My First Coyote Hunt
December,
2011
©
By Othmar Vohringer
The southern interior of British Columbia features some of the most
stunning landscapes. This particular place is one of the largest
working cattle ranches in the area. The habitat here is ideal for
whitetail deer, inhabiting the river bottoms in the foreground of the
image, and mule deer live up in the hill country. The area is known for
abundant wildlife populations but wherever there are large numbers of
wildlife and cattle there are also coyotes in large numbers.
It is common to hear coyotes howling from every hilltop at dawn and
dusk. As a deer and turkey hunter it never occurred to me to give
coyote hunting a try until I started to hunt deer on this particular
ranch. The deer here are extremely alert and I soon realized that a
good part of the responsibility for the problems were the coyotes. I
made the decision to thin the coyote population out a bit, and that is
how I got into hunting this wily song-dogs for the first time, but not
the last, this winter.
In this rugged open country shoots at coyotes
can be on the long side so it is a good idea to carry some kind of
rifle rest along, such as this home-made wooden cross-sticks. For my
first coyote hunt I used my deer gun, a Weatherby
Vanguard, .270 caliber, it's a big caliber for coyotes. However, I
found that I like coyote hunting enough to purchase a dedicated coyote
hunting rifle in the near future, perhaps something in .223 Remington
should fit the bill nicely.
Good
camouflage and staying hidden from a coyotes superb vision are an
essential part of hunting success. Here, as for all of my hunting
camouflage needs, I found that ASAT camouflage works extremely well. In addition
I use whatever natural blinds I can find sometimes a patch of tall grass, as shown
here, is all that is needed.
This is the "reward" of my
first coyote hunt. With not much presonal experience about coyote
hunting I set up in a spot where I could see for about 200 yards to
either side of a cattle pasture with a creek bottom on the far end
where I have seen coyotes coming out off in the past. After about ten
minutes of calling a rabbit distress call this guy came to investigate.
The shot was only about 150 yards.
To learn
more about coyote hunting visit the "Coyote School"
blog writen by the veteran coyote hunter Al Voth.
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