I have a question….

I’ve slipping into my ground blind during sunset the last few evenings and every night, the coyotes start serenading to my NW near some small ponds that border DNR/private property. Directly N of me, about 1/4mi N that is, on DNR land is a long skinny pond that’s almost a small lake. Anyway, about 30 minutes after I heard the serenade, I heard the Canadian Geese going nuts up there for about 5 minutes or so. There’s no corn crop up there. It’s all wild grass. Do the geese not stay in the safety of the water at night or will coyotes go in after them? I stayed out until 9pm and the geese were still sporadically disrupting the quiet of the night. Does anyone know more about what’s going on? I’m curious if I should take a ghillie suit up there and try getting a shot at the coyotes?

No idea what’s up with the geese, them may have just spotted a coyote on land.

But personally, I’d be tempted to go up there and start calling very quietly and see if you can get some yotes to come in.

I’d say the key would be to pick a night with the wind in your favor and if at all possible, have a very quiet way in. If you know where they coyotes are, I’d get after them. I’ve gotten them in October before, they don’t turn down a free dinner if they’re within hearing distance.

Grouse

That piece of property gets a lot of use, from bow hunters, waterfowl, and now that pheasant is open, everyone hits it because it also borders a game farm. Therefore, there’s lots of traffic out there between dawn and dusk. I really feel, that until winter sets in, the coyotes just lay low during the daylight hours. You don’t hear of hunters seeing them early but fairly common during snow covered late seasons. Since I’ve been hearing the same location with the serenades this past week, this also makes me think that they’re just holding up in the area during daylight hours and start talking after sunset.

My thought in all of this is that if I were to stalk slowly into a good spot mid-afternoon and get settled in, could I catch them off guard just going about their business? There’s enough land and open terrain out there that I could use a 223 or 22-250 so I don’t necessarily have to get in close. I just need a little elevation to look over each area.

Another factor weighs in here. For this year at least, I only have 1 night vision scope and it’s rated out to 120yds with the standard IR illumination. If I get the accessory IR illuminator, it’s supposed to view out to 250yds. Right now, my plan was to stay near the house and just pick off some vermin….. whatever undesirable, unprotected pest or predator might come through at a maximum distance of 100yds, so it’s mounted to a 22WMR. I don’t want to use a centerfire round too close to the house. I have neighbors to think about as well. I originally thought I’d switch over after deer season but knowing where they are NOW…. I’m just torn. I could try to call softly and try to get them close enough to justify the 22mag but everything would have to be perfect to not get busted. If I go onto the DNR land, I know I’m going to want some better range than the mag will provide… but maybe that’s just not an option for this year.