Trad Gang
Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: wapiti792 on October 25, 2014, 10:51:00 PM
-
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.
(http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r296/wapiti792/imagejpg1-26.jpg) (http://s147.photobucket.com/user/wapiti792/media/imagejpg1-26.jpg.html)
-
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...
(http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r296/wapiti792/imagejpg2-18.jpg) (http://s147.photobucket.com/user/wapiti792/media/imagejpg2-18.jpg.html)
*Ray Charles
(http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r296/wapiti792/imagejpg3-13.jpg) (http://s147.photobucket.com/user/wapiti792/media/imagejpg3-13.jpg.html)
*Bonus...spot it?
-
:campfire:
-
Nice little shed on your retrieval.
-
Nice find! Good shooting. Kill em all :) My son has a vendetta against those buggars.
-
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.
(http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r296/wapiti792/imagejpg7-4.jpg) (http://s147.photobucket.com/user/wapiti792/media/imagejpg7-4.jpg.html)
*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.
(http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r296/wapiti792/imagejpg4-12.jpg) (http://s147.photobucket.com/user/wapiti792/media/imagejpg4-12.jpg.html)
*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.
(http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r296/wapiti792/imagejpg6-6.jpg) (http://s147.photobucket.com/user/wapiti792/media/imagejpg6-6.jpg.html)
*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 :)
(http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r296/wapiti792/imagejpg5-9.jpg) (http://s147.photobucket.com/user/wapiti792/media/imagejpg5-9.jpg.html)
-
Great shooting Mike. The yotes are devasting the fawns and turkey poults here in my neck of the woods as well.
-
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 :scared:
Kill them all, I know our deer on the land I hunt have seen a decline and I place the blame squarely on them.
-
You're one deadly dude Mike!
-
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 :bigsmyl: Sounds like a fawn in distress call could keep the action hot. Those coyote skulls look good all finished as well.
-
Nicely done. Sounds like some fun!
-
Nice job!
-
:archer:
-
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.
-
Wow! GREAT hunting!
-
I love to see them down,congrats.
-
Well done!
-
What a hunt!!! Congrats
-
Congrats again buddy :bigsmyl: 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!
(http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac248/TmPotter47/null_zpsf685ec83.jpg)
Tracy
-
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
-
Wow Tracy crazy pic!!! I am going to turn up the heat on my little farm. I am going to try my hand at trapping this winter. Maybe when I come visit we can run some of your sets! We are losing turkey and fawns like crazy. Last year I called in yotes 3 different times in the spring. I had a tons of birds a few years back this fall our hens are cut in half.
Thanks guys! These critters make you keep your head on a swivel and I wonder how many are really around if I am killing them with a recurve using a simple lip squeak.
-
wow way to go Mike.
now get in the truck and get over here and kill some of them here at 5 Pines!
-
Wow that's incredible congrats
-
Great shooting, great story and a great lesson for all of those reading. Every bowhunter needs to learn how to do a lip squeak... just about any kind of squeak you can make will work.
Before you get down or leave your stand in the morning set aside 15-20 minutes to squeak. You can get some extra action.
-
Pour the heat on !!!
Good shooting..
-
Man its still hard to believe brother Mike and I was there for the ride minus the shooting. Its tough business but somebody has to do it. Love the thread. Don't worry "Sticker" is around somewhere and is a load of trouble if he gets in front of you! Congrats again. And by the way your up at the skinning shed next time!
-
Great shooting! That is crazy how think the yotes are up there! Good luck with stickers!
-
Quite the 24 hours!! congratulations-Hap
-
Great report and nice shooting.
-
Awesome tale Mike!
I want to shoot just one yote with my stickbow! The few opps I have had have all happened to quickly and I muffed them!
Good luck putting an arrow in that big buck!
Bisch
-
Really cool stuff. You got my blood boiling . :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
-
Nice going! :notworthy:
-
Great job!!
You will now be known as the Yote Whisperer.
You could have probably got Tracy to come over and skin it for ya. He is good, watched him skin one the other day!!
-
Awesome! Howard Hill said he felt like the coyote was the smartest of all animals...Congrats!
-
Nice work! They are high on my hit list!
-
Mike,
Nice shootin' on the yotes, keep it up we got more than our share down here as well.
-
Great work Brother!
-
Must not be doing the "squeak" right. Mine either pay no attention or run like h--- the other way.
-
Thanks everyone! Thumper, you are the coyote master, and I am but a neophyte!
I am going to turn those hides into something cool. A hat, some leggings and a quiver. I have a total of four to tan so should be fun. Soon as furbearers open here the next big coon that comes by is going into the crockpot so I can make something out of it too.
May not kill a whitetail this year but I am going to be full up on some fur :campfire:
-
:thumbsup:
-
Incredible stuff, congrats. I haven't seen one while hunting in a while.
-
Nice work! That's quite an accomplishment.
I saw two coyotes this weekend. One was at about 40 yards and slinking away as if they sneaking up on something (though I'm pretty sure if I'd been paying closer attention, it had to have passed within range at some point).
The second was yesterday morning while glassing. I was ground hunting and I was putting my binos back down on my chest when I noticed something 'odd' standing about 30 yards in front of me that hadn't been there before. I put the glass on it, and it was a coyote looking right back at me. It had been walking from my right to left and was standing broadside. It immediately put its head down and trotted off before I could take aim (30 yds is pretty much my absolute limit, bit for a yote, I'd make an exception).
Unfortunately, I'd left my rabbit distress call at camp. And like an idgit, I didn't even think about the lip squeaks mentioned in this thread. /facepalm Now I'm kicking myself for the second time. This is something I will be practicing soon.
-
Awesome Mike but you guy's have way too many coyotes. Good shooting!
-
Congratulations Mike!
Nice bow too!
-
You would know Phillip!!! It is getting some work in man :thumbsup:
-
Don't you go worrying about killing those coyotes Mike. It's all part of the master plan. Coyotes help keep deer and rabbit populations in check. Big Mike does his part to keep the yote populations in check. Natures balancing act, and you're right in the middle of the cycle of life!
Congrats on some fine shooting!!
-
Keep at em don't think you will hurt the population ...
,,,,Sam,,,,,
-
Excellent shooting, and a great story! :archer2:
-
Good Going Mike. Days like that come only once in a while.
-
x2 on hurting the yote population
Keep shooting em
-
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
-
That is really something. Good for you Mike.
-
Nice shooting, there must be a good population of yotes in your area. Good hunting Mike.
-
Nice shootings!
-
Way to go Mike!
-
:clapper: :clapper:
-
Excellent!
-
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
-
Awesome brother!!!! :archer2:
-
I just thought of something Mike! If you keep this up, you are going to be giving Thumper Dunker a run for his money as Coyote King!!!
Bisch
-
Now that's what I call a mighty fine time ...
Nice shoot'n
-
Thanks again everyone! I had a nice flock of turkeys working into bow range this am and had a dang 'yote bust 'em up! Can you say nemesis?
Bisch, I am not even in Ol Thumper's neighborhood! I am triple AAA and he's a big leaguer :)
-
MIKE
Congratulations on the fine shooting. Great story :)
-
Your new name is 'Yotesbane.