Killed a biggun', but lost it...

[GC]

A few days after the bear incident I hit another favorite place of mine.  This day was forecast for an east wind which is unusual for my neck of the woods.  But that's not all bad because I have a favorite place to call that an easterly breeze plays perfectly for.  This is a fairly long hollow that runs east/west for about three miles before ending in a long arm of a big woods lake.  I park on a county road that cuts through the National Forest at the western head of the hollow.  This way I can work my way into the hollow with the wind in my face.  There is a rather large spring that runs the full length of the bottom running into the lake at the far end.  The bottom is flat and about 100 - 150 yards wide with lots of brush and downed timber from a recent ice storm.  Pines are the trees in the bottom with hardwood oak ridges on both sides.  I like to get just above the pines and brush in the bottom, working my way along the hardwoods making stands where a spur ridge or side hollow runs into the main bottom.  Doing so gets the critters out of the really thick stuff and allows a good crosswind set-up with an e-caller.  I've called fox, coyotes, and bobcat here doing this. 

This day wasn't the best of weather days.  It was warm, windy, and ended up being sunny though it began cloudy.  I worked my way along making the stands as I described for about 2 1/2 miles with nothing to show for my effort.  A 1/4 mile above the lake beavers have created a slough out of the bottom by building lots of dams here and there diverting the natural flow of the springs.  This has pretty much flooded the bottom and created a marsh or swamp just above the cove where the spring water finally runs into the lake.  I had began my morning at daylight, 7 AM here, it was now about 2PM in the afternoon.  We had a recent ice storm that snapped the tops out of many of the pines, and caused the larger crowned white oaks to simply fall over uprooted.  This has the effect of making a LOT of  debris to walk around, through, and over.  I was a mite tuckered and decided to make my last stand just above the beaver swamp.  I choose to set the e-caller and decoy down at the edge of the flat bottom just at the base of a high knob.  I sat on the knob about twenty yards behind the caller, off slightly to the side, and well above it on top of the knob.  I felt really good about this stand because 50 yards up, in a wet place, there was a huge bobcat track left from this morning.   

I fired up the FX3 with a little Lightning Jack and let it run.  At 15 minutes I saw a flash of color trotting in from across the bottom, right to left.  It was a big coyote.  I turned the volume down some and let him come.  The cover there was dog hair thick and the coyote was weaving in and out angling in to the call.  At 50 yards I semi-goofed.  I thought I was high enough, and, that the coyote was busy enough not to notice me raise the Benelli M1 to my shoulder.  I did it very slowly.  I guess not slowly enough... the coyote checked up behind a big tree that was down in the bottom and stood.  I couldn't see well enough for a shot.  Next thing I knew the coyote turned and was on his way back from where he came.  It was too far, really.  I shouldn't have, but I did anyway.  At 60 yards I "dropped the hammer" and the coyote balled up with a mighty yip!  The No. Four Buckshot put a hurtin' on him.  Just as fast, he was up and running.  A little farther on I hit him again with the second load and he yipped hard.  He kept moving and was just about as far as I could see through the brush, even with my elevated position, when I thought I saw him stagger, then he was gone.

I played the stand out another thirty minutes hoping for the cat with the big shoe size.  Nothing else came round so I went looking for the damage with the coyote.  I found him just beyond where I could see.  He had made it out into a beaver pond where the water was too deep for my boot tops.  I wasn't going to wade mid-calf through the muck and then walk nearly three hard miles back to the truck with soaking wet feet.  Though the coyote was only 50 or 60 yards out in the water, I did not physically recover him.  By the time I hiked back out, made the drive home, it was just after dark.  The little lady had a steaming hot dinner of fried deer steak, mashed taters, gravy, corn on the cob, rolls, and cold ice tea ready on the table.  Made for a fair day after all...         

[Bills Custom Calls]

to far for me  to drive for a good dinner  But sonds to me like all the hiking up over and through the brush was worth it




Bill

[FinsnFur]

I've been tossing around the idea of firing up a FinsandFur Ezine.....I think I found a writer. 
Nice story GC 

[GC]

Writer?  Na, just long winded...

[nailbender]

  Good story GC!  Too bad the big 'fish' got away!

[keekee]

Great storie, GC! Thanks for sharing!


Brent

[studabaka]

Sounds like you might want to pack a fishing rod when you call that place  You may be long winded, but I think not. The details you include bring it to life and have us right there with ya. Thanks for sharing.