The reason I’m writing about these critters is they are about the only challenge this old timer has left. You young types that like to lie in the mud, get cold, wet just to pull a couple of honkers into range, well, I’ve been there, done that. It was great fun and I’m glad you all enjoy it. Me, I like to put my wits against probably the smartest, most cunning critter left on this earth beside Homo Sapiens. (I wonder if half the coyotes aren’t smarter than at least half the beings classed as Homo sapiens).
For the last five years I’ve been giving coyote
hunting programs at sport shows across the west. The number one question, by
far, hunters ask when they walk in the booth, is, “what tapes or call do you
use?” Before I go into a long discussion on tapes I usually ask a question
right back. What kind of camo do you use? This usually surprises the potential
customer, or drives him off, but it sure separates the hunters from the want to
be hunters. If they come back
with an answer such as I use a Shaggie or a Gilley
Suit then the conversation turns serious quickly. If the answer is I use real
tree or some such answer then I know I’m back to basics. The best caller in
the world isn’t going to kill near the critters he is capable of if every
half-witted coyote in the world can plainly see he is a human at 400 yards. You
have to break up the human outline in order to be successful a high percentage
of the time.
Two instances stand out in my mind that have proven to
me that camo is the number one thing you have to take care of before you worry
and guns, tapes and all that other stuff.
It was my first hunt with two hunters last year that
had invested big bucks in a relief leaf type camo. The color of the material
matched the color of the surrounding sage fairly well. The backside of each leaf
was black. I’m not sure why, but since these two were rather over weight a
great deal of black showed. We set up in a rock pile where I’ve called many
coyotes before. Within three minutes, Ms yote came over the hill to chow down on
ba'r rabbit. She got about 30 yards out from the caller which was another 30
yards in front of us and all of a sudden did a 180 and was out of there. My
first question to my hunter friends was “which one of you moved?” I was
slightly behind both of them and I did not see any movement. They also assured
me they did not move. “Sit tight guys, I have to check some thing out”. I
walked out to the location where the coyote had done the 180 and looked back at
the hunters. Just what I thought, even though their camo fairly well matched the
color of the rock and sage, their form was not broken up and they stood out as
pure human.
About a mile away from the above location is a crested wheat grass field. I was making a TV show with American Outdoor Adventure. This wheat grass field is about 160 acres. To one side is a rock out cropping that hides hunters well. In the middle is a slight depression and a few scattered rabbit brush plants. The distance between the closest brush and the rock is about 70 yards. I set two video camera men with their “best you can buy cameras in the rock pile. Also a still cameraman with a 35MM was with the video guys. These cameras have the ability to zoom in on your face at 100 yards. Another feature they have is an automatic turn off to save battery life. I walked out to the nearest rabbit brush, sat down with my back to the rock pile and started calling. I was dressed in a Shaggie. Seven or eight minutes into my call I was about ready to call it quits. I seldom call more than ten minutes at any set up. Five minutes into the call I had switched on my Johnny Steward Louder One. This attachment doubles the volume of the call. You might say like all of a sudden, about 40 feet in front of me came the fastest coyote in Baker County. Usually when you have direct eye contact with a critter, especially a coyote, they stop or change direction. Not this critter. He had just found the biggest jackrabbit in Eastern Oregon and he was going to camp out on that bugger for the rest of the winter. You never saw a 62-year-old man come out of the ground so fast in your life. By the time I got to my feet, screamed and raised my arms the coyote was less than five feet from me. Now you would think that three people with cameras at least one would have the whole episode on film. Sorry, all I have is witnesses. But it goes to prove if you don’t look like a human, the critters don’t think you are a human.
After
spending 40 some years in pursuit of Mr. Wily I can freely admit that just about
every time I go out, I learn some thing new. It may not be about the critter. It
may be just something as simple as judging wind when you call one in and there
is a 20 MPH cross wind. Seldom am I out there in those type of conditions, but
it happens. Have an old saying that goes some thing like this: “If the wind is
blowing more than 10 MPH stay home and watch football, the NBA or whatever is
the in thing on TV at the time.” In short I’ve never had much luck calling
critters when the wind is blowing.
In future
articles I hope to cover questions you subscribers put to me. There is a great
deal about coyote hunting that I am still learning, even after 40 years chasing
these critters. See you in the sage.