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.
