In this episode, Jon Collins and Corey Groff discuss common blunders and mistakes while coyote hunting.
Welcome to the FoxPro podcast brought to you by Fox Pro game calls. Welcome back to the FoxPro podcast. Today we're discussing blunders and mistakes of coyote hunting. We'll touch on several and discuss what you can do to avoid them. Joining us is Fox Pro staffer Corey Gra. Corey, what's going on, old buddy? Oh, not much, John. How you doing? doing doing good. Uh just like we was talking about there for you before I hit record. I am very excited. So pleased to see a little bit of cooler weather. It's uh last three days here in Kentucky. Um in the mornings it's been down in the 40s and actually it was 44 degrees this morning. Uh 48 degrees the last two mornings. And uh man, I that's my kind of weather out there today. It ain't even got out of the 70s for the highs. So it feels like fall here in Kentucky. Oh man, I I hope the weather's just not teasing us, you know, and we get a we get another bad bout of hot air, but it I'll take it as it comes with this cooler weather right now. It's nice. Well, I about guarantee it's going to stick around just long enough to get a spoil and then come back with a with a heat wave because it's usually August is still pretty dag on scorch and hot hot. And I tell you what, in September and October all the way through October, I've seen some pretty dag on hot weather then. So, like I said, I'm sure it's just going to spoil us a little bit. But I I'm liking it. I ain't complaining. No, we'll we'll take it as it comes. That's for sure. Like like you said, you said you was a little jealous because you ain't got the coyote hunt none through it. I did get lucky enough get to go yesterday morning. Yeah, you little lucky dog there. I was and had a had a pretty good hunt. Went out yesterday morning and uh um it just so happened uh decided to text a land owner that I hadn't hunted on in quite a while. I saw that the wind was going to be perfect for it. I was actually going through OnX looking because we had a north wind uh yesterday and um of course you know bringing this cooler weather in and I just come across the map and I was like oh man I ain't hunted that place in forever and it's a north wind spot. So I texted guy texted the guy and man it took like two hours before he ever text me back. I remember looking it was probably hour and a half later I was like man I guess I lost that place. He ain't you know I just text him said hey how you doing Mr. whoever. ain't going to tell y'all who it is. Y'all might try to steal my spot. Mr. Whoever, I said, you know, hope you had a great summer. Just wanted to check in to see if you've seen or heard any coyotes lately and if it's okay to still come try to take a few out. And uh like I said, it is an hour and a half went by. He never texted back. I like, man, I've lost that spot. Then sure enough, all of a sudden here, he texted back said, "Man, I actually thought about hollering at you the other day. I have been hearing coyotes. I ain't seen them, but I'm hearing them." And uh you know, it's one of those things with land owners. I asked him, I said, "Well, you know, where you hearing them at? Where where do I need to go set up at, you know, and he's like, "Man, I couldn't tell you if they're in front of the house, behind the house, to the west, to the He couldn't tell me." He said, "I just hear them. I can't tell you the direction. I just hear them." So, I stopped out there just right before sun up and let out three or four hows and sure enough, a big old family group of coyotes sounded off and they were all strung out. Uh, strung out all over the place really. Um, so I the worst thing was the bulk of them like where the where the pups were at or the yearlands, they were actually on the neighbor. Now the neat thing about this property is it's the main farm is like kind of to the left you might say uh or kind of to the west. Uh then uh right in the into the go back towards the east you hit the neighbor and it's a pretty goodiz farm but it's long and and skinny. And then right on the other side of that is hay fields that belong to the the farmer that I can hunt on. And I've never been able to get permission on that centerpiece. So I was thinking I think I can crowd the edges enough to call those coyotes off off of the neighbor. And that's what I did. I went and set up when I got set up. I was probably within man 250 yards or so of a barn that's on a neighbor. And sure enough, as I'm setting a call out, I start hearing all this clanging and banging going on over towards the barn. I was like, man, I said, "This ain't going to work out." Because that's probably about where I thought a lot of these coyotes were at. All of a sudden, I hear a skill saw starting away on some lumber. I like, man, is that just Anyway, I went ahead and made the stand. Just started off with submissive beggar just like on 20 90 seconds. Two coyotes right in front of me. Crazy. Oh wow. Got one of them knocked down. I didn't get a chance at the at the second. Um I you know it got down in the woods and got to cussing me out and booger bark and all that stuff. So I didn't didn't burn his ears too much. I figured I'd come back u when maybe they wasn't working on the barn and get pretty aggressive. I bet I could call some more coyotes up. Uh the thing was I heard I could they were close enough I could hear them talking. you know, after I shot and stuff and I hit like pup distress number three and then played a little bit of pound town. I actually heard one of the guys say I heard him say something like, you know, sound like they're making a racket over. I don't know if he actually said coyotes, but he was talking about the commotion I was making.
