Eric arrived at 4:00 AM right on time. Had him set down with a cup of strong black coffee the way he likes it. HE orders biskets and gravy just about every Sunday at our group gathering so I went about fixing that for our breakfast. OK I admit the gravy I got out of a jar, it comes seasoned the way I like and has bits of sausage in it, but I made the biskets from scratch and backed them, also made up a couple of fried eggs for us. When we had finished I put the dishes in the sink and left a note for Kare to leave them alone, telling her I would get them when I got back.
I gathered my gear and stepped outside to meet up with Eric for the walk to the back of my place. We get back there and set my call up same place I had the other day. We also set out two decoys about the same place, We walk a back track and set up on a ridge not as far back as I had been and got that caller going with a piglet in distress sound.
After 20 minutes we had no takers so shut the caller off and waited, Gathered the gear and decided to walk back behind my place where three corn fields make a junction and the biggest one has a hill side choked with crab apple trees and other brush along with a grass edge to the field. We set the caller out in the bigger field about 100 yards and both decoys with goose feathers clipped to the tails to make them look bigger. Work back to the fence line and set on each side of a huge old maple tree.
We decide to use a fawn in distress sound this time, run it about half volume to start. I can see the grass moving like something is moving in it, OH the joys of summer time coyote hunting. Wouldn’t be a shot I could take as it was off to my right a good bit so I would have to adjust my seat arrangement. I point it out to Eric and he shakes his head yes he saw it, Just as a coyote steps out and looks at the decoys about 135 yards. I fingered the shot to Eric, he shakes his head no as the coyote starts going to the decoys. Eric signals for me to lower the volume to nearly nothing, as a second coyote steps out of the grass running to catch up with the first. As the two joined Eric fires once then twice one coyote down and the second running for the hill side. It just made it to the grass before tumbling to a halt dead.
We wait a little longer and nothing else showed up so we walk out to retrieve the caller and decoys, then walk to the first coyote. Eric had got it just behind the left ear and scrambled it’s brains, hook my drag rope to it and head for the second one. He had hit the second one a bit far back behind the left shoulder is why it was able to go a bit before piling up. Fur is decent summer fur on both but was some matting from burdock burrs. There is a thick patch of that the stuff grows along the creek about 500 yards away, figure they had been in there recent and picked up some of last fall’s burrs, another joy of summer coyote hunting. Drag them both more into the grass and head back for the house. Is just after 7:00 so Eric can beat his girls to the office, I can get breakfast dishes done before Kare gets up.
Has been a busy last couple of months so I invite Eric in for some more of that strong black coffee and a chat. His daughter had flew in from Minnesota for father’s day, so that was a good weekend, I had been to Wisconsin the week before to see my granddaughter graduate from HS and start her journey to Colorado and college.
Al