I’m convinced that coyote hunting isn’t about killing coyote, but about the rush of fear and adrenaline! Click here to read Part 2 – where the coyotes start to circle us in the dark!

After about an hour of hiking up the dark logging road, we got settled in to a clearing of ferns on top of the hill. We hadn’t heard or seen any sign of the coyotes for a few minutes – which seemed odd, since they had been so close to us earlier. Frank pulled out a survival candle/lantern gadget that he was quite proud to show off, and we sat back to back with our shotguns loaded, and pointed off into the darkness.

He fired up the dying rabbit call again – and offered up a few yips on his coyote call – simulating the scuffle of a coyote attacking his prey. And we heard coyotes answer – this time – back up in the hollows of the surrounding hills. The predators that were so close to just ten minutes ago were spread back out in the forest. No matter how hard we tried, we could seem to call them closer. Frank recommended a little silence to see if we could try again.

As soon as we got quiet, there was a crash, rustle, crash, crash, rustle not twenty feet to the south of us. We spun our guns around, and Frank hit his light. Of course – I couldn’t see anything – but I could feel every muscle in my body tighten like rocks, trying to figure out what kind of monster was going to attack.