If you measure a hunt strictly by what rides home in the truck bed, this one was a bust. But ask the two of us who spent the evening out there, and we’ll tell you it was one of the better hunts of the season.
Answering the Call
It started with a phone call. A local farmer reached out, frustrated by the coyotes he’d been spotting across his land, and invited us out to help thin them down. Depredation hunts like this serve a real purpose. Beyond the obvious nuisance of predators harassing farm animals, coyotes take a quiet toll on the local deer herd. The average coyote eats around seven fawns a year, so every one removed gives the next generation of whitetails a better shot at survival. Helping a landowner and supporting healthy game populations at the same time is exactly the kind of work this club believes in.
An Empty Stand
Out we went, into a brutal 99-degree North Carolina summer evening. Anyone who tells you predator hunting is glamorous has never sat in that kind of heat. The one coyote we laid eyes on all night showed itself as we were walking in, weapons unloaded and slung as proper safety protocol demands. No shot to be had, and by the time we were set up and calling, the land had gone quiet. We watched, waited, and ultimately walked out with an empty stand. No harvest tonight.
The Real Show
What we did see, though, made the heat worth enduring. A deer wandered through, healthy and unhurried, and we simply watched it go. It’s out of season, after all, and part of being a hunter is knowing exactly when not to pull the trigger. Then came the real show. A whole family of turkeys, four adults and somewhere around twenty chicks, paraded right past our stand in broad daylight without a care in the world. It’s almost as if they know they’re out of season too, strutting by like they own the place. Moments like that are a reminder of why we do this.
A Little Fun with the Hardware
Between the two of us we had quite the eclectic pairing in the stand: a thoroughly modern semi-automatic .223 alongside a blast from the past, a lever-action chambered in .308. Old school and new school, side by side. Trying out different tools in the field is half the enjoyment, and this combination made for good conversation.
The Measure of Success
That, in the end, is what made the evening a success. Two old friends found a few hours to sit together outdoors, catch up, and reconnect. We unplugged from the struggles and noise of daily life and just spent time in the woods the way we used to. The coyotes lived to see another day, but we walked out richer for the time spent.
See you in the field.