[jdscholer]

You guys have some pretty good stories, and as usual Daryl has one of the best. It seems to me that some of the most memorable stands I've made have been the ones where they made a fool of me; such as this one.

I once hiked across about a mile of bare, flat desert to get out to a small rocky plateau, figuring that when I got to the top of it there would be a pretty good chunk of it that I hadn't exposed myself to. I carried my 218 Bee and the 12 ga. shotgun, and sat down in a pretty brushy spot holding the shotgun ready and laying the rifle beside me.

I had barely started calling when I spotted a bobcat sitting high on the rim rock across the plateau from me; about 150 yards away. I got impatient and carefully switched the shotgun for the rifle. I got the rifle up and found the cat in the scope, and was squeezing the trigger when he hopped off the rocks and disappeared from sight. I scoped every likely spot that he might appear if he was on his way in, and decided to give him a few more squeals on the call.

I gave a few careful squeals, and immediately spotted a coyote bounding through the brush from a few hundred yards out and to the side of where the cat had been. He looked like he was going to come all the way for sure, so as soon as I had a chance I put the rifle back down and picked up the shotgun and waited.....and waited.....and waited. And no coyote showed up.

I was getting pretty mixed up ad far as what gun to hold and where to look and whether or not to hope for the cat or the coyote and if I should call any more; all in all I was pretty jangled.

What I wound up doing was waiting and calling and scoping and worrying and ---hell I walked back across the desert without a cat or a coyote. jd