Faith Coyote Contest Revisited – We didn’t win but it was worth it!!

After a week of 40+ degree weather we had little or no snow left, what we did have was a crunchy layer of ice on everything. This is how it went

Stand 1: 6:55am we parked the pickup just behind a nob and walked over the knob. After about 60yds of walking I told Chief, that we were sure making a lot of noise. He agreed, we tried to be quiet but all we heard under our feet was crunch, crunch. Chief set up and then I was putting the caller into place when a coyote looked our way at about 450yds and ran the opposite direction. Busted!

Stand 2: The old standby, this stand almost always produces; it’s above a big hay flat overlooking a huge creek draw that has a lot of brush and timber in it. You call from the hayfield and pull them out of the creek. It works, unless when you are headed to the stand with your pickup, the coyotes are already out of the creek and on the hay flat. Then they retreat to the creek and stay there. That is what happened on stand number 2. I took a 300+ yard shot at one, but it was to no avail, probably because I estimated he was at about 200yds.

Stand 3: An area that always seems to have coyotes, not great stand locations, but coyotes. We thought we would try it. On the way in, we found an eaten up kid antelope. We knew then the coyotes had been there. We walked for awhile and decided we were not going to find the perfect set up. We sat and tried to conceal ourselves the best we could. We used an Antelope Fawn Distress, as we knew they had been eating antelope not too long ago. After 6 minutes of calling Chief spotted a pair coming from a long way off, I would say over .25 of a mile at the time. The played, they fought and they just lollygagged around. Then they were close enough to follow with the naked eye. We got em I thought, as they were closing to within 500yds. Then they started to circle down wind. They would go out of sight and come into sight. It was infuriating, we changed the call and got their attention, but they wouldn’t commit to rifle range. Chief decided to sneak around the hills and head them off. While he did he was busted by another coyote coming up the back side. They finally all spooked each other and we had spent 90+ minutes messing around with them. 3 stands 5 coyotes spotted 0 furs in the truck.

Stand 4: Nothing
Stand 5: Nothing

We took a lunch break around 12:00 and then I had to feed the cows. I had it set up so they wouldn’t need much and we were headed to another stand by 2:00.

Stand 6: Walking in we see a coyote, with our previous luck we just knew that we were busted again. I told Chief, we needed to back out and approach from another angle, because he hadn’t seen us. It worked we got set up and then the remote on the FoxPro seemed to freeze up. I told Chief he would have to use his hand call. He said, I’ll Call, You Shoot I was fine with this. Chief let’s out a wale on his Dan Thompson Call and this coyote perks up, he blows again and the coyote is shot like out of a cannon and he is headed right for us. I loose him for a minute and then he appears to my right at about 175yds. He is running as fast as he can to that call, I decide to bark to slow him down WOOF! nothing, he doesn’t even break stride. I still have him in my scope; he’s at 50yds, WOOF! I say again, nothing. The coyote hits the draw where Chief is hiding and stops. I have him in the scope but he is in a bunch of brush about 20yds. The funny thing is he is only 15yds from Chief and looking right at him. I’m waiting; I need him to move just a little for a kill shot. This seemed like forever but I’m sure it was only about 10secs. Chief can’t stand his breath anymore and fires BOOM! Sure he hit some brush, the coyote escapes over the hill with a couple just in case shots behind him.

Stands 7, 8 - 9: Were without sightings

We want to thank the Faith Fire Department for putting on a great show, after going back to check in, we talked to many hunters who got busted going in like we did, but other hunters who shot plenty of coyotes.
The winning team had 6 dogs, 2nd place was 5 dogs,

and 3rd place was 3 dogs.

Big Dog weighed just over 38lbs.

Little Dog weighed just under 20lbs.