February is the month that coyote hunters dream of. It’s the time of year when spending the extra money to rent night vision goggles makes sense. This year has been unseasonably warm for us, but that’s not exactly a bad thing when it comes to night hunting. Here in the South, the chill of the night air bites us harder than when we travel up north.
Coyote hunting has to be one of the most justified areas of hunting. We try to pass it off as a sense of duty. We are protecting our deer herd or keeping our cattle safe. Those reasons may be all valid but the truth still is, we do it because we love it…
Recently I got a chance to rent night vision goggles. This proved to be the most rewarding hunt I’ve had. I have hunted at night many times before. It has always been with subpar equipment. A red light on top of a scope does not exactly give you the range or clarity that you could have when you rent night vision goggles.
We had a virgin set up on virgin land. I just knew it was going to be good. The call was set up in a good spot, we had good visibility, good concealment, perfect wind. This was a unique stand: we were in river bottom country sitting low in a pecan orchard. Mature pecan trees spaced every 200 feet or so. The night air was rich, splices of cold breeze hit my face.
When you rent night vision goggles, it provides a unique experience for coyote hunting. You can’t get this in the daytime; the game changes at night. You are no longer the only predator because everything is out prowling. A coyote’s behavior and disposition are dramatically different in the nighttime; things he would normally be leery or spooked by, he runs to. The most productive and eventful coyote hunt I’ve ever had was this night. This is what made this the most productive and eventful stand I’ve ever had.
It began in the familiar way our night hunts do. We set up in the trees so we wouldn’t be sky lined. The call was set up about 50 yards away. I had just walked off my shooting distance when I heard that familiar howl; it was coming from only about a hundred yards off. Immediately, I turned toward the sound. I hit the preselected sounds on the fox pro wireless remote and peered through the green tint. The invisible became visible. Right away we had a double incoming. Two dogs came running right at us from behind. I could feel my pulse start to raise. I love this moment; watching, waiting, with quiet expectation. As I squeezed the trigger. I awoke the woods with a crack. Whack and he was spinning; a second shot and he was down.
I immediately changed the sound playing on the call from field mouse to rabbit distress. This proved to be a change that the other approaching coyotes liked. Everything was happening within seconds. I was moving quickly, changing the calls, steadying my sights, aiming through the night vision goggles, seeing everything, and pulling the trigger. Again, and again. My heart was pounding, but my fingers were steady and I saw everything in the night. The bullets whizzing across the field from my rifle were like claps of thunder and the orchard became alive in the darkness.
Just as quickly as it happened, the night went quiet. Any coyotes that weren’t shot down had ran away. I switched off the remote call and we took inventory of our hunt. My body was on a high from the adrenaline still pulsing in my blood. Ten coyotes was the final count. Days later, I can still hardly believe it. Fortunately we were able to rent night vision goggles because an opportunity like that only comes in the nighttime. It took the rest of the night to load our kills into the truck, pack up our gear, unwind over energy drinks and talk in disbelief over what had happened. When we had repacked everything and were heading out, I saw the break of dawn in the rearview mirror. I heard birds waking up to the morning. I smiled. I’ve felt more alive in the night than I have beginning the new day.