five
one of my favorite calling spots is an old gravel pit that overlooks a nice long section of Elm Creek. I'll pull over and call from there, even though it's prairie dog season or I'm deer hunting. I can park and hide my truck and make a nice 400 yard walk to the old pit - if the wind is right, none of my sounds / smells will hit the valley.
fall of the year, right after the VHA jamboree - I was out prairie dog hunting and stopped. before calling, I glassed the basin and saw 5 coyotes across the pasture. It appeared to be two adults and three pups, 3/4 grown. I got myself set and blew a mouth call, two pups came - but they saw something they didn't like and veered off. I lost track of the other three watching the two come running.
once I gave up on the first two, I turned my attention to the valley floor, the three left behind had come about halfway, but were still 400 yards out. I gave a few squeeks and two came... one adult and one pup. they approached to within about 120 yards and I killed the first with my .22-250AI - dead right there. thru a prairie dog scope, a coyote is a HUGE target!
I really screwed up when I cycled the bolt - ended up jamming the action with spent brass... by the time I got the gun cleared, I figured my chances were either slim or none. I actually had to tip the gun over and shake out the spent piece of brass, seemed like it took forever...
when I got back behind the scope, the pup was still standing there... but not for long. two, dead within 4 yards of each other.
at the time, I was gathering skulls - so I harvested both. those summer time coyotes STINK! when I got the skulls back from the beetle box, I was pleasantly surprised with the young coyote's skull. it has primary teeth pushing out "baby teeth"... very cool...
the other interesting thing, I shot the pair just a week after killing two pups at the den - with Fuzz as my witness... the size difference between the two different litters of pups was huge, the first pair was about the size of a house cat... small targets!
that skull finished into an interesting sample, too.
normally, I see pairs where I hunt, but glassing five at once was pretty cool... if I had night vision - I bet I would have seen a dozen one night in the cottonwoods of Wyoming, thanks to DAA's howling...............
-niv