Pass The Ammo

Me and Jarrid hunted that coyote again last night. After it got too dark we went to my folks backyard firepit, and kicked back for an hour or so.

Around 9:30 pm, as we were talking we heard a rustle in the thick brush that was off to the side of us. It was pitch black out, so I picked up the maglight and panned the thicket. That was when I saw the bastards two glowing eyes. He was only 15 yards away!

I have Jarrid hold the maglight, as I turn around to retreive my AR-15. When I brought the sights up, the varmint was gone. So I followed after him, down a side trail around the brush. But I heard him take off, and dissappear.

We’re trying again tonight. We’ll get this dirty dog.

Lately a good fer nothin’ coyote has been creeping around my folks house. They have these 3 little weiner dogs, and the coyote has been eyeballing them for quite some time.

Thursday night, he came over to the yard and got in a scrap, with the Marshal, over a dead rabbit. The Marshal ran him off, but he took some nasty gashes in his front legs. He’s healing up fine, he has just been favoring that front leg for the past couple days.

So saturday night, my brother in law, Jarrid and I hear the coyote yippin in the woods just across our street. We lock ‘n’ load, and head out that way. Only thing is… it’s too dark to see anything. But he was close, from the sound of it. We tried using the dead rabbit that Marshal Dillon had won as bait on the side of the road. We also had my rig’s headlights and a floodlamp handy. We were hoping he’d venture out of the brush for it, while I laid on the call. No luck.

Sunday evening just before dusk, I manage to shoot a rabbit in the folks yard using the .223 with JHP’s. Very messy. As I climbed into the brush to retreive the varmint, I managed to get guts from a branch to behind my ear. Nice and warm too. Then we headed out to the woods to set a trap. Using the rabbit carcas and a stick, we set it up in a clearing so the rabbit appeared to be sticking it’s head above a rock.

Then Jarrid and I hunkered low in the high brush, and waited. No sign after sitting still for 45 minutes. So we head back to the house while thinkin of cage traps. This sucker needs to die.

Me and a buddy from work went coyote huntin last weekend. No luck calling in any coyotes, but we had fun.

It had been raining all that saturday morning. Raining real hard. So I had my doubts about the luck we’d be getting. But that didn’t matter. I was just happy to take a night out in the woods, and get away from “it all”.

Sean had picked up some hollow points for the AR-15 earlier that saturday morning, while I was setting up pool tables most the day. So I finally got finished with that, and I picked him up with the Canyonero.

We load up and hit the road. I turn on the ol’ GPS and get a fix on our destination. We’re headed to several hundred acres of woodland owned by the lumber mill in CDA, down on the river. Sean’s father-in-law, Al, took him out here before, and they happend to run across a huge heard of elk in a field. Al mentions that this might be good for in callin coyotes. For any local readers, the woodland is right against Ferragut State Park, by lake Pend Oreille.

As we park the truck back in the woods outta sight, we unload all the gear, and start hikin to find the field. Only about 2 miles down the way, the dirt road opens up into a good sized field, about 20 acres in size. It’s surrounded by thick trees. We start down another dirt road, lookin for a good sight to camp, thats away from the field.

We stop dead in our tracks on the road we were traveling. A cotton tail rabbit was sittin’ square in the middle of the road, just staring at us. And here we stand fully packed up. Slowly Sean lowers his pack to the ground, pulls out his little bolt action open sight .22 and takes aim. Lucky for brer rabbit, Sean didn’t have his rifle as acurate as he could have. He missed. The shot flew over the varmints head by less than an inch. He scampered into the thick. So much for dinner. I only packed beef jerky, and that didn’t last long.

We find a nice spot off the beaten track, and plenty of trees to tie the tarp up, since we’re expecting rain that night. We drop our gear, and suit up for action. Sean took good use of his spare time, back some time ago, and custom made his own Ghille Suit. (Pronounced: Gilly) Now… it’s mighty pricey to buy your own, so a custom ghille suit is definetly the way to go.

He used an old OD green net, and he spent a number of hours shredding and de-threading several burlap strips from sandbags, then tying them up to the net. The net is worn much like a poncho. Just a long flap, with a hole closer to one end, so it covers your backside more than your front. I have to admit, I was impressed at how good it turned out. This is only a cheap camera phone photo, so it doesn’t show the detail that it has.

