Coyote Hunting

Every now and then I like to mix it up. Deer hunting is the best thing ever invented, and I live for spring turkey season. One thing I know however is that coyotes can have a devastating effect on the wild deer and turkey populations, from eating freshly born fawns to unhatched turkey eggs and poults.

One of my favorite things to hunt are coyotes. It's a cool mix of hunting for me. Camo is essential. So is scent control. Coyote's can smell very, very well and they commonly circle downwind to try and pick up on a scent before they come in to a decoy.They can also detect movement from a long distance, and they have excellent hearing. In addition to needing to set up in a good place to begin with, you also get to use decoys and calls.

Calling can be accomplished by a few ways, by using hand calls, your own vocalizations, or electronic calls. I know many hunters are incredibly proud of their ability to closely mimic an injured rabbit, but I prefer to use electronic calls. The main reason is I can quickly switch sounds, and they project far further than I am able to with a hand call, allowing me to cover a larger distance from each stand. Calls range from hurt cotton tail and jack rabbits, to challenge howls and barks of other coyotes.

Decoys can also be used. There are lots of different types and models. I use a Mojo Critter Predator Decoy. It has a great action, and is tall so it can be seen from long distances.

There are also models that have the call module and speaker inside of the decoy itself, and these work pretty well too.

As far as weapons, you can pretty much use anything you want to. By far the most commonly used caliber is the .223, usually paired with good optics. Anything you use for deer gun hunting is probably acceptable, and even calibers like the .243 are often used. Most serious hunters carry a long range rifle like a .223, .243, .308, or 30-6, and pair it with a good 12 gage shotgun for close range shots. I've even seen some hunters recently on the Sportsman Channel calling in and killing coyotes with a compound bow. One would be inclined to think a crossbow would be an equally good choice.

However you decide to do it, planning out and executing a successful coyote hunt can be incredibly fun and addicting. There is nothing like calling in 3 or 4 dogs at the same time, and the frenzied action that breaks loose after the first shot is cut loose. It's also a great way to spend the day with your hunting buddies and take a break from the usual solitude of deer season.

Oklahoma Weather

Been a busy last few days here in Oklahoma and my attention has been elsewhere.

Our prayers and thoughts go out to all the tornado victims. I'll have some new content up both here and on the facebook page tomorrow.

Pro-Staff Tab

Hey everyone. At the top of the page there is a tab for our Pro-Staff. Give it a look!

And thanks to everyone who doubled our facebook likes in one days time. 7 more likes and we give away a vehicle decal to one random fan.

New Pro-Staff

I'll be announcing the names and bios of my first two pro-staff members by tomorrow. I'm really excited to have these guys on board and they'll each be a huge asset to the RDO team.

Well The Fishing Has Been Decent.

Gear Used for the 2011 Oklahoma Spring Turkey Season

Everybody's got a gear list, so here's what I used this season: I promise I'm not exactly a gear nut, but I won the Sportsman Channel Talkin' Turkey Sweepstakes in March and a lot of this equipment is from that.

Weapons: 12 Ga. Mossberg 500, 3 inch Hevi Shot #5. Barnett Quad 400 Crossbow, 22 inch Easton Power Bolts with 2 blade Rage broadheads.

Apparel: Realtree Hardwoods shirts and pants. Realtree Hardwoods Bug Suit, leafy pattern. BOGS waterproof boots. Mossy Oak fitted ball cap, Primos full face mask and summer gloves in Mossy Oak Break Up. Primos Strap Turkey Vest in Mossy Oak Breakup.

Turkey Calls: Assortment of Michael Waddell "Untouchables" Series mouth calls, Primos mouth calls, and HS Strut mouth calls. Primos "The Gobbler", "Old Crow" locator calls. HS Strut Owl Hooter.
Flextone Michael Waddell "Tramp Stamp" and "Scarface" slate calls, HS Strut Glass pot call. Primos Box Cutter box call.

Decoys: Jake Intimidator Full Strut Decoy, Flextone Thunder Chicken 1/4 Strut Jake Decoy. HS Strut Sweet Sally upright and feeding Hen, HS Strut Jimmy Jake.

Weirdest Turkey Season Ever

Ok, it's not over exactly as I'm writing this, there are still about 5 hours left. It's over for me though, I just spent the last 6 hours in the woods.

This will go down as the weirdest, most contrary turkey season I've ever hunted in. The first 3 weeks were oppressively hot, and incredibly windy. Average highs were in the low to mid 80's, winds were generally 15mph to 25mph and gusty, up to 40mph on most days. Southern and Western Oklahoma were in a severe to extreme drought, and it hadn't rained more than an inch since New Years.

During all my pre-season scouting, I was having serious trouble locating gobblers, and had only heard a few gobbles off of roost. Short of that, it was like the birds had disappeared. I even wrote a blog talking about going "ghost hunting."

As the season progressed, I finally closed the deal on an Oklahoma gobbler. After sitting for 3 1/2 hours I had 3 gobblers come into my decoy setup. Never made so much as a putt. I was actually about to stand up when I just barely caught them out of the corner of my eye. They went into full strut, but never yelped, clucked, or gobbled.

During the last week of April the woods came alive. After thinking that the turkeys had all migrated north, they started opening up and really gobbling hard. I had many close encounters, and the only thing that kept me from sealing the deal was the birds coming in from the weird directions and rookie mistakes on my behalf. I tried to get up and move on one and got busted. Another I should have shut up calling and didn't, and the gobbler was able to locate me and wouldn't come in close enough. The rest they came in at my back and I couldn't get a shot on them. Those 4 days they were gobbling was the most fun hunting I'd ever had. You could go anywhere and yelp, and they'd gobble back at you. Most of the time though, they were henned up and wouldn't budge, but it was just nice to hear something.

At the end of April we had some very severe weather move through the state. Western Oklahoma stayed dry, but most of Southern and Eastern Oklahoma had torrential rainfall, heavy winds, large hail, and isolated tornadoes. Then all the birds shut up again. During the last week of the season I've seen a lot of hens and heard almost nothing. My working theory is that a lot of eggs were lost during the bad weather and the hens went into a late breeding season, thereby shutting the toms up and keeping them busy.

All in all I learned more this year than I ever have. I had a blast hunting, and actually got to hunt nearly 4 days every week. I found a dozen excellent deer hunting spots, and got to know a good portion of the woods that I hadn't been in before. They say only 20% of turkey hunters are successful, and I know if you managed to take a bird this year you are in very elite company.

Busy Couple of Weeks

Been a very busy last few weeks. I'll get back to posting this week with the imminent end of Oklahoma Spring 2011 Turkey season.