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Author
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Topic: Eerily beautiful scene
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Cdog911
"There are some ideas so absurd only an intellectual could believe them."--George Orwell.
Member # 7
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posted January 07, 2008 02:05 PM
And God, how I wish I had an actual picture to share with you.
This morning, I went out to try and handle a nuisance issue involving a pack of coyotes Matt and I have played with for several seasons now. The owner was nice enough to plant a couple carcasses for us to hunt over (we didn't tell him he would only be drawing more coyotes in by doing so) except that the way he positioned the dead pile, he gave the coyotes the advantage by placing them where they can see nearly 600 yards in every direction... except for one.
NW of the pile, across a deep ravine, is a pond dam about a hundred yards wide. Just east of it is a flat hilltop that drops abruptly into the ravine separating it and the pile by a hundred yards. I had a plan that would require a S, E, or SE wind and total darkness. Under a moonless sky, I traveled down that ravine, 3/4 of a mile this morning, and laid down on that flat hilltop. With my gun on the bipod and butt rest Randy Shaw made me, I laid prone and actually went to sleep for a while while I waited for light.
At about 6:50, a train 4 miles south of me blew its whistle woke me and the coyotes answered back from what I believed to be 1/2 - 1 miles south of me.
At just after seven, I was glassing the twilight for a big mineral feeder that I knew was just a dozen or so yards SE of the dead pile in the ravine. In the background while looking at the mineral feeder was a long winding pond, iced over and reflecting the pink and blue hues of the eastern sky. And on that ice, I caught movement.
One, two, a pair together makes four, then another single (five). Five coyotes. No, hold it. There's another, and another. Seven coyotes, five hundred yards out, trotting in single file north toward the overgrown pasture we know they call home during the day.
I wish I had a picture of all seven on the ice. Nothing but black silhouettes against the burning pink and blue early morning sunrise. An absolutely awesome sight: the determined leader, those in the middle playing grab ass and the two in the back slipping and sliding trying to keep up.
I gave a few short muffled squeals on my Tweety call and waited. Through gaps in the locust trees to my east, I could see them continuing northward, and had just about written them off when I saw two dark images approaching in the still dark grass. I realized that their approach would take them to my left, keeping a hill between us, and taking them downwind of me. So, I quickly folded my bipods and began belly crawling to the left. Hugging the ground like a squirrel on a limb, I got about thirty yards when the first of the two came into view through the foot high grass. He checked up, staring at me from fifty yards. As he bobbed his head up and down, left and right, I slowly reached up, dropped my bipods and cantilevered the rifle until I found him in my scope.
Bang. A tuft of white hair rose as the coyote dropped. Number two was nowhere to be found, nor were the other five.
I did manage to get a positive location on the dead pile and identified three other vantage points for setups with different winds before leaving. Brent Rueb will be here to hunt the last weekend of the month and I may just put him on the survivors.
[ January 07, 2008, 02:07 PM: Message edited by: Cdog911 ]
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I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something; and, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
Posts: 5440 | From: The gun-lovin', gun-friendly wild, wild west | Registered: Jan 2003
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Locohead
World Famous Smoke Dancer
Member # 15
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posted January 08, 2008 05:26 PM
That would be a gorgeous picture Lance. Maybe you can get a picture of 5 when Brent comes out, huh? Don't forget your camera. Sounds like a great magazine cover. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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I love my critters and chick!!!! :)
Posts: 2219 | From: CO | Registered: Jan 2003
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Cdog911
"There are some ideas so absurd only an intellectual could believe them."--George Orwell.
Member # 7
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posted January 08, 2008 06:37 PM
It sure would have made one, Danny. But, it's etched in my brain as a memory now. Guess that'll have to do.
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I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something; and, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
Posts: 5440 | From: The gun-lovin', gun-friendly wild, wild west | Registered: Jan 2003
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