Youth Hunt was held here this in Michigan past weekend and
Son #1 took his boys out one at a time. The oldest is 13 and the younger one is
10.
Saturday morning they saw a couple deer but nothing close
enough to shoot. They ended the day in the same tree stand with no other opportunities
. . .until they climbed down.
It was dusk and getting dark quickly - past the time to
shoot. Grandson whispered to his Dad “look by the fence row”. Son #1 looked and
then got his binoculars. They were up wind from nine deer which included a
couple of bucks.
They stood still and watched as the herd came towards them.
The group was about 15 yards away when the buck suddenly stopped, snorted and
took off. The rest followed. My son knew it had nothing to do with them. He
thought he could see another deer along the fence row and checked with the
binoculars.
It wasn’t a deer but a coyote. He whispered to his son to
stand still. The coyote continued towards them and veered off after the deer.
Once he was past my son the coyote started to howl. Another one answered and then
they both were howling.
Son got his doe call out and called with four short bursts.
He waited a bit and blew again. He did this three times. By now, it is totally
dark. He waited for a few minutes.
He whispered to his son “Get ready, I’m going to shine the
light.”
He directed the light to where the coyote and deer had gone.
Nothing. He swept the area with his light and was turned directly around behind
him and there they were. The two coyotes.
They had circled back to get what they thought was the doe.
The gig was up and the coyote took off but it was an amazing
adventure for a dad and his son.
