Thank you so much for suggestions and guidance.
BTW, for more guidance, re: mouth calls - listen to the sound previews of all the call sounds offered by all these manufacturers. Also watch all the coyote hunting vids you can and pay attention to how they sound when they are blowing mouth calls. In order for you to get an idea for how it *should* sound when you're blowing hand calls.
Last year hunting Doves, I pulled off a far for a shotgun shot on a JackRabbit. The shot broke both his femurs. So he was over there just wailing... it was a trip! Because it sounded just like the sounds on my caller! It was kinda neat to have confirmation of what they sound like in real life.
>>> Always bring some hand calls with you as backup. <<<
When you put your remote controller in your pack, make sure it's in there such that it's buttons aren't getting depressed when it's inside the pack. My first time outta the gate... the remote was dead. It was a new battery that I'd installed and tested the night before. I can only surmise the buttons must have been depressed while it was in the pack on the long drive out there. Thankfully I had mouth calls with me. After I finished doing my calling... I decided I was going to follow along up a draw to go over to another ridge a ways away. While I was down in that draw... I always pride myself on trying to walk as quietly as possible... up ahead of me a bit down in the draw... Oh sh*t! I see a coyote boppin' along! He was being sneaky and using that draw as a way to travel downwind of what was my location while calling, so that he could check the wind on it first before committing to coming in on it! I looked a little bit ahead of him and picked a spot I figured he'd pass by along the bottom of that draw... he gets there, and he's covered by some branches up to about his nose... I tried to hold it up a little higher so maybe it could hit his spine.. but... at 25yds ya gotta remember that the crosshairs are approximately 1" higher than point of Impact. So it blew past him hit the ground... he whips around like WTF was that!? I sloooooowly... extract...and then slooowly jack in another round. Right about the time I close my bolt... he heard that and turned around. I'm in the leafy suit, and I freeze, so he doesn't immediately run away. Then when he figures something ain't right... he runs up outta the draw to the edge of it.. but he pauses to turn back around and look at what I am again.. and BOOM! I hurriedly smack him with a rapid jump-shot with the .223 Rem since it was gonna be my only opportunity. He literally does a barrel-roll mid-air... then falls to the ground in a slump on his side... sorta rocking back-and-forth for a few seconds.... then son of a b*tch if he didn't get back up... turn to look at me... than take off running up and over that terrain up there outta the draw. I figure meh... 40-60 yds and I should find him. NOPE! Blood trailed him 250+yds. And then the trail went dry. Figure the bullet must have hit the phalanges of his vertebrae just above the shoulders, hence the barrel roll.
I learned a lesson that day... if you hit a coyote? Hit 'em again! Until he stops moving! Other experiences since then have confirmed this. If you're not lucky enough to pull off a vital hit with that first shot... don't delay... plug him again! They are tough as sh*t! And will run a looong damn way with an injury that is still probably fatal, but not a hit to vitals.
And if you can, you wanna be setup above them if possible. And try to use the angle of the Sun to your advantage by having it such that it will be in their eyes if they are trying to look in your direction.