Oh, and that was one of them deals where, you know, you stuck with it and it worked out. Mo, you know, most of the time something like that happened to me. I mean, I probably would have just pulled set and went somewhere else for the morning, but you know, you stuck it out and and it produced a coyote. So, it win-win either way. Well, I mean, I was close to turn around walking out of there. Um, and I guess if I'd have went ahead and made the stand and and it was dry, I'd have probably included it in his podcast about blunders and mistakes because it would I would have called it a mistake if it didn't work. Uh, but got lucky. I don't know if that those I'm almost wondering if were they coming or got to working on that barn if they didn't actually push those two coyotes towards me a little bit and then when I started off just subtle with those submissive sounds, they just come running right in there. But, uh, where I did hear it, I done got my mind's like I almost walked out and I said, you know what, I'll just lightly call it real quick and um, just see if they come early. If not, I was going to pull out of there. I wasn't going to howl. I wasn't going to run any aggressive fights. I was just gonna play some light social stuff and and you know and maybe just some light um pup distresses and all it took was submissive beggar and they were there. So I still got my whole whole bag to throw at these coyotes to go right back in there. They didn't smell me. You know, the other coyote to come in couldn't smell me or nothing like that. So I think I could probably go back in right next door north wind and probably kill at least one more. Heck yeah. Well, let's go ahead and start talking about our our topic at hand. And I'm, you know, as we thinking about doing this, I was wondering, I was like, surely surely I'm not the only one out there that's made mistakes. It's caught cost opportunities on coyotes. You know, there's there's countless mistakes that can be made coyote hunting, and I've made a bunch of them, but surely I'm not the only one. Oh, no, you're not the only one. But, you know, I when you first sent me the topic of this, you know, I had to wonder, did John pick me because I got so many mistakes in my game or what, you know, but no, I know it was all in good fun. And, you know, you are 100% right. When I went through the topics that we were looking at on this podcast, I'm like, I've done that. I've done that. I for sure as heck have done that, you know, and I guarantee, you know, if you haven't done some of these, you probably ain't been hunting enough. I mean, it's just Yeah, that's just all there is to it. Yeah. Or or they're a lot more efficient than I am. Well, there could be. There's a there's a lot smarter guys out there than me, for sure. Well, when I when I texted Corey about it, he was talking about, hey, wondering if uh if I asked him to join his podcast for a reason. And when he asked that, I was like, "Heck yeah." You know, I was
But but no, no, Cory's a really uh excellent hunter. He's a long time one of the earlier Fox Pro uh pro staffers and he's he's you know highly valued by Fox Pro and he's one of the best hunters I know and I know he can he could speak on these topics and maybe help some people out. But uh the first one I got here and I think this is the number one. This is the biggest mistake a hunter can make. It's the biggest blunder that can happen and that is hunting bad winds. If you go in coyote stand, I know everybody listening already knows all this stuff, but we going to cover it real quick anyway. You never know. We got a we got a lot of new guys that come listen to this podcast. And this is something that I always hammer home on every seminar I do or anything. It's one of the first topics that come up. We talk about hunting, how to hunt the wind when it coming to coyotes or any kind of predator really. And I just want to always make sure I hammer that home with everybody because I think that's probably the number one the biggest mistake that new hunters make is not respecting the wind when it comes to making predator stands. Yes, I I totally agree. And and you know, you'll see it on social media post. This question get gets brought up a lot. You know, what kind of wind should I be hunting? You know, and to each their own. If you if you want to hunt the type of wind that I don't want to I don't want to hunt. I mean, that's fine. If it works for you and you can, you know, have success doing it, that's great. But I tend to, you know, not like a wind blowing over my back or out into an opening that I'm looking at hunting. But I see that come up a lot. And to me, that's a bad win, John. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, you know, I got a question today. I got a question this morning uh sent private message and the guy you know I'm not going to read it word for word but you know it was kind of on the lines you know I day hunt I night hunt um I've got tons of acres I get trail camera pictures of of coyotes I see coyotes while we're out you know doing daily task or hunting for deer and all this other stuff uh you know just hear coyotes just lots of coyote He goes and goes and goes. Can't call a coyote to save his life. Well, you know, ask he's asking me what he's doing wrong. Why why can't I call up these coyotes? Well, the first thing I've asked him and I have to go back and look and see cuz I just text or messaged him back right before we hopped on here. That's what I asked. I said, "Well, are you respecting the wind? Are you are you hunting with the wind in your favor of trying to call for these coyotes?" cuz that's the first thing I think of when I hear these hear that type of stuff and there's a lot of times like you know not always but there's every once in a while somebody with this type of question because I get this all the time you know and and there's several times somebody will message back say well I didn't really think it was all that important that you had to worry about what the wind was. I don't have no idea how the wind was blowing. Well that's probably what your problem is. Yep. So I I agree. It's it's uh as far as fundamental calling goes, it should be number one on the list or close to the close to the top anyway. Oh yeah. I mean, the first thing I do, like if I'm going to go calling tomorrow morning or this evening, the first thing I do is I hop on my weather app and see what the wind direction is going to be leading into this afternoon or tomorrow morning. And then I start plotting out stands that work for the wind direction I'm going to have. That's just that's the first thing I do before I ever start planning a hunt, go out to hunt, anything. And you talking about the type of wind you don't want that you don't like that you think's a bad wind. My my idea of a bad wind and what I tell people is a bad wind is whenever the wind is blowing from you to wherever you think your coyotes are. Exactly. If you're ever hunting a spot where your wind's going to be blowing right to where your coyotes uh where you think they're laid up or out hunting or whatever they're doing, that's bad. Your hunt was over before it ever started. Or if your wind's blowing to the spot where your coyotes will be coming out, you know, right? They they'll smell you before you ever see them. Your hunt was over before it ever started. So that is a huge mistake. It is a huge blunder. If you're ever hunting coyotes with a wind that's not in your favor, uh that's you know that you're going to booger up your coyotes. Don't do it. Wait for a better wait for the right wind before you hunt those stands. There's nothing worse than getting winded by a coyote and then having to deal with some coyotes that turn into call shy coyotes that you can't do nothing with for a year. Yep. Well, here's a blunder inside a blunder. Have you ever looked at your weather app and thought that you knew what direction the wind was blowing, get out to your stand, and realize that you looked at your weather app wrong? So, what you're saying is you you look like, "All right, we got west wind today. I'm gonna go hunt my west wind spots." And you get out there and it's hitting you in the back of the head. Yeah. It's actually a east. Yeah, I've done that more than once. And oh, it's a it's a horrible feeling, you know, that you've gotten so much of a hurry trying to make that stand that you've been thinking about for the last few weeks and trying to get the right wind for it. Think that you finally have it. Get out there and you're like, "What in the world's going on with this?" And you get back on your weather app and you're like, "Oh, that's what's going on. I looked at it wrong." It's like dyslexic reading the reading that arrow. Yeah, exactly right. Well, what about when you go when that's happened to you? Do you go ahead and call the stand or do you pull out of there? I pull out of there. Absolutely. 