Can't get them all . . . . but it's always worth it.

I headed out with my son late this afternoon in hopes of catching a few coyotes before the sun went down. We pulled into some thick brush to hide the truck and then hiked up onto a ridgeline that overlooked several washes and some very thick scrub oak. As we nestled into the bush that would help to hide us, I leaned over to my son and said "We're going to call in a coyote - I can feel it." He smiled at me and then the calling began. About 10 minutes into the stand nothing had shown face, and the wind was really starting to pick up, so I switched to putting out some long and drawn out pup distress sounds. After 2-3 minutes of that yielded nothing, I was just about to call the stand off when close behind us a coyote started in with some loud and abrupt barks. I've heard this tune before - it means "you're busted." How he busted us, I don't know, but I started in with the pup distress again just to see if I could pull him in. His barking turned into short howls, which gained in frequency until suddenly they stopped. Figuring he might be on his way in, I got a solid grip on my rifle and got ready to make a quick shot . . . . but no dice. He never showed.

We walked back to the truck and headed on to the next stand. Our setup was a great view from a hillside overlooking a stand of juniper trees, but it produced nothing for us despite my best attempts at sounding like a pathetic dying rabbit, so we headed off for one more stand. The sun was now sinking below the horizon and I knew that shooting light would be fading fast. We climbed two ridgelines and setup in an open area underneath a juniper tree. I got right to work with a high-pitched cottontail, adding in some real raspy distress.

Just as I was figuring that the stand was done for, I see a pair of ears come bounding through the cactus and there he is - a nice dark-colored coyote is running right for us. He holds up at about 80 yards and I figure I better take the shot, so I line up on him quickly and shoot. He goes down in some tall grass, and I start in on some puppy distress for about a minute. Nothing else shows up, and the sunlight is now fading quickly, so we head over to collect our coyote and . . . . he's gone. No blood, no fur, nothing. I am almost positive that I connected with the shot, but there before me lies the evidence of either a poorly executed shot or a clean miss. I didn't see him get up after he went down, but clearly he did - or maybe he didn't actually go down. We looked for any sign of a hit nearby, but there was none to be found. Then my son cheerfully tells me "Well Dad, we got to hear one bark at us and we got to see one come in. That's not a bad day." I just smile, agree with him, and we head back to the truck.

As we're pulling into the driveway at our house I say to him "Thanks for going hunting with me, buddy" to which he replies "I like hunting with you, Dad." And just like that, the pain of an apparently missed shot is gone.

And since I didn't get to post a picture of a dead coyote here, I figured I'd share this picture. It's from the first stand we did today. Just before we left the stand I trotted out a few yards and took a shot of my son hidden in the brush. Can you find him?

Friday the 13th Foxes (with Ghost Fox!)

Had about an hour and a half before sundown on Friday (the 13th) so I headed out for some calling. Went out to a ranch that needs a little coyote thinning and setup on a ridge where I've dusted dogs in the past. My setup was great - sitting on the side of a hill with the sun at my back and a canyon rim in front of me. Just a few minutes into my calling this wee little gray fox comes in - probably the smallest fox I've ever called in. He's a little young and I want a coyote so I give him a pass. He runs around in front of me for a while making a big show of things and finally leaves. Nothing else ever shows so I head into the nearby canyon to see if I can draw out some dusk time coyotes.

As I'm walking in to the next stand, I look up on a rock about 80 yards away and see a fox laying there. I drop to a knee and look through the scope and sure enough, he's just laying there, but I swear he was dead. Laid out flat, head lolled over the side of the rock. How he got there, I couldn't tell right away, but I had more calling to do so I decided to investigate that later. I set up under a tree and start my calling and suddenly every cow in the area is on top of me in less than 5 minutes. All standing around me staring at me. I stop calling and lay my rifle in my lap - doesn't matter if anything does come in, I won't be able to make a safe shot. Then I hear a fox bark and look up on the hillside and about 300 yards out there is this fox barking at me. I put the scope on him and watch him bark out his nervousness about what I assume is the cows, and eventually he leaves. I'm still hoping that a coyote shows his face in a clear shooting lane when ANOTHER fox shows up about 200 yards out. He stands around barking and I've about had enough with all these curious cows and barking foxes. The cows have cleared away from being directly around me, and they're just milling around and 'mooing', so I line this very vocal fox up in my scope, make sure I'm shooting through a cow-free zone, and BAM! I dusted him. It was a rough hike to go get him straight up the side of a big hill, but he was a nice male. I was happy to have made a good clean kill at that range, which is well beyond what I normally have to shoot at.

Now the sun is down and the light is fading but I want to go check out the dead fox on the rock I saw coming in. What killed him? No one else really hunts this area, so was it a coyote? Unlikely up there in the rocks. A hawk? Natural causes? Nope - none of the above. When I shone my Surefire up on the rock . . . . he was gone! That little sucker was asleep and I thought he was dead! Must have been catching the last few rays of sunshine and didn't see or hear me, and then I woke him up and probably gave him a good scare when I started my calling. I find it so unlikely that I could walk past a sleeping predator in plain view, but that's how it went down.

It turned out to be a good evening for calling foxes in, and certainly provided me with some weirdness on Friday the 13th!

Kids + Hunting = What a Blast!

