Coyote Hunting, And Stuff

Between work and being a parent I don't get much time to myself. I have been wanting to go coyote hunting for a long time but haven't been able to find the time to do it. I went once last year but haven't been since then.

 

This month was another busy month for us. Natalie had to take a couple trips out of town and I got the kids while she was gone. She left on a Monday night so Tuesday I had to work from home, take Adri to school, pick her up, and take care of  both these kids all day. Lucky for me I got an awesome job that is flexible so I was able to get in five hours on and off throughout the day instead of taking a full day off. Natalie was back late that night and took off again Wednesday night til Saturday. So I had my hands full all week. I tried to take the kids to the Minions movie but had to walk out. At 19 months we took Adri to see Chipwrecked and she sat quiet through the whole movie. Well Zach is not the same as his sister and has earned himself a year long ban (from me) from the movie theatres. After the popcorn ran out he wouldn't sit still. He was standing in front of me for a while and kept putting his head between the seats. I checked the space and didn't think he could get stuck, until he did. I couldn't pull him out by pulling him back so I had to reach around his face and pull him the other way. After that he was screaming bloody murder for ten minutes. I finally got him to quiet down and then he wanted to walk. Sitting down was making him fussy. I know I wasn't well liked in there so I walked out and luckily they gave passes to come back. I took Adri a week later and we got to see the whole movie.

 

So the day after our second trip to Minions my hunting began. I first took out my Christmas present from 2014, a compound crossbow, behind my house last Friday morning. I bought an electric call online and went out in full camo but was unable to call anything in. I don't know if it's the area or the time of day but no luck. I rarely hear coyotes around here though. That night my sister and her family came into town so the next day my brother in a law and I went hunting. We first went down to Tatum in Scottsdale where there is state trust land. However since my last hunt they have put up no hunting signs so we had to leave. We headed up to Daisy Mountain where we found a creek and tried to call in a coyote for the next hour and a half, until it got dark. I know coyotes are around there, I see their scat, but no luck this time. This time I was out with my AK-47. Jeff thought it was funny how nice people are when you're walking on a trail with an AK-47. Haha.

 

So the next day was Sunday, my work from home day. I get off work at 4 so we decided to try our luck again this time at Black Canyon. There is a spot where there are rocks that overlook Slate Creek and I thought it might be a good idea to setup the call by the creek, cross the creek, and get up in the rocks. It's a 3 mile hike in, it was hot, and we only had about an hour to call in coyotes once we setup. Again no luck. I don't know if the problem was the way we were setup or if there weren't coyotes in the area. At first it seemed like a good idea but then once we were setup I was thinking those coyotes could be hiding in the brush all around us and we wouldn't even know it. Unless they run out by the call we likely wouldn't see them. So this time before leaving we decided we were at least going to get a little shooting in. We carried in some bottles that got blasted but the funniest thing to shoot was a log I threw in the creek. When I hit the log with the 30 06 it blew up into at least 4 big pieces that went 80 feet up in the air along with a 35-40 foot high splash.

 

We hiked back in the dark. It was still nearly 100 degrees, there was a lot of uphill hiking, and carrying guns and ammo just made it suck that much more. I can say that I saw the coolest things on the trail the last two nights hunting. At Daisy we found a toad and two camel spiders (wind scorpions) with one of them looking like it was eating the other's butt. At Black Canyon right before setting up the call there were frogs hoping all over the place and I almost stepped on a garter snake that was feasting on them. On the way back a giant tarantula was walking on the trail right in front of me.

 

Tomorrow starts another round of hunting. I have tried late morning and evening hunting and no luck. So tomorrow I'll be up at 4am getting setup on Daisy Mountain for a sunrise hunt. Hopefully my luck improves. All I need is one shot.

 

 

When Natalie was gone in Miami. This kid goes from terror to this in just a couple minutes.

Zach has learned how to put olives on his fingers and he thinks it's hilarious.

Adri drew this picture of us on Natalie's ipad. I don't think any of us have looked like that in a really long time.

