Eric Mayer
New Member
I was in Texas earlier this year hunting varmints and Turkey on a buddy's lease near Uvalde. While we were scouting the ranch for sign, we happened upon a large shelf of rocks over-looking a dried river. The area was your typical, really thick, Texas Brush country, so I knew there had to be some gray fox in that spot. I made a mental note and decided to come back to that area if the turkey didn't pan out later that day.
That afternoon, and one missed turkey later (don't ask...), I headed over to the general area I was that morning. The plan was to try and cut-off any turkeys heading to their roost for the evening and see if they would respond to the call one last time before they settled in for the night.
I set-up at the base of a deer stand, along a fence row that was loaded with thick brush and then gobbled a few times. Right away I got a response! From the general direction of the roost... I missed them by about a half-hour. I gobbled one more time, just in case and got the same response, from the same area.
With turkeys off the menu, I headed back to my truck to get my predator call and a couple of rifles. I was shooting my Remington R15 with a .25-45 Sharps upper and a Contender Carbine in 17 Winchester Super Mag. I planned on calling for coyote first, as I saw tons of sign near the stand where I was set-up for turkey, then head down the hill a bit for gray fox.
I set-up the call on the edge of the fence line, then walked about 50 yards to an intersection of two senderos and got ready. I was using the jackrabbit sound, because they were everywhere in the spot I was hunting and there was plenty of scat loaded with rabbit fur. A few minutes into the call and a nice sized coyote shows up on the opposite side of the fence line. I dropped the sound down and waited a few moments to see if it would come out further, but no such luck. I pulled up, held on its heart and squeezed. At the shot, the coyote spun and started an awkward leap into the brush. I could hear the brush breaking where the coyote crashed and knew he was down. My plan was to pick it up on my way back, after doing another stand down near the river area I saw in the morning.
I left my AR, grabbed my call and Contender, and headed down another 100 yards to call for fox. I set the call at the base of a bush, past the stand where I was earlier and then walked back to the stand area. I switched the sound to Lucky Bird and pushed send. As I began to increase the volume, I saw movement near the fence. A nice gray fox slipped under the fence and stopped about 75 yards away right behind a small bush. I could see his upper body, but a lower chest shot was not happening. I pulled up my Contender, found the lowest spot possible on his body that was not covered by bush and pulled the trigger (if you have ever shot an original Contender, you know why I had to "pull" and not squeeze). I heard the bullet hit and watched the fox flop-over. I was amped!
I headed over and collected the fox. Unfortunately, the mix of the 25 grain bullet and my high shot, made for a large exit wound. I did a quick check and it looked like the bullet blew-up on a bone and the remnants continued through the opposite side. I pulled him out to the fence line and set-up for a picture. The sun was going down and I could hear thunder in the distance, so I hastily took the shot using my phone. It turned out to be one of the nicest pictures I took on the trip.
When I got to the spot where my coyote was, I could not find a place to jump the fence. I was wearing snake boots and it was impossible for me to climb the flimsy barbed-wire. I ended up marking the spot for the next day, but never was able to collect it due to the weather that came in that night. At camp, I took another picture of the fox with a jackrabbit I shot earlier. The fox was a decent sized male, but the jackrabbit was a big ole boy!
I kind of typed this out quickly, so if I made any errors, I'll correct them later!
Eric A. Mayer
That afternoon, and one missed turkey later (don't ask...), I headed over to the general area I was that morning. The plan was to try and cut-off any turkeys heading to their roost for the evening and see if they would respond to the call one last time before they settled in for the night.
I set-up at the base of a deer stand, along a fence row that was loaded with thick brush and then gobbled a few times. Right away I got a response! From the general direction of the roost... I missed them by about a half-hour. I gobbled one more time, just in case and got the same response, from the same area.
With turkeys off the menu, I headed back to my truck to get my predator call and a couple of rifles. I was shooting my Remington R15 with a .25-45 Sharps upper and a Contender Carbine in 17 Winchester Super Mag. I planned on calling for coyote first, as I saw tons of sign near the stand where I was set-up for turkey, then head down the hill a bit for gray fox.
I set-up the call on the edge of the fence line, then walked about 50 yards to an intersection of two senderos and got ready. I was using the jackrabbit sound, because they were everywhere in the spot I was hunting and there was plenty of scat loaded with rabbit fur. A few minutes into the call and a nice sized coyote shows up on the opposite side of the fence line. I dropped the sound down and waited a few moments to see if it would come out further, but no such luck. I pulled up, held on its heart and squeezed. At the shot, the coyote spun and started an awkward leap into the brush. I could hear the brush breaking where the coyote crashed and knew he was down. My plan was to pick it up on my way back, after doing another stand down near the river area I saw in the morning.
I left my AR, grabbed my call and Contender, and headed down another 100 yards to call for fox. I set the call at the base of a bush, past the stand where I was earlier and then walked back to the stand area. I switched the sound to Lucky Bird and pushed send. As I began to increase the volume, I saw movement near the fence. A nice gray fox slipped under the fence and stopped about 75 yards away right behind a small bush. I could see his upper body, but a lower chest shot was not happening. I pulled up my Contender, found the lowest spot possible on his body that was not covered by bush and pulled the trigger (if you have ever shot an original Contender, you know why I had to "pull" and not squeeze). I heard the bullet hit and watched the fox flop-over. I was amped!
I headed over and collected the fox. Unfortunately, the mix of the 25 grain bullet and my high shot, made for a large exit wound. I did a quick check and it looked like the bullet blew-up on a bone and the remnants continued through the opposite side. I pulled him out to the fence line and set-up for a picture. The sun was going down and I could hear thunder in the distance, so I hastily took the shot using my phone. It turned out to be one of the nicest pictures I took on the trip.
When I got to the spot where my coyote was, I could not find a place to jump the fence. I was wearing snake boots and it was impossible for me to climb the flimsy barbed-wire. I ended up marking the spot for the next day, but never was able to collect it due to the weather that came in that night. At camp, I took another picture of the fox with a jackrabbit I shot earlier. The fox was a decent sized male, but the jackrabbit was a big ole boy!
I kind of typed this out quickly, so if I made any errors, I'll correct them later!
Eric A. Mayer
