A good thing coyotes stink
I went out for a coyote hunt this morning. I setup just before legal light and waited.... Once it go light enough to see I started off with a few coyote howls (hand calls).... Waited a few minutes and then went to dying rabbit (hand calls)... I had setup my ecaller and decoy about 30 yds to the left of me in the open field.
After a few minutes a train goes by and I hear a coyote on my left (very far away) howl. I howl back and we speak back and forth for a few minutes. As I concentrate my efforts on my left (vocalizing with this coyote) I forget about the bush on my right...
I don't notice this coyote until he is the field 25 yds away from me, I get excited, lift my gun off shooting sticks and snap my safety off, coyotes sees/hears me and starts to run off... I panic and fire a shot off before I can centre the crosshairs on him now he picks up speed, I take another fast shot and another miss, then I must have calmed down, waited that extra second to get the crosshairs on the coyote and pull the trigger....
Not sure if I hit it or not at the time but it looks like the last bullet found it's mark just before him going into the bush.....In total he went 100 yds with 3 bullets following him... :)
After shooting at this coyote, (I thought I missed) I let the ecaller play for 15 more minutes in hopes of getting that original one (from my left) to come in, but it never did show....
I packed up my gear and went for a walk/look... I did not see any blood or hair, walked the edge looking for any sign, did not see any.... After about 5-10 minutes of searching I decide to go for a walk and stake out a new sitting location/calling spot for next time.....(a little bummed at this point-can't believe I missed such a close shot)
30 minutes later I am making my way back to the truck, decide to go have another look for that coyote, as I near the area, I slow it right down.... As I am doing my search (take 3 steps, stop and look around-take 3 steps, stop and look) I smell something God awful, like death hits me.... (My mind thinks about a thread I read about smelling dear before seeing them)
I think maybe its the coyote? I take a few more steps toward the direction of the smell (wind must have shifted from earlier) and there lies my coyote... :)
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