Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting Hunting the wrong thing..........

Took my older son out for our traditional, annual coyote calling morning. Struck out. But about a minute before I turned the FoxPro on........a gobbler cranked off from the limb about 100 yards through the woods behind us. Then another about 300 yards down the ridgetop beyond that. Then two others.....maybe a third..... 1/2 mile across the valley.

Shoulda had shotguns and a box call.

I know of a guy that has several box calls....

Hope you get one. If you do, post a pic. This will be my first year giving coyotes a whirl.

Our coyote season on public lands began here on Thursday. I still want to give it a try. The county I am going to hunt in doesn't allow any rifles larger whan .22 rimfire for any game OTHER THAN ground hogs and coyote. We can use a centerfire for coyotes there anytime they are in season, except during the general firearms season for deer. So that gives me from now until November 19 to get out and hunt with a rifle. I no longer own a rifle between .22 LR and 6.5x55mm. .308 is overkill for coyote but that's what I am going to take out. I went to my club this morning and checked zero on my Winchester M70 Featherweight and Browning BLR .308s. This area I'm going to hunt might offer a shot out to 150 yards or so. I can see down the logging roads pretty far before they take a bend, though the woods on either side are pretty thick, especailly now.

Skunks are in season now, too. Last time I was there to get my game camera, I almost bumped into a big one, literally.

Oh, yeah ??

I like box calls. Maybe I could shoot the bull with him sometime.........

Make some of your hunting comedy videos.....

Nope. No such thing.

I mean..........seriously.......smaller chamberings great. BUT..... I've seen coyotes hit behind the shoulder with both a .270 Win and a .300 Win Mag go a WHOLE LOT further than a whitetail would have if it were similarly hit. Also saw one (a female) hit through the middle with a .243 Win go a half mile......dropping pups and dragging 6 feet of intestines......get up under a dozer pile of trees. A buddy crawled in with a .357 and finished her and we had to pull him back out by his ankles.

Coyotes are T O U G H !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Boy had a .223 Rem and I had a 5mm Rem Rim Mag this morning..........but only because I need to load some for my .220 Swift. I've shot a lot of different things. I ain't EVER killed anything TOO dead.

This one took a 50 grain Ballistic tip at over 4000 fps. In high on the opposite shoulder. Out mid-ship, right where you see (I was shooting from one of my archery stands). This 'yote lost ALL of its digestive tract where it stood, yet STILL managed to go about 30-40 yards. There was a second one standing right smack beside it. I was trying to get them lined up for a two-for-one. But they started to get antsy, so I popped this one. Guaranteed his buddy was spitting chunks of him out as he high-tailed it outta there.

That's a helluva hole.

To the original post, several times over the years I have called adult turkeys in while I was coyote hunting. It isn't uncommon while squalling for coyotes to call other unintended animals in. Like deer for example, I have called a lot of does in while using a distress call for coyotes. One time a bachelor herd of five bucks came in. And the distress call isn't fawn distress, it could be anything from woodpecker to jackrabbit. But either maternal instinct or curiosity takes over and other non predatory animals come in. Like two big old gobblers that came in full strut in late January to rabbit distress. I watched these two knuckle heads strut in from over 100 yards away with the FoxPro squalling away. They closed to about fifty yards, put on a show and finally dropped strut and walked off. I've had hens come in a beeline right to me cutting and calking all the way. That's one of the things about predator hunting I always enjoy, ya just never know what's going to happen when you start the music.

That IS crazy !!!!

I've had hawks and owls buzz me. I've had deer come look. But that one gobbler that fired off right behind us shut his beak the second the rabbit distress came on and never said another peep.

It's not unusual to call in a pig with cottontail distress. Rio7

Yep. I’ve had them come in several times with the Haydell’s Govt Hunte Jackrabbit distress hand held call.
I’ve also had deer and owls come to it.
No telling how many coyotes I’ve taken over the years using it. It’s one of my favorites.

https://www.haydels.com/collections/predator/products/ghj-government-hunter-jackrabbit

I was going to go out today with my caller, but ended up grabbing my .22 for some squirrels instead. When I got to where I hunt, the old black man that lives in a house near the forest road entrance was outside weed wacking. I walked over and talked to him for awhile. I asked him about coyotes in the area, and whether he's seen or heard any. He hasn't seen any this summer, but sees them in winter in the corn field that is on the opposite side of the main road. So that's encouraging.

I checked the portion of the forest service road where I've seen coyote tracks in the past, but its rock hard right now. That's about the only stretch of the roads back there that aren't covered in chest high weeds. We haven't had any significant rain in about a month. Most parts of the roads are chest high in weeds and black berries. I don't know that I would have been able to see a coyote coming down one of the roads, anyways.

It was friggin hot this morning. It was 90 by noon. Humidity was sky high. The flies were thick and there were spider webs in the woods every couple of yards. All of them had those black and white spiders with pointed bodies in the center of them. Big black ants were all in the leaves wherever I sat so I sprayed the ground around me, and the trees I leaned against, with deep woods off. Didn't get bothered by the ants, and no ticks again.

Premature mast is starting to fall, small acorns and hickory nuts, as are some leaves, because its so damed dry. I startled one fawn lying in the road in the weeds. Otherwise, nothing was strirring, except crows, and one king fisher that was diving in the swamp pond. No squirrel working the tree tops, or on the ground. I quit around noon. Just too blasted hot for me. No fun hunting when sweat is running into my eyes. By the time I got back to my truck I was soaked. Glad I brought a change of cloths.

I will say the weeds in the roadways are pretty. All of it is blooming and swarming with bees. Goldenrod, wild Golden Ragwort, wild Geranium, all manner of mushrooms. The bees and anything that eat flower pedals are eating well right now.

Haha !! Should been with us Saturday morning. We were set up under 3 or 4 very tall hickory trees. It soon became apparent that we should have had hard hats !!! Squirrels were directly overhead cutting nuts that sounded like cannonballs coming down. One hit less than a foot from the kid. A direct hit would have SERIOUSLY pecked a knot in a guy's head.

I got up with all intention of going out and calling turkeys yesterday morning. But rain and profuse lightning dampened my drive to do so.

just came from the farm I hunt. Was working on a couple of rifles and load development. When I got thru, decided to check out the part of the farm we usually hunt. Saw 8, 2 mature hens and the rest this years hatch.
Squirrel were everywhere, and a good many doves.
Saw 3 long beards on the way home.

I could hear acorns falling. One fell next to me and it was tiny, still mostly wrapped in the cap. The hickory nuts are tiny. It's been really dry here for weeks. Almost no rain at all. All the corn is brown now, weeks ahead of time.

I sure wuz looking forward to one of your comedy hunting videos......

Not seeing many acorns down yet. But it was super dry here since the first of June. But those hickory nuts were about the size of ping pong balls. Maybe bigger.

There's a black walnut near my house and its already dropping nuts the size of tangerines. It's about a month early for that. The pecans in my neighbors tree are starting to fall. Also early.

You ever thought about taking up fishing or golf ?