[jdscholer]

shortwave: It sounds like you have the kind of country where you could have some real fun calling coyotes if they haven't been overly educated about it.

Think of those wooded areas and brushy ravines as the areas that the coyotes lay around during the day, and the travel routes that they use to get around. The wide open fields where you sometimes see them during the day are the places that they must feel fairly secure because of good visibility and long distance; especially if there aren't a lot of folks lobbing bullets at them from 600 yards away.

GOOD coyote calling usually involves a lot of leg work. The idea is to get yourself into a spot where the coyote will feel safe coming to your call. And you need to get there without being seen, heard, or smelled by the coyote. If you do a good job of this, you will have coyotes come so close and fast that you could nearly kill them with a club. (well, sometimes) If you do a bad job of this you will simply teach the coyotes in the area that a predator call is something to be scared of and run the other direction.

I think I mentioned above that my favorite shotgun load is 12 ga. 3", #4 buckshot. If ya can't find any though, large bird shot such as #2 or BB will work. Just don't stretch the range too much. All of your rifles will kill coyotes, but as far as pelts go, most of them will kill them too hard. The 243 is great for reaching out and taking care of business, but it blows them up pretty bad. Prime coyote pelts are beautiful and really ought to be taken care of.

Hey I'd like to keep on blabbing, but the "Sons of Anarchy" is about to come on. Stick around and we'll keep at it. jd