Story by Tom Claycomb III

You just woke up in a cold sweat and realized, it wasn’t a nightmare that awakened you from a deep sleep. What you thought was a nightmare is instead actually reality. Hunting season is over. No use calling the counselor, all is lost. No hope in sight.

Whoa, whoa, back away from the edge Junior, let’s interject some fresh thoughts into this discussion. Yes, things may have slowed down but still, we’re only in a transition period. There is still plenty of hunting to be done. While some may think varmint hunting may be winding down, but only to the extent of the quality of pelts available, it is by no means done.

Just a few days ago I was talking to a big rancher who said they’d killed 132 coyotes in the last three months, and that’s not including what two other guys had taken that had also been hunting on his property. Granted those “song dogs” were breeding in January so I’ll knock off shooting them around the first part of April but believe me, they’ll be wolfing down fawns in late spring and summer so don’t get to feeling too sorry for them.

So let’s go over some unique methods, systems and gear that might just give you an edge. I just received a FoxPro X24 I had ordered.  This is the latest, top of the line caller from those folks that will not only give you an edge in the field but will make your hunting buddies jealous.

Up until about seven or eight years ago I only hunted coyotes with rifles. Everyone preached bull barreled, bolt action firearms. I saved up my pennies because obviously my old Remington 742 semi auto that I’d bought with my paper route earnings as a kid was a relic. Plus everyone preached that semi autos were inherently inaccurate. Well I finally saved enough to buy me a Savage bull barreled 26 inch, 25-06. It is still my most accurate rifle and can really reach out to touch someone.

But then suddenly it all changed. Within a few years the modern sporting rifle in the AR platform was the hot ticket. Bolt actions are obsolete. Will I always be one step behind being in fashion?