Take The Coyote Challenge (tag: Dave Richey, Michigan, outdoors, calling, coyote hunting, spot and stalk, .243, be ready, downwind))

Calling in a coyote offers sportsmen as much excitement as anybody really needs. Several years ago I was sitting high on a hill overlooking a dense patch of very thick brushy cover surrounded by open land.

The wind was blowing uphill and downwind of me, and I suspected that was where the coyote would appear. However, I didn't expect him to be as close as he got before I saw him coming.

I let out a screech with my portable caller, and let it run for about two minutes, and slowly turned down the volume. Fifteen minutes later, while sitting with my back to a tree and my wife's .243 single-shot Thompson/Center rifle across my lap with an 85-grain hollow-point bullet up the spout, I slowly eased into another sequence of a screaming rabbit.

Coyotes often lay up on wooded south-facing slopes in winter.

The sound grates on your nerves. It is 10 times worse than someone dragging their fingernails down a blackboard. That though was going through my mind when I saw a movement 30 yards to my left. My rifle was across my knees with the butt stock to my shoulder, and I watched the old dog coyote slip through the last bit of heavy brush. He was coming in for the kill.

The safety was pinched off silently between my thumb and forefinger. i eased the volume up just a tiny bit to cover the sound of pulling the rifle's set trigger. This rifle has a set trigger, and once it is set, breathe too hard on the other trigger and it will go off. It's best to have the cross-hairs on the animal before touching the trigger.

I'm familiar with the rifle, and the coyote was focused on where the speaker was hid in some tall weeds and brush. It sounded like a rabbit dying, and the coyote was looking at the sound rather than me. I knew he would step out, and then streak in for the kill. My time to aim and shoot would be when he first stepped out and before he ran.

The coyote stared hard at the spot, and the rifle was up and the scope cross-hairs were centered on his chest. He took one step out, staring toward the sound, and a soft caress of the trigger sent the bullet on its way. The coyote flipped over backwards and lay still.

It's important to be ready to shoot. Coyotes seldom offer a second chance.

I've been at this coyote hunting business for many years, and as soon as I shot, up went the volume again as the rifle was quickly unloaded and a fresh cartridge inserted into the chamber. Two minutes went by, and I was watching closely for another coyote.

Winter hunters know that in January and February coyotes often run together in pairs, a male and female. I soon spotted the other coyote, and its tail was clamped tight to its rear quarters, and it was 400 yards and sneaking out of the area.

Once, several years ago, my son-in-law, Roger Kerby of Honor, called up a coyote and shot it. He fired up the recording, and out stepped another coyote, and he shot that one as well. He then turned up the volume again, and out steps a third coyote despite hearing two shots.

He aimed at it, and decided against it. He had cross-country skied into the area over deep snow, and knew dragging out two coyotes and his rifle would be as much work as he wanted to do. He let that coyote walk off, and later, after skinning out both animals, he decided to go for a ride. Ten minutes into the ride a coyote crossed the road in front of him. and began mousing 200 yards out in an open field.

Roger Kerby of Honor, Mich. takes several coyotes yearly.

He could have shot that animal but decided that two coyotes in one day was enough excitement for one person. Make no mistake about it: coyote hunting is exciting, especially when one sneaks in close to the caller without being seen.

My first coyote was shot 45 years ago when I started hunting coyotes and foxes with hounds. I took that one with a 3-inch magnum 12 gauge with No. 4 buckshot at 30 yards.

These animals are hardy, and a flat-shooting rifle with a hollow-point bullet is needed to prevent them from running off. There is no shortage of these predatory animals, and hunting them is never easy. It's as big a challenge as one can find during any time of the year, but especially during the winter months.

Don't believe me, then take the coyote challenge. Anyone who takes a coyote by calling it, running it with houses or by stalking it, has accomplished something very difficult. Calling has become a popular winter pastime, and hunting hasn't made a dent in the coyote population and it never will.

These animals have learned to live close to the area's human residents, and they are well tuned to human way. Calling isn't the surefire way to hunt coyotes as it was many years ago. These animals are smart, and hunter earns every one he takes.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors