March Madness by Andrew Lewand

When people hear the phrase "March Madness", thoughts of collegiate basketball come to mind. For me, however, the term relates to the great coyote hunting that occurs after the bone chilling temperatures of winter have passed. Don't get me wrong, I pursue eastern coyotes from fall through winter. The fact remains that most of my successful and memorable coyote hunts take place in the month of March. The following story details one such hunt...

Unfortunately for me, most of my local hunting spots are home to far more red fox than coyotes. After fox season closes, I need to target coyotes and that means an hour drive to some of my favorite hunting grounds. Much to the chagrin of my wife, I typically venture out on a Friday or Saturday afternoon and hunt all night long. For whatever reason, I never feel confident calling after 8:00 AM, so that is when I drive home to be with family.

On this particular Friday night, I started hunting at 7:00 PM and hunted until 2:00 AM. I had howling at every stand, some far - some close, and never saw eyes. It was fun just to hear the coyotes and that makes the drive worthwhile for me.

I grabbed 3 hours of sleep and headed back out at 5:00 AM. My normal method of operation for a morning hunt is to re-visit the farm that provided the most action the night prior. I was torn between 2 farms, so I compromised and went to both. The coyotes howled at the first set up, but never showed. The second set up was great with turkeys gobbling like crazy! I went through quite a repertoire of sounds and a coyote came in at 7:15 AM. It was the first coyote I'd seen in bright day light in 2 years! I missed him on the first shot, well over 150 yards, and he bolted back in the direction he came. I barked to stop him and to my surprise he ran right to the Jack in the Box decoy, which was 40 yards out, sitting right next to my FX5!!!

At this point, the coyote was hard charging the decoy and showing no intention of slowing down! I tried to follow him in the scope, but he was too quick. He was about 50 yards out when he noticed me and turned and ran away. Being no stranger to the Texas heart shot, I let him have it!! He spun like crazy! I was not about to lose him so I sent another 55gr ballistic tip at him and it hit him in the head. I switched to ki-yi's but no additional critters showed! It did not matter - my morning had been made!

For sake of interest, here was the sequence used on the fateful morning ...

2 female howls
a few estrus chirps
2 lone howls
wacky woodpecker
wail'n woodpecker
weep'n woodpecker
EW lip squeak
cottontail # 1
EW cottontail
jack rabbit
cal's rabbit
mad rabbit - This is when he showed

I am not advocating the use of this sequence as a bonafide producer. Actually, I was simply scrolling through sounds on this particular morning and was fortunate enough to have an elusive eastern coyote appear. I was even more fortunate to compose myself for the shot and thankful that I used the Jack in the Box. Without it, there is little doubt, that this would have been another case of the coyote that got away!