I took my son out on his first trip coyote hunting. He went out and bought a new 30.06 at Wal-Mart during a Christmas sale and I told him to sight it in and I would take him out Coyote hunting. That day was one of those days I will think back on and laugh. We did about 6 stands that day and called in 3 Coyotes. The first Coyote we called in got hung up about 150 yards out behind some brush which made the shot impossible so I won’t talk about that one.

 The second Coyote, I set my son up about half way up a hill where he would have a good view of the lower area. I walked around the other side of the hill and set up at the base. I didn’t have a good view of anything but the intension was to get my son a look and hopefully a shot at a Coyote. I started the call and after a few minutes changed to different sounds. About 15 minutes into it I went ahead and turned the caller off and waited a while. I decided it is going to start warming up so we better not spend too much time on the stand so we could go to other areas. I stood up and looked to my left; standing right in front of me was a Coyote. It turned around and started to trot off at a slow pace. I asked my son “what were you looking for?” I asked him “why didn’t you shoot?” He said, “I didn’t see it until it was trotting off.”

The third Coyote, This area is one I hunt often. I set my son up where I knew the Coyote’s usually come in from. I showed him the path the Coyote’s usually take and the direction to look. We both got set up, gave the thumbs up sign and I started calling. The Coyote was coming in just like I thought he would. I looked over at my son and he was scanning the area but was looking to the left and the Coyote was coming in on the right. I kept watching him as he started to scan back to the right. When his eyes reached the area the coyote was standing he jumped, the coyote standing 25 yards away from him caught the movement and started to high tail it out of there. As I watch I heard the trigger sound off and watch the coyote run off. I got up, walked over to my son and of course gave him some crap about the situation that just happened.

I walked over to get my gun and chair when I saw an outline of a coyote about 300 yards in the distance. I sat back down in my chair and put my rifle on my shooting sticks. My son asked, “what are you doing?” I squeezed the trigger and watch the 55 grain ballistic tip sail into the life source of that coyote. My son asked me, “What are you shooting at?” I told him, “a coyote”. He was sure in his mind I was making this up I think as we walked to where the coyote was. It took us some time and on the walk he still didn’t believe I shot the coyote. We reached the coyote after 280 yards and it was then he believed I did actually shoot a coyote.

The day was fun, interesting and somewhat frustrating but a day in the outdoors calling coyotes with your kids is a day you will cherish and remember for a long time. My son may have a lot to learn before being the next great predator caller, but at least that means I have a lot of time in the woods with him in order to get him to that point. If it takes my whole life I wouldn’t change it for anything.