Three Drives
First Drive
This is the hunt described in “Lots of Predators in View”.
Second Drive
This past Friday (yesterday), Rhoda and I went for a drive looking for foxes and coyotes.
We saw three coyotes and I got a shot at one but had to guess the range and Rhoda said I hit just over its back.
Later we stopped at a place where I’d gotten a long shot at a fox last week. I took my laser rangefinder with me and Rhoda parked the truck at the position from which I’d been shooting. I snow-shoed in (I probably shouldn’t have because I have a chest cold and I had to stop and do a bit of coughing every 50-100 yards. But I managed to get the range–991 yards. Couldn’t find any sign of the fox, though–too much time had passed and too much melting had taken place.
Third Drive
Went for another drive this morning. Spotted two singles, one triple, and three doubles; total of eleven coyotes. Also saw one fox curled up, snoozing. I did a u-turn after driving well past the first single and then drove most of the way back before stopping the vehicle and heading across a farm field and to the top of a shallow rolling hill. The coyote had moved off but was still mousing around. Unfortunately, there was another shallow hill between the two of us and when I lay prone I couldn’t see it. I was able to see it from a sitting position but it was just a bit too far.
A few minutes later we (I was driving with my deer-hunting partner, Gary) spotted the triple. They weren’t much afraid but had walked into a small bush before I was ready to shoot. When they moseyed out the other side, I cross-haired one that stood broadside. At the shot I saw it landing from a jump as my rifle came back from recoil and Gary told me that it did a complete forward summersault before lighting the afterburners. Later today I’ll put on my snowshoes and go out for a look-see.
About an hour later we caught one of a pair at a decent shooting distance from a road but by the time we got legal it had doubled the distance heading west. Gary’s first shot kicked up snow a bit low but right under the coyote’s east end. His second did much the same but was even lower. It was exciting to watch through the binoculars.
Our other best opportunity was a fox curled up, snoozing, in a field. Unfortunately it was across the road from some cattle and too close to a farm house. Dang! Murphy at work again.
With the right equipment we might have had shots most all the animals we saw. I really need a longer-range rifle…Say, I’ve got a birthday coming up in nine months…
Rhooooddaaaaa…<G>
Ken