Everyone who knows me knows that I am a big advocate of getting kids into the outdoors. Hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, even just playing outside are some activities that so many kids these days are no longer experiencing. There are so many things to compete with - could be the XBox, could be the Internet, could be parental decisions, or it could be the influence of society. Whatever it is, don't let the kids in your life miss out on the excitement of the outdoors

My kids love the outdoors, and I attribute that mostly to the fact that my wife and I get them outside every chance we have. My youngest daughter cries when it's time to come inside, my oldest daughter loves to play in the mud in her favorite princess dress, and my son - well my son is a real outdoorsman in the making. This kid loves it all, whether we're hiking over a mountain, fishing at the lake, or sitting quietly on stand waiting for a predator. And that is where this story REALLY begins

Last December my son and I went out after a gray fox (A fox and my 6-year-old son) and things didn't work out as planned. Ever since then, we've encountered something we call "The Curse of the Gray Fox". Everytime he and I go out after a fox, something happens: the fox busts us and bolts, nothing shows up in areas where I normally don't strike out, or the firearm I am using has some kind of strange malfunction where the round just goes wherever it wants to (some people refer to this as a "miss"). However, last weekend we had a great rainstorm that cleared up in the evening and I just knew that the calling would be good. Plus it was time it break in the new predator hunting season! So we grabbed our gear and headed out to one of my "fox spots", bound and determined to break "The Curse".

It was muddy but the skies were clearing as we got to our first stand. My son is a real trooper - the mud was so thick and sticking to his shoes that he was at least 3 inches taller! Those shoes must have been extra heavy. We settled into position and I started a serenade of cottontail distress. Suddenly, out of the bushes busts this big ol' jackrabbit! He runs straight towards us and then stops about 6 feet out - sitting on his haunches and giving us a good lookover. Now I like when rabbits show up on stand because they can be great indicators of approaching predators, and this rabbit was no different. Not 30 seconds into the rabbit's staredown he gets a little nervous and decides to leave, just as I see a fox tail darting through the brush towards us. What happened next is still a little unclear to me, but I saw the fox stop behind a tree, get nervous, and then start to head out. He was partially obscured behind the brush as he made his escape, but I fired my shotgun once (okay twice) hoping to put some pellets through that oak scrub, but no luck. Grrrr - "The Curse" continues

My son was excited to have seen the rabbit so closely and to catch a glimpse of the fox, as well. He of course gave me a hard time about shooting (and not hitting) twice. But the sun was still high enough that I knew we'd have time for one more stand. I also knew that foxes aren't the smartest, and can often be called back even after some shooting or being busted. So we headed out, made a 100 yard circle so that we were now north of our first stand, and then tucked ourselves into some juniper trees. I told my son to sit extra still, as I was pretty sure we'd have another fox - and maybe the same one - come in quickly. Shortly after I began calling, a big falcon swooped us, which is always exciting especially when you see those big talons up close! He of course realized that we were not a 3 lb rabbit and veered off before trying to carry us away. Still recovering from the falcon's dive, my son almost missed the gray fox as he came bounding into the stand, looking excitedly around for the source of a possible meal. I can't say for sure if it was the same fox, but he sure showed up quickly! He stopped about 15 feet away and then sensed something was awry, and as male foxes will often do he did the sideways-hackles-up-tough-guy-dance, but that wasn't enough to stop the load of #4 buckshot that found its mark. Say goodbye to "The Curse"!

I turned to my son when the fox went down and from his eyes I could tell he was grinning ear-to-ear. He gave me a great high-five, and we waited a few more minutes to see if we had anymore customers. Both of us were getting anxious to take a look at the first fox we had taken together, so I called the stand off early and we retrieved the fox. I always take the time with my son to explain the circle of life and hunting ethics, and as we petted the soft fur I could tell that my son still retained the respect for animals that has been passed down through the generations of my family.

The sun was sinking low on the horizon, and we still had a bit of a walk to the truck. But as we trudged through the slippery mud, fox in hand, I couldn't think of anywhere I'd rather be. And looking at my son's wide smile, I knew he felt the same way.



If you want to get a kid in your life involved in the outdoors, here's some tips that I have:

-Take them out when they are ready, don't force it. Each kid will be different in the age they are ready and the level and type of activity that they may want to do.

-Make it enjoyable for them. Bring snacks, juice drinks, even small toys if need be. Bring a cushion or seat for them if you will be sitting for a long time. Make them comfortable and they will want to do it again.

-Chill out. Don't take your first-time hunter on a trophy elk hunt. Don't even expect to see / kill / catch anything when you take them out for the first few times. Give them an opportunity to develop their outdoor skills and to increase their level of excitement for it.

-Don't hassle them if they miss a shot or don't set a hook in time or don't want to climb a mountain. Let them learn from their mistakes, but also challenge them to overcome obstacles and then hold them to those challenges.

-Let them rest when they need to, and make time for breaks. Show them all the wonders of the outdoors, but also let them discover things for themselves. Let them wander a bit.

-Teach them to be ethical sportsmen and fair chase hunters. Be understanding if they are emotional about the first few animals or fish that they see dead. Give them the knowledge they will need to defend their position on hunting and the outdoors by explaining the need for hunting and fishing.

I know too many kids (and adults) who have had hunting, fishing, or other outdoor activities ruined for them because whoever they were with was too serious or too big of a jerk to allow them to enjoy the whole experience. Show your kids the passion you have for the outdoors through the enjoyment of what you do. They'll understand, and then you'll have many opportunities together to chase that big buck or watch that bobcat slink into stand.

And those are the memories that will last a lifetime.