LAST UPDATED: May 8th, 2015
My first bow kill of 2011 wasn’t that monster buck like I had envisioned, but I’m still plenty proud of it. This season started off with a coyote down.
I had a trail camera set up alongside of a soy bean field getting tons of deer pictures and the occasional coyote would stroll by. But every coyote picture was in the middle of the night so I never figured I’d get a shot at one from this stand.
This is the exact coyote that I later shot. I can tell by the scar on his left front leg.
I was all settled in my stand located in a large walnut tree on the edge of the bean field during the second Saturday evening of the Missouri 2011 bow season. It was still early, maybe 5:00 PM, so I was busy watching a group of Cardinals scavenging for seeds out in front of me. All of a sudden the Cardinals scattered in all directions, some of them whizzing by my stand. I looked to see what had alarmed them and I caught movement to my left alongside the bean field. Before I could turn on my video camera the long legged coyote was in my shooting lane. I squeaked like a mouse and he came to a halt barely 10 yards in front of me. I ever so slowly reached for my bow as he tried to locate the source of the noise. In one fluid motion I grabbed my bow in one hand and the release in the other and drew back the 65 pounds of my Mathews ez7. As I came to full draw I settled my top pin right behind his shoulder, because I knew he wouldn’t stand there very long. Without even consciously thinking about it, everything lined up and I touched off the shot. This is a perfect example of how all of those backyard practice sessions can pay off. I never had time to think about this shot, the whole episode happened in a matter of seconds from the time I saw him until the time the arrow was on its way.
Is there a more beautifull sight?
Thankfully my aim was true and my Bowhunting.com Quickfletch disappeared precisely where my green sight pin had been a millisecond earlier. The yote spun in a couple of tight circles in the field and then made a mad dash for the woods. The way he was crashing and running into brush I knew he wasn’t going very far. In a few short seconds I could hear him thrashing and then there was silence. The NAP Spitfire Broadhead had done its job well. After looking back where the yote was standing at the shot, I could see my white fletching covered in bright red blood. It was a short tracking job to my trophy; he hadn’t gone 40 yards before piling up against a clump of bush honeysuckle.
Not what I envisioned my first trophy shot of 2011 would look like.
While this may not have been the start I had dreamed of for the 2011 archery season, I still consider any animal killed with archery equipment a true trophy. This hunt also goes to show that all of those practice sessions spent when there was something else I could have been doing or it was just too hot to practice definitely paid off. I never had time to think about this shot, it just happened and my form and instincts took over. I actually don’t even remember any details of the shot except seeing my sight pin where it needed to be; I was on autopilot and just executed this shot like the thousands of other shots in my backyard practicing during the summer months.
