Coyote Madness Triple

[wapiti792]

After a very busy fall thus far I have finally got a weekend to hunt some. I am pining for a fat doe to can for the winter and got my chance in my Ghilli Thursday night but got a deflection, sending my arrow into the thick stuff and her back the way she came. I did manage to count coup on a fat forky at 12 feet. It was just nice to be in the woods.

Fast forward to Friday night on a farm I have permission that has a giant living on it. My friend Dirtnap Dave aka Sheltoncreeker and I have kept tabs on him all summer and one of us hopefully will put a tag on him. As I settled in last night I thought how cool it'd be to see my arrow disappear in his ribs from the giant oak I was in.

But hey, this is a coyote tale and "That Sticker Buck" never showed. I had killed a coyote from this tree the same night Dave killed his first trad buck. Here's his story:
 http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=140470

I had hit the'Yote midship facing me and he had ran into a swampy area on a death run. We ended up tracking Dave's buck into the night and my 'Yote got put on the back burner. I went back the next morning and couldn't find him. Just blood on the reeds. I knew he was dead but I couldn't find him in that mess. If you read Sheltoncreekers tale you know he killed a fantastic buck only to lose all of the edible meat to the coyotes. We are lousy with them.

After reading a recent article in the PBS magazine by Gene Wenzel about fawn mortality and losing Dave's good protein to those critters I decided to kill every one I could. Even though I have killed a few with my trad bows I was indifferent really until last year when they got two of my does...one less than an hour after I passed an arrow through her liver and lungs. So enter the big oak in the hot corner with my favorite bow complete with a little mojo from Papa Bear.

 

[wapiti792]

As I settled in I could hear some crunching that sounded just like a deer munching on acorns. It was fairly close but the oak I was in and one in bow range were the only ones in ear shot. At about 5 I look up to see a large coyote trotting down the trail from where my coyote last week had ran.

I got drawn as he cleared a Russian olive and hit him just a little low but good enough. A passthrough with a big broadhead. I listened for a crash but heard nothing. I wanted to hunt this set in the morning so I left the arrow stuck in the ground as it had exited and would get a morning sit in before I went into that thicket for my dog....by the way, that crunching was this coyote eating the one I shot last week. Kinda gross.

So I eased back in there this morning with Sticker Buck on the brain. I did not see a deer but at about 8 am what comes trotting down the trail but another coyote. This one makes the fatal error of stopping at my maximum effect range plus 5 yards. I picked a spot but missed 6 inches left, crashing a 680 grain arrow though his hips. As he ran a big loop in the beanfield it looked like a giant red cloud was chasing him...it finally caught him at 50 yards and he rolled up. I decided to get down and get it. Before I could I look up and see another coyote coming from the back of me. 200 yards out and I let loose a little lip noise that sounds rabbitish and he turns on the afterburners right into range...I missed. Gimme shot. He leaves in a hurray.

I drag my coyote to the base of my tree and climb back up. I still think a deer might come, smelling like dead coyote and BO after my sprint, probably not. I am a half-full guy. The blood trail from this one was crazy. While walking the Ray Charles I find a bonus...
 
*Ray Charles
 
*Bonus...spot it?

[South MS Bowhunter]

[Dirtybird]

Nice little shed on your retrieval.

[steadman]

Nice find! Good shooting.  Kill em all    My son has a vendetta against those buggars.

[wapiti792]

After getting buckled back in I look way across the field and there is something bout 400 yards out. Hey I know that steady gait and it ain't "Stickers".  I did my lip squeak thing again fairly loud and the coyote stops, hones in on the sound and runs a dead run straight at me. I grab an arrow and try to get ready...I am thinking to myself this is madness.

At 10 yards she stops and smells the dead coyote at the base of my tree. I draw and spine her and have to get down for the coup de grace. I am out of arrows, I am shellshocked. I call Dave and roll him out of bed...he is as dumbfounded as me. 4 coyotes in 6 days out of one tree. 3 coyotes in less than 12 hours...a double that coulda been a triple. Nuts.

I finally get to track my Yote from last night. What I find isn't fit to show here. His buddies made short work of him. All that was left was hair and a bloody mess. So, Mr Bear gets a triple, sorta.
 
*Double down

I called my buddy Tracy (KSTrapper) a coyote trapping fool to get the 411 on care of the hides for what will be a quiver and a hat. Brother Dave skinned one and tubed one for the project.

 
*Tubed for a quiver

All in all a good day, but I am still looking for Stickers and I need a doe for the canner. I know there are 4 coyotes that won't be eating polts or fawns this spring and I guess that's ok.
 
*Truck Ride

So, I don't know how I feel still about killing coyotes. I respect them. They are tough critters who are there to do their job and to live. The problem has become they are taking from me and mine. I had a light freezer last year because of them so maybe it will be full next year. We shall see...now if I could just catch up to this buck whose shed I found    

 

[Dirtybird]

Great shooting Mike.  The yotes are devasting the fawns and turkey poults here in my neck of the woods as well.

[South MS Bowhunter]

Fine work Mike.

The last 2 evenings as I'm getting down from my stand the coyote's start there howling. When your alone and in the dark they tend to raise the old goose pimples    

Kill them all, I know our deer on the land I hunt have seen a decline and I place the blame squarely on them.

[Manitoba Stickflinger]

You're one deadly dude Mike!

[stalkin4elk]

Sounds like a blast! If you get another deer drag it within range of your stand and wait on the gut pile a while...for stickers    Sounds like a fawn in distress call could keep the action hot. Those coyote skulls look good all finished as well.

[dhermon85]

Nicely done. Sounds like some fun!

[KyStickbow]

Nice job!

[Mudd]

[motorhead7963]

Know one thing... you will never get the upper hand on the coyote population, kill as many as you can. I did one last week but with a different kind of bow so I wont share the pic.

[Benny Nganabbarru]

Wow! GREAT hunting!

[cacciatore]

I love to see them down,congrats.

[jcar315]

Well done!

[Warden609]

What a hunt!!! Congrats

[K.S.TRAPPER]

Congrats again buddy        I've never even heard of a bowhunter shooting that many coyotes in such short of time, that's awesome!!!

Kill as many as you can, I told you about those cattle farms I trap year after year and take pretty big numbers off of. Well those numbers stay about the same year after year it's hard to thin them down they are a amazingly tuff animal. So don't worry shoot on sight!

 

Tracy

[T-Bowhunter]