Not a surprise but it gave me the opportunity to check my gear setup on a live hunt. Gear worked as it should/planned with zero problems,it was nice to gt the thermal out in the real world to see what it was like. I was impressed with the scope to say the least. My stand setup was probably fine until some asshat barged in on me about 30 minutes into the stand and sat there for fifteen minutes with his truck running.

I had parked on the south end of the valley and hiked about 3/4 quarter of a mile up a side drainage and set up overlooking the whole valley from the hilltop nestled in a bunch of large rocks. I could see my truck from that vantage point and he pulled up right next to my truck and sat there so I packed it in and headed back to the truck. In the time I was there I tried a couple rabbit noises and some coyote vocals and didn't see a sign of anything moving not even deer which was surprising as this spot usually has a fair number of deer on it. The weather was fairly nice for once probably mid 50's but the wind was blowing pretty hard as normal. I started the call volume at one and worked my way up to 3 before leaving hoping it would overcome the wind,not sure if it helped or not considering I didn't see anything.

Overall I still enjoyed getting back out in the field and hopefully this weather continues and the ranch I have permission to hunt on thaws out enough that I can get out to it without chaining up...

Rifle is a LaRue 6.5g upper on an 80% lower,Pulsar Thermion 2 xg50

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Keep after them. It is a tough time of year unless you get on top of them. Coyotes are in denning mode and depending on the area of the US have just had pups or will probably be happening soon. The average date in my area is 04/10. If you get close to a den, action can be fast and heated but you need to be close.

Yeah, I’ve had a couple busted trips in a row.  I also haven’t seen them on my game cams like usual. They must be sticking really close to their dens.

I secured permission from another rancher on Saturday. He told me where the den was located but said I should wait until the wind/weather are a bit nicer. The wind hasn't been below 20mph since and predictions of 5-10 inches of snow overnight tonight out at his place...

Made it out to this place last night got set up and started calling in the area he mentioned the den was in...nothing but a porcupine moving. I came in with the wind in my face and set my call about 150 yards out so it would be in a cross wind from me. Not sure if I got busted or if they just weren't going to respond.
I moved on to a different area he told me to try and finally saw some coyotes in the neighbors field. I think they busted me though as I couldn't get them to come in,I definitely had their interest though as they closed the distance coming in but suddenly turned tail and bugged out. I suspect they winded me as I was on a hilltop and the wind kept changing directions.