Screwed up on a coyote this morning...

[fratri]

I went for a quick set this morning and screwd it up. I figure I could get out and be back before my wife or my son woke up. I got to the location at first light. I have hunted (called this place) 5 times so far this season with no takers. Now I know there are coyotes around here, like most areas of southern Ontario, coyotes are bountiful but calling them out can take a bit of work. I felt confident in this place even though nothing came out so far this year but I new or felt it was just of matter of time before I would get one to commit. At first light I am set up and start playing my ecaller. I start off with a dying rabbit sound, play for a minute and silence for a minute. I do that two times and then switch to my hand calls. A few coyote howls and a dying screaming rabbit and then a few minutes of silence. Now about 10 mins have past with no takers. I decide to play a turkey yelp on my ecaller followed by some gobbling.... I do that for about two minutes before I go silent again. I use my hand caller again, coyote howl followed by dying screaming rabbit, then go silent again. I wait a few minutes and start up my ecaller again with the turkey yelp, then turkey gobble and then turkey distress.... I turn the volume down to 1 on my spitfire and leave it on young turkey distress. Well now a total of about 25 mins have past and my thoughts turn to getting home and making breakfast for the family. As I sit there with my mind wandering a coyote comes over the rise. A nice blond coyote, he surprises me by coming from a direction I didn't think he would come in from. Instead of coming from my left (high ground) he came in from the swamp in front of me. alot of the ice and snow has melted making the swamp really wet, but he came through that area anyway. Now as the coyote comes over the rise, it caught me off guard, the coyote spots me moving to get into position. He stares right at me, I raise my gun and that’s when I counted the chickens before they hatched. He was only 70 yds out, standing still I thought for sure he was down and out even before I pulled the trigger. Instead of concentrating and squeezing the trigger I pulled the trigger like a shotgun and missed him completely. With no follow up shot available he was gone in an instant. Lesson learned......gently squeeze the trigger and don't rush it......What should have been an easy shot turned into a forced error....

Nice to get out anyway....



The setup....











As a bonus I found this guy (road kill) in great shape on the way home...