Guys, I posted this on the Preditor Hunting section last night before I knew this forum was here. This was my experience last Monday.
I adopted a Minature Pinscher (Prince Fido) last year. My son and Wife have taught him to howl on cue. Every night when they come home I have to listen to him howling for ten minutes. Real high pitched howl, the kind that hurts your ears.
Monday I drove the Dalton Highway (Ice Road) up to the Yukon River. On the way back I stopped at a good looking place to call. I hit the siren for a few seconds and got a couple of Coyote answers. I got out my Chair Blind, and Prince and I walked about 50 yards into the bush away from the road. We set up on the edge of a grassy clearing. We had wind from out left to right. A raging river down wind to our right. I put Prince on the ground inside the blind. I tied his leash to the bottom of the chair. I turned on my Fox Pro and let it howl for a few seconds. I shut it off and I could hear the Coyotes howling. Prince ducked under the blind and sat down outside howling. He was making a constant racket out there. In maybe three minutes I saw a Coyote about 80 yards out. Prince was jumping up and down, and started barking. I was carrying a Savage 24, .223/20ga. I looked at the Coyote, and it looked like it was not coming any closer. I shot it with the .223. It spun around a couple of times then fell over. Prince started howling again, and turned facing more to our right, towards the area close to the river. He was just going crazy howling then he would bark a time or two. The brush was heavier to our right. I turned facing that direction, and I saw another Coyote coming. The brush was too heavy to try a shot with the .223. This one was coming full bore. Suddenly Prince ducked back into the blind with me. At 25 to 30 yards it met a load of #4s headon.
I put my snow shoes on and walked out to the second one. The coat was real scraggly. I went out to the first one, it's coat was in good shape.
My little buddy did good, it was like he knew just what to do. He howled and howled, then barked when he saw them. He sure brought them in. But when the second one got too close he retreated under the blind skirt, and wanted to jump into my lap. When I opened the back of the Jeep to put them on a tarp, Prince watched over the back of the seat. Once he decided they were no longer a threat he jumped over the seat and made his attack. I scolded him and made him get back up front. All the way back to North Pole he would occasionally look over the back of the seat and growl. We will be setting out Beaver sets next week. Just might let Prince ride along in the canoe. Who knows what he might bring up to the river bank. We have a "No closed season, No limit" on Coyotes. they are classified as an invasive species, and are really hurting the Dall Sheep population by killing the lambs during the spring.
From all the people I have talked to while out in Texas every year, the Mountain Cur makes the best Coyote decoy dog. So Billy get to work on that pup. Like I said last night, I've seen them go out and bring Coyotes in from longer distances than most people can shoot. Bring them right up close to the blind, then stop and stand their ground, stopping the Coyote so the shooter can get a good shot. They will do their part, you do yours.
When I was a kid, my Grandfather would read me letters from his brother Lon. Lon had moved to Wyoming before the turn of the century (late 1800s). They used packs of dogs to hunt Wolves back then. Walkers or other kinds of hounds to track the Wolf. Then once sighted, Grayhounds to run it down and stop it from running. Then came the killer dogs, usually Giant Airdales, to actually kill the wolf. They did the same thing with Coyotes as the Wolves got scarce.