100%. I'll pull out and I've always got, you know, a stand in my back pocket if something don't work out. So, that's that's usually what I do. Yep. Yep. Yeah. Well, the one thing that I've run into here at home, uh, Corey, right here in, uh, in Kentucky, I'm smack dab in the middle of the state. I'm right in what they consider the bottom end of the blueg grass region, I guess. Uh, but this is very rolling country. Um, lots of hills, hollers, drainages, all that type of stuff. So, what I run into a lot of times is I'll go out to hunt, you know, however many stands I got picked out and I'm supposed to have, and you can pick any wind direction it is. I'm supposed to have this certain wind and when I get out there, I might have a little bit of that, but I've also got to deal with thermals that's pulling my wind down in draws and hollers and that type of stuff. And sometimes when it's a real light wind, uh, see if say if it's north and it's a light north wind, just 1, two, 3 miles an hour. Well, I tell you what, a lot of times that thermal will overpower it and it'll make it totally opposite. I might have a south wind when I'm supposed to be having a north. Yeah, I think we ran into that a couple years ago here uh in Missouri when you were here. Um, it was a whole day of that. We had thermals just every it seemed like every stand we got to you just couldn't count on the wind and everything was just running downhill. Seemed like it was running right absolutely where you were expecting coyotes to come from. We struggled, you know, that day calling. But you're right, and it and it happens to me more obviously that your thermals are are going to change more in the evening in the morning. But, uh, you know, it's real bad, you know, right before dark and just right after daylight seems like. Yeah. When that sun's sun's coming creeping up or dropping down. Yeah. Let's move Let's move on to our next one here. And we've actually done a podcast on this one in the past. I'm sorry, guys. I didn't go back and and look up to see what the uh what episode number it is, but you can go back and find it. We talk all about e- call placement. And there's a and we're not going to cover all these, but there is ton of call placement mistakes that can be made. uh you know whether you're putting it too close, too far away, you know, not not setting it out in accordance with your wind direction, placing it where you can't see the call or be over a heel. Um there's just so many mistakes that you can run into with placing your e- call. And it's just one of those things. I mean, it's got me in trouble. I mean, it gets me in trouble like it might get me in trouble tomorrow. Oh, yeah. You know, one of the worst things is, and I've always said this, and I know some guys will, you know, I don't know why why they do it. I still don't I can't understand my mind. I think the worst e-collar mistake, placement mistake there is, is setting your e-all down where you cannot see it. Yes. I just don't understand why somebody would do it because I know some people will get in these situations and I have had these but they are very very rare where they'll set the call behind them. Well, if you're you better be looking behind you quite a bit is all I got to say cuz you get you in trouble quick. U you know probably long story short when it comes to to eall placement is you just got to be very mindful of your terrain. Read the terrain, read the wind, and set your e- call out appropriately. And always set it out where you can see it. Yes. And then and then if you've got an idea where your coyotes or bobcat or whatever is going to be coming from, make sure you offset that call. That's another huge mistake I see a lot of guys make. They're like, "Oh, that coyote was coming in fine." and you know, gets to a couple hundred yards and scotched up, flared off, and I never seen him again. Well, it was the call was probably right in line with with what the coyote was seeing, and he he just picked you off. That that simple. Yep. And and I mean, that happens happens a lot. I actually had that happen uh just uh a couple weeks ago on one of the last uh videos we put out for FoxPro on YouTube. I had one coyote that come out in this hayfield. This hayfield had just been cut. So it was just like three or four inches tall. The grass was I mean you I could seen a field mouse working out there at 150 yards with my own eyes and had the call set out there and just so happened and it was what I considered offset. You know I probably this was just bad luck you know luck the draw type thing. I'd set it out how with accordance to the wind and you know I had it I had a right to left crosswind and I had the call set out there to the right and was expecting a coyote to come down to the left of the co to my left and be you know long story short a coyote does come and he comes in that field and he is directly out in line or right over top of the uh call the X360 from me and guess what he looks right over top of it sees me trying to move tripods and get cameras on him and all that type of stuff and he turns and leaves. Yeah. And um I was like I didn't realize at first like man that thing was nervous. What's going on? And I hit another sound. Can't remember what it was now. I think I went to some kind of fight. Anyway, the sucker came back up to the fro and I was able to shoot it, get it killed. But I went back and watched the video. I could tell exactly what was wrong with it. He was seeing me. Got him an eye full of John Colin, didn't he? Yeah, he did. Yeah. I said I was talking about obviously I don't know what made that coyote so nervous. I was doing everything right
and I was doing everything right but the just luck of the draw the coyote came in a way where he was looking right over top of the unit and next thing he could see was John. Yep. They don't always play the part do they? N don't always read the script. Hey, it still ended the same for that old boy though. He's dead. That's all that matters. Oh, here's uh here's a next one. And I think this this is one that uh probably happens to a lot of people and they don't even realize it. And this is pushing too far into a property before start you start making coyote stands or bobcat stands or fox stands or whatever you want to do. Um, if you're passing up good country, good terrain that could be holding coyotes, there's no sense in going past it without making a stand. Yes. You know, there's so so many people want to get into the heart of the property or the back end, the back 40. You might say, "Well, there could be coyote soon as you're coming in." And u I think it gets us in trouble sometimes. There's one particular stand out in uh this is out in Kansas. This was a large don't we don't have permission on this anymore and I'm just using this as an example but it was a large cattle ranch. It was over 5,000 acres. It was like 5,800 or something like it. Nice place. So it has several stands on it and and hunted it for for years and we'd come through the gate, come right off a county road and go through this dip and then get back up on top. And when we get back on top, we'd start making our stands. Well, it was one year we went out in December right after the rifle season had closed out there in Kansas for deer and we started going in on that property and I looked over at Jeff Ryder who I hunt out there the most with. I said, Jeff, I said before we go down this draw, let's stop up here and just walk down there and make a stand. Soon as you got down in the road, went through the draw and come back up. Well, as soon as you get down in the bottom of it, there was this nice open area right there to the left. Had thicket on two sides of it. creek cran down through a little shallow creek cran down through there and then a nice bit of prairie out to the left. I said, "Let's just let's make it. We drive by all the time. Looks like it they might have a bobcat or something down in there." He's like, "Oh, sure. Yeah, let's try it." We got set up. We didn't call for two, three minutes at the most. And we had two coyotes on top of us. Shot the first one. The second one ran back off, switched sounds, and it come running back up there and and killed them both dead in a hammer within four minutes. The whole stand setting a setting a call out, calling the whole nine yards. I don't know how many times we had drove through that draw, never ever thought about making a stand. Well, after we got done, we was like, man, we'll start putting this in a rotation. We'll make this stand every time. I can't believe we've went through this and pass this stand. you know, all that type of stuff. Uhhuh. Right after first year, the place sold. Ain't been back on it. Can't get permission from the new land owners. Well, and there you go. There. That's so easy to to drive by sometimes and not realize what you're driving by. And that's what I tend that's what I tend to find out with bobcat hunting. Any little patch of of brush or a thicket, man, I'm hitting it. Even if I'm blind calling, if I don't even think that there's a, you know, if I don't know that there's a cat around there, haven't scouted it out or whatever, I just got time to jump out and grab the call and go, I'll hit those little places and they pay off. They really do. And a lot of times you call in a coyote, too. You know, they I think we just we think we know every time where these animals are going to be hanging up at or living, you know, through their daily lives. And a lot of times it could just be taking a nap. You know, maybe they'd been on their feet all night and stopped by this brush stick. Hey, it's daylight. I'm gonna pull in right here and take me a little nap before I go on to the house. Yeah. You know, it's just little simple things like that. And you and Jeff, you know, you guys figured it out. Maybe you'll get that property back one of these days and and get right back in there. He used to have a stand on it we called the world's greatest stand. And it was it I don't know if I ever caught it and didn't at least call a coyote. No, I'll be darn. world world's greatest stands right there and nobody go hunt it no more.