Sean gets call duty, so I throw on the suit, and slap a mag full of hollowpoints in the rifle. We find cover under a tree on the edge of the field, and Sean lays on the call for quite some time. Nothing comin. We make our way around the field while keeping on the call. No ‘yotes want to play this evening it seems.

We head back to the camp, to set everything up. We get the fire goin nicely, tie up the tarp and set the tent up underneath. With the tent door open, and the fire not far from the entrance, we fall asleep to the crackle and warmth of the campfire.

By morning we were luckily still dry, after some midnight drizzles, but we were hungry. After calling coyotes out in the field for another hour or so, we decide to hike down some lumber roads, in hopes of running across some varmints. Came across deer. Came across another 2 rabbits that we didn’t even have time to draw a bead on, before they were gone. So Sean got a couple squirrels. We were hungry and willing. So we gutted it, stuck it on a stick, and put it over the fire.

So we both enjoyed a breakfast of champions. Not a whole lotta meat on that sucker. Not that it was entirely tasty anyhow. Very…. gamey.

So after scoping out some other old lumber roads, we packed up camp and lugged the gear back to the truck. After being soaked from the thighs down, for the last couple days, from the wet tall grass, we were ready to climb into the dry truck and head home.

Better luck next time.

Haven’t been varmint huntin in way too long now. Shush. Ever since I got married, never have time for anything but work, work, and more work. Whenever I get a chance to sit down and relax, there’s always something else that needs to be done around the house, or work on the vehicles, or work on the computer.

My buddy, Sean from work, was out with his father-in-law the week before last. Al was showin him a couple of his huntin spots out on land owned by the lumber mill where he works. Showed him where he bagged a couple bear, and one spot they walked out into a clearing to see a heard of wild elk just grazing.

According to Al, that place is pretty well known for the coyote out and about. So Sean and I are headin out probably this next weekend to call in some ‘yotes. That’ll be fun. I just got a new battery for my scope on the AR. It has lighted reticles for low-light conditions, etc. I picked up some new scope mounts at the Spokane Gun Show the other week. The ones I had were sittin’ a mite too low. So now I need to head down to the crick to sight in my scope again.

I woulda liked to do that today, but the fam is all comin over for some hang out time. Maybe next week.

This looks like it could be pretty fun. Woulda never thought the NRA would be putting out video games. You can read more about it over here, and you can buy it right here. Maybe I shoulda just stayed home and played this game last weekend. I might have actually got me a coyote that way.

We believe, as does our sponsor the National Rifle Association, that safe firearm handling is very important. This game strives to provide education and training which promotes the goal of safe hunting practices and the proper use of firearms. The game encourages respect for the landowner and how to safely and responsibly achieve your goals as a hunter. Parents take notice, this game is a super training aid for the new hunter.

Updated Twice

Photos are up!

Whelp, I git to wake up nice and early tomarrow morning. I got me about a 6 hour drive to Scott’s ranch in Montana. So I won’t be on for the next few days. We’re gonna do some varmint huntin with some buddies (hopefully we’ll get us some coyotes), and they’re gonna put me to work around the ranch.

Eight o’clock is a mighty ungodly hour in my book. So hopefully I won’t fall asleep on the road.

I’ll just need a pot of coffee and some good ol’ boy tunes to keep me truckin.

Jan 1st, 2005 | Update »

Last couple days have been fun. They got their first calf in a couple days back. A few weeks early, and it looks suspiciously like the neighbors bull.

The day following my arrival, all of the snow decided to fall. So we didn’t get any huntin’ in that first day. But today was beautiful and clear so we went out. It was Scott, Lacy, Ryan and his girlfriend, and I. We didn’t get any coyotes. I can’t believe we didn’t see any, cos I ain’t never seen so much sign in all my born days. We did see a pack of mule deer up on a ridge.

We did find a kill though. We suspect it was a mountain lion or a wolf. The coyotes got to it after the killer left. So there was plenty of fur and blood around. You could see where the deer was dragged around in the snow too. It was pretty neat.

