Last week, went down south with Dakota to do a little coyote hunting and see if we couldn't run into any elk sheds. Trip was a lot of fun. Grandpa and my nephew, Kyle, joined us for a the couple day trip. Dakota and I left Hermiston about 10:30 Wednesday night after his basketball games. We ended up getting there at 1:30 in the morning and it was very dark. Pulled into the camping spot we were suppost to meet Kyle and Grandpa at and got stuck. Had to get out and turn in the hubs and put the truck into 4 wheel drive to get out. Very wet! So, we pulled off the road by the camp and just decided to sleep in the cab of the truck for a few hours.
With not much sleep that night, of course very uncomfortable, we were up and dressed by 4:45am. The weather was overcast and a little drizzly but a comfortable temperature. Started out just walking behind our camping spot along a rim and out in the sage brush flat. Had a pretty good walk. Didn't see any animals, did a lot of glassing, but did find this.........
Couldn't believe the elk were this high up when they dropped their horns. There was a lot of snow on the ground up there at that time. I was expecting to find them at a lower elevation. Cool anyways. Dakota and I went to the head of a canyon to do a little glassing and got to hear a bunch of coyotes singing on the next ridge over.
Well with nothing spotted, we turned back towards the truck to get the 4 wheeler and head towards the yotes. On our way back, I spotted this.....
Thought I should go investigate.....
Not the biggest, but still fun to find. Those two are the only ones we found on the trip.
Dakota and I chased around a coyote that crossed the road in front of us until we had to head back to camp cause Kyle and Grandpa would be there soon. When they got there, we unloaded 4 wheelers and took a little drive. We drove around and did some walking and did some glasssing. Didn't see a thing.
Went back to camp and everybody shot our bows. Even Kyle shot Dakota's and did very well. Had a few contests, lost some arrows, then onto gun shooting. Boys had a good time....hitting targets, cans, water bottles. Both boys shot great.
Then back out to have a look around and call some coyotes. Saw a few does that night, and no coyotes came into our calls. Did I mention how bad the mosquitos were? WOW!
Went back to camp for some dinner and shut eye. Kyle and Grandpa slept in the back of Grandpa's truck and Dakota and I slept in Grandpa's trailer. A lot more comfortable than the cab of my truck the night before. We were going to sleep in the back of my truck like we usually do, but it was starting to get a little cold. I didn't expect that for around the 1st of July. I was thinking hot, hot, hot.
We woke up at 5am and drove our 4 wheelers around a little to see if we could catch something out. We saw 6 different bucks just driving around. We all snuck up on one, got within about 80 yards of him. At 1st, he had no idea we were there. It was kind of fun, and I'm sure the boys enjoyed it.
Did a few set ups for coyotes, had two coming in on one set, but they busted us. Driving out to one spot to glass, we spotted a coyote out about 250 yards watching us. Got Dakota set up fast for a shot, missed, but it was a bit far for the gun we brought.
We could only sit and call for about 15 minutes max, did I mention how bad the mosquitos were?!
Did another set up and had one coming in... but again, busted. He ran out to about 300 yards, I stopped him with a bark, and another miss. Again, too far. We were trying to get Kyle on it.. he saw it originally, but once it got behind the trees, he couldn't see it again. So Dakota shot.
Our last set up that night, we could only sit for about 5 minutes before the mosquitos started to eat us up. We decided to call it when I saw an antelope out in a flat. We started towards it to take a look at it. It was a little buck by himself. We were within a couple hundred yards of it with not a lot a cover left. Dakota asked if Kyle and him could see how close they could get to it, and I said sure.
Saw a few more deer that night. Did our archery shoot and rifle shoot at lunch. It was a good day. It was a lot cooler than I thought it was going to be. I sure didn't bring enough clothes. I had a good time, and I'm sure the boys had a good time. Love being up in the mountains.
