16ga.com ~ View topic - An Indiana Story: " Snow Roosters and the Coyote"

Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 787 Location: Indiana

"Sometimes you can't find them" is a quote from a long ago story about quail, written by Havilah Babcock. I was hoping this would not be the case today as I left my home about 10:30 this morning, searching for ducks and pheasants. The thermometer read about 19 degrees but the pale sun was shining. I tried to ignore the wind, which was blowing snow across the county roads as I made my way to a cover in northern Starke county that features a series of interconnecting drainage ditches, corn stubble and weed-infested CRP acreage.

My dog has been suffering from hot spots and skin allergies this season so we were hunting more open cover today to reduce his physical stress. This particular farm is more "navigable" than some of the true hellholes I hunt, but it has enough briar patches and horseweeds to harbor a respectable number of birds. I continued to use my new 20 ga. Beretta Silverhawk, partly because it fits so well and partly out of superstition: for whatever reason, I've been shooting it well and I hated to break the streak...I was loaded up with the Winchester #6 Super X Double X mag in the right barrel and a 1 oz. Winchester Super X #5 in the left.

We walked about 200 yards to the CRP portion of the cover, and as good fortune would have it, from his first step into this section of horseweeds, the dog was all business, immediately striking scent and casting about intently; first heading deeper into the weeds, then back to the cover's eastern boundary---I expected a flush at any second---as he turned back the way we had come, I thought I had better move his direction when the rooster got up, turned into the wind and intercepted my 30 yard shot, tumbling limply to the snow. When Pal brought him back to me, I could see by the stubby spurs he was a bird of the year, and that I had apparently hit him in the head and neck. He was dead when the dog reached me.

This had proven to be a good start to the hunt, and we worked deeper into the cover, along a drainage ditch where the bank was cloaked in foxtail and brambles. Pal began to scent birds again and made for a particularly heavy patch of weeds and briars when hens and roosters began erupting from it, heading in all directions. I did have a fleeting shot at a cock, but he was pounding straight away from me at over 30 yards. I did not like those odds with a 20 gauge and held my fire. I wasn't pleased that I was not in position to shoot at those birds. Though we kicked up a stray hen at the ditchbank, we saw no more roosters in this field.

We worked a second field; this one featured a very heavy, tight bramble patch which looked birdy to me. Pal ducked into the cover, but in seconds, came to a complete stop, then whined, backing away. As I approached, I could see a large, four legged creature rise from the middle of the briars and trot toward the drainage ditch. I wasn't expecting to see a coyote, but here was one now, not 20 yards away, and I didn't want my dog to mix it up with him. I fired my right barrel of #6's into him, and this turned the coyote toward me; as he was still on his feet, I fired the left barrel of #5's into his shoulder and he dropped, but continued to thrash around in the weeds. With fumbling fingers, for this was the first coyote I had ever shot, I reloaded with the #5's, advanced to within about 10 yards and finished him with the right barrel. All the while, my dog had been a spectator, but at the demise of this big canine, he became brave and loped up, growling and acting tough. I waved him away and dragged the silver coated coyote out to the cover's edge, leaving the beast while we worked the remainder of the cover for pheasants.

Finding no more birds, we began the hike back toward the truck. I can attest to the fact that carrying a 6 1/2 lb. shotgun, a 3 lb. rooster and dragging a 35-40 lb. coyote can get tiring in a hurry! We had a windy walk of several hundred yards to the Z-71, where the plunder was loaded up, I poured a cup of coffee and we drove to another cover.

This tract, about two miles west of our previous spot, features a cover which is only about 75 yards wide and maybe 200 yards long, but it contains cattails, swamp grass and reed canary grass and it offers fine concealment and protective cover from the elements. It's thick and wet, and the birds seem to love it. It is in fact so thick that my overeager dog often works it quickly and we have to slow down and work the weeds into the wind, thoroughly, as the birds often sit tight. This is what occurred today, as the dog barreled through the swampgrass feverishly, reversed direction, caught fresh scent, and nosed the cattails whith such intensity that I knew something was going to come out of there.

That "something" was a cackling rooster that rocketed out of the grass, smoking toward the safety of an adjoining CRP field. He presented a quartering-away shot at about 15 yards, and, never really hearing the shot, I fired and feathers flew as the cock stiffened and dropped stone dead into the grass.

This was a day of firsts; I shot my first-ever coyote and could not help thinking how ironic it was that one predator had taken another... my final bird was my first rooster of the year out of this particular cover--and it will be the first time I ever received a check from a fur buyer...as usual, a wonderful adventure and a thrilling hunt. There are another two weeks left in the pheasant season, but this day will be hard to top...I had my daughter take pictures of the day's bag with her digital camera, and I'd post them if I only knew how...

my daughter has figured this out for me..!!

Member Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Posts: 989 Location: Las Vegas

Wolfchief: I speak for myself and, I am sure, others when I tell you how much I enjoy your "diaries". For those of us who live well out of pheasant country we can live vicariously through your stories.

Highly unusual to "walk up" on a coyote!

I have attached a thread from anothe site I frequent which details how one can post pics. This thread information uses tinypic.com, however, I use photobucket.com.

http://p205.ezboard.com/fclarksclassicflyrodforumfrm16.showMessage?topicID=20.topic

If you have any problems please e-mail me at matt@nevadacommercial.com and I will try to walk you through it, or, you can e-mail me the pics and I will post them.

Thanks again!

Matt

Member Joined: 08 Nov 2005 Posts: 3438 Location: Illinois

Keep 'em coming---temps are supposed to warm up this week for us--into the 40's

Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 787 Location: Indiana

I'm trying to get some photos posted of the above hunt---hope to share them soon...I did manage to sell the coyote "in carcass" (unskinned) for $10 last night...

Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 787 Location: Indiana

We got the pictures, please refer to the original text. Hope you enjoy them.

Congratulations on a fine hunt. I've actually killed two coyotes with the 16 ga and #6's - one two years ago and another this year, both on the same piece of land. Maybe something in the local genetics makes these coyotes hold for a bird dog, it seems very strange that both flushed from tall grass after my dog and I approached within 15 yds! We were actually hunting sharptails, but it's nice to prove once again that the 16 ga remains a very versatile choice for mixed bag hunting!