About a week and a half ago I finally got out and back into hiking. This was the extinct volcano behind my house. It's not a long hike but it's a hard one since there is no trail. Takes me an hour and 10 minutes to do 1.3 miles.

When I got back down the hill I turned south towards my house and saw this cloud.

September 1st I was working from home and during breakfast Adri got up and said that the balloons were getting close. I didn't think much of it but when I looked outside I could see it looked like this one was going to crash in our neighborhood. It was coming down right around where I was crossbow coyote hunting. They kept giving it shots of fire but it kept coming down and I thought for sure it was going to crash. Then all of a sudden it finally shot up really quick and took off the other direction.

My compound crossbow. It's a Fang and it can take down any large game in North America. I have 100 grain razor blade hunting tips for it.

After my first hunt. Sitting on the couch with Zachy Zach.

Hunting at Daisy Mountain.

I was expecting a coyote to come trotting down that wash but nothing.

The toad we found hiking back.

Camel Spider eating another one's butt.

Our spot at Black Canyon.

The tarantula we found hiking back.

 

The video doesn't show how impressive the power really is from my 30 06 but this is blasting a log in the creek.



 

Daisy Mountain Peak

This weekend I decided to drag my butt out of bed early and go on a hike around Daisy Mountain. I had planned to take Adri but when reviewing the trail last minute I decided it wasn't a good idea. It was definitely a good idea not to take her, although she was disappointed. I'm going to have to find an easier trail for this kid.

 

I started at 7:26 am on a 3 hour 12 minute hike. It's six miles round trip starting at about elev 1,900 hiking up to elev 3,140. It was a long hike on a hot morning. When I got just about half way up the mountain I saw something jump in front of me and take off into the bushes. At first I thought Gila Monster. But once it stopped I could see it was a horny toad. This is the first horny toad I have seen in Arizona and it blended in perfectly with its surroundings. I snapped a couple pictures of it and went on my way. About 25 minutes later the trail got confusing and I ended up hiking up the mountain cross country. When I finally got to the peak it was hot, I was half way through with my water, and I realized I forgot to put on my sunblock before I left. So needless to say I didn't get to have my juicy mango at the peak. Instead I took a couple pictures and took off.

 

I thought going down the mountain it would be easier to stay on the trail. I was wrong. I was descending fast but after 10 minutes I lost the trail. I could see the trail on my phone but I was still having a hard time staying on it. I was looking around and nothing seemed familiar and it looked like going to the trail I could see on my phone was completely off course. I don't know if it's because it's a different trail or this one really wrapped around the mountain that many times. I'm still confused.  I probably got off trail at least 3-4 times. Finally I found a spot that I remembered from earlier and I knew it would be easy from there on. As I was one step from getting back onto the trail a rock came out from under me and I ate it falling on my right side. Lucky for me I have heavy padding on my holster so my Glock .45 broke my fall and kept me from possibly sliding past the trail. I managed to get up, shake it off and, and hike the 2 miles back to the car. Maybe it's time I invest in a life alert?

 

This was a fun hike but definitely a lot harder than I was expecting. I would have to say this is the second hardest hike I have done so far in Arizona, after the Flat Iron. Without a doubt its harder than Camelback especially since its so hard to stay on the trail. According to my phone I burned 1700+ calories on this hike, plus it doesn't take into account the heat. I think it was a good use of a Saturday morning. I burned some calories without going to a gym, got to enjoy nature, and got a really good view of the entire area. I only ran into a couple people on the entire hike and I was the only person that made it to the peak that day, at least as far as I know. There was one crazy kid walking up alone as I was halfway down with just a small water bottle (as the temperature was approaching 100).

 

 

The horny toad.

I think this was the back side of the mountain.

Looking towards the community center.

That's a majority of Anthem. Our tiny town of 20,000.

That's actually a pretty big hill over there. Doesn't look so big from up top Daisy Mountain.

We live right in between the two hills in the center of the picture. If you zoom in you can see the cell tower where I hike.

Tonto National Forest.

Looking towards Tonto National Forest.

The highest guy around.

From the top of Daisy Mountain.

 

 

From my phone. On the fourth pic you can see how lost I got at the end of the trail.