When Turkey Hunting Becomes Coyote Hunting

Larry and I walked very carefully over 200 yards to set up our turkey ambush. We set up our decoys in the "perfect location"  on the coal fines on Chuck's property. Our goal was to be 100 yards from the big gobbler's roosting tree. We quietly chose a hiding spot and hunkered down among the small pines. As the sun began to rise we were shocked to hear the old bird right in front of us! He had roosted across from us less than 70 yards away. Hens flew out of the trees and landed to our left. Larry was slightly to my right and back. He was doing the calling. My old college roommate has been hunting turkeys for over 30 years, and he can really make those calls sing! This is not the least bit surprising from a Quaker Boy Pro Staffer!

The big bird finally flew down but stayed in the woods. The hens made their way to the opposite end of the coal fines. Our situation was looking bleak. As Larry was whispering sweet purrs to no avail, I noticed movement off to my right. "Is that a bobcat" I whispered? Soon after the question, I could clearly see a coyote putting a stalk on our decoys. "Are you going to shoot?" I heard Larry whisper. My first thought was that I really did not want to ruin a really good turkey spot by shooting at a coyote.

A little background information should be presented here. The last time my old buddy came into town to hunt turkeys, we were set up in the same place when a coyote sneaked in for an easy meal. We both unloaded on that creature causing it to roll over several times. Ultimately, the animal ran off, and so did the turkeys. Another fact that did not escape my memory, was that there were no turkeys to be found on those coal fines during the following two weeks.

As the thoughts were rolling around in my mind, I heard "Kaboom!" I followed Larry's shot with one of my own as we unloaded on the coyote.

Larry and his coyote

The next day Larry and I took our talents to a different Doug's property. We set up on some birds that were a few hundred yards from us. The birds answered our calls while in the tree, but quieted down considerably after fly down. We waited patiently while making periodic calls only to be answered by an occasional crow. After an hour of silence, a gobbler answered Larry's diaphragm call. That grabbed my attention! I waited a few minutes and followed up with a soft purr. The bird was probably 150 yards away. He gobbled at every purr for twenty minutes. I continued to offer soft purrs, but his responses were less frequent. After what would be the last purr, I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. It was a coyote. He was only 15 yards and closing in without making a sound. I froze as stealthily tiptoed through the forest floor scanning the woods with his eyes and twitching his nose. At ten yards I saw enough, one shot from my 3 1/2 number five shotshell and the fur-bearing hunter was knocked off his feet. Our second coyote in as many days.
"Wow!" I said to my hunting partner, "I have been doing this coyote hunting all wrong!"
We always placed a twitching tail in a field with a speaker playing squealing rabbit noises. We were not successful very often, but it was fun. This turkey hunting was the best coyote draw I have ever seen!

Author with a Coyote