Coyote Rodeo

[UphillDoc 278]

I load "Grace, Gus and Cookie" for a morning of coyote hunting. B.W is going bear hunting but I bow out. I decide to cast them thru a big, broken sage section and see if they can get one stirred up. Im driving along side real slow scanning the horizon and watching the dogs hunt up. I get thru the first section without seeing anything. As I drive across the next plateau, I get a call from "Coyote Capps" to tell me they may hit the running ground tonight if I want to go...hell yea I want to go. Im telling him what Im doing when I spot a coyote skylined to my left about 200 yards out. Needless to say I get off the phone quick...LOL Its watching the dogs cast about below him, but keeping an eye on me to. About the time it starts to trot away, "Gus" notices it and starts its way. "Grace" sees him go and follows, pretty quick she spots him and the race is on. ""Gus" is opening a little and this draws "Cookie" to them. She roars up and soons spots the coyote. Its running full blast, and so are they. "Cookie" catches another gear and runs off from "Grace" and "Gus" They top out and Im in hot pursuit to where I think they are headed. When I get to the top of the ridge I expect to see them out in font of me, but they are not there. I jump out and climb on top the dogbox to have a look. In a minute or two I spot them behind me and to my left. I have no idea how they got there, unless they cut behind me in the sage when I was ripping up to the top. I see no evidence of a fight on them, but Im still plenty excited. I need a damn dump box, and some faster dogs!!!

I cant leave it at that, so I load the dogs and head for a calling spot. On the way I spot another coyote across the canal from me and debate about hip shooting it, but decide to leave it for a future run. I get to the calling spot, and unload the dogs. We hike in and set up. Im up on a rimrock ledge The dogs make a big loop and start coming back in. I start to call and just finish my first series when I spot a coyote coming hard from way out in front of me. It comes hard to about 200 yards then pulls up. I figure it must have spotted the dogs coming in to me, but it looks in the other direction. I cant see anything but figure it must have a mate coming to the call as well. I look back for the dogs and they are almost to me. The coyote starts coming in again and "Cookie" spots him, she heads back down the ledge and "Grace and Gus" follow her. She hits the afterburners when she gets down to the flat and the coyote sees her coming and whirls. Just as "Grace and Gus" are about to get down the ledge 3 coyotes come in hard and close from the right (must have been what the other coyote was watching) They start barking/howling at "Cookie" as she runs towards the first coyote and this pulls "Grace and Gus" to them. "Grace" picks one out and is pushing it hard, they cross behind "Cookie" and her coyote and I notice there are 2 coyotes with "Grace" one running in front, one chasing HER!!! "Gus" is switching from coyote to coyote, running in circles barking...LOL He picks one out and takes it straight away. I see "Cookie" has closed and looks like she will have a chance to grab just before they head over the hill out of sight. "Grace" and her two head out as well. Just as I am about to start laughing at the coyote rodeo I just witnessed, ANOTHER coyote comes in from my left. It must have watched the show and is standing below me raising hell about it all. 10 minutes goes by and no sign of my dogs. The coyote below me has not stopped barking so I stay put. Another 10 minutes goes by before I see any movement coming back over the hill. At this point I figure the "Gus" pup has probably gotten whipped or worse. I zoom the scope to 14x and see its all three dogs coming back together, with no coyotes in tow. As they get closer I can see thru the scope that "Grace" has alot of blood on her. The coyote is still raising hell and as the dogs get to about 200 yards they must hear her, as they pick up the pace a bit. Pretty quick it notices them coming, and trys to sneak out of the sage its in. They spot it and pick it up some more but no where near as fast as when they left...LOL I decide to give them a hand and put one in her hip. It rolls and trys to make the next section of sage, but they overhaul it and finish the job. Now I start to laugh...and think to myself, if I had a tent I could call this a circus and charge admission!

I check over the dogs and "Cookie" has blood but no marks that I can see, "Grace" has been bitten on the head, but the blood all over her chest and shoulders aint hers. I dont know what happened on the other side of the hill, but what happened on my side was a classic...LMFAO

The best part is, my day aint over. Im stilll going to the running grounds and try to chase some with "Coyote Capps" and his stags tonight.

 

Take care.

[Simoman 110]

Great read, thanks for sharing.

[darza 8]

excellent read cheers for sharing mate,hope all goes well later,looking forward to reading more.

[bullmastiff 610]

Cracking write up mate! sounds like a good Craic!

[Autumnbriar 0]

WOW can't wait!.......great plains here I come!

[just jack 997]

feck me DOC, great write up, i thought i was there

[rolly 0]

Helluva rodeo Uphill. Nothing like having a plan come together!!!!LOL

I was laughing my arse off!

[Joe Kelly 0]

How are you. You debated hipshooting the coyote. i thought the coyote hounds were bred to take coyote without the aid of firearms? Why would you hipshoot?

[Kye 77]

lol...your a fecking nutter S....

 

If only you had some Blister x Grace pups, then the yotes wouldnt have made it outta the basin!...lol.

 

Good shit though mate...maybe get over your way sometime...i might be picking up a Rig from WY at some point, so we shall see eh?...i wont be making Loomis, this year, so that sucks.

 

Jay..

[allgame 0]

mate after my dogs had killed that many i would be shooting too wouldnt make sense to waer the dogs out on a run they couldnt catch especially if he's going out a second time

graet read also isnt it funny that if you ever get a call when hunting you seem to always spot somthing

[UphillDoc 278]

Thanks all, glad you enjoyed the story of our little clusterfuck...

 

dogmandango-I did spend some time looking, but there is ALOT of ground they could have been in, so when I didnt find the source of the blood, I just loaded up.

 

Joe Kelly-When I am hunting with adult stags I never have a gun with me. I was hunting an expierienced lurcher bitch, an 8 mo old lurcher pup, and a yearling stag gyp that is new to the calling game (I have had her less than a month) It was a perfect chance to introduce the pup and gyp to the game, gunfire, and the whole calling routine.

 

Kye-Blister would sure give me the speed I needed. Im working on that problem... I may have found a stud here that will work. A very intense kill dog, from a line of very fast dogs. He is VERY green, but I saw him on the second coyote he had ever seen, and he piled it up and went to work like a pro. Hope to see you out this way someday.

 

allgame-I hope I get a call every time out from now on...I got a call later that night also, and about 5 minutes later we had a race and caught another...LOL

 

Take care.

Edited September 24, 2008 by UphillDoc

[hollands hope 1,016]

Good read fella , weldone

[Kye 77]

Well S, if you get Grace bred, depending on the dog you use over here, and what he is from, dont forget to put me down for the biggest in the litter!...I would prefer a male, but i 'aint too fussy, but i like my dogs on the big side!..lol.

 

All the best mate..

 

Jay..

[UphillDoc 278]

Well S, if you get Grace bred, depending on the dog you use over here, and what he is from, dont forget to put me down for the biggest in the litter!...I would prefer a male, but i 'aint too fussy, but i like my dogs on the big side!..lol.

 

All the best mate..

 

Jay..

 

 

Kye-You know I will save you the biggun...

 

Take care.

[Pops 19]

yeah, be sure and announce the breeding so's we can form a line.