I tell you what, you know this like what we're talking about there, you know, everybody's got these properties that you've hunted forever and you've got them figured out, you know, and you might go walk past, drive past some good-looking stuff, but the coyote, it just don't work for coyotes or or bobcats or fox or whatever it is. So, I understand that, but really just think about that next time you pick up a new piece of property or whatever. You don't always have to go into the heart of it. You know, if you're if you're going past some good-looking stuff just because you think you want to get on over to the next stand, you know, it might be worth quiet calling that just to see, you know, to see if if something's in it. It could pay off big, could turn into another one you your favorite stand that you might have. Yeah. And it's not always the looks of a of a piece property either. Some of my, you know, places that don't look so good are actually some of my better producing stands, too. Yeah. Yeah. You know, next one I got here that we could throw in on e call placement mistakes. And like I said, you guys go back and look up that I I can't remember what the title of that podcast is, but it's all about call placement. It's a good podcast. Make sure y'all go back and check this out. But this happens when you're setting your call out. You need to be mindful of where you're walking. If you, you know, you can walk, if you could, if you walk where a coyote could come out and cut your track before you can get it killed, that could, man, it can ruin a stand. Always be mindful of where you're walking when you set out your your call. You don't want to walk along a spot like an edge of a fro or one might come through before he comes on out and gets to the call. Uh cuz he'll hit the fro, turn around, and run right back. And that's just one example, but walking where a coyote can cut your track when you go out to set your call is a huge mistake and blunder. You ever done something like that? Oh, yes. And and one that just popped into my mind and it really I thought I had everything right and cuz I walked my my call straight out to where I was where I was wanting to place my my call. in between it was a wash out like a dip where you really couldn't see that great and there wasn't enough room between where that dropped off to where my my location where I was wanting to sit at to really be, you know, feel comfortable. So, I was like, I'll get it over on the next hillside. Yep. That's where I made my mistake. I had a coyote come in in that wash and by the time I seen him, he was too late. He done cut my tracks and he was gone going the other way. Yep. Yep. I I made a stand the other day. It's very similar. This was last week. Uh one of the mornings I killed a coyote last week. I made two stands, blanked one and and called one in, I think. But uh this stand was a dry stand. Uh nothing I really did wrong. I just don't think there was a coyote there. Uh but it was the same type of situation that you're talking about. On this stand though, my coyote should have been coming from in front of me or to my right. Uh so what I done is done the same thing as you want to go out there and put the call on other hillside to get the coyotes over there. But what I did is I swung out like a like a U shape or or a crescent like a moon shape. way swung way out to the left and then come back down on top of that hillside over there to set the call instead of walking straight through that wash. I did this big hook and you to to avoid it. That's what I was thinking. Say, man, if a coyote comes right up the gut of that, you know, I'll never see it. He's liable to go right up here, cut my track, and double back and and leave because there's always that possibility. That's how they approach. So, and that's, you know, there was a time me and Cody, Cody Hassinger, the fellow co-orker at FoxPro, he was running the camera. We was going out to set a call out and for some reason, I can't remember what was going on. I think Cody, I remember what it is now. Cody came out to there was another like this little hedge apple tree. He's like, well, it might be we might be able to see better from there. And me not thinking. I just, well, you go over and check it out. I'll go out here and set the call down. Well, I sit the call down, turn around, look, and he's shaking his head. No, it ain't going to work. So, we go back to where we had all our stuff. Well, guess what? We get to calling. Here comes a coyote ripping around the side, runs right up to that spot where coyote Cody had walked over to that tree, double back, took off burning out there. And I was like, what in the world happened? We had the wind perfect. I mean, this is a dead coyote, guys. I mean, we could have shot we would have been able to shotgun this co if we wanted to. I couldn't figure it out for nothing. I was looking at said, "What in the world happened?" And he couldn't figure out either and all a sudden it hit me. I was like, "Dude, that's where you walked over there to, you know, check out that tree. See if it's going to be a better, you know." He's like, "You're right. That sucker cut my track and it cost us a coyote." Yeah. Gosh dang it, Cody. Do better. Yeah. Well, I mean, it was just much my fault, you know. Uh, but you know, so right there, walking where a coyote can cut your track, be very mindful of that. That could uh could save you some heartache. Well, it makes you makes you wonder sometimes, you know, like uh some of these dry stands that we produce, was it something like that we that we never ever even seen, you know? So, that's something to be mindful of, too, you know. Very, very possible. Uh, another one I got here, this is one you don't have, we don't have to spend much time on, and this is a huge mistake, and I've got a bad habit of this from time to time. Uh, you start calling before you load your gun.
