By Glen Wunderlich
Coyote hunting has always intrigued me and with all the sign we had been seeing on a parcel of land in Shiawassee County, it was time to see if we could lure one into rifle range. Just about anyone will remark about the number of coyotes there are, but doing something about thinning the population is another matter altogether. They have a nose that knows, and hearing and eyesight suited to their instinct to kill whatever they can.
During daylight hours, the game laws permit the use of centerfire rifles for coyotes in southern Michigan, so my friend, Joe Reynolds, and I devised a plan in which we could both tote trusty long-range firearms. Joe’s tool for the job is a real shooter: a Ruger in .300 Winchester Magnum, outfitted with a Timney trigger, topped off with a 6.5 x 20 power Leupold scope, and fed with handloads of rocket-like 110-grain Hornady spire points. It’s point and shoot without any need to consider holdover anywhere in the field we were to hunt.
I was carrying a dual purpose rifle suited for anything from bear to woodchuck: a Browning model BAR, scoped with an Aimpoint Hunter. This classic was stoked with homebrewed 110-grain Hornady V-Max verminators.
Our plan was to set up in the dark Saturday morning April 9th with only about a week left in the season. (Yes, there is a season unless you are on private property and witness a coyote “doing or about to do damage.” Then they can be taken any time, but since I can’t comprehend what a wild animal is about to do, I hunt during the stated season.)
I set up our full-body Flambeau coyote decoy about 100 yards up wind of our blind. Next to it, I poked a rod into the ground with a spring and imitation tail fastened to the other end of it powered by 4 “C” cell batteries in a plastic compartment. It’s called a Predator Enticer (www.LiveDecoy.com) and spins and bounces at timed intervals, thus adding some crazy motion to our set up.
Late Season Coyote
About 50 yards closer to our stand, I set out a FoxPro FX3 receiver/speaker and headed back to the shack where I would dictate sounds with the remote control device in hand.
Joe was already set up at the blind when I returned. I then cycled the action on my semi-auto BAR trying not to make too much noise in the still, foggy early morning air.
When we were finally able to see across the field, I sent the first signal to the receiver, which imitated a rabbit in distress. I altered the volume for a few minutes and nothing appeared so I mixed in some female invitation and challenge calls. These calls are boomed out of the diminutive digital device and we were sure something would come running in. Still nothing.
I paused for a while then tried a woodpecker in distress call – a bit odd, but maybe different enough to trick a cunning canine.
It worked. I made the spot at over 100 yards on the edge of the field and moved my rifle into position and held on the chest of the wily one. With the red dot centered, I squeezed the trigger. Click!
I knew I was in trouble and I immediately suspected what had happened. In my desire to be quiet when I cycled the rifle, I eased the bolt forward so it wouldn’t slam shut. Wrong! It didn’t strip a round from the magazine, meaning it never loaded one into the chamber. The coyote was too close at 120 yards for me to recover, so I urged Joe to take the shot.
Joe's Late Season Prize
The mighty Ruger roared and the huge female fell victim to our ruse.
I learned two valuable lessons that morning: chamber a round before getting on stand and always take a friend who happens to be a good shot.
