My 2017 LBL hunt

[coyote101]

My brother-in-law Paul, and I arrived at Wrangler's about 9:00 Wednesday. We saw three coyotes on the ground that had been taken on Tuesday, two by riverboss (Dan) and the other by Kysongdog (Johnny). It looked like the week was off to a good start.  We headed to our cabin and got it set up for the weekend. My nephew (Paul's son) Tony arrived a couple of hours later. We had lunch and the three of us headed out for the afternoon to make a few stands.

We drove a few miles from Wrangler's, parked and headed down one of the horse trails. The first setup we got no takers so we moved a few hundred yards further down the trail to try again. Paul and Tony got set up over-watching what we thought would be the most likely avenues of approach if a coyote came in. I moved several yards across the trail to do the calling and cover the back door.

I did my best imitation of pup distress and waited. Nothing, so I started again. A few seconds into the calling I heard a blast from Tony's shotgun. I couldn't see Tony from where I was so I stayed put and switched to yelps in case there was more than one coming in. He fired again, so I kept it up a little longer and then waited a minute or so and got up to see the results.

When I got to Tony, he pointed and said, "he's laying right there." Sure enough, about thirty yards in front of  him lay a dead coyote; Tony's first. As it turned out, the first shot had hit him a little far back and the second shot was to finish the deal as he tried to get up.  A second coyote had come in, but never offered a shot. We shook hands, took a few hero shots, and moved on down the trail to try for another.

Tony with his first coyote:
 

We made two more stands with no luck before heading back to Wrangler's. We added Tony's coyote to the pile, bringing the total to four, and went to the cabin for dinner. Unfortunately, when Paul called his wife that evening, he found out that his mother had been hospitalized. Because of the unreliable cell phone coverage, and fearing that he might miss an emergency call, he decided to leave and missed the rest of the week.

Thursday morning Tony and I went squirrel hunting with topdawg (Jeremy) and his dog Sugar. The conditions weren't the best and we only saw two squirrels, both of which managed to escape despite our expert marksmanship. Back to camp for lunch and then the three of us headed out for an afternoon of coyote hunting. We made a lot of stands, but didn't see anything.

Later that evening, my friend Pete arrived. Pete and I were stationed together in Germany in the mid-80's, and have stayed in touch in the years since. He spent nearly twenty years in Alaska, and had me up there three times to hunt moose with him. He moved to Missouri the year before last, and I talked him into driving over for the LBL hunt this year.
 
Friday morning, Pete, Tony and I made a bunch of calling stands, but didn't get anything other than sore feet! That afternoon Tony took a break while Pete and I went squirrel hunting with Jeremy and Sugar for a couple hours.

Pete and Chris checking out the fur pile:


The afternoon started off pretty slow, but picked up some in the last half hour before dark. In that time we saw three squirrels and managed to knock all three of them out of the tops of some really tall trees.  When we got back to Wrangler's, Jeremy put on a squirrel cleaning clinic. He can skin and clean a squirrel in two to three minutes and is pretty impressive to watch.

Saturday we lounged around the cabin till late in the morning and then drove up to the north end for another try at the coyotes. Walk, setup, call...walk, setup, call, over and over. All the while getting further away from the truck. We finally got to what would be our last stand before having to turn around, as we had bumped into the lake.

Pete and Tony set up looking down a hillside into a draw, hoping to get a shot at a coyote in the draw trying to get downwind. I stayed further up the hillside and did the calling. I did several series of calls with no response and then......bang!.....I heard Pete shoot. And then he shot again......and again. I did a few yelps and waited a minute before heading down to where he was.

It turns out a coyote had done just as we'd hoped. He'd come along the hillside on the other side of the draw, crossed the draw, and was coming up the hillside to get down wind of me. Pete fired when the coyote stepped up on a log about forty yards from him. Unfortunately, he missed. He shot at him a couple more times as it ran back across the draw, headed up the hill and disappeared. I think he missed on purpose because he didn't want to drag the thing all the way back to the truck! But I could be wrong.

Pete pointing to the spot where the coyote stopped before making it's escape:


We made the long trek back to the truck and drove back to Wrangler's in time to catch Slagmaker and centerfire_223 (Ronnie) stirring the final ingredients into the stew pot.


A couple of hours later we had the annual gathering at the Outpost, with dinner, consisting of Slag's delicious stew and three different cobblers made by Drew and Chris (under the expert tutelage of Fozzybear (Darrin)), followed by the drawing for door prizes.

The drawing is always the highlight of the evening, and once again (with Jacob's help) we were able to give away some really great gifts. Many thanks to all who contributed, especially HuntnCarve, Orion, and JohnP, who sent prizes even though they were not able to attend.

Some of the many prizes given away:


Sunday morning we packed up and headed home, thankful for the great weather and looking forward to next year.

If you have never been to the LBL hunt, or haven't been in a while, I highly encourage you to make plans for next year. You won't regret it.

Pat

[Frogman]

Nice write up, Pat!!

Jim

[centerfire_223]

Great pictures and story Pat.

[FinsnFur]

Very nice Pat. I have got to get back down there.
Do you mind me using some of your pics?

[coyote101]

Do you mind me using some of your pics?

Not at all.

Pat

[slagmaker]

Great write up pat. Loved the pics.

[slagmaker]

Very nice Pat. I have got to get back down there.

Should we start planning your kidnapping?

[nastygunz]

 There is a good  Bunch of guys on this forum who get along off-line and online unlike most forums, I swear I am going to make it down there one of these days! 

[FinsnFur]

Very nice Pat. I have got to get back down there.

Should we start planning your kidnapping?

Yes, and let me know where to be waiting with my own ransom money

[kyfuzzyface]

I sure missed not being there AGAIN

[slagmaker]

Very nice Pat. I have got to get back down there.

Should we start planning your kidnapping?

Yes, and let me know where to be waiting with my own ransom money

You can drop off the ransom money at cabin A-3 Wranglers campground, Golden Pond KY.

That is the middle cabin as soon as you pass the gate house.
Please bring small bills as the strippers don't like making change.

[securpro]

Awesome story Pat and Thank you. Jim that kidnapping may already be in the works... 

[kyfuzzyface]

Awesome story Pat and Thank you. Jim that kidnapping may already be in the works... 

Ha from what I am reading most would rather talk about anything except coyote hunting   
But thanks for the pictuures Pat