 yards out and running....I tried to stop him but with no avail I took aim and FIRED.....complete miss....now the yotes out about 275 yards out.....I try and relax and FIRED again with alittle more lead.....I figured I missed again and tried to reload!!! i look through my scope but cant see the yote!!! DAM i missed both shots!!!!!! my step son says he can still see the yote through the binoculars and says hes just standing there now,....but i cant see him from where i was standing. one of my twin boys (Hunter) was glued to the window as this all took place....for a kid that says he doesn't like hunting he was pretty engrossed in the whole deal.....I was feeling pretty disappointed in myself....Hunter comes flying out of the truck yelling "you got it dad, you got the coyote i seen him roll when you shot the second time!!!!! Ive watched enough hunting shows with you dad to know when its been shot!!!" so over the fence i go for the long walk out figuring i wasn't going to see a thing....walk up to the last spot I seen the yote and here it is laying on the ground still alive but not going to far to fast!!!!! I cant believe it!!!!! I got it!!! finish off the yote and my oldestson helps me drag the yote back to the truck. Mean while at the south end of the bush the dogs where chasing 2 coyotes and one of the guys were able to drop a second coyote. so for a day with less then ideal conditions it turned out pretty dam good!!! Thanks to my hawk eye son i got my first yote of the season and my first yote ever!!!!!! Great day with friends and family!!

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me and my son Chris
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mine is the top yote
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Nice job ! Great story thanks for sharing . Good size yotes

The sound of running hounds , love it. :goodstuff:

Got to love the sound of hounds on a chase

I like your signature quote,ShawnL. It's right on the money. Nice shootin',too. There's a couple less livestock rippers to deal with.

Great job keep it up!!

Great hunt guys! Congrats!

Amazing story, I love reading others posts about running hounds.
Keep em coming!

I miss running the hounds............WTG guys

Nice read.....Really cool hunt. Nice that your boys go to see and enjoy it too....very nice

That's pretty cool Congrats

Way to go .good on yoy getting the boys out. I love hunting with hounds .right now I am really hoping for some snow to get my little hound out for bunny's .Dutch