So while drivin out we stopped just in front of a jack rabbit sittin’ on the side of the road. So I popped it with the AR-15. And that was about the extent of our coyote hunt.

I’m headin out of here tomarrow ’round 10:30. They say the snow and ice isn’t half bad once I get past Butte, so that’ll be good.

A couple pics to go up within the next day.

Jan 2nd, 2005 | Update »

Change of plans. We decided to go out lookin fer coyotes again this morning. So we took off around 7am. It was a whopping 0 degrees out there, but we had our coffee.

We drove around for a good while, and didn’t see a one blasted coyote out there. After makin it to the top of the mountain we were goin up, Scott thinks we should pull the chains off so we can get down faster. Welp, not soon after he slides into a ditch. So we had to do some diggin. I got a couple pics that I’ll post when I get home.

We came across some lion hunters who said they saw some coyotes. Of course we’re the ones who didn’t get to spot em. Thats how it always goes. Well, I’m takin off from here shortly. Should be home in about 6 hours, depending on how the pass’ look.

I know what I want for Christmas! Dog Be Gone The Video!

You cannot deny the coolness of this and this. (Links to WMV files)

So, if you are feeling generous, feel free to drop ship that DVD to my biz address.

Update » I own this bad boy now. And a beautiful thing it is.

Went out on a table job this evening. Took my buddy Scotty along, from church. On the way out there, we had to pull over and drag a dead fawn off the road. A minute later an old lady pulls up in a cadillac. She was the one who smacked the deer, so we pulled her smashed grill off and put it in her trunk for her. If was funny cos she was all upset about it, even though it was the 3rd one she’s hit.

Stupid deer.

Found a great hunting photo gallery. Lots of great varmint shots as well.

I really need to get away from the shop and do some varmint hunting… It’s been too long.

Up here, mainly at night, the police don’t necessarily enforce the speed. The Moose/Elk/Deer do the enforcing. Most folks don’t really know how stupid deer really are. Trust me, they need to be hunted and shot… because they are good for nothing.

For example, you’ll be driving down some backwood road at night, and you’ll spot a deer way ahead just standing on the side of the road. To a driver around here, that means Slow Down! And we’re not slowing down to say “Awwwww look! It’s Bambi! That is toooo cuuuuute!”

We’re slowing down, because that stupid, good fer nothing animal is gonna wait till you are just about to pass it, before it jumps square in front of your oncoming vehicle resulting in the deers body going clear through your windshield (on smaller furriner cars) or completely caving in the front of your rig.

Quite possibly resulting in the death of the smaller furriner car driver, but generally just pissing off the bigger rig drivers like myself. Word of advice: Drive big huge trucks/SUV’s. It could save your life, being that your vehicle is bigger than most cars on the road. Consider it life insurance, and the gas is worth it when you aren’t smeared all over the asphalt cos of someone else’s stupid mistake.

Went up to Spirit Lake to drop off a jacuzzi we sold, tonight. On the way back down highway 41, it was about 7:30 pm, right as we were passing the twin lakes saloon, a fawn ran across the street at full speed narrowly escaping death from a cross coming pickup. All of the traffic comes to a stop. I came to a stop just after nearly destroying a coyote who happened to be chasing bambi down for some good eatin’.

Too bad, I woulda like to have seen that deer get takin’ down by a yote. Not somethin you see everyday.

As I was talking to Carrie Ann on my phone, one drizzley afternoon, I was continueously interrupted by a blasted communist squirrel. I cannot provide factorial evidence of his allegiance to the Red Party, but he was sporting some suspicous communist apparel as well as packing an AK-47. Walking across the wet lawn in my socks, scanning the trees for the red scum, I chat casually with Carrie Ann on the cellphone (hi-tech redneck). When back by the shooting range, I heard TurboChief holler “Rabbit”. So I walk around the bush line, and arrive just in time to see this big mangy varmint makin’ his way back behind the rocks. Thats when I pop the wascally wabbit.

This is my moms new pet rat. His name is buckshot, and he’s a daschhund, duetchhound, dockson… er something like that.

He’s a little sissy girl, but everybody likes him, including myself.