typical

[leper]

Camera facing West, wind a stout SouWester.
Pr of coyotes on the move a couple of Winters ago. Female on the left, male on the right. They both paused on a foothill valley. Both are on the down-wind, as per usual. Female was more wary & hung back. As the male continued on & bedded down on the down-wind slope of a distant foothill.

If a hunter would've been up-wind from this pr. They would've only had momentary glimpses of them. As they mainly stayed down-wind of the foothill ridgelines as they traveled. Which is typical coyote behavior.



Male, heading towards his bedding spot. Note he is traveling crosswind right below the ridgelines. SouWester wind is hitting the left side of his body.


Female waited & watched the male bed down. Then she traveled to him. She decided to bed right above him on the down-wind foothill slope. Coyotes when bedding on snow, will spin a tight circle tamping the snow down. Before they bed down. Male is already bedded, female is tamping.


I've watched many pr of coyotes hunting & traveling. Females "almost always" are in the lead. Males bringing up the rear. I've also noted over the yrs. The females are most observant & wary. Compared to the males.

After this wk-end. I plan to hunt hard, as 95% or so of the crops have been harvested. About time

Good shooting to you all.

[vmaster59]

Cool pics. and story. Keep them coming.

Clint

[leper]

Wind is a stout SouWester. Balled-up coyote laying around 700yrds out. Coyote is on the down-wind slope of a foothill. Coyote has it's back/shoulder to the wind. Camera is facing West/SouWest.


Took an older new guy predator stalker in from due North. We then swung SouEast & slowly topped a rise. Now were directly down-wind. Old guy sat & took aim, around 300yrds away. He missed.


Wind was a stout NorWester. I stopped on a rise on the gravel to glass the down-wind areas. Spotted this coyote tucked down between some corn rows. Coyote is facing angled down-wind, around 800yrds out. It's shoulder & back is against the wind.



I passed on the above coyote & drove another 1/4 mile Northbound & seen this pr of Reds. They were out around 1/4 mile.


I read once from a [self anointed one] He remarked, where you see coyotes, you will not see any Reds in the same area. Yeah...ok LOL!

I parked on a high hill & scanned 360 degrees. Seen a Red ball on a very large foothill around a mile away. I drove over there. Balled-up Red right below the hill top. Camera is facing due West, Wind was stout from due West. Red is on the down-wind side...as per usual. I passed on him, to easy & not many around.



Some wonder, where are the canine predators? Well, their down-wind. Nothing new there, as they spend the vast majority of their time on the Down-wind areas. They'll [99.9% of the time] seek a wind brake. When on the move or milling around or when bedded. They'll use & seek any available structure or cover, that cuts the wind.

They also when hunting or traveling, will go from one down-wind area to the next. Spending very little time on areas that don't block the wind. When on the move, they'll zig-zag cutting across or angled to the wind. I suspect one reason is by doing so. They cut the wind off of their body & are able to scent a wider area up up ahead. As well as to their up-wind.

If a hunter understands this. They can adjust & use this info to their bennefit.

[vmaster59]

Cool pics. and story. Keep them coming.



Just don't know what that white stuff is. We had some of it here this last winter. We still have a team looking in to it. To see what it was. Any ideas. LOL

Clint

[leper]

Terrain is to flat for my liking ;D. Snow good...coyotes...bad.

[leper]

Coyotes around here are very reluctant to be called when out on the open hills. When I call it is an area[adjoining county mainly], that has timber patchs & or timber strips. Only one time did I ever call one out on the open hills. That was a day after a blizzard & it was -28WC with a stout NorWester.

I was sitting out on the open flats leaned up against a post of a cattle coral.

By the time that coyote shown up, I was about froze solid. Thus I missed him. I seen him on the hunt South of me, so I got North 1/2 mile & started squalling. He neandered his way, North to me quartering the stout wind. He took his sweet time too

[vmaster59]

This what we do here. And what it looks like.









Clint