Oh, I know you watched this video that I put out last fall. I know exactly what you're missing to say. Tell us about it. Well, I'm dang sure lucky that this was a a younger bobcat cuz I don't think I would have got away with it with an older age class bobcat and I know I wouldn't have got away with it with a coyote. But, uh I I don't know. I was probably 17 18 minutes deep into this stand and I I kept hearing hearing uh squirrels barking back behind me. I knew there was something had to been around. Well, like I said, about that 17, 18 minute mark, I c catch a little movement out of my right eye and hear this bobcat come slipping down through there. I mean, head it right for the call. And the call ain't 30, 40 yards out in front of me sitting on a twotrack. And cat walks up there perfect. And he just sits right down. And I'm like, "Oh man, this is this is the best thing that could ever happen." Get the camera on him. Move my tripod slowly. Move my safety off so it doesn't click loud. I mean, this cat's close. I'm talking 20, 25 yards. Click. Cory Grath forgot to load his gun when he sat down. And this cat, he was I know he's young cat, but he was also just fixated on the on the call and the decoy. He allowed me to rack my bolt and slip around in and on camera with the mics and everything right there. It sounds like it's extremely loud because he's right there by the camera. Yeah. And I'm sure it wasn't as loud as where he was at, but I know he heard it cuz I seen him I seen his ears flinch just a little bit and uh he let he let me shoot him. John, I mean it it was his mistake more than it was my mistake. That's what I'm sticking to. But well, like you say, if there had been a coyote, there no chance in the world you'd have been able to do that. No. No. You'd have been shooting at him running off. That's what you'd have been doing. Yeah. I've been slinging lead all the way across the country. But hey, I've got a bad habit. A lot of times, you know, a lot of my stance, I'm starting off with a set of house and a lot of times I start playing the house and then I start Iraq shelling my gun. And that's a bad habit. It's a bad habit. Um, I'm just here to tell you, have your gun ready to go. Have it loaded up before you ever hit play. You better be ready when you hit play on a Fox Pro cuz I don't know how many times I've started to call up no matter what sound it is playing. I'm sitting there loading the gun and I'm seeing coyotes coming and there I am. Idiot John. I mean, well, one's laid right there in front of him. You got, you know, it could cost you. It could cost you. And just like Cy or you just don't load your gun at all. Yeah. Oh yeah, I wet wet the whole stand before I realized it. Here's a Here's another one that you That's a forgetful thing. Forget your shooting sticks, bipods, or tripod in the truck or at the house going out to make coyote stands. You ever done that? I ain't never done it ever. And I'd be And everybody knows I'm lying. I've done it more times than I admit to it, but I have done it a lot. Yes, sir. Well, you you you all see what the blunder and mistake is. The blunder that you forgot. The mistake is if you call a coyote up and he stops out there about 250 yards and you're trying to rest down on your knee and and bust him and you miss. That's the mistake. Now, I know a lot of guys probably sitting there, well, if you can't hit a coyote at 250 yards off your knee, then you don't need to be coyote hunting. Man, I've seen some of the best coyote hunters in the world miss one at 40 steps with on a tripod. It happens. It happens. And I'm just about I mean, I just about quit and go back to the house and get my sticks before I just keep calling. But hey, I can tell you another good one on Cody. We was talking about Cody a minute ago. I was filming him and we'd walked in this big old and beautiful stands. One of my favorite stands we've ever make and but it's a long way from the truck. You got to walk a pretty good little piece. We got 90% to the stand where we sit down at. And uh Cody just locks up and stops like what what's wrong? Like man I forgot at the time we was running shoot sticks. He said man I forgot my sticks in the truck. I said I said, "Well, heck, run back and get him real quick." I said, "I'll get up there and I'll set the call out and all that stuff and get set up." He said, "No." He said, "We're here. It'll be all right. I'll just make it." We get up there and just luckily was in a grow up fence and right there's a big old limb on the ground that's got a big Y in the top of it. So, he he's measuring a little bit and he takes it across his knee and breaks that stick where it's like good height for him. He sticks that Ruger right in the crook of that thing and I'll be dang with it. Call a coyote up and he smoked him. Just center punched him right in the chest about 80 yards. There you go. That's pretty lucky right there. It was a good shot, too. But lucky to find the the proper stick there. But yeah. Yeah, that that's a blunder. You're leaving your shooting sticks, bipod, tripod, wherever you like to run cuz I'm big on a solid shooting platform. I mean, it's like I said, I've seen I've seen some tremendous shots, some tremendous hunters miss some easy shots up close, even on tripods, bipods, shooting sticks, and all that type of stuff. It's easy to miss a shot. And your best chance in the world to make that shot is to be on a solid platform. So, yep. Oh, here's a here's another good one. Don't pack enough ammo on stand. You ever get on a stand, you run out of ammo? you ever done that? Uh, yeah, for everything that was in my clip. But I'm I'm I'm pretty bad about loading my pockets up with shells. So, I usually probably got some shells in my pocket, but I have had, you know, been in that situation where, you know, I've missed enough or shot enough that I had to go reach in my pocket and grab my shells, but not absolutely forgetting it at the truck or at the house. So, I can honestly say maybe I haven't done that. Yeah, there one time I was shooting a rifle. It held five. Four in a magazine and and well, the gun I shoot now does this too. Four in a magazine and of course one in the tube. Five rounds. I call in a five pack of coyotes. Okay. Oh, I remember this. Just long story short, I end up shooting all my shells out. I kill coyotes on the stand. Coyotes plural. And guess what? There's still one coyote out there just standing there. And John ain't got no more shells in his pocket and his gun or nothing. We just had to stand there sit there and watch it. That was last summer, wasn't it? Didn't you do that last summer? No, I k I actually did. You're talking about where I killed killed the five on one stand. Oh, that's right. You just had one that you didn't get on camp. had plenty of ammo on that stand, buddy. Hey, that's a I'm glad you brought that up. In case y'all didn't know it, I killed a quint last year. Only time I've ever killed a quint last year. Awesome stand. And yes, I missed one of them on the camera. Killed five coyotes on one stand, got four of them filmed. I double punched the second or third coyote on with the camera, but five coyotes killed on one stand, got four of them on video. Of course, with the recovery, you get to see all five. But this stand I was talking about happened years ago. My brother was actually filming when earth my gun loaded up just one of those stands was just going to make just to be making it. Didn't know if there was a coyote around. Sure enough call in this big family group of coyotes. This is the October coyote stand right here on the leaves are changing all nice and pretty, you know. And I think if I remember right, I missed a coyote and then killed No, I missed a coyote. Killed this next coyote. The third coyote come out. I shot and hit it and then put another one in