Kind of did get off on a tangent there maybe....
Well it's just nice to see everyone scoring, no matter what's going down I guess.
Many are trying to fill their deer tags, but we get a lot of fox & coyote action during that time because of all the hunter's cruising the woods.
Dennis pegged a nice male coyote last year with a slug, when he was on stand for deer. Spun his butt in a nice circle.
I'm afraid to see what my cast handloaded slugs will do if he gets a repeat of the same incident this year. They're accurate as all hell, and they carry a large flat nose about the size of a nickle. They're 1 1/4 ounces, and travelling at about 1400fps. so there's some real energy there.
Many guys out deer hunting, won't shoot a fox and take a chance of screwing up their deer hunting, and I'm kind of in that category.
Coyote's yes, fox.....not really, unless it's a real trophy maybe.
After deer season ends, fox are the real "First Responders" of the predator world, and we usually get far more fox responses than coyotes overall. So usually, with that in mind, we give fox the "wave on" during deer season.
Coyote's never get a pass............period.
We'll be changing our tactics somewhat this year and be hunting the thicker cover more so than the last few. Sleddog had mentioned his style, and after considering our experiences over the last 4 or 5 yrs, we decided to modify it somewhat. Not totally, but get a little more strategic I guess.
Along with some new custom calls (thanks greatly Mark), and some additional modfications to our calling, maybe it'll bear some fruit.
Dennis and I hunt together, and seperately, maybe we could gain more ground, "bagwise", but theres also other factors to consider. "More eyes" make sighting them much easier, and having one with a shotgun and the other with a rifle seems to be a bonus in most cases. I think that two hunter's are better overall, if strategies are planned out ahead of time. One on the ground calling with another in a treestand is another concept we're kicking around.
Alternating calls from one to another has it's pros & cons, but if worked out between each other ahead of time, it can really be a winner. Dennis and I try and match our call tones maybe, but vary the volume somewhat.
Using totally different calls, between to hunters, I'm sure, could get very confusing to the quarry.
Hopefully this year will produce some good results....but I said that last year also....so who knows...
Take care,
Bob