Three taken with shotguns during hunts
Over the course of the spring turkey season, James Bray said hunters harvested three coyotes over turkey decoys while gobblers were actively working toward their setups and calls in portions of south central Texas.
“I’ve been guiding turkey hunts for over 15 years, and I’ve never seen coyotes key in on birds and decoys like this,” Bray, an outfitter and owner of Lone Oak Adventures, said. “Each time it happened one or more toms were gobbling in response to calls and coming in toward the decoys. Over the years I’ve seen maybe two bobcats come into turkey decoy setups and get shot while turkeyhunting, but never coyotes.”
Each time, the setups included some sort of jake decoy. “Sometimes we would have a jake decoy in a half-strut or breeding pose out, and other times we were using a jake strutter decoy,” Bray explained. “It was like the coyotes heard the birds that were working into our setups and gobbling, and came in to investigate. Then, once they saw our decoys, they would come charging in to attack them.”
In addition to the three coyotes shot, a few other times coyotes showed up but winded the hunters getting in shotgun range.
“Twice during the season, my business partner, Daniel Bristow, was hunting with clients and had multiple coyotes come running by within 15 yards or so of them in pursuit of gobbling birds,” Bray said. “Both times, the coyotes intercepted the birds before the hunters could get a shot off on the gobblers. “As soon as a coyote shows up within shotgun range, the turkey hunt quickly turns into a coyote hunt. It didn’t take long this season to figure out that the dogs were no match for TSS Turkey
loads when they were in the decoys.”
One decoy now has holes and teeth marks from one of the coyotes.
“I’m not sure if these encounters were due to the drought conditions we experienced throughout most of the spring turkey season, or if these properties just recently had an increase in their coyote population,” Bray said. “Whatever the case may be, it made for some interesting and exciting moments.”
