DAA
Well-Known Member
- Location
- West Bountiful, UT
I don't usually kill coyote this time of year. But, I had an opportunity to spend the whole week learning from two of the best in the business and no way was I passing up that chance. They are full time professional predator control guys, with decades of professional experience each, working out of Gillette, Wyoming. They kill coyotes for a living, to protect livestock.
That is a completely different deal than recreational calling. It's a helluva lot harder to find and kill specific coyotes, in specific places, at specific times, than it is to just kill "a" coyote, wherever, whenever. There aren't very many coyotes at all where we were hunting, in and around sheep pastures. Because these guys are working year round to make damn sure there are as few coyotes as possible in the area. But, you can't ever get them all. And this time of year, the coyotes are denning and the baby lambs are in the pastures, a bad combination... I saw enough coyote killed lambs this week. Most not even fed on, just killed and left. When that is happening, it's these guys job to make it stop and they take their work very, very seriously. Their approach is utterly professional, nothing the least bit recreational about it. And this time of year, with lambs in the pasture, they pretty much work non-stop, every waking minute of the day.
So, I considered it quite the privilege, that I was invited to come spend the week learning from them. They can't afford to have a rookie screw anything up and I was glad they considered me seasoned enough to be trusted not to screw anything up. And, I didn't.
Anyway... We hunted our guts out. Up at 4 or 5 AM every morning, not getting back to the casa till around midnight every night. Killed coyotes every day, but we sure worked for them. Like I say, we weren't out just looking for any old coyote, wherever we could find them. We were targeting lamb killers in the areas the killing was taking place. And, while, like I said, I don't typically kill them this time of year, I got a lot of satisfaction out of first finding the offending coyotes, then coming up with a plan, then moving in and executing the plan to call them in and kill them.
We also set traps for one and called in an airplane to aerial gun another one that we couldn't call in. As well as doing the grunt work of finding the dens after killing the adults.
Anyway... I packed a rifle all except one morning, when I decided to carry my camera on two stands instead. All these pictures are from just those two stands.
This is one of the dogs that my friends use to bring coyotes in close and help find dens this time of year.
Watching the dogs work the coyotes was the highlight of the whole trip. Just a very cool thing to watch!
More coyote pics, notice the blue left eye on this female. Only the second blue eyed coyote I've ever seen.
I learned a lot this week. I stayed at one of my friends house and we ate, drank, talked, slept, hunted and worked coyotes non-stop the whole week. I was soaking in knowledge like a sponge the whole time. I've got some new tricks up my sleeve. No doubt my game is going to be improved this coming season.
- DAA
That is a completely different deal than recreational calling. It's a helluva lot harder to find and kill specific coyotes, in specific places, at specific times, than it is to just kill "a" coyote, wherever, whenever. There aren't very many coyotes at all where we were hunting, in and around sheep pastures. Because these guys are working year round to make damn sure there are as few coyotes as possible in the area. But, you can't ever get them all. And this time of year, the coyotes are denning and the baby lambs are in the pastures, a bad combination... I saw enough coyote killed lambs this week. Most not even fed on, just killed and left. When that is happening, it's these guys job to make it stop and they take their work very, very seriously. Their approach is utterly professional, nothing the least bit recreational about it. And this time of year, with lambs in the pasture, they pretty much work non-stop, every waking minute of the day.
So, I considered it quite the privilege, that I was invited to come spend the week learning from them. They can't afford to have a rookie screw anything up and I was glad they considered me seasoned enough to be trusted not to screw anything up. And, I didn't.
Anyway... We hunted our guts out. Up at 4 or 5 AM every morning, not getting back to the casa till around midnight every night. Killed coyotes every day, but we sure worked for them. Like I say, we weren't out just looking for any old coyote, wherever we could find them. We were targeting lamb killers in the areas the killing was taking place. And, while, like I said, I don't typically kill them this time of year, I got a lot of satisfaction out of first finding the offending coyotes, then coming up with a plan, then moving in and executing the plan to call them in and kill them.
We also set traps for one and called in an airplane to aerial gun another one that we couldn't call in. As well as doing the grunt work of finding the dens after killing the adults.
Anyway... I packed a rifle all except one morning, when I decided to carry my camera on two stands instead. All these pictures are from just those two stands.
This is one of the dogs that my friends use to bring coyotes in close and help find dens this time of year.
Watching the dogs work the coyotes was the highlight of the whole trip. Just a very cool thing to watch!
More coyote pics, notice the blue left eye on this female. Only the second blue eyed coyote I've ever seen.
I learned a lot this week. I stayed at one of my friends house and we ate, drank, talked, slept, hunted and worked coyotes non-stop the whole week. I was soaking in knowledge like a sponge the whole time. I've got some new tricks up my sleeve. No doubt my game is going to be improved this coming season.
- DAA