In a couple weeks my friend and I have our turkey hunt. I decided I needed to get out this weekend and put some miles in to get ready for the hunt so I went to a secret spot of mine a little over an hour away. My morning didn't have the best start. I had packed everything the night before but when I made my trips to the car I forgot my long sleeve shirt on the table. Yeah it was only slightly chilly in the morning, being April, but I need the sun protection too and sunblock doesn't go well while hunting predators that can smell you a mile away. I didn't realize I forgot my long sleeve shirt until I got out of the car.
Due to some back problems that I've had since I was 19 I have to haul a chair around with me or my feet go numb while I hunt. I got to my first spot where I shot a coyote in October 2016. Back then I was sitting in this chair and my call and decoy were down the hill. A coyote had come up behind me and I saw it out of the corner of my eye. I slowly turned my head and couldn't believe a coyote was sitting there 10 feet away from me looking at my decoy trying to decide if it wanted to commit to it. I had my .223 in my lap and my shotgun on my side. I was going to try to reach for my shotgun but the call stopped. So I slowly reached for the remote and started my call back up. After another minute or so the coyote finally decided to commit and started down the hill. I reached for my shotgun and the coyote must have seen me out of the corner of my eye and turned and bolted.
I put the shotgun down, grabbed my .223 and ran up a hill. By this time the coyote had gone up this hill, down the backside, crossed a wash, up another hill and was behind a big cluster of cactus. I had my .223 ready and as soon as the coyote came out the other side of the cactus I pulled the trigger and watched him go down. Following the shot I heard a few loud yelps. Without paying attention to a landmark I headed towards the coyote. I realized when I got up the hill I should have paid more attention to where I was going. I spent 20 minutes looking for the coyote and it was pushing the mid 90's so I had to leave. Had I gone another 50 yards I would have found it. Back to that in a minute.
After an hour at this spot yesterday I called nothing. So I did some more hiking but got tired of carrying both my rifle and a chair. As I headed back I found a nice 4 point deer spike. Shortly after that I was next to my first spot when a jack rabbit came out. I had the chair in my left arm still but decided to take a shot at 90 yards. Due to the chair in my arm and the fact I had my 30 06 I got a lot of recoil and the scope went black but I saw a cloud of fur. I did the same thing as with the coyote last year. I forgot to get a good landmark and the terrain is really tough there. After a few minutes of pacing back and forth on the ridge I found my jack. Apparently I hit the heart and must have blown up a rib because a piece of frag pierce the ear and the bullet blew out the mouth.
A couple minutes later I headed down the hill and saw another jack rabbit at 60 yards. Again chair in hand I took the shot and didn't see anything move so I figured I had to have hit it. On the way down the hill I got distracted so it took me ten minutes to find the rabbit. Yes at just 60 yards the terrain is so tough it took me ten minutes to find it. This area is full scrub land full of hills, rocks, washes, and it's just really rugged. When I found my jack I was surprised that I had split it in half.
So back to the distraction. On my way to find this jack I found the coyote I shot in 2016, just 50 yards down the hill from where I shot it. Friends and family were mocking me that this coyote got away but I told them there is no way that thing could survive a solid shot from a .223. Then people say well how do you know it's your coyote? I do a lot of hiking, a lot. I have never come across a coyote skull yet. I have found spikes, deer skulls, a full javelina, donkey, but never a coyote. What are the odds of finding a coyote skull under a small tree 50 yards from where I shot it? You can tell by looking at the skull it is about a year and a half old. I have no doubts that is the coyote I shot. Had I just walked down the hill that day I would have found the coyote bleeding out under a tree. I was looking for a blood trail to follow that day however sometimes it takes a while until they start bleeding so there was no blood trail to follow.
So I didn't call any coyotes in yesterday. Sometimes they come right in sometimes they don't. I still had some fun and confirmed that my 30 06 is dialed in tight even after a back packing trip with it. If I can hit a jack at 90 yards I can hit anything so I'm ready for my next hunt.
My first jack.This one got the heart shot, a pierced ear, and blown out mouth. The second jack is too nasty to post on here.
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