Posted: 12/28/2021 12:53:37 AM EDT
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I went calling tonight and close to last light I hear a single coyote start doing some locator howls. I respond with a few of my own, expecting it to use the trees as cover and eventually pop out right in front of me. Only a few minutes go by and I don't hear or see anything. So I let another call go out, and pretty soon I get a response of short howls and barks, this time pretty close directly to my right, and downwind. I figured it probably winded me (I didn't expect it to use the open grassy field to circle), but what I don't understand is that it just continued to do the same short howls/barks. I managed to actually see it through the trees with my thermal, so I decided to reposition upwind, and maybe it'll come in to some more calling, or if I can get a clear shot, I'd shoot it. I kept looking for it as I moved along the yellow line, and by the time I got to the end, the yote moved along the red line and stayed in that position howling/barking until I decided to call it quits and go back to the truck (in the upper right corner off screen). Before getting to my truck I decided to let out some challenge calls, fight calls, prey/pup distress to see if I could move it. And every time it would just shut up, listen to the sounds, and when I paused it continue to howl/bark. At this point I head to my truck, look one last time through the thermal, and see the yote still just parked right there, out in the open of a grassy field. I don't understand, if it winded me, why did it just not run off? There's no way it didn't know I was there by the time I got up and started trying to get different angles on it. So what was it doing staying out in the open like that howling/barking for so long? Total time it was doing that is probably around 45 minutes. 
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Veteran of the Third Battle of Tannhauser Gate.
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Yote was inexperienced. İt was saying, "Why is this silly human making all these sounds?" İt may have been confused: smells human, sounds like a yote. Could have been lonely enough that it wanted company. One thing it was NOT was concerned fot its safety, meaning that you were doing a good job calling. |
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Most likely, never been shot at, especially in connection with responding to a call. I shot this one Christmas day just before dark and before I had a chance to set up. I was driving slowly through the pasture when I saw him about 100 yards out sitting down watching me. My thermal was already on so I stopped... he stood up... trotted about 25 yards and made the fatal mistake of stopping momentarily to look at me. Yote that have been shot at or in areas with heavy constant pressure won't do that. That's why I won't hunt an area for several months after killing one. This particular pasture almost always pays off. If you have enough places to hunt this works pretty good.  I've hunted other places in the past where hunting pressure has been present, yotes act entirely different... the stay their distance. |
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I will agree with what's been said earlier, the coyote was inexperienced. I will also say whenever I hear a coyote bark, it means danger. So I think he was trying to find you (the coyote making the sounds) and barking a warning other coyotes of the danger there. He probably was in the open because he winded you and wanted to be able to see. He couldn't see you in the trees, so he didn't want to go in there, even if there were coyote sounds coming from there. Just some thoughts and I could be way off. |
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