Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting First time coyote hunting, but should have been crow hunting

Yeah, maybe best in the predator forum, but coyotes are turkey killers and crows are egg raiders.

Went to the range yesterday to work up a lead load for my Hawken rifle. I had today off, too, and was going to go squirrel hunting. But decided to go up to the state forest and see if I could get a coyote to come in. I got there about 6:30 AM. The woods are still thick, full foilage, and the weeds on the trail leading into the area are still thick and chest high. Wouldn't be able to a see a deer crossing those trails, much less a coyote. There are a few trails that are more open giving decent visiblity for a good distance in either direction. I set up on one of these trails looking due south. Breeze going west to east. Took my .270, mainly because I have scarcely hunted with it and because centerfires are legal here for coyotes, though 75-100 yard max would have been possible. This is the view looking due south. Call is about 60 yard down the trail facing south. Directly to the call's right is a trail leading deeper into the clear cut where there were coyote tracts. About 35 yards past the call, around the bend, is a, intersection with a trail leading out of the area, another down to the bottomlands, and some straight ahead that leads into the pine thicket.



Saw several sets of tracks on this trail, some very clear and recent.







Used a cottontail in distress call, since there are a lot of cottontails and raptors here. Started off at low volume. Worked up the volume over a couple of hours. Did not see any coyotes or foxes.

Before I moved to a different location, I did try the preloaded Crow Distress and Barred Owl call. Bejeezus. The crows went nuts. A Coopers Hawk flew in first and sat in a tree overlooking the call. Then the crows came. I should have brought my shotgun and a bunch of shells.