A couple weeks ago we got our first good snow of the season here in NJ. I didn't have a buck tag (but I do get one tomorrow) so I went into an area where I'd been seeing a few coyotes. I've always had mixed feelings about whether I would shoot a coyote or not, but after having a couple really close encounters with one big dog in particular I decided I was going to try to take him.
He was living in a huge greenbriar thicket with a smaller female that was the color of a red fox. I went in at gray light, found a spot on the edge of the thicket that was littered with coyote tracks in the snow and set up in a little holly tree about 3 feet off the ground. Not even 15 minutes later I hear something running toward me in the snow, look over my shoulder and here comes the red female and right behind her is the big male. I got drawn back, stopped him with a squeak at about 20 yards and took the shot. The blood on the arrow and at the hit sight looked a little yellowish so I backed out and came back a couple hours before dark.
The blood trail started out faint. About 100 yards in I found a bed with a good amount of blood in it.
Followed decent blood to another bed that looked similar to the first one, then a 3rd, and a 4th. At this point he was 300+ yards from the hit site and getting into the nastiest part of the greenbriar thicket. I was cutting my way through it with pruners and the blood trail was getting sparse, a drop every 20-30 yards or so. He started getting into sections that were so thick the snow formed a blanket on top of the greenbriar and he was tunneling underneath it.
There's no way I could follow him through it so I would have to go around to where it opens back up and see if he popped out on the other side. Miraculously I kept finding his track and stayed on him for another few hundred yards before it got dark and I decided to back out. He was out of the greenbriar thicket now heading into a half frozen marsh, and I didn't have the right boots to follow him in there.
The next morning I got back on the track and it was still sparse but I would find a good drop or 2 of blood every 20-50 yards. We're now approaching 1000 yards from the hit site, my boots are full of ice water and it's so thick in some spots it takes 15 minutes to cut through 10 yards of brush. Between these brush pockets are open spots where I would break through the thin ice and sink to my knees, and would have to use the brush I was cutting to make a bridge to get across. Any sane person would have quit a long time ago, but I wasn't going to give up as long as I could find one more drop of blood.
I found a spot where he stood for a minute and there was a decent amount of blood. I stopped for a minute to regroup and said a prayer asking God to please help me find him soon if the shot was fatal. He had guided me this far for a reason and kept putting it in my heart to keep going, to just find the next drop of blood.
Not 20 yards past where I stopped and prayed the blood trail led into another super thick spot. I poked my head in there and see what looks like fur through a wall of briars. I look with my binoculars and it's him. Then I notice he's still breathing. I get an arrow knocked and slip around the back side of the briar patch where I have a clear shot, and 28 hours after the initial shot, just under a mile from the hit site, finally put an end to this hunt.
I know to a lot of people it's "just a coyote", but I have so much respect for these animals. This hunt means as much to me as any buck I've ever taken.
He was without a doubt well over 50 pounds (I didn't bring him out whole to weigh him). His hide is over 5 and a half feet long from nose to tail off the carcass. The Eastern wolf genetics are strong in this one. I'm in the process of tanning the hide and will post pictures in the comments here when it's finished. December was an eventful month in the woods for me, I think I hunted 5 days and shot 3 bucks including my first with a long bow and 2 out of state, and topped it off with my first coyote.
He was living in a huge greenbriar thicket with a smaller female that was the color of a red fox. I went in at gray light, found a spot on the edge of the thicket that was littered with coyote tracks in the snow and set up in a little holly tree about 3 feet off the ground. Not even 15 minutes later I hear something running toward me in the snow, look over my shoulder and here comes the red female and right behind her is the big male. I got drawn back, stopped him with a squeak at about 20 yards and took the shot. The blood on the arrow and at the hit sight looked a little yellowish so I backed out and came back a couple hours before dark.
The blood trail started out faint. About 100 yards in I found a bed with a good amount of blood in it.
Followed decent blood to another bed that looked similar to the first one, then a 3rd, and a 4th. At this point he was 300+ yards from the hit site and getting into the nastiest part of the greenbriar thicket. I was cutting my way through it with pruners and the blood trail was getting sparse, a drop every 20-30 yards or so. He started getting into sections that were so thick the snow formed a blanket on top of the greenbriar and he was tunneling underneath it.
There's no way I could follow him through it so I would have to go around to where it opens back up and see if he popped out on the other side. Miraculously I kept finding his track and stayed on him for another few hundred yards before it got dark and I decided to back out. He was out of the greenbriar thicket now heading into a half frozen marsh, and I didn't have the right boots to follow him in there.
The next morning I got back on the track and it was still sparse but I would find a good drop or 2 of blood every 20-50 yards. We're now approaching 1000 yards from the hit site, my boots are full of ice water and it's so thick in some spots it takes 15 minutes to cut through 10 yards of brush. Between these brush pockets are open spots where I would break through the thin ice and sink to my knees, and would have to use the brush I was cutting to make a bridge to get across. Any sane person would have quit a long time ago, but I wasn't going to give up as long as I could find one more drop of blood.
I found a spot where he stood for a minute and there was a decent amount of blood. I stopped for a minute to regroup and said a prayer asking God to please help me find him soon if the shot was fatal. He had guided me this far for a reason and kept putting it in my heart to keep going, to just find the next drop of blood.
Not 20 yards past where I stopped and prayed the blood trail led into another super thick spot. I poked my head in there and see what looks like fur through a wall of briars. I look with my binoculars and it's him. Then I notice he's still breathing. I get an arrow knocked and slip around the back side of the briar patch where I have a clear shot, and 28 hours after the initial shot, just under a mile from the hit site, finally put an end to this hunt.
I know to a lot of people it's "just a coyote", but I have so much respect for these animals. This hunt means as much to me as any buck I've ever taken.
He was without a doubt well over 50 pounds (I didn't bring him out whole to weigh him). His hide is over 5 and a half feet long from nose to tail off the carcass. The Eastern wolf genetics are strong in this one. I'm in the process of tanning the hide and will post pictures in the comments here when it's finished. December was an eventful month in the woods for me, I think I hunted 5 days and shot 3 bucks including my first with a long bow and 2 out of state, and topped it off with my first coyote.