it I think to I can't remember how it all worked out, but I remember shot twice on one coyote. Anyway, I shot five rounds out and next thing I know, here comes another coyote to me and I didn't have no more shells to put in a gun to shoot this thing. Of course, it goes up there and stops and looking around less than 100 yards. You know, one of those perfect scenarios. Yes. Cost me a coyote. I didn't have enough shells with me. I just loaded my gun up and walked in there. Didn't have nothing in my pockets, nothing in my pack. Didn't have enough shells. Yep. Make sure you pack enough ammo. Yeah. Uh here's here's another one when it comes to ammo and guns that we'll hit real quick. Don't periodically check zero on your rifle. Um I will say I've been the luckiest person in the world or um maybe I've just it's a testament to the optics I've shot and the bases and rings and all that type of stuff, but I've never had a rifle that's come off zero ever. But I've seen many of people's do. And you know, I still, even though I've never had it happen, every once in a while, and I got some spare time, I'll just either put my gun on the tripod, lay across the hood of the truck, get out there on the picnic table behind the house, whatever, and just fire a shot down range at a box, at a target, and just make sure my, you know, everything's good to go. That way, I've always got that confidence. But I've been on hunts. I've seen where guys, you know, you see them miss bad and like, man, what's going on? Did you pull your shot that bad? So, I don't know. I thought I was right on it. And and you know, and you go check and guess what? The thing's off 8 in. Mhm. I've done that. I've I've definitely done that. And it's usually I' kind of like you. I've never really, you know, I've had a lot of confidence in my equipment over the years, but uh it happened maybe a year or two ago. Uh started my coyote season there the end of summer, October, went ahead and grabbed the gun out of the safe. Never checked zero. Don't know how it got off. Still to this day, don't really know how it got off, but it did somehow from the last time I fired it to, you know, my my newest stand and I was off about six or eight inches and it cost me. Yep. Hurts too, don't it? Oh, they all hurt. Uh, the next one here is right on the same lines and I wanted to throw this in here real quick. Um, this is pretty much just over trigger time. Don't practice shooting. And big thing is don't practice shooting from a hunting position. Um, you know, a lot of guys hunt a lot and they kill a lot of coyotes, so they get their trigger time on coyotes and they stay stay brushed up. But if you're somebody that takes breaks throughout the season or uh maybe getting a bad dry spell or or whatever it is, uh there's nothing wrong with getting some trigger time in and practicing shooting. It keeps your confidence up. It keeps your muscle memory just right. And the best thing to do is is practice from a hunting position. Just have like you're going to go out there and make your stance. That way you'll have all the confidence in the world and you you shouldn't be having no coyotes get by you. Mhm. Yeah. It's it's one of the most important things of shooting and uh I'm fortunate enough to you know to do a lot of uh are you know like research and development for for some people and and so I'm behind the trigger all the time and it's not always in a you know in that hunting position but just like you said with the muscle memory your grip your your squeeze on your trigger your breathing uh the the biggest thing that I I struggle with is going from day calling to night calling. That's one thing I don't practice on enough and I know we got a lot of nighttime callers that that uh you know listen in on these podcast. I'm really bad, you know, shooting off a tripod at night. Mhm. That I don't do enough of and I know it and I'm going to change that this year. I'm going to I've already got it in the works. planning on shooting off that tripod a bunch before we get to night season this year. So yeah, like exactly if you're somebody daytime hunting usually sitting on a chair or sitting on your butt directly on the ground and all of a sudden you're going to start night hunting and you're going to stand shoot off a it's it's different. Even though it's a solid platform, don't get no more solid than a tripod, it's still different. Yeah. Yeah. There's definitely a different technique, you know, uh, from going from shooting off a tripod, sitting on the, you know, sitting in a chair to standing up. It's it's it's it's a huge difference. That that's one thing I'm telling you, and this sounds stupid, but you know, one people ask, "What can I do to kill more coyotes?" The number one thing that somebody can do to kill more coyotes is to kill every coyote that you that you call in. you know, if you don't miss no coyote, your number is going to go up a little bit cuz everybody misses from time to time. It's just how it is. So, definitely get trigger time in. Practice from a hunting position. Can't say that that enough. Um, we're going to move right on to the next one. This is one that I don't know how many times I've had this happen. And this is a blunder and a mistake. Um, don't charge your e-coll. He called battery dies on you while you're out there hunting. You ever had that happen? Oh, yeah. Oh, I sure as heck have. And I I hope you're kind of like me. Uh I always carry a hot battery in my pack or at least in my pickup. I ain't smart enough to do that. Oh, come on now. I do try to do that. I do try to do that. But yes, I have done that more times than I'd like to admit. And it is it's a mistake and it's definitely a blunder. Man, there was one time we was out, me and my brother was hunting Wyoming, hunting public ground, hunting BLM stuff. We had drove at least hour and a half, maybe two hours to get to this area. We wanted to call made one, made like maybe two stands that morning and go out on the next stand. I'm sitting a call out. We was run a CS24C Fox CS24C. One of the best units ever built. If you say anything different, I'll slap you right in the mouth. But I went out there and flipped that toggle switch on. It goes through its little thing where it blinks and all that stuff. I looked down there. I said, "Man, they just it's still blinking. Why is it blinking?" Or maybe it turned a different color. I can't remember. It's been so long now, but I don't remember how they exactly work on that uh LED light. But I remember walking back to the stand like, "Why is that light doing that?" ripped out ripped out the set of house and halfway through them quit. Went back in there, flipped that toggle switch time or two battery was dead on a hammer. Here we are hour and a half, two hours away from the house or from where we stay and we hand called the rest of the morning just so we got lucky. We had hand calls with us. No, we call you. Well, see there's my blunder because I always carry a handle in the truck, but I'm the world's worst about putting in my pocket or something like that and then y that happens to me, I ain't got nothing. So, Cory be walking back to the truck or driving back to the house. Well, that's one I had here. And I think this is a mistake. I wouldn't call it a blunder, but I it is a mistake. U you don't keep hand you don't carry handcuffs. Hand calls are an awesome tool. I mean, there's countless coyotes that's been killed over the years with hand calls. There's still many people out there today, that's all they do is run hand calls. And I'm telling you, there's nothing wrong with keeping a set of hand calls on you at all times when you're when you're hunting. Even if it's just one, I mean, for instances like this, if your e-coll battery dies, say it dies halfway through the stand, you know, stuff happens. and you forget to charge it. Maybe the that battery pack is going bad or whatever. Uh you might be in the middle of the stand and having coyotes that might be coming, you don't know it or you do see them coming and you can't, you know, seal the deal. But if you could reach in your pocket or lanyard around your neck, got a hand call on it, you can finish that standoff. I've always got a closed read hand call from FoxPro, the Tantrum, and I'm carrying at least one mouth diaphragm. I've always got them with me. You all don't see me use them much, but I've got them. And it's just for those instances like that. Um, I mean, they can they can save you every once in a while on one of those situations. Like I said, I'm the world's worst about it. I've got them all. I got all kinds of them and I just, for some reason, I always forget to just tough one in my pocket. But yeah, here's another one goes right along with the e- call. You don't carry spare spare batteries for your remote. You ever been out somewhere and run batteries out on your remote, not be able to call? Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's probably happened way more than the dead battery on the e- call. Yeah, cuz they you use them up more, you know, and Yeah, that it's one of them things I got batteries packed everywhere. Pockets in my bino pack, in my camera bag. I always got batteries and if I don't, well then that's that's on me. But yeah, it's happened a lot. Definitely a blunder. Next one here. A coyote comes out when you go to get the call. You ever had that happen? That's a that's a blunder, I guess. You go out there to pick up you make you stand at 25 minutes in, you get up, say, I won't go out there and pick the call up, go to the next, and ain't nothing coming. And as you're reaching down there to pick it up, you look back up or the coyote right out in front of you. You ever had that happen? Oh, yeah. And it's usually when my gun is still sitting back where my seats at and I ain't got no way to shoot him. Well, that right there is the way to avoid it. You just never know. I mean, because there's some at some point you've got to call it quits on a stand. Yeah. Sometimes you might not call it long enough, but if you've made a good solid stand and you don't see nothing coming, I mean, this this just happens. But if you want to be somebody to still be able to kill that coyote, I'm telling you, I used to do this quite a bit before I don't do this ever anymore because when we're filming, if I walk out there and see a coyote, I just don't shoot it. Uh but before we started filming all our stands and everything, when I'd go pick up my call, I'd take my rifle with me and I've killed several coyotes like that. And that's how I learned to do it was from a mistake or two of walking out there to get the call and you look up and there's a coyote. So, if you're if you're somebody who wants to kill every coyote that you see, make sure you pack your rifle when you with you when you go pick up your call. Yep. Absolutely. Let's see here. What else we got? Um,
taking a rushed low percentage shot. That's a mistake. You ever been in that situation? I mean, sometimes you might take a rush, low percentage shot and get lucky, but more often than not, you're probably going to miss it. Yes, I've done that. And it's usually more so on, you know, when you got multiples coming. That's where I usually tend to take my low percentage shots, you know, you just kind of get in the moment. You know, there's coyotes running everywhere and you're trying to figure out which coyote you need to try and shoot next. And that's usually where I get myself in trouble on low percentage shots. Yeah, is usually when it's multiples. Usually if I've got a coyote that's, you know, he's playing the part, you know, he's not nervous when he's coming in. I'm I tend to make my shot count usually every time on that. But when things kind of go south, that's I'm I know that's where everybody's low percentage shots probably come from. Right. Right. Well, there's there's the opposite end of it, too. And I've been um you know guilty of this passing good shots trying to milk a coyote you know trying to just watch him longer and you know want to see him get closer and all that type of stuff and you had o a great shot opportunity and you didn't take it because you just wanted to milk him a little bit more watched him. I've had it happen with uh coyotes. I've had it happen with bobcats. I've had it happen with hard strut and long beards, you know, I've had it happen many of times. Um, and you know, that hurts. Both of them hurt, you know, and it's kind of on the opposite ends of the spectrum, but you know, I I tell people, you know, don't don't ever pass up a a good shot opportunity on a coyote if it's one of those that you're 100% gonna make every time. Now, if I'm if we're filming, if we got the camera on you now, I want you I want you milking a coyote. Now, Richie Gonzalez, if you listen to this, this is for you. Wait, we want to get some footage.
I got to give Richie a hard time. We We had him in Kansas there two winters ago, and we'd be watching these coyotes come, and they soon as they check up, I got him. I got him. Kill him. Kill him. Kill him. Like, Richie, would you calm down? We're going to wait a little closer.
I love my I love my Richie Gonzalez. Well, he was ready and willing right there. He was He was letting you know that he had everything that you wanted as far as a coyote coming. Hey, he's Richie lives out there in Utah. He lives in that bounty country for coyotes. So, every coyote out there, they're getting shot at from trucks. Everybody's a coyote collar. And when a coyote stops out there, you better be pulling a trigger. And I think he said in certain areas they actually doubled that uh u that bounty on those things not too long ago. I think most coyotes out there are 50 bucks. And I think he said they was doubled in some areas where it's a 100 bucks a coyote. Now, don't quote me on that, but I'm pretty sure Richie was telling me about that there not too long ago. Oh man, that's a lot of money for for a pair of ears. That's right. That's right. Hey, you got any mistakes and blunders you want to throw in here? I've got two more. I've got a mistake and I've got a good blunder and I probably shouldn't tell it on myself, but it it's kind of embarrassing. I'll save that for last. But, uh, let's hear it. Let's hear them. Parking the truck. How many times have you parked the truck and thought that you were good on where you're getting ready to call at, you sat down, make your stand, coyote boogers off, you see him coming. Yep. Coyote boogers off and you're like, "What in the world's going on? What happened?" Yep. You don't know what's happened. You get all the way back to the truck sitting there and you're like, "Man, what in the world?" You look back down there and you go, "Oh, well, he can see my pickup." Uhhuh. Yeah. No, it's happened a lot. It actually happened to us. We got lucky and killed the coyote. It happened to us in Kansas this year. Me and Jeff Ryder had Brandon Maxwell come out with Diligent Defense Suppressors. We took him out uh two days of calling. had to stand that uh Jeff knew he had been there a couple weeks before and heard some coyotes howling on this property and so we saved it and went there and made made sure the wind was right whole nine yards afternoon stand had everything just right. Coyote comes out I mean comes quick comes within two or three minutes in the stand and uh we could have shot him right off the bat there but was kind of milking him a little bit and all a sudden he gets nervous and runs off. We switch sounds and he comes back up there again, but the sucker is way nervous. I mean, acting goofy as can be. And finally, we shoot him and kill him. It's like, what in the world was going