Notice there is no picture with this entry, you will find out why shortly.  I learned today why all the big name coyote callers carry a shotgun.  I own a shotgun, I begged my dad for it when I was 12 years old and I have yet to use it on anything but racoons and barn swallows.  My shotgun is a Remington 20 gauge, I've never really had much use for it, I know a lot of you bird hunt but I don't live in real bird rich territory, I hunt coyotes, deer, antelope and prairie dogs.  I have asperations of going on a big time elk hunt someday, and calling in a mountain lion, a bear or a wolf would be awfully exciting, but bird hunting doesn't excite me so I don't own a real shotgun.  When I talk about a real shotgun I mean a good 12 gauge with enough umph to knock down a coyote at 50 yards or take a duck high out of the sky.

This morning it was cold in fact the last few days have been the coldest of the year so far, that tells me that the lobos out there will have to increase their calorie intake to stay warm, so they should be hunting.  Now with a new baby my wife's sleep has been limited so I was on dad duty until about 8:00.  This delayed my coyote hunting opportunities but I went out anyway.  I had a new stand I wanted to try, it had good shade, was up high and you could see forever.  I put out a series of Jackrabbit Distress on the old FX3 at low volume, shut it down and waited.  After 5 minutes nothing, I turned the volume up a little more and let her rip for about 45 seconds before shutting her down, still nothing.  Checking my watch, I had been calling for about 10 minutes and the wind was blowing pretty good.  I told myself one more try, I turned the FoxPro up to full volume for about 1 minute and then layed back in the shadows and scanned the far distances with my binoculars.  Just as I was going to pack it in, a coyote appeared, with the sun on his chest about 3/4 of a mile to my Northwest.  I was directly down wind from him and because I had shut down the caller I was scrabling trying to reprogram in the old Jackrabbit.  Knowing I was hid pretty good I turned it on about 1/2 volume and left it.  I checked my guns position and watched the critter slowly come in.  He crossed the creek about 1/2 mile away and then ventured off to the East.  I lost him behind a hill, as I waited I thought he might have left as it had been another 10 minutes already and no coyote.  Suddenly he appeared straight north of me about 400 yards, then 300, then 150, he stopped at 150 got a glimpse of Gus and was weighing his options.  Now I have the CZ .223 right on him, and this would be an easy kill, but this is where the idiot part comes in.  This coyote was big, I was sure that Gus wouldn't bother him much, Gus had his nose in a gopher hole (as usuall) and had no idea a coyote was close, my prey decided to come a little closer and I didn't try to stop him.  He held up about 80 yards and was getting to where the shot was getting close to straight down.  With him still in my sights Gus spots him and runs after him, but neither one wanted to engage the other, the coyote circled then Gus circled but no fighting took place.  Gus watched him closely and then headed in my direction, the coyote watched.  I lip squeaked at the coyote and he followed Gus.  My dog came halfway up the hill by this time the big old coyote was straight below me about 30 yards.  I decided to shoot, I missed high, really high.  The coyote didn't even flinch, I missed high a 2nd time, he ran about 10 yards and stopped, never seeing my position.  Gus took the 2 shots as time to attack, he made a run at the coyote, I squeezed off another, high again.  Gus hits him pretty hard and they tangle for a second.  They stop to rest and I hold low and fire.  Still nothing.  Knowing I have one shot left in my clip I wait, the coyote trots off about 20 more yards, he is at 70 yards now, I hold low in the hair and slowly squeeze again, this one grazed his coat but no direct hit.  The coyote is off like a shot with Gus on his tail, I'm digging for a new clip that I cannot get my hands on and the coyote is gone.  This comes back to the shotgun, I try to walk quite a long ways when I call, nothing scares a coyote more than the sound of a pickup bouncing through the hills, for this reason I try to carry as little as possible and a scattergun would just add weight.  Also, most contests don't allow coyotes killed with a shotgun (Dupree Dog Days included) because it's to easy to run them down with some type of motorized vehicle.  I'm going to put a question on the survey page, asking how many of you use a shotgun please click on the survey link to the right and let me know, perhaps I should purchase a 12 gauge or perhaps you have some suggestions for me.  If you do add a comment below because this was a true humbling experience. 

Happy Hunting!!!!