# 7 yotes hunt



## SHANK (Apr 5, 2006)

This is in response to the "7 Yotes" thread I posted a while back...

I hunted those guys with my son, Colin on 11/5. 

It was only my second coyote hunt and my Colin's first. We went out at sunset and set up on a thick treeline near the woods I thought they denned in and 50 yds from where the video was taken. At dark I set off wounded rabbit call followed by a locator call with howls and yips. The second time I played it, the whole woods sounded off like there were a hundred dogs in it. Made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Colin and I looked at each other with a "holy sh**" look in our eyes. I switched back over to wounded cottontail and waited...and waited some more. Since I figured they'd come straight in but didn't see anything for 10 minutes I assumed they busted us. Colin and I got up and stepped out into the cut bean field, grinning and giggling about what had happened. We were pretty excited that we at least got the pack to respond. 
Before packing up, Colin scanned the bean field all the way down to the end with the red lens spot light. There, about 300 yds down wind was about a dozen eyes looking back at us! We quickly got down on our knees and I tried to steady my rifle with my elbow on my knee. (my tripod was back in our original blind, 20 feet away) Two yotes were trotting along the wood line towards the sound of the rabbit while the others seemed to hang back. It was difficult to see the front dog in the red light through my scope. I fired at about 150 yds (?) and missed. The yote kept trotting and Colin and I both "woofed" at him. He stopped and I took another shot and missed again. In an instant, they all vaporized into the darkness and that ended the education of a young coyote, a not so young gunner and his 18 year old son. 

What I learned: 
1. I cant believe I forgot this but they will go down wind to scent check. But 300 yds down wind? That was surprising.
2. I have since bought a duplicate hand held spotlight with a clear lens. The idea is to shine the dogs with the red lens and use the white when ready to shoot. The red lens is just not bright enough for me to see well through the scope. 
3. Next time, I wont take a long shot without my tripod. 

My son and I are both hooked and plan on going back soon. I'll post the progress, or lack of, as it comes.


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## fowlme (Jun 19, 2009)

It is a thrilling experience . Thanks for the update . you might try a green light. I can see better with that compared to a red. the white will more than likely spook them. Good luck.


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## SHANK (Apr 5, 2006)

I'll look into the green. Last year I scanned that same field with a clear spotlight and there was a pack of coyotes trotting along. They weren't bothered at all by the clear and kept coming. Time will tell. The nice thing is, all I need to do is pop off the red filter and I have clear.


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## doggk9 (Aug 27, 2006)

If you are running a light with a filter you are already handicapping yourself. The filter cuts down A LOT of your light. Try an unfiltered red LED light would perform much better.


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## SHANK (Apr 5, 2006)

Yeah, my hand spotlight from Walmart is filtered. I have a NiteSnipe on my rifle and it is unfiltered. Just ordering a green LED as we speak.


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## fowlme (Jun 19, 2009)

SHANK said:


> Yeah, my hand spotlight from Walmart is filtered. I have a NiteSnipe on my rifle and it is unfiltered. Just ordering a green LED as we speak.


You will see a difference , I have 2 Nite Snipe lights one green one red. the green is brighter . I like the head lamp also, mine is the none interchangeable led, the new headlamps are.


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## SHANK (Apr 5, 2006)

I was looking at the headlamp on their site. I'll add it to my cart. You're getting me excited to go again.


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