on with that crazy thing? We're going out there to pick the check pick up the call and start walking to where the coyote is and turn around to say something to Jeff or Brandon. And sure enough, when I look back at them, like, no wonder the dag on coyote was acting like that. The pickup truck was right out there in the wide open just shining. I mean, just shining. And uh it almost cost us a coyote and probably should have cost us a coyote, but we got lucky on it. But I know there's been many other times um that it has cost us. You know, was talking about hunting Wyoming air quite a bit. We're talking about hunting Wyoming air a little bit ago. Um there's been many times that that we've goofed up in in Wyoming. You know, you get some of those spots, it's hard to hide a pickup truck. Right. Right. Man, in Wyoming, they see a truck when you're calling, they it's almost guaranteed if they see it, they're going to they're going to flare off, not come in. It's over with. Yeah. No, that's a good one. Yeah. Yeah. So, my blunder, you're going to laugh at this and I hope I hope for Mike's sake that you've done something like this at some point in your career. Well, it's been Gosh, John, it's probably been 10 15 years ago. Probably 15 years ago. It was the day before Christmas. This is Christmas Eve. I went out, coyote hunted. Called in a double, kill both of them. Happy. I mean, I mean, I'm I'm stoked. Killed both these coyotes. Come back home, tell my wife all about it. We go to our Christmas function that night and had more festivities the next day. like three or four days have it went by and uh I go out to my pickup to get my stuff ready. I'm gonna go calling again. Looking around, I'm like, where's my shotgun at? Looking for my shotgun. Can't find it. Can't find my e call either. I'm like, son, somebody stole my shotgun out of my pickup and my call. But why in the world would they leave my rifle? So, I'm flabbergasted. I can't find this stuff. And I'm like, man, somebody sure enough stole this thing. Well, then it hits me. I'm like, there's no way I left my shotgun and my e call on that last stand that I made 3 or 4 days ago. So, I get in the pickup, drive out there. It's a 10, 15 minute drive from my house. And sure enough, as I'm pulling down through the pasture field, look across there right where I'm was sitting at by this tree and I can see my shotgun leaned up against the tree and I'm like, "Oh my goodness, I could not believe I did that." Fortunately for me, oh, I got lucky. Fortunately for me, it didn't rain or snow or anything through that time frame. I was going to ask you if any weather hit it. No, no weather hit it. That's probably the most embarrassing blunder that I've ever done, but I've done it. And you guys can pick on me if you want. I don't care. It's I'm glad you told us about it. Yeah, I've never done it since. But let me know. Let you guys listening out here, let me know if you ever done something like that. I know Clay Reed left a call one time. I was thinking about that. He left a like is a CS24, I think. Yeah. Left it in New Mexico or something. He was gone for like months, wasn't it? I think I think a whole year because he was hunting uh like that in New Mexico State Championship or something went back the next year and made the same stand and there's call was I probably butchered the story but it was something like that. It's something similar to that. I remember it. I remember it. Um I I've not forgot anything like that, but I've been in two situations that's kind of similar. There was one time at me and our buddy David Reid that you know here at home and this was early on in my coyote calling when I started taking people with me coyote hunting took took him and brand new property to try. He's the one that actually picked it up. But uh went there and made this stand. We killed a triple. He killed two. I killed one. We drugg the coyotes back to the truck and uh was taking pictures there at the truck. I think this is back when you you know I know it was it wasn't no cell phone picture stuff. We was taking them with a it was a digital camera one of them little big old square it take a little you know take a SD card or some kind of memory card. But anyway um we drive off from there to load the coyotes up take off and all a sudden u David gets the phrase oh man I forgot I forgot my rifle back there. Well, we drive back there to the spot where we was parked at. Can't find the rifle for nothing. He knew he brought it back to the truck. Well, we finally found it. It was like buried down in the mud. Oh no. Run it over. He had leaned it up either against a truck or on a tire or something. We took off driving and ran plum over top of that sucker. Oh my goodness. Did was it all right? Did it bend it or anything? I don't think it did. As far as I I can't remember if anything come of it was tore. I don't I know it didn't seem like it wasn't nothing visible right there at the spot that I could tell was tore up. U but yeah, it was that was a blunder. And another thing I'll tell this on another boy, you know, Kyle Campbell that used to film me a ton uh back in the day. We were out on a turkey hunt once and uh had a uh I think it was a Canon 5D Mark II DSLR with a nice Canon Lens on the front of it. Next day we go hunting and he actually left that camera out there. Didn't know it. This is an afternoon and uh we was filming with a camcorder style, but we always took those cameras for for other things. Yeah. Well, the next day we're out hunting and I think I don't know if we killed a bird or decided to do some product photography or whatever. Used to do a ton of that back in the old days. But, uh, he goes to grab his camera. Can't find it. get we looked we couldn't remember you know we couldn't figure out what what had happened to it and finally he remembers that the f the day before when we were out there set up on a gobbler that he'd left it like it set it down and he's like man I don't think I ever picked it up from air so we walked back in this other farm and sure enough right there it was right there where he set it where we set up on a gobbler the day before but the the thing is if you go back to when a Canon 5D Mark I first come out Mhm. Mhm. You don't know how much money he left out there in the woods. Oh, yeah. Overnight. I mean, and then a and like a $2,000 lens on top of I mean, he left a lot of money. Oh, make you sick. The the biggest thing was it wasn't his camera. Oh, well, lucky for him. Yeah. Yeah. But there wasn't a thing wrong with it. It was totally fine. But that was a blunder. Yeah, that's a blunder for sure. Well, you got anything else you want to add, Corey? It's been on here a little over an hour. I think it's been a pretty good podcast. I've had fun with it. Anyway, I'm sure maybe some of these people can relate and they have experience some of these mistakes and maybe there's a couple of them. They're like, you know, maybe I can do this to to, you know, remedy this mistake I've made a few times. Yeah. Yeah. Or let us know your mistakes. Comment on this podcast and let us know some of your mistakes. Like I said, we're having fun with it. So, you know, if you can laugh at yourself sometimes, it's all good, you know. Yeah. Well, you're uh you're fixing to head out on vacation, ain't you? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. We'll leave out tomorrow midday. So, we're looking forward to it. Where you going? Oh, we're going to go down to Alabama and then swing over to Dolphin Island for a few days. So, that sounds it sounds like a fun time to me. Hope hopefully you guys enjoy it. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate that. Well, Corey, thanks for coming on here and everybody out there, we hope you enjoyed this episode and we hope you join us again right here on the Fox Pro podcast.