# My Monday with Mike.



## alleyyooper (Mar 4, 2020)

Crazy morning here, Mike had called and asked me to wait till 9:30 to pick him up for our hunt.

I was about to leave after E Mailing back and forth with my sister about meeting up with my brother Friday that got changed to Monday as I was about to walk out the door. Tell sister I need a few minutes to talk to her will call back. Call Mike and add a hour to pick up time.


Finally I am on my way and arrive at 10:45, tell Mike I am sorry for the delay but he knows about my brother.

We do a quick discuss of where we are going to go. I knew it wasn’t going to be a all day hunt to begin with so had decided we would work some of the farms we have between M15 and M24 both roads run north and south. M24 on the east side and M15 on the west side.


First place a hobby farm I guess some would call it a homestead, they raise goats to milk make cheese and both work in towns near by.

We gear up and head back to a big slough next to the woods most owned by neighbors, we have their permission to hunt their side too.


We are in a fence line with stones piled in it with brush growing here and there. It is about 75 yards across a hay field to the slough so we set the decoys about half way and the callers off to the side about even. Mike opens with a challenge gets a couple of return barks. I open with the female in heat calling. Male to mate with her. It seems like the barking challenge coyotes had only move a little and were not coming any closer.

Time to switch things up after about a 5 minute silence period I let loose with a piglet in distress call raising & lowering the volume as if the piggy was turning facing off what has it in distress. Mike does a party of coyotes carrying on then went back to a challenge and they are once again on the move our way.


About 10 minutes later two coyotes poke their noses out and see the decoys and go into slink mode. Their are in Mikes zone so signs I should take the lead one on his trigger.

Boom two coyotes down. After we picked up the gear we go look at the coyotes both females.HUMMMM?


Drag across the mushy ground back to the truck load up and strip to traveling cloths. We make every effort to not pick up scents in our camo like you can at a fuel stop and wearing the camo.


Next farm is 8 miles up the road, it is a dairy farm not huge as farms go but they milk about 75 head. We have been hunting here about 8 years when they had a pair of coyotes get in the calf rearing pen and kill a calf.


We walk down a lane thankfully the grass grows in the center so we do not have to march thru sloppy mud. There is a huge old oak tree growing in about the middle of the hay field where we can set up and see coyotes when they come out of the 20 acre wood lot.


After 45 minutes we got no answer barks or had any thing show up even though we tried the piglet in distress sound. Thinking back to some of the sets we had done before and had barks to the challenge and nothing show. Wondering if they didn’t come closer because they were females and had no desire to mate with another female. That make sense?


Pack up and leave going to another dairy farm about 6 miles from there. This dairy farm is a little bigger than the last milking about 125 cows. They are relivaty new to our list of farms,

They had been hearing coyotes for a few weeks then during the day lite a pair came into their farm yard and went after a barn cat that escaped. Ron Whitbeck took a shot at them with his shot gun and bird shot but they came back in a week to 10 days. Time to do some thing about them he decided and had heard of us.


We walk out across a mushy hay field to a far corner where they have parked old machinery for later parting out and finding some thing to make some thing as farm people tend to do.

There wood lot is about 125 yards away and we set the decoys at about 100 yards and the callers about 90 yards. Challenge call gets a few replies and since we had discussed the female theory we went with a piglet and a coyote party sound.

That seemed to work as about 15 minutes a 3 some arrived. My zone so I signed Mike should go for the tail end Charlie and try to get on the lead as soon as he could as I would also.

Been practeing racking and rechambering a round quick.


It worked this time for Mike the lead coyote had turned to make it to the woods and went about 10 yards when the 244 round from Mikes rifle hit it.

We had 2 females one old and one younger and a young male, figure Mom and last springs pups.


Back at the truck I say to Mike we are close to Mayville and if you want we can run in there and buy stuff for a jungle lunch or maybe some already fried cold chicken or maybe they have subs at the IGA. Mike laughs and says go to the next farm and reaches in the back and pulls out two subs from his gear bag.

We get to the small hobby horse farm park and open up the cling wrapped subs. Thin sliced Venison roast piled on a sub roll. Mike pulls out some condiments catchup, mustard and some mayo and BBQ sauce and says didn’t know what you would like. 

I used some mayo, great sandwich.


It is 1:00PM and 47F. Radio Weather guesser says clouds are moving it and bringing rain.

We gear up head across the horse pasture with 6 horses grazing until they spy us they stood looking at us.

We make our way to a fence line about 80 yards from the woods. Get set up and work the callers receive no barks or results to other sounds.


Back at the truck and on the road this time about 15 miles crossing M15 to the west working to ward Montrose on a back road. This farm raises sheep mostly for wool, is one of the biggest sheep farms we hunt.

They allow the sheep to graze so all the grass and most of the shrubs in the fence lines are gone not a whole lot of under growth in the woods either.

We arrive at a stone pile in the fence line where we have in the past made a taller pile and a bit more comfortable place to set.

Walk to with in 25 yards of the woods and set the decoys and callers out. Knew we were in trouble when we didn’t get any answers to the challenge.


We get back to the truck and Mike says that maybe we should call it a day and I can get a bit more rest. Asked if I wanted to go again Thursday. Tell him works for me.

We had discussed my brother and going to see him on Monday asked if I wanted to do the week end also. Said Carols rifle should be finished Friday and he could have it back to gather for her to fire some Friday evening.


Sounds like a plan for a good week end if the weather holds.

Started to sprinkle as I turned in his